Les Liaisons dangereuses

by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803), romancier français, dont le chef d´ uvre fut Les liaisons dangereuses (publié en 1782) et dans lequel, influencé par les romans épistolaires de Richardson, porte la fiction néoclassique à un sommet de perverse perfection en représentant l´attitude morale et sexuelle, imprégnée de cynisme, de deux personnages appartenant au milieu aristocratique, évoluant dans une société irréprochable en apparence. Le récit combine remarquablement drame, recherche psychologique dans le style de La Nouvelle Héloïse, et les idées philosophiques de révolte et libertinage du XVIIIe. Du point de vue formel, il s´agit d´un roman épistolaire où chaque lette porte l´empreinte d´un personnage, créant ainsi une sorte de polyphonie de correspondances. Le dénouement se caractérise par une ambigüité morale capable de fasciner encore le lecteur moderne.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, France, Romance, French Literature, Historical Fiction, 18th Century

548 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1782

About the author

Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803) was a French novelist, official and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses.

A unique case in French literature, he was for a long time considered to be as scandalous a writer as the Marquis de Sade or Nicolas-Edme Rétif. He was a military officer with no illusions about human relations, and an amateur writer; however, his initial plan was to "write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on earth after his death"; from this point of view he mostly attained his goals, with the fame of his masterwork Les Liaisons dangereuses . It is one of the masterpieces of novelistic literature of the 18th century, which explores the amorous intrigues of the aristocracy. It has inspired a large number of critical and analytic commentaries, plays, and films.

Cyrillic profile: Шодерло дьо Лакло

Reviews

[Adina · Rating 5 out of 5]

That rare feeling, that glow and knowing smile when you finish a book that satisfies you completely.

I took my sweet time with this epistolary novel because it was delicious and I did not want it to end. Plus, I could only read a limited amount of letters in one day.

The novel takes the form of a fair amount of letter send between multiple characters and exposes the degradation of the French high society before the Revolution. The two main characters are the libertine Vicomte de Valmont and The Marquise de Merteuil who engage in a cruel seduction game of tragic consequences. The two friends and former lovers plan a complex seduction game that should bring them revenge on two people that did them wrong, corrupting and destroying innocents on the way. The book also shows the differences between the condition of women in society, whose virtue had to be intact, otherwise they were lost. Their role was of victims in ownership games when, on the other hand, men had a lot more freedom to play around and to hunt. The Marquise said at some point that she was acting the way she did to avenge her sex. Playing the innocent when in fact she was seducing and punishing men was her way to get even. However, more women then men became victims of her schemes.

Being a classic, the novel ended maybe a little too neat, all parts being punished some way of another but I thoroughly enjoyed each beautiful, elaborated, seductive, vengeful word written in this novel.

PS. I also watched the 1988 movie, very well done. The cast was ridiculously good: John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thruman and a very young Keanu Reeves <3.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dangerous Liaisons improves as it progresses. I was tempted to abandon it, but I persisted and am glad, for--although this epistolary novel of the last days of the ancien regime initially appears to be stylish but superficial--it soon grows in both subtlety and power.

Many of the difficulties of the book are perhaps inevitable in any work that chronicles seduction in epistolary form. The letters of the wicked are elegant, the letters of the good are instructive, but the letters of the naive and innocent are by necessity simple and ingenuous, and their lack of awareness both taxes the patience and dissipates the interest of the reader, all the more so because they aggravate his sympathies and frustrate his moral impulses at the same time. Moreover, once we accustom ourselves to the novel's stylistic beauties, we become aware that the other literary pleasures we receive from it are not only emotionally coarse and morally perverse, but also devoid of suspense, as we watch those who are invincible in wickedness debauch the defenseless and the good.

A third of the way through, however, we learn more about our depraved aristocrats, and our interest in the novel grows. We learn that the Vicomte de Valmont can enjoy a philanthropic pleasure while failing to appreciate its intrinsic value, seeing it merely as one step on the path of Madame de Tourvel's seduction. This makes him appear less innately evil, and thus--perhaps paradoxically--more thoroughly damned.

Then, almost halfway through, the Marquise de Merteuil tells Valmont the story of her self-imposed "moral" education in emotional control and duplicity, and--although we cannot bring ourselves to like her--we come to sympathize with any woman like herself, born with a commanding character and prodigious appetites, who must strive to preserve her respectability in a ritualized patriarchal society.

In the novel's second half, the plot gets thicker, the dupes grow wiser, and the games that once appeared witty and decadent now seem pointless and destructive. In the end, the plot veers sharply from the amoral toward the moralistic, but keeps itself from plummeting into sanctimony by the absurdity of the punishments allocated for the wicked. This formal resolution--like the endings of Measure for Measure and All's Well that Ends Well--fulfills without satisfying, and therefore leads us to continue to question the moral lessons we already thought we had learned.

[Margaret M - (having a challenging time and on GR as much as I can) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was I seduced? Unapologetically so!!!

5 seductive stars for a timeless French Classic that is so beautifully written, emotionally charged, morally corrupt, scandalous for its time, and wonderfully crafted. A must read. A masterpiece.

For its cruel and sinister pursuit, of a beautiful young woman, in a deadly emotional game where the human heart is only a plaything, purity is something to be soiled, and the intentions of the key orchestrators ruthless, I give this an easy 5 stars.

The Plot

“I shall possess this woman; I shall steal her from the husband who profanes her: I will even dare ravish her from the God whom she adores. What delight, to be in turns the object and the victor of her remorse!

Says it’s all!!!

Vicomte de Valmont and The Marquise de Merteuil are French aristocrats who engage in a deadly game of seduction and manipulation. Their pawns all have one thing in common, innocent, naive, pure, and trusting. However, they begin to turn on each other as their seedy game spirals out of control and the consequences are more devastating than even they imagined.

Review and Comments

I loved the way the author captured the heart ache, rawness, and the vulnerability of the seduced with the sinister, calculated, and dispassionate behaviours of the seducer.

Alongside that, the portrayal of the French aristocracy with all their indulgence was excellent. The backdrop of the French Revolution was perfect and helped create an atmosphere that was tormenting and menacing, as the reader eagerly waited for history to catch up with the key protagonists.

The characters of Vicomte de Valmont and The Marquise de Merteuil were so well depicted. There was nothing left to your imagination when they plotted to take the virginity of the innocent in a game of lust and downright cruelty. They were so corrupt you adored them as characters.

My least favourite thing about the novel, however, was the story structure where the chapters were a string of letters sent by multiple people. I found this a bit tiresome at times although it didn’t change my overall view of the book. It was such a memorable and unforgettable read.

In the end justice is served but not before tragedy plays its part and the perpetrators become the victims.

The writing was stunning with so many quotes to choose from. Among my favourites:

“Your orders are charming; your manner of giving them still more delightful; you would make tyranny itself adored.”

“I willingly allow that money does not guarantee happiness; but it must also be allowed that it makes happiness a great deal easier to achieve.”

“Love, hatred, you have only to choose; they all sleep under the same roof; you can double your existence, caress with one hand and strike with the other.”

“Will you, then, never grow weary of being unjust?”.

Sinister, scandalous, and seductive. What more could you ask for?

[Luís · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtle.
This work is a clinical study of libertines, libertinism, and vice-like virtue—a reflection served by a sumptuous text and superb language.
The text's subtlety makes this prose a peak in the profusion of details and intensity.
There was a strong feeling in the era, and its atmosphere radiated.
Come to think of it. It is, above all, an essay on human nature, games, passion, cunning, and jousting.
By dint of simulating war, we end up waging it.
We dehumanize our attention and affection by manipulating and calculating while reaching ourselves to the same extent.
Libertinism is less promoted and weighed in this text than in human nature examined. But, at the same time, innocence and virtue are no more respectable in themselves than vice because they appear as a weakness and an almost maladjustment and ultimately as an obstacle to happiness, balance, and reason.
Laclos hoped to demonstrate, in my humble opinion and among others, that only rigor and moderation coupled with will and discernment lead anywhere.
This novel is a perfect moment of the French language and civilization.
This novel is an exquisite century of subtleties, requirements, and breadth.
Each sentence is a delight in rhythm, intensity, and calculation.

[William2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely magnificent novel! To think that it was published in 1782, seven years before the French Revolution. Liberté égalité fraternité! It has been argued that the novel thus caught a doomed aristocracy distracted by decadent and libertine ways that would soon be its undoing. The gift the novel's main characters display for casuistry, calumny, prevarication and cynical self-involvement takes the breath away. The novel is so tightly wrapped, so self-referential, that I doubt I will find an extraneous word on this third reading, though I shall try. I bought this Folio Society edition—crushed carmine silk over boards— some years ago to commemorate past readings and carry me through future ones. A stunning novel. A book for real readers.

[Marquise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come back, my dear Vicomte, come back.

Thus starts this tale of deceit and corruption through seduction, with a summons from the Marquise de Merteuil to her confidante and former lover, the Vicomte de Valmont.



