Novel
Dangerous Liaisons
Les Liaisons dangereuses
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos · 1782
Opening lines
Tu vois, ma bonne amie, que je te tiens parole, et que les bonnets et les pompons ne prennent pas tout mon temps; il m'en restera toujours pour toi.
You see, my dear friend, that I am keeping my word to you, and that bonnets and pompons do not take up all my time; there will always be some left for you.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
Two libertines of the aristocracy, the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, former lovers who have remained accomplices, write to each other. The marquise asks Valmont to seduce the young Cécile de Volanges, barely out of the convent, in order to take revenge on the Comte de Gercourt, who is to marry her. Valmont meanwhile pursues a harder conquest, Mme de Tourvel, a married and virtuous woman; the marquise promises him a night if he brings her written proof of it.
Context
The novel was written during its author's stay on the island of Aix, where he was working on the fortifications, and appeared in March 1782 in four volumes. It consists of one hundred and seventy-five letters, with no narrator, which leave it to the reader to understand what each character hides from the others. Its success was considerable and immediate, matching the scandal; the preface claimed to serve morality by exposing the methods of the corrupters.
Who it is for
A long epistolary novel, in which one must keep track of who writes to whom, and above all of what each one does not know.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as one of the major novels of the eighteenth century, it has inspired numerous adaptations for cinema and theatre.
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