Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos is a classic novel, published in 1782, that exposes the entanglement of seduction and manipulation within the aristocracy. The story centers on the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, who play a cunning game to bring amusement to their bored lives. Their manipulation leads to unexpectedly serious consequences.
Description
In this literary classic, the Marquise de Merteuil challenges the Vicomte de Valmont to a game of courtship and manipulation. While he must seduce an innocent young woman, he simultaneously resists his own feelings in his conquest of a married woman. The book reveals how manipulation to bring amusement leads to far-reaching and fatal effects.
Product specifications
- Author: Choderlos de Laclos
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- Imprint: Penguin Classics
- Language: English
- Binding: B-format paperback
- Publication date: 2007-02-22
- Number of pages: 448
- ISBN: 9780140449570
- Theme: Classic fiction: literary and general
- BISAC: FICTION / Classics
About the author
Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803) was born in Amiens and served in the army. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel commander without ever having been in combat. He wrote Les Liaisons Dangereuses on the island of Aix, a reflection on the decadent society just before the French Revolution.
Translator Helen Constantine has translated, among other works, by Theophile Gautier and Henri Michaux and lives in Oxford.