Unknown to Madame la Marquise, this seemingly innocuous petition will set the snowball in a downwards motion, because M. le Vicomte is at present visiting his aunt, where he’ll meet and become half-obsessed and half-enamoured with the virtuous and too melodramatic and hand-wringing Présidente de Tourvel, a beautiful married woman he wants to seduce, but who resists him.

Valmont decides to not hurry up back to Paris as his former mistress wishes, and decides to share his devious plans for Madame de Tourvel with her by letter. Unamused, the Marquise throws in a challenge, daring him to give sound proof of his success in seducing the devout woman, which seems doubtful according to her. Pricked in his vanity, Valmont accepts the dare and makes use of all his tricks to get into the Présidente's good graces, going so far as faking piousness. To no avail, because the woman is keeping correspondence with another lady that’s aware of Valmont’s ill reputation as one of the biggest rakes to afflict France, and her warnings have made her moderately wary of him. But not so wary enough that she doesn’t take enough precautions and little by little her resistance is eroded.

Valmont, not to be trifled with, revenges himself on the gossipy confidante of Tourvel’s by agreeing to Merteuil’s proposal to seduce la petite Volanges, her daughter, which the Marchioness hopes to corrupt and convert into another woman like herself, a seductress. On her part, she also undertakes the seduction of Danceny, the man she loves and that loves the girl in return. It’s a complicated love “quadrangle” that can be dizzying: Valmont wants de Tourvel who loves Valmont who lusts for Merteuil who lusts for Danceny who lusts for Cécile who lusts for Valmont… But in this apparent tangle, there are only two players, the Queen de Merteuil and the King de Valmont, everybody else is a pawn. And as pawns, they are moved across the chessboard and sacrificed on the players’ whim, with dire consequences for everyone. Everyone is punished in this story in one way or another.

I can see why the preferred character could be Valmont, in all his rakish glory. But to me, the most interesting character has always been the Marquise de Merteuil since I first saw the film and read the book after, and on this reread, she’s still the most compelling. Female villains are thin on the ground, and female villains who are brilliant and on par with or superior to their male counterparts or allies are scarcer. Both she and Valmont are self-centred and often heartless, uninterested in anything but their pleasure and the amusement of their games and outwitting everyone for entertainment, regardless of who they may hurt. But in some ways, she’s better than Valmont, certainly brighter and a more masterful player, and she has no illusions about human nature nor any desire to delude herself about deep emotions, like love, as Valmont does. And, I am sure this will raise eyebrows, I find her actually more sympathetic than Valmont.

Yes, she’s not supposed to incite any sympathies, as the cruel woman she truly is. But here’s the thing: much of her acts are dictated by her womanhood. Both she and Valmont are equally cruel, equally decadent, equal libertines, equally in love with themselves, they share the same principles and ideas, the same cynicism, etc. And yet, only Merteuil is forced to be a hypocrite in addition to all that, only she has to feign to be caring and virtuous, only she has to worry about her reputation and defend her virtue, only she has to put up with the old matrons for the sake of her social standing. You know why? Because she’s a woman, and a woman cannot be allowed to be a libertine and to enjoy sex and dalliances like a man. Just look at Valmont. Everyone knows he’s a seducer, both men and women know he’s perpetually going after bedsport, he doesn’t have to hide it and pretend, and although the high society may be divided amongst those who want to taste him and those who want to dump him in a lake, he isn’t shunned by society, he’s received at the homes of the nobility, even at the home of people who despise him due to his rogue ways, like Madame de Volanges. Why? Because he’s a man, he’s noble, he has money. In the words of Madame de Volanges, she cannot afford to show him the door. A man can sleep round all he wants, and he won’t be condemned. Au contraire, the rakish reputation may even give him an air of enticing danger and “forbidden fruit” in the eyes of the ladies.

Indeed, the only difference between Merteuil and Valmont is their gender. She has to be a hypocrite in order to enjoy life as she wants, she has to bow down to social norms imposed on women and manoeuvre within these restrictions, or lose all. She plays a game of deception on three fronts: before the women, before the men who want to seduce and use her and before the men she wants to use and seduce. Valmont doesn’t even have to bother. The author has him state this fact in a letter to the Marquise:

Whereas you, wielding skilfully the weapons of your sex, triumph by subtlety, I, rendering his imprescriptible rights to man, subjugated by authority.

That’s the touch of tragedy for Merteuil. She’s truly intelligent, more so than the average man, and certainly more observant and a keener connoisseur of human nature, its foibles and the subtlety of emotions than Valmont. She self-educated alone, studied on her own and perfected her art on her own thanks only to her bright mind, curiosity, and powers of observation, and it’s a real waste that she had to focus her brilliance on evil when such a mind could’ve been put to better use. Boredom, combined with her desire to enjoy her dissolute ways and not be subjugated to any man—she never remarried for that reason—leads her to become as she is. And, although both she and Valmont are duly given their just deserts in the end, one cannot shake off the uncomfortable feeling that the Marquise was punished extra as happens with women who dare colour outside the lines. Valmont can find some “redemption” of sorts by his last-breath deeds, but she’s utterly destroyed in life in a way that targets her womanly weapons specifically, her beauty for one. And when the scandal explodes on her letters becoming known, she’s reviled for ruining a man that had been betting on sleeping with her to ruin her reputation socially, who's promptly reinstated to his former post and even applauded publicly for that. She's the one vilified more than Valmont, who’s as guilty and in some ways even more as it was him who insisted in the course that ultimately had fatal consequences, against the Marquise’s warnings, because of his vanity. It’s she who first says they should part ways once she realises Tourvel has enslaved him, because “two sharpers” cannot win and have to divide winnings and part ways amiably, and he doesn’t listen out of pride.

To me, she's simply amongst the best villainess-heroines in literature.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh the painful brilliance of these letters!

Someone recently said to me that it is sad that people have stopped writing old-fashioned letters, being so much more personal and private than the frequently impolite, monosyllabic insults people tend to spit out on Twitter, Facebook and in various comment threads on the internet. I agreed, but continued to think about it, and all of a sudden, this epistolary novel came to my mind in all its passionate evil power.

Choderlos de Laclos certainly is a perfect example of the "good old times" that were not really better, and that featured the same hateful, jealous, treacherous, spiteful characters, happy to engage in intrigues and dangerous games with high stakes, always exposed to the threat of publication of (written) evidence.

Sex and power, twisted love and betrayal: those ingredients make up the plot of this exquisite, polyphonic selection of letters written between various protagonists, playing a game of seduction with each other in different formations.

In the end, they all pay the price for their game. There is one letter especially that reminds me of what teenagers thoughtlessly do today: copying, spreading or retweeting evil comments without thinking of the consequences until they feel the effects like a boomerang coming back full speed.

The evil, jealous Marquise de Merteuil challenges her lover, the Vicomte de Valmont, to break up with a virtuous lady he has seduced as part of a cruel entertainment. She writes the most horrible, yet eloquent letter imaginable, and the Vicomte copies it word for word and passes it on to Madame de Tourvel, the victim of the intrigue. As expected by the Marquise, this breaks the tender woman. It has another victim as well, however. The Vicomte realises that he has grown to love the lady he played with, and regrets his own cruelty when it is too late. And this sets in motion a disastrous chain of events leading to the spreading of all letters relating to the scandalous behaviour of these representatives of the highest social layers in French society.

If you play in the highest league of society, every secret you share is a potential liability, and that is just as true now as it was in the 18th century. The famous letter in question repeats the typical excuse you will hear whenever a person in power behaves badly: "Ce n'est pas ma faute!"

Don't blame me! I just reacted to my instincts and needs. Don't blame me!

But Choderlos de Laclos remains a classical author in one respect: he is careful to let poetical justice prevail in the end! None of the evil players of games is let off the hook. Once publicly exposed in their evil plotting, the main characters are punished.

The ominous letter is well worth reading in its entirety. It contains all ingredients of a brutal public dumping of a faithful, caring lover, - out of boredom and satiation. Rarely has copy and paste cruelty been expressed in more beautiful language:

"On s'ennuie de tout, mon ange, c'est une loi de la nature; ce n'est pas ma faute.
Si donc, je m'ennuie aujourd'hui d'une aventure qui m'a occupé entièrement depuis quatre mortels mois, ce n'est pas ma faute.
Si, par exemple, j'ai eu juste autant d'amour que toi de vertu, et c'est surement beaucoup dire, il n'est pas étonnant que l'un ait fini en même temps que l'autre. Ce n'est pas ma faute.
Il suit de là, que depuis quelque temps je t'ai trompée: mais aussi ton impitoyable tendresse m'y forçait en quelque sorte! Ce n'est pas ma faute.
Aujourd'hui, une femme que j'aime éperdument exige que je te sacrifie. Ce n'est pas ma faute.
Je sens bien que voilà une belle occasion de crier au parjure: mais si la Nature n'a accordé aux hommes que la constance, tandis qu'elle donnait aux femmes l'obstination, ce n'est pas ma faute.
Crois-moi, choisis un autre amant, comme j'ai fait une maîtresse. Ce conseil est bon, très bon; si tu le trouve mauvais, ce n'est pas ma faute.
Adieu, mon ange, je t'ai prise avec plaisir, je te quitte sans regrets: je te reviendrai peut-être. Ainsi va le monde. Ce n'est pas ma faute."

Oh the brilliance! Humanity is equally cruel nowadays, but what on earth happened to eloquence?

[°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ · Rating 5 out of 5]

«Η επανάσταση έγινε απο τους φιλήδονους».

«-Έχει αναβαθμιστεί η ηθική;
-Έχει υποβαθμιστεί η ενεργητικότητα του κακού;
-Η μωρολογία έχει αντικαταστήσει το πνεύμα;
"Το γαμήσι και η δόξα απο το γαμήσι είναι άραγε πιο ανήθικα
απ'τον σημερινό τρόπο με τον οποίο λατρεύουμε και με τον οποίο αναμειγνύουμε το ιερό με το ανίερο; Τότε κατέβαλαν τεράστια προσπάθεια για να αποκτήσουν κάτι που ομολογούσαν πως ήταν μια σαχλαμάρα,και δεν καταδικάζονταν γι'αυτό περισσότερο απ'όσο σήμερα.
Καταδικάζονταν όμως λιγότερο βλακωδώς,δεν εξαπατούσαν ο ένας τον άλλον».


Πρωτοεκδόθηκε στο Παρίσι το 1782, αντιμετωπίστηκε ως «σκάνδαλο» και μπήκε στη λίστα με τ’ «απαγορευμένα» το 1825, όπου και παρέμεινε έως το τέλος του 19ου αιώνα. Δυο αιώνες και κάτι μετά την πρώτη έκδοσή του, παραμένει ένα αρχετυπικό ερωτικό μυθιστόρημα· στα ερωτικά παιχνίδια και στη θυελλώδη σχέση αγάπης-μίσους-προδοσίας ανάμεσα στο αρχέγονο
πάθος -μίσος,
αρσενικού - θηλυκού.

"Και ο Σατανάς ηττήθηκε. Όμως δεν περιορίστηκε η λαμπρή σταδιοδρομία του".

"Επικίνδυνες σχέσεις" το επιστολογραφικό μυθιστόρημα του Λακλό που αποτελείται απο την ύλη μιας ανθρώπινης εμπειρίας, με πολλά μυστικά κρυμμένα ανάμεσα στο μυθολογικό και το ψυχολογικό στοιχείο του έργου.
Είναι η ύλη απέναντι στο μύθο,χωρίς ρητορική ή αισθηματική τακτική.

Πρόκειται για ανταλλαγή επιστολών ανάμεσα σε μια ομάδα ανθρώπων της αριστοκρατικής τάξης. Τα πρόσωπα που αλληλογραφούν σχεδόν στερούνται φυσικής οντότητας,υπάρχουν σαν μυθικά πρόσωπα που κατευθύνονται απο τον συγγραφέα.

Ο Λακλό κυριαρχεί στα πρόσωπα αυτά και τα απομακρύνει απο το ψέμα του ύφους της εποχής του.
Με αυτό τον τροπο η ψυχολογία τους συνδέεται με τον καταναγκασμό και τον ερωτισμό ενός σκοτεινού ηθικολογικού κακού με βαθιές ρίζες.

Η δομή του βιβλίου έγκειται στην ταυτόχρονη αφήγηση τριών ιστοριών με πολλές άλλες συνυφασμένες.
Τρεις κεντρικές γυναικείες φιγούρες του βιβλίου: η Τουρβέλ,η Μερτέιγ και η Καικιλία.

Τα σημαντικότερα πρόσωπα είναι
η Μαρκησία ντε Μερτέιγ κι ο
υποκόμης ντε Βαλμόν.
Πρώην εραστές έκλυτου βίου,ανηθικότητας και φαυλότητας.
Είναι και οι δυο κυνικοί,αμοραλιστές,
ψύχραιμοι ανατόμοι των διαπροσωπικών σχέσεων και ορθολογιστικοί παρατηρητές των ερωτικών παθών.

Προσπαθούν μέσα απο ένα επικίνδυνο και θανάσιμα προκλητικό παιχνίδι να αποπλανήσουν,να εξαπατήσουν και να διαφθείρουν τα αθώα θύματα τους προς τέρψιν προσωπικών μνησίκακων ενστίκτων.

Μέσα σε αυτή την ίντριγκα παθών και λαθών οι δυο εραστές επικοινωνούν συνεχώς μέσω επιστολών καταστρώνοντας το διεστραμμένο σχέδιο τους.

Το επιστολογραφικό μυθιστόρημα έχει διπλή σημασία για τον αναγνώστη.
Αφενώς,σε πρώτο πλάνο παρουσιάζεται η αριστοκρατική συμπεριφορά της εποχής μέσα στα σαλόνια όπου τα πάντα κρίνονται απο την καλή φήμη και τους ευγενικούς τρόπους.

Αφετέρου,σε δεύτερο πλάνο μέσω της ανταλλαγής προσωπικών επιστολών αποκαλύπτεται η αλήθεια.

Στα γραπτά τους κείμενα εκφράζονται χωρίς τυπικότητες και ενδοιασμούς. Η ευπρέπεια και η πνευματική καλλιέργεια της ανώτερης τάξης καταρρίπτεται και ανακαλύπτουμε το πραγματικό πρόσωπο των ευπρεπών,εύπορων αριστοκρατών.
Μέσα απο τις επιστολές τους δίνεται το βαθύ νόημα του έργου αφού τα πορτρέτα των ευγενών ξεσκεπάζονται όταν απουσιάζει ο φόβος της κοινωνικής κατακραυγής.

Το αξιοθαύμαστο και πρωτότυπο αυτό δημιούργημα μας οδηγεί στο συμπέρασμα πως είναι μάταιο και περιττό να αναζητήσουμε το νόημα μέσα απο το δράμα που εκτυλίσσεται.

Μας δίνει το νόημα η ίδια του η ύπαρξη επειδή ουσιαστικά αρχίζει η ιστορία της ζωής εκεί που στην πραγματικότητα τελειώνει η πλοκή και η αφήγηση.

Μια ψεύτικη λογοτεχνική αλήθεια...

Καλή ανάγνωση!!
Πολλούς ασπασμούς!!

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letter 94. Viscomte de Rayner to the Goodreads Community

This morning, I thought of M. de Laclos's charming novel for the first time in years, when an interfering busybody saw fit to edit my Quiz question about it. I was forced to spend an hour checking the text, so that I could thoroughly refute her misconceptions about Cécile's role in the story, and I trust I shall hear no more from the vile creature. But, none the less, I am grateful to her, since she reminded me that I should read it in the original French. I fail to understand how I can have postponed this pleasant task so long.

Even in translation, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is marvellously entertaining, and not a little erotic. I well understand why that saucy minx Marie-Antoinette kept a copy by her bed! And it still speaks to all of us who enjoy meddling in the amorous affairs of others. I vividly recall watching Mr. Frears's fine moving picture version together with my friend, la Comtesse de B------. How we laughed, recalling our own machinations as we guided M. J------ through his fumbling relationship with Mlle. A------! Little did the two lovers know that their every tryst was promptly relayed, in written form, to an audience who, I believe, in some cases even were known to make wagers on the success or otherwise of M. J------'s strategems. A further piquancy was added by the fact that most of his ideas came directly from the Comtesse.

But I must not lose myself in past memories. It is already gone nine, and I have yet to write to my several mistresses, before I take my daily ride around the borders of my estate. I will need to advance my usual schedule a little, since I have a duel to fight in the early afternoon. Should I live (the contrary would be an unpleasant surprise; he is an abominably poor swordsman), I hope to continue this correspondence tomorrow.

Château de Cambridge
11 March, 20---

[Dalia Nourelden · Rating 4 out of 5]

" من بوسعه الا يرتجف رعبا وهو يفكر في المصائب التي يمكن ان تنتج عن علاقة خطرة واحدة ! وأية متاعب كان بالإمكان تلافيها لو فكر الجميع بتعقل ! واية امرأة لاتهرب لدى أول محادثة مع رجل غاو ؟ واية أم تستطيع من دون ترتجف خوفا ان ترى شخصا آخر سواها يتحدث الى ابنتها ؟ لكن هذه الملاحظات التى فات أوانها لا تأتى الا بعد وقوع الكارثة "



علاقات خطرة رواية عن الخداع طرحت باسلوب مختلف و مميز فالرواية عبارة عن رسائل بين الشخصيات ارعبتنى فى البداية لظنى انى سأتوه بين الشخصيات لكن الكاتب كان رؤوف بنا فى طرح شخصياته لكنه لم يكن رؤوف بنا فى طرح الخداع وهذا الكم من الشر والخديعة سواء للرغبة فى الإنتقام او لتحقيق انتصارات غرامية لم يسبقه لها احد مابين اغواء سيدة محترمة ومحاولة الايقاع بها بطرق واساليب مختلفة ومابين استغلال فتاة بريئة والتلاعب بها لتحقيق الانتقام من اتجاه والتسلية من اتجاه آخر .
الجزء الاول ومحاولة ايقاع السيدة كان من الاجزاء المثيرة للغضب بالنسبة لى جدا فكرهت هذه الشخصيات وحديثها فمن جهة هو يرسل رسائل رائعة ويصف مشاعر واحاسيس فى رسائله للسيدة و من جهة اخرى رسائله الى صديقته التى تشاركه الخداع وتمتلك وسائل شيطانية فتتعرف على مدى سوء نفسية ودواخل هذه الشخصيات المثيرة للاشمئزاز فشعرت بالغضب والملل منه ومن كلماته واحاديثة المنمقة مع كل رسالة منه الى هذه السيدة المخدوعة

لأقرأ الرسايل مابين الشعوربالغضب والاشمئزاز من المخادعين وتصرفاتهم وافكارهم ومابين الشعور بالشفقة على من يحاولون خداعهم ومن يستغلون برائتهم واستغلال الصداقة والثقة
فنرى خداع الحب ، وخداع الصداقة ، حين تضع ثقتك فى اشخاص لايستحقون هذه الثقة

" اننى ارى في كل ذلك الاشرار يعاقبون ، ولكنني لا أجد
اى مواساة لضحاياهم التعساء "


٣٠ / ٥ / ٢٠٢٠

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yesterday, as I was finishing this book, I thought I was going to give it four stars. When I finished it, I gave it five. Today, I believe it might be the best book I've read so far this year. It is chiselled in my mind. I keep telling everyone that they must read it. Like Baudelaire said, it is a book that burns only as ice burns. And it burns for a while.

It is a story of intrigue where two aristocrats share their adventures - by which I mean the seduction of virgins, the manipulation of married women and men, the search for pleasure - in fascinating letters. There are other letters - it is an epistolary novel, after all - but the exchanges between the Vincomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil are the novel's beating heart. However, I would argue that for the most part, Merteuil is the mind of the plot while Valmont is the heart and the body. Many of the romantic and erotic exploits belong to him - which is fitting because those are the elements that lead them to their doom.

All 18th century novels, including those written by the libertines, are moralizing in some ways, imparting, with more or less success, a lesson or a range of ideas. Laclos follows the suit but not as successfully as Voltaire, Diderot or Rousseau. In fact, I would go as far as saying that Dangerous Liaisons fails as a prototype of the 18th century novel. Its philosophy is dim, its message unclear. The reason Laclos was so widely criticized in his own time was because, unlike what happened with other Enlightened writers, the novel does not offer many clues as to his own opinions. But this is exactly what makes the novel so great, and much, much more than a simple vehicle of enlightened ideas.

Laclos's characters are not (only) mouthpieces like Voltaire's or Rousseau's. They have thoughts, personalities and inconsistencies, much like protagonists of good 19th century novels. That is why Laclos could never be too moralizing. To turn Valmont or Merteuil into examples, into messages, would be to diminish their potential as characters in a novel and, ultimately, as people.

Valmont and Merteuil are monsters who go beyond monstrosity. Laclos allows the reader ample space to feel sympathy for them. He punishes them, yes, but he also punishes their victims who are sometimes blamed for having been so naïve or for having been allowed to be so naïve. Hence the scandal in 18th century France: it's not that Laclos could have written these things, it's that he doesn't condemn them enough. Perhaps his worst sin is that he allows his characters to explain themselves, to have complex motivations (Merteuil) and feelings (Valmont).

Yet another extraordinary aspect of this novel is the tight control Laclos retains over his characters. Every character has its own voice and acts in its own particular way. All of them are much more interesting than they should be. Dangerous Liaisons is ultimately a work of great originality. It's a symbol of the 18th century all the while surpassing it. It is a novel to read and re-read, as it contains thousands of elements that cannot be perceived at first. Tread with care: it does burn as ice burns. It's not a comfortable book and these are not comfortable characters. But read it because this is the stuff good literature is made of.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the second letter, the film "Cruel Intentions" bloomed in my mind. I never even bothered to learn where that movie was adapted from. Now, I'm quite happy to have come upon this book ( I just love the "Surprise Yourself" stack at my library). I was intimidated at first, but after a few pages, I was hooked. This is deliciously devious and entertaining! On the surface, reading "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" is no more difficult than following a very long Facebook conversation thread (even better if you have scandalous friends... not that I have any). If this novel is an accurate picture of the French aristocratic class of the time, it's easy to see why revolution was brewing among the peasants and working classes. There are no happy endings here, except maybe for me. I'm quite satisfied that the characters got what they deserved.

[Nika · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole story is related through a series of letters. For the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, the two arch intriguers, limits do not exist. Merteuil and Valmont play with the bodies and souls of others as if they were playing with puppets. They produce a vicious circle and seem not to care how many people will fall victim to their intrigues.
In the end, all their efforts are wasted on them, carefully crafted plans destroyed, and the lives of all five protagonists ruined.

There has already been much written and said about this novel set in the kingdom of France in the second half of the 18th century. I do not think that I could add something new or important. So, I will end my brief description with a quote from Nancy Mitford: " shame is a bourgeois notion ." It corresponds well with the content of Dangerous Liasons.

[Dolors · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the best epistolary book I have ever read and probably one of the best novels displaying the double morale in the eighteenth century Paris.
Monsieur de Laclos masters the style, creating two hero-villain characters whom, although monsters without scruples, one can't help to admire. They are playful, amusing, witty and skillful in the art of deception. They are also vain, prideful creatures who seek their own pleasure without caring for the outcome of their poor victims.
Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont are incredibly wealthy and bored to death . So they play dangerous games for entertainment, imposing challenges to each other, seducing young virgins, making adulteress out of prude virtuous women, taking revenge of formers lovers ruining their reputation... and they succeed in doing all the mischief they want without being discovered. What's more, they are honourable and well received in society!
Imagine their mirth when they accomplish every evil scheme they propose while they become their victims' only friends and saviours.

But apart from the elaborated style and the amusing display of strategic tactics which thread the story, one can't miss the allusion to the thin line of what's morally right or wrong. Is "what is socially accepted" the true and only way?
Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont are not exemplary models of sincerity or frankness, but they challenge the imposed rules somehow, they outwit hypocrisy, the problem is that they only do it to achieve personal gratification, corrupting their souls and everyone who dares to trust in them.

In my opinion, it's incredible that a novel written more than 180 years ago, might still stir deep emotions in those who can invest a moment of their time to think about the possible reasons that led a man like M. de Laclos to write this controversial story.
Don't take this novel only as a mere diversion, it's much more than that. It's about recognising that each of us has some of the Vicomte or of the Marquise in us, we are all vain and proud and think ourselves superior to the rest. That's why I value this work, because it reminds us of what wretched and capricious creatures we humans can become.

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favourite books, Les Liaisons dangereuses is a tour de force written entirely in letters. It is the only literature that nobleman Laclos every wrote but he hit a grand slam with this one. Intrigue, sex, betrayal - it is a gripping story told in the margins between the written word and the gaps between the letters. Hard to describe without spoiling the pleasure of potential readers, suffice it to say that the movie (as awesome as Uma and Close and Malkovich were in the 1988 film version) is not even close to as exciting and gripping as the original.

[Tahani Shihab · Rating 4 out of 5]

رواية أدبية كلاسيكية جميلة عبارة عن مراسلات بين شخوص الرواية، وبسبب هذه المراسلات أصبحت الحقيقة دامغة ضدّ كل من شارك في الكذب والمؤامرة والخديعة.

رواية جميلة ومثيرة وتثير الأسى والألم من قباحة بعض النفوس والعقول البشرية الخبيثة!



اقتباسات



“إذا كان نيل النصر عصيًا، فسيكون لي على الأقل شرف المحاولة”.

“كم نحن سعداء لكون النساء لا يحسنّ الدفاع عن أنفسهن! وإلا ما كنا إلى جوارهم سوى عبيد أذلاء”.

“ما من امرأة على الإطلاق إلا تستغل السلطة التي عرفت كيف تنالها!”.

“لو أن الإنسان يعرف بوضوح سعادته الحقيقية، لما بحث عنها خارج حدود القوانين والدين”.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

It turns out, Dangerous Liaisons was not as dangerous, as one may have hoped. This was in fact, repetitive, and really rather dull. I'll admit, I bought this in the hope of it being an erotic adventure, rather like Lady Chatterley's Lover, but I feel in this case, they were in totally different leagues.

This book is set out in a series of letters, and those letters are very samey. Yes, they were somewhat scandalous, but absolutely nothing changed throughout those letters. The other characters seemed desperately artless, and this caused me to not care very much about the ending.

The only entertainment I could possibly salvage from this, was the erotic artwork. I found it better that the written content, and that for me, is a rather worrying aspect.

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you rate a book, do you consider the introduction (written by a different person), appendices, blurbs and entries in Wikipedia? I mean do you consider the historical background of the story? the life story of the author? it's impact to whatever since its first publication?

Or you ignore all of them and just rate the story as if you do not know anything about those?

Two schools of thought. I know some people just read and then rate the story only. I know some who read not only the whole book but everything interesting about it aside from what is provided in their book's edition.

I belong to the second one and this is one of the reasons why I like historical, biographical or biblical fictions.

That is also the reason why I am giving this book, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) by Choderlos de Laclos (first published as a book in 1782), a 4-star rating (I really liked it).

There is almost* nothing to like about the story if you read it from the perspective of a 21st century reader. The despicable, cunning, conniving, wicked, inutile, gullible characters are definitely not new to any of us, regular fiction readers. We all know those from the myriad of characters in novels and other forms of literature. The epistolary form of storytelling is not new to me too. Think 84, Charing Cross Road or Clarissa. A novel originally written in beautiful language like French is common now.

But check this novel's history:
1) Laclos (1741-1803)wrote this to depict the corrupt and squalid nobility of Ancien Regime (the life of the royalty, kings, queens and their court members and aristocrats before the French Revolution (1789-1799).
2) Laclos was a military man and this was his only famous (never out of print since it was first published and has been translated into several languages) novel.
3) Laclos wrote this while there was an on-going war and he was allowed to spend time writing this instead of manning his post as a general.
4) Prior to writing this novel, Laclos had "planned" to come up with a work "that departs from ordinary, creates a lot of noise, and will remain on earth even after his death." This book obviously achieved all those for him. For more than 2 centuries, people are still reading this book and not few have this in their top 10 favorite novels. Check Top 10 Novels by your favorite authors here. For example, Emma Donoghue listed this book as her no. 7 among her Top 10.

* - I said almost because I liked and enjoyed the following:
A) The poetic even though lengthy way the characters express themselves in the letters. I think the fact that it was originally written in French, which I have no knowledge of, affected the prose now that it is in English. It is flowery and vague at times but I find it strangely different, thus interesting, compared the standard style of our contemporary novelists.
B) The cunning and despicable characters are so dubious and evil that I was full of hatred while reading. Reminded me of the libertines in Marquise de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom. Now that I know that the authors', i.e., De Sade and now Laclos, only intention was to show the excesses of the royal people, then I already know that there is nothing to react violently on.
C) The imagination of De Laclos and the way he interwove the lives of the characters were just awesome. The changing of the hearts, the treachery, the turning of the tables, e.g., those wicked characters either died or disappeared in the end, just got me hooked and pushed me to finish reading all the 175 long letters.

I just feel happy having read this book. Now I just don't rely my knowledge of this work on the two movie adaptations. I have read the real stuff and not many of readers nowadays have the patience to read and appreciate a classic though archaic work like this.

Thank you to my reading buddy Regine for not giving up on me and Laclos. I have to admit that I thought of dropping this book when we were halfway but she said that she would go on and so I just continued. I am happy I did. :)

[Axl Oswaldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

“... varios de los personajes que pone en escena (el autor) poseen unas costumbres tan perniciosas que resulta imposible suponer que hayan vivido en nuestro siglo, en este siglo de la filosofía, en el que las luces de la ilustración, extendidas por doquier, han hecho, como se sabe, a los hombres tan honrados y a las mujeres tan modestas y pudorosas.”

De entrada, estoy seguro de que esta es ya la mejor novela epistolar que he leído. Utiliza este género tan bien que terminas de leer una carta, te pones a reflexionar un momento e inmediatamente quieres pasar a la siguiente.



La novela gira en torno a dos personajes principales, la marquesa de Merteuil y el vizconde de Valmont, quienes comparten una afinidad por querer dañar e inmiscuirse en la vida de quienes los rodean, cada uno demostrando cómo llevan a cabo dicha labor; más o menos como si de una competencia se tratase. La historia se compone de un total de 175 cartas, de las cuales no todas son enviadas por los dos mencionados anteriormente, sino que otros personajes más participan de esta correspondencia, formando un enredo social tremendo y siendo partícipes de las relaciones peligrosas que surgirán en él.
Es una obra fascinante de principio a fin.

Quiero también hacer notar algo con respecto a las cartas, y es que podría decirse que hay dos tipos de ellas muy bien diferenciadas: las cartas que únicamente siguen el hilo narrativo de la historia y las cartas que nos revelan la psicología de los personajes: cómo piensan, por qué actúan de determinada manera, entre otros aspectos. Admito que estas últimas fueron las que más disfruté —como ejemplo tengo que decir que la carta 161 es sin lugar a dudas mi favorita, es preciosa que hasta parece poesía escrita en prosa—, y en mi opinión estas cartas, junto con la variedad de estilos que tienen entre ellas, son la esencia de la obra de Choderlos de Laclos.



Por otro lado, una dificultad a la que me enfrenté al leer este libro fue el lenguaje que utilizan la mayoría de los personajes (pienso que quizá así fue escrito originalmente; lo desconozco aunque en la carta 148 da una pista de que así se dirigían por el respeto hacia el prójimo en dicha época). Pongo un ejemplo del inicio de la carta 2 para explicarme mejor:

Volved, mi querido vizconde, volved: ¿qué hacéis, qué es lo podéis hacer en casa de una anciana tía que os ha convertido en el heredero de todos sus bienes? Partid de inmediato: tengo necesidad de vos.

Reconozco que esto al principio me impidió avanzar con fluidez por la falta de costumbre, pero una vez que me había adaptado, la novela la continué leyendo sin mayor inconveniente.



Debo mencionar que me sorprendió que una obra publicada en 1782 tuviera un contenido tan malvado y oscuro como este, donde podemos apreciar la hipocresía, el libertinaje, el chantaje, los celos, la maldad en su máxima expresión. Justo en la contraportada de mi edición dice algo así: “Esta novela quema como el hielo”, en palabras de Charles Baudelaire. Siendo honesto, no hay que imaginar este ‘hielo’ como un cubo que pones en un vaso de limonada, sino como uno del tamaño de un témpano que cae de un glaciar.





¡Total y absolutamente recomendable!

[Tessa Nadir · Rating 5 out of 5]

O capodopera a literaturii universale ce a reusit sa-si pastreze actualitatea si prospetimea pana in zilele noastre fiind un excelent roman de moravuri si o oglinda fidela a societatii. Daca ar fi sa recomand un manual de educatie sentimentala unui adolescent care e pe cale sa descopere viata si dragostea, in mod cert ar fi acest roman. Potrivita atat pentru barbati cat si pentru femei, povestea abordeaza arta de a seduce din toate punctele de vedere.
Intreg romanul este alcatuit din scrisorile pe care protagonistii si le trimit unul altuia si asta ofera cititorului o mai mare perspectiva asupra felului in care simt si gandesc personajele.
Desi vorbeste despre ea, cel mai mult lipseste din acest roman chiar dragostea adevarata. Infatisata ca o lupta crancena si vicleana, dragostea se traduce prin a castiga sau a pierde.
Pentru fiecare batalie pe terenul seductiei, personajele folosesc cele mai fine tertipuri, minciuni si manipulari. In acest razboi totul e permis. Si pana la urma, totul se rezuma la un joc al mintii.
In ceea ce priveste actiunea, marchiza de Merteuil si vicontele de Valmont sunt doi aristocrati bogati care se distreaza jucand tot felul de jocuri si provocandu-se unul pe altul la tot felul de competitii amoroase. Ultimul pariu pe care-l fac vizeaza cucerirea unei femei considerata virtuoasa si care este casatorita. Pe langa asta, abila marchiza, arunca in joc si nevinovatia unei fete de 15 ani pe care o foloseste pentru a se razbuna pe un barbat care a parasit-o in trecut si care acum e logodnicul fetei.
Care va fi rezultatul acestui joc lipsit de scrupule si daca "eroii" vor scapa basma curata, depinde de orgoliul si dorinta de a castiga a fiecaruia dintre ei. Insa, uneori, victoriile costa foarte mult si pot fi amare.
Ecranizarea acestui excelent roman nu lasa nici ea de dorit, avandu-i in prim plan pe John Malkowich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer dar si pe foarte tinerii Uma Thurman sau Keanu Reeves.
In incheiere, am selectat cateva citate pe care am considerat ca trebuie sa le mentionez pentru luare-aminte sau doar pentru amuzament:
"Pentru a stapani societatea e de ajuns sa manuiesti cu egala abilitate lauda si ridicolul"
"Nimic nu e mai greu in dragoste decat sa scrii ce nu simti"
"Nu trebuie sa te superi pe batrane; ele fac reputatia femeilor tinere"
"Prostii sunt adusi pe lume pentru desfatarea noastra"
"Vanitatea ranita inacreste inimile, mareste vina, provoaca nemultumirea, naste ura..."
"Barbatul se bucura de fericirea pe care o simte, pe cand femeia de aceea pe care o procura"
"Scrutandu-mi inima, am studiat in ea inima celorlalti"
"... Fiindca unde nu e aiureala nu e pasiune; si cred ca acesta e motivul pentru care femeile ne sunt atat de superioare in scrisorile de dragoste"
"Rusinea pe care o pricinuieste dragostea e ca si durerea pe care o provoaca: n-o simti decat o data"

[Nada Elshabrawy · Rating 5 out of 5]

مراجعة الرواية في حلقة على #دودة_كتب
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmn9Y...

رواية مقبضة على مستويات مختلفة، ولكنها أيضًا كاشفة بدرجة كبيرة. ترجمة هايلة.
ماقدرتش ماشوفش جون مالكوفيتش في دور الڤيكونت، وأدي أخرة اللي يشوف الفيلم قبل ما يقرا الكتاب.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dangerous Liaisons is a story of intrigue and sexual manipulation, set during the height of French aristocratic decadence. It is said that the novel, by drawing attention to the moral corruption of the upper classes, was actually a contributing cause of the French Revolution. The novel also highlights the severe imbalance between the sexes, derived from their difference in moral standing. Whereas a scandal would be utterly devastating for a woman, it could be borne by a man with little permanent damage.

The story is told entirely through letters, and I was surprised at how immersive an experience a purely epistolary novel can be. In fact it creates a unique, voyeuristic intimacy, and I enjoyed reading these representations of a lost literary art form. My main criticism of the novel is that its resolution was not entirely satisfying. It was a little too simple, convenient and moralistic, especially given the detail and complexity of the plot up to that point. I would have preferred something with a little more nuance.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book to distraction. Quite literally. It has almost exclusively occupied my every thought ever since I started it, and undoubtedly wins the Book That Has Affected Me The Most in 2015.

Simply put, it is wonderfully twisty, delightfully witty and shockingly scandalous. It will make you laugh, sigh, wonder, exclaim, and, if you're anything like me, hold you under its spell for a long time.

Set in 18th century France before the Revolution and written in epistolary form, Les Liaisons dangereuses is an epic tale of seduction, deceit, love and revenge, as well as an excellent portrait of the moral corruption of the time. Although written over 200 years ago and aimed at mirroring the society's ugly reflection, it was fascinating to see all the parallels that can be made with our society today. We live our lives so differently that it almost seems as though we were not of the same planet, yet the basic principles and fatal human tendencies portrayed in the story are as much true and applicable today as they were in the 18th century.

The novel centers around two very bored, very jaded, very wicked French aristocrats, the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, former lovers, but forever accomplices, best friends and confidantes, who have nothing better to do with their time and intelligence than scheme and manipulate others for their own amusement. Masterminds of the first order, they read, decipher and interpret human ways to such a degree that, for all their outrageous depravity, one can't help but admire them. Any villainous project they have in mind is sure not only to succeed at the complete detriment of others and in the utter ruination of their victim for their own benefit, but to be undertaken in such a way as to make them look like veritable heroes and the sole friends and saviours of their innocent victims. Seriously, the way they work is so mind-bogglingly amazing that I had to put my book down several times to assimilate all the glory of what had just happened. Vicious and evil to the core, the Marquise and the Vicomte are truly dangerous, and the best villains I have encountered so far in any book.

"En vérité, plus je vais et plus je suis tenté de croire qu'il n'y a que vous et moi dans le monde, qui valions quelque chose."

Personally, I have found that of the two, Merteuil has more worth than Valmont, if for the sole fact that she is female and he is male, and therefore must work twice as hard to hide her game and maintain a spotless image. While the Vicomte is publicly recognized as a dissolute and nefarious rake yet still accepted and received in society, Mme la Marquise cannot and does not have that luxury, and although she is as reprobate as he is, she has successfully maintained a wise and righteous façade and reigns as the Toast of all Paris. Completely ahead of her time, she refuses to mould herself to the social norms, and becomes her own creation. Seriously, that woman is incredible, and I find her endlessly fascinating. I could expand about her all day long, but instead I will simply direct you to Marquise's review, where she explains everything perfectly.

When Merteuil learns that Mlle Cécile de Volanges is to be married to a former lover who'd cheated on her, she decides to revenge herself on him by deciding to pervert Cécile before her marriage. She enlists the help of the Vicomte, but that one has decided that first and foremost, he must seduce the virtuous Présidente de Tourvel...

Here is an inkling of what the book is like, in classic Anne style*:

Letter 1

La Marquise de Merteuil au Vicomte de Valmont

My dearest Vicomte!! At last, I have found something to alleviate my boredom! LET'S PERVERT A PERFECTLY INNOCENT GIRL! It'll be soooo much fun for us both; you get to enjoy her, and I get to laugh incessantly as I think about her husband finding out that she's unchaste. What do you say??! Isn't it brilliant!? It'll be way better than being shut up in the country with nothing whatsoever to do!

Letter 2

Le Vicomte de Valmont à la Marquise de Merteuil

Hello my lovely, you are mistaken dearest, I am having the time of my life in the country, because I have found a project that's EVEN MORE brilliant than yours! I am going to seduce l'Austère Dévote Mme de Tourvel. It's going to be awesome!! I will have the unequalled pleasure of seeing her betray everything she believes FOR ME. SHE WILL FALL MADLY IN LOVE WITH ME, AND BEG FOR ME, AND I WILL POSSESS HER!!

Letter 3

La Marquise de Merteuil au Vicomte de Valmont

You cannot be serious, Vicomte! My project is way more awesome! But fine, if it amuses you, go for it, and bring me back the proof that she gave herself up completely to you. Then, you and me can get some action going ;)

Letter 4

Mme de Volanges à la Présidente de Tourvel

Dearest!!! What is this I hear! You are staying at Mme de Rosemonde's with le Vicomte de Valmont??! BEWARE, OH BEWARE MY POOR DEAR! Valmont it a MONSTER OF THE WORST KIND! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Letter 5

Le Vicomte de Valmont à la Marquise de Merteuil

Hey! Some b*tch has been talking shit about me to Mme de Tourvel, and now she doesn't want to speak to me! Darn it, I didn't need that. But I shall find a way, hahahaha!!!

Letter 6

Le Chevalier Danceny à Cécile Volanges

CÉCILE!! OH MA TRÈS JOLIE CÉCILE!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T BEAR IT ANYMORE!! WRITE TO ME! CONSOLE ME! COMFORT ME!

Letter 7

Cécile Volanges à la Marquise de Merteuil

Dearest friend who loves me so much and who only wants my best, do you think it's okay if I do write to Danceny? I don't want to do anything wrong, but I do so want to write to him and not see him being miserable because of me!

Letter 8

La Marquise de Merteuil à Cécile Volanges

Mais bien sûr chérie, write to him and tell him you love him :) You have my blessing!!

Letter 9

La Marquise de Merteuil à Mme Volanges

You better watch your daughter my dear, she and Danceny are engaged in a liaison dangereuse!!!! Thought you should know they've been writing letters to each other!

Letter 10

Le Vicomte de Valmont à la Présidente de Tourvel

I CANNOT KEEP IT IN ANY LONGER, ooooh I love you SO much madame! I beg of you, alleviate my suffering! Tell me you love me too! Don't make me unhappy!

Letter 11

La Marquise de Merteuil au Vicomte de Valmont

Soooo...any success yet? When are you coming back? Are you dead? Why don't you reply? That Présidente must be something indeed, but make a move already, and get back here!!

Letter 12

Le Vicomte de Valmont à la Marquise de Merteuil

J'aime les lenteurs, ok? Let me work, and don't worry. The Devoted Prude cannot resist me much longer. Who could? I am so irresistible. Hey don't forget you have promised to sleep with me when I get back ;) ;)

Letter 13

La Présidente de Tourvel au Vicomte de Valmont

Just WHAT on earth ARE you talking about??! LOVE ME??? I cannot love you back, and you know that! Don't even try! Don't torment me! I can be your friend though :)

Letter 14

La Présidente de Tourvel à Madame de Volanges

Oh my God, I am being harassed by Valmont! You were right, he truly is horrible! He won't leave me alone!!

Letter 15

Madame de Volanges à la Présidente de Tourvel

Que vous avais-je dis??! IGNORE THE STALKERS!!! I told you he was top-of-the-top dangerous! Tell him to go away already! Don't stay there with him, everybody will think you are being compromised.

Letter 16

Le Vicomte de Valmont à la Marquise de Merteuil

WOOO! I am getting me some Présidente, FOR SURE THIS TIME!! Tomorrow I am SURE she will consent!! Wee, weeeeee!! Don't forget that you promised to sleep with me when I get back ;) DON'T FORGET!

Letter 17

Le Vicomte de Valmont à la Marquise de Merteuil

OH MY GOD, SHE IS GONE!!!!!!!!!!! SHE LEFT, SHE HAS DESERTED ME!!

Letter 18

La Marquise de Merteuil au Vicomte de Valmont

Hahahaha!! Ohhhh Vicomte, je vous aime à la folie! You are so cute! :P What fools men are! Honestly, I have to manage everything if I want it to be done right. When you bungle folly after folly, you come running back to me each time, and I'm always the one who has to take you out of scrapes. En vérité, c'est bien trop drôle! I was definitely born to dominate your sex and avenge my own.

***

At first, I found myself incredibly amused by the wickedly witty letters exchanged between the Vicomte and the Marquise. In truth, the only times they were completely honest and true to themselves were by writing to each other. They are heinous, to be sure, and their behaviour is despicable, but it was so engrossing to follow their progress and to be surprised by all the twists and turns that ensued. Valmont made me laugh out loud several times with the tactics he employed with Mme de Tourvel, and Merteuil was simply glorious in her expert manipulation and toying of everyone's confidences and affections. And for all their evilness, those two really and truly comprehended human nature and, when taken out of context, wrote some truly beautiful passages on love, character and relationships. It really showed how well they understood everything, and only rendered it more afflicting that they should use their talents to torment others.

As the story progresses and the plot thickens, I became more and more shocked at their audacity, and in the end, one cannot but feel that they well and truly deserved the terrible endings they suffered. Typically, I try to avoid books with unhappy and tragic endings. I'm a rainbows-and-sunshine type of girl who delights in happily-ever-afters and evil villains redeemed, but as Les Liaisons dangereuses is not a fluffy historical romance where all's well that ends well, the ending, I must admit, greatly affected me and left me more than a little distressed. Somehow having the two leads unmasked and their perfidy revealed made me doubly realize just how vile and rotten they were, and their antics, previously captivating and delectable in all their perverted glory, now seen through the eyes of the victims have lost much of their charm, and are seen in their rightful disgust and contempt. Such is the power of this book, that you love the villains but agree they deserve the ending they get, and their true nature revealed and all the consequences it encompasses leaves you torn between your previous admiration of their wicked minds, and your newly-found realization of the disgust of their behaviour.

This is a book that messes with you, I warn you! Or maybe it's just me being overly sensitive and dramatic, that's a huge possibility too ;)

Now, I am in awesome-book-is-over-I-can't-stop-thinking-about-it mode, where I go about my daily functions like a robot, not seeing, hearing, or understanding anything save what has to do with Les Liaisons. Such a wonderful state, yet one you can't wait to get over, right?

Definitely one of my top favourite books of all time!

*To be taken incredibly lightly, and with a heavy dose of salt, but I assure you that in this case, I haven't exaggerated the melodrama and woeful expressions. In fact, it's even worse in the book! ;)

[Repellent Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado mucho mucho este gran clásico. No he tenido el gusto de leer muchas novelas epistolares, salvo raras (y maravillosas) excepciones como es el caso de "La inquilina de Wildfell Hall", aunque son bastante diferentes en la forma entre ellas. En el caso de Anne Brönte, nos encontrabamos con un par narradores que nos contaban la historia en una larguísima carta, casi que a veces olvidabas que fuera una carta. Por eso, cuando vi, que en el caso de Laclos, existen muchas voces y cartas muy cortas, me pareció que quizás me costaría engancharme a sus personajes. Pero para nada ha sido el caso.

Esta historia de enredos, que a veces parece la típica telenovela que cualquiera disfrutaría, nos va a presentar a sus personajes principales: por una parte, tenemos a la marqueza de Merteuil, y por otro, al conde de Valmont. A través, de estos dos personajes, su amor y su guerra, se irán liando las diferentes tramas, hasta desembocar en absoluto caos.

Curiosamente, mi personaje favorito ha sido el de la marquesa. Creo que fue el personaje mejor creado y que tenía las mejores reflexiones. Me resulta bastante interesante que un hombre fuera capaz de crear a un personaje femenino de este tamaño y con esas ideas. Sobre todo porque en ocaciones, con la diferencia de tiempo, no me parecía ninguna locura lo que a veces contaba esta mujer. Aún siendo mala malísima, a veces, entendía hasta cierto punto sus ideas y pensamientos. Y creo que su maldad nacía de la frustración de sentirse mujer en una sociedad donde la mujer valía menos que nada. En ocasiones, incluso, renegaba de su sexo y soltaba comentarios ciertamente misóginos. Todo producto de esa diferencia de derechos entre sexos. Como digo, es el personaje más interesante con diferencia.

Por otra parte, los personajes buenos de tan puritanos e inocentes me ponían un poco nervioso. Sobre todo, la presidenta de Tourvel y Cecile de Volanges. ¡Más sangre en la venas, por dios! Aunque es comprensible por la época, quizás chocan demasiado en la actualidad.

En definitiva, un clásico de obligada lectura, que he disfrutado muchísimo. Muy merecida la importancia que le ha dado la historia.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Seldom has anyone tackled depravity, mendacity and hypocrisy on a more fundamental level than Pierre Choderlos de Lacios does in Dangerous Liaisons. The intrigues of the ruling class in 18th Century France form a fairly serious indictment of what the rich and idle can sink to and how little of substance fills their daily lives.

Of course, there are good and loyal members of society, even amid the debauchery, but they are overwhelmed by those who use their positions of power for evil purposes. In this novel, it is a game of sex and seduction, that is so cynical at its heart that it is destructive, that moves the characters forward in their worthless lives. The innocent and truthful have no chance here, and what we see is how helpless such qualities are against the machinations of a skilled manipulator.

There is nothing to admire in the Viscount Valmont, but he almost seems a tame player next to the Marquise de Merteuil. I do not think it is an accident that the most despicable and perverted character is a woman. I think that is done for both a shock factor and to emphasize that evil resides all around us and can be manifested in even the smiling beauty of a lady. While the mother of Mademoiselle de Valonges is wary of and watching for male predators, she is oblivious to the harm that is coming from her female relative.

The book is an epistolary. Some of the letters are long and rather winded, and I found myself hoping the writer would get to the point or that the character would discontinue plighting his love with quite so much zeal. For such an early work, however, it had a very modern feel. Perhaps that is because the vices of lies and deception, petty revenge, sexual misconduct, corruption of innocence, infidelity and intentional misrepresentation are with us still.

[Leslie ☆︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t let the “Penguin Classics” label deceive you. This is one of the spiciest novels I’ve ever picked up… and it was published in the 1780s!

I was grieved to reach the end of Dangerous Liaisons — or, as I framed it to a friend today, “evil French Bridgerton.” I know this is an oversimplification, but I was drawing as close a comparison from the standing zeitgeist as I could.

And besides, I think any Bridgerton fan would adore this epistolary novel. Yes, it’s as old as the United States, but the writing isn’t so dense and archaic that it’s difficult for a twenty-first century brain to penetrate. In fact, it could have been published today. It’s easy to follow and it moves quickly.

Here’s a better explanation of what Liaisons is all about: A few years pre-French revolution, two deliciously amoral protagonists — aristocratic ex-lovers who tease each other like schoolmates, bicker like an old married couple, and still hook up occasionally — conspire to exact revenge on a man they feel has wronged them both by manipulating his betrothed, an innocent convent girl in her early teens. Their plan leads to bloodshed, public humiliation, and a slew of broken hearts. I’ll let you find out on your own who suffers what.

For our two protagonists, the Marquise and the Vicomte, this is just another Tuesday. If you want not one but *two* delightfully vain, heart-stoppingly seductive unreliable narrators (and I mean *really* seductive. I blushed, squealed, and kicked my feet quite a few times throughout the course of this novel), grab a copy of Liaisons.

The mental gymnastics our leading duo perform to justify their heinous actions is almost impressive. For instance, the Marquise says she commits the sins she does because she was “born to avenge [her] sex,” yet her actions ultimately hurt more undeserving women than men. She even thinks herself superior to the rest of her sex, bragging about how she “raised [herself] so much above other women”! So much for being the avenging heroine of womankind.

She’s a master manipulator who talks about how she learned to “take on different personas” as a young girl to achieve her goals. She lives her life on the offensive, even comparing sex to combat and flirtation to an attack. “One must conquer or die,” she says, and I would pity her negative view of humankind if she had a tragic backstory to warrant it… but she doesn’t. She’s evil for evil’s sake, which, at a time when moral grayness is trendy in fiction, is a breath of fresh air.

But if you enjoy moral grayness, see the Vicomte. He’s the blueprint for the “notorious playboy who’s slowly falling in love and is completely in denial of it, even though everyone else can see it clear as day” trope. He thinks he’s God’s gift to womankind, which would be eye-roll-inducing if he weren’t so damned smooth. Seriously, when he compared his ex-lover’s new beaus to Alexander the Great’s heirs, saying they can’t maintain the empire (i.e., her bed) he once conquered singlehandedly, I almost fell to my knees. But does our charmer turn a new leaf, or does he cling to his old ways? Again, I’ll let you find out.

In fact, every member of Liaisons’ ensemble cast, save for the Marquise, exercises some degree of moral grayness. Even the story’s sweet, cherubic ingenues make terrible mistakes. No one is perfect — except for Madame Rosemonde, who I had to wait until the latter half of the novel to hear from. Never has a character become my favorite character as quickly as her. She knows when to offer advice and when to keep her thoughts to herself, and she makes beloved daughters out of lost young women who need mothering. I want to be her when I grow up.

Ultimately, this novel is a testament to the power of forgiveness and a promise that the wicked shall not go unpunished — fitting, since some historians argue that it helped inspire the French Revolution. I don’t blame the working class Frenchmen who read this novel for rising up. I can almost hear them now: “You mean to tell me that all our pampered aristocrats do all day is play cards and seduce each other, while we work, starve, freeze, and pay the taxes that fund their decadent lifestyle? Gimme that guillotine.”

P.S. I also recommend the English language film adaptation released in 1988. John Malkovich in a powdered wig did it for me.

[Rowena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most intriguing classics I’ve read in a long time. At first glance it didn’t seem to me as though a book that consists entirely of series of letters written between various people would be interesting, but this was the 18th Century, when letter-writing among the French aristocracy was obviously an art form so each letter is written in beautiful language with such detail and emotion, each with the unique tone of its author.

At the centre of this novel are the main characters, the lothario Vicomte de Valmont, and his former lover the widow Marquise de Merteuil. De Merteuil orders de Valmont to seduce a 15 year old girl, Cecile, who the Marquise’s former lover threw her over for, just for her amusement. At the same time, the Vicomte tries his hand at seducing the prudish married Presidente de Tourvel. To Valmont and de Merteuil, it’s all a game. As de Valmont says regarding de Tourvel, “I shall possess this woman; I shall steal her from the husband who profanes her: I will even dare ravish her from the God whom she adores. What delight, to be in turns the object and the victor of her remorse! Far be it from me to destroy the prejudices which sway her mind! They will add to my happiness and my triumph. Let her believe in virtue, and sacrifice it to me; let the idea of falling terrify her, without preventing her fall; and may she, shaken by a thousand terrors, forget them, vanquish them only in my arms.”

Valmont and de Merteuil are depraved, manipulative and very calculating. The amount of detail that they put into their game is truly astounding. Forget Iago, these two are devil incarnates; very Machiavellian. Despite how evil these two are, they are at the same time fascinating. The book did have a Cruel Intentions feel to it but it only makes sense that such a book would provide inspiration to Hollywood.

[Fuchsia Groan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi querida amiga y confidente, mi hermana:
 
He de pediros disculpas por abandonar la reunión de forma tan precipitada la última vez que estuvisteis visitándonos, ya sabéis que cada jueves paso la velada con mi caballero, y vos como nadie conocéis ese tipo de locura: no tuve otra opción, el fuego dominaba mi alma. Sé que queréis saber, pero solo os diré que después de la cena, sucesivamente infantil y juiciosa, alocada y sensible, a veces incluso libertina, me complací considerándolo un sultán en su serrallo, y fui, una tras otra, todas sus favoritas. Cuando vengáis a verme, os haré más confidencias. Sí, es un chantaje, ¡os necesito aquí!
 
Si no os he escrito antes ha sido porque el último escándalo ha desviado toda mi atención. Supongo que los rumores habrán llegado hasta el sur. Desconozco qué sabéis y qué no, yo me he enterado de todo, hasta del último detalle, preguntad y seréis informada.
 
La misma historia de siempre, pero esta vez todo ha llegado demasiado lejos… ¡Oh, este tema me enfurece! ¡Mujeres perdidas, mujeres deshonradas! ¡Enemigas de la virtud!, ¡y lo dicen como un insulto! ¡Perdidas, nosotras, que nos hemos encontrado! Y Valmont, autor de los mismos hechos, es recibido por doquier, invitado a todos los bailes, aplaudido, admirado, animado a conquistar a esta o aquella mujer, incluso he visto con mis propios ojos cómo se hacen apuestas sobre si lo conseguirá o no. A la mismísima Tourvel se le llenaba la boca criticando a las mujeres que caían a sus pies, esas que se entregaban a un “amor criminal” y no defendían su virtud. Y ahora…
 
¡Habría tanto que decir sobre este tema! En una de nuestras veladas especiales tu querido Donatien Alphonse nos decía que reflexionando sobre todo esto había escrito un párrafo que pensaba incluir en su nueva novela, “Juliette o las prosperidades del vicio” (¿no es un título maravilloso?): «Diviértanse lo más que puedan, no tengan cuidado si les aplican el calificativo más despreciable: “puta”. Una puta es hija de la naturaleza, la muchacha casta es un fenómeno. ¿Quién insulta más a la naturaleza que una mujer que se aferra concienzuda y arrogantemente a la ilusión de que su deseo reprimido es el símbolo del bien?». Todos los presentes aplaudimos. La Marquesa de Merteuil sonreía y asentía, mas replicó “Queridísimo Marqués, para vosotros, los hombres, las derrotas no son sino victorias fallidas”, y explicó de forma brillante lo desigual de esta partida que jugamos hombres y mujeres, ¡no le falta razón, no es fácil mostrarse con valentía en esta sociedad ignorante, siempre dispuesta a castigarnos a nosotras!
 
Porque, ¿quién condena a esas mujeres, quién les arruina la vida?, ¿el libertino con quien se divierten o la sociedad que las señala y las hunde, el padre que las juzga desde el púlpito y las condena al infierno en la tierra? Tengo muy clara la respuesta.
 
Nunca olvidaré cuan consoladoras fueron aquellas palabras de Merteuil cuando nos inició y nos hizo ver que no estábamos solas: «…el buen padre me presentó un mal tan grande que me figuré que el placer debía de ser extremo, y al deseo de conocerlo se le sumó el deseo de disfrutarlo».
 
Me marcho a toda prisa, en unos minutos me recogerá mi Señor, comprenderéis que no le haga esperar… ¡llevo días ansiosa!

Adiós, mi amiga extraviada. Soy enteramente vuestra, sin cumplimientos ni reserva.

P.S. Visitadme, tenemos mucho de que hablar, una larga conversación con una amiga íntima es un goce indescriptible... por increíble que os parezca hay más placeres en esta vida que los que ofrece el lecho, ¡venid, pronto!
 
París, 23 de abril de 17**

[Melcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, brilliant work. One of the best books I have ever read, and I never say that lightly.

Dangerous Liaisons is about love and cruelty, hypocrisy, lies and conspiracies. Two highly complex protagonists plan the destruction and dishonor of mutual enemies. In this story seduction is a game AND the main weapon used for friend and foe alike.

AND it is a scandalous and controversial French epistolary novel from 1782! How exciting! The preferred language here is French, of course, but if you are an English speaker I wouldn't pass that one anyway. It's beautiful. I hope the translation does it justice.

The movie with Close and Malkovich is obviously great. But nothing compares to the incredible depth of this book and its two billion-faceted main protagonists. I had a great time reading it and can't wait to read it again. I can't express enough how exciting and brilliant the story is and how much there is to unpack. You just have to see for yourself, but believe me: Les Liaisons Dangereuses is, without a doubt, a masterpiece .

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 18th century is a tough nut to crack. Its most famous books are boring. It's an explosively smutty era, but even most of the smut isn't that great. But there are a few weird gems that slip through the cracks: the furious Candide; the sensational Monk; and the masterpiece of smut Dangerous Liaisons.

Epistolaries were big back then, and LaClos makes better use of letters than anyone since Shakespeare; it'll take Wilkie Collins to match him. The letters are the plot, making this metafiction; their content and their incriminating existence shape and drive the action. This is the best advertisement for Snapchat I've ever seen.

It's known as an immoral novel, and it was banned almost immediately and permanently, and you could think of it as an anti-Pamela: where those letters were supposed to be a guide to a virtuous life, these are a master class in corruption.

The filth is one reason it's fun, but the reason it's great is its terrific character insight. Valmont and, most of all, the inimitable Merteuil are perfectly, subtly, carefully drawn; their tragic arcs clearly laid out and never escapable. They say a lot on paper; they say more between the lines. You root for all of them. Even the casualties minor characters are fully fleshed out and sympathetic. It's bizarre that LaClos only wrote one book; he seems perfectly in control of every sentence. This is a page-turner, a thriller, a gamechanger, and one of my favorite books.

Translation notes: Helen Constantine's recentish one for Penguin got good reviews in my research, and I totally loved it. The voices are distinct; the language is readable without being distractingly modern. The introduction is more or less total bullshit.

Adaptations: I just re-watched Cruel Intentions last night and it's still good trashy fun, but it doesn't do a very good job of adapting the book. The biggest problem is Valmont: the movie plays him too sympathetically, and Ryan Philippe is not at all good enough for the role. And it flubs the ending. Sarah Michelle Gellar is adequate. Selma Blair seems to be acting in a different movie - a broad slapstick comedy - but it's entertaining, and Cecile isn't taken very seriously in the book either so that works out fine. Reese Witherspoon is good but her breasts walk away with every scene they're in. That's one of the all-time great cinematic portrayals of breasts.

It's been a while since I've seen the 80s Dangerous Liaisons with Glenn Close, Malkovich and Uma Thurman; I remember it being really good but weren't the former two like way, way too old for those roles? Both were around 40.