In this famous story of seduction, two highly intelligent but amoral French aristocrats plot the downfall of a respectable young married woman and a fifteen year old girl who has only just emerged from the convent. The letters these two conspirators exchange are remarkably frank in describing how they manage to achieve their ends and, at the same time, reveal nuances of character which make it impossible to dismiss either of them as simply evil.

The novel is composed entirely of letters exchanged between the various characters, which provides an intimate and voyeuristic look into their thoughts, emotions, and machinations. The story revolves around the manipulative and cunning Marquise de Merteuil and the seductive Vicomte de Valmont, who engage in a game of seduction and manipulation, using their sexual conquests as a means to seek revenge and exert power over others.Throughout the novel, the characters engage in intricate plots ...

Choderlos de Laclos Pierre – Les Liaisons dangereuses : Promis à la vie militaire en tant que cadet d’une famille récemment anoblie, l’officier d’artillerie Pierre Choderlos de Laclos végète dans des garnisons de province où il participe cependant à la vie mondaine. Déçu dans ses ambitions militaires, il décide de frapper un grand coup littéraire. “Je résolus de faire un ouvrage qui sortît de la route ordinaire, qui fît du bruit et qui retentît encore sur la terre quand j’y aurais passé …”...

Dangerous Liaisons is set in pre-Revolutionary France and revolves around the manipulative and morally ambiguous schemes of two wealthy and influential characters: the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont. The novel is structured as a series of letters exchanged between the characters, which reveal their intricate and often ruthless plans.Marquise de Merteuil: A cunning and vengeful woman who uses her charm and intelligence to manipulate those around her. She seeks to ruin the r...

Two bored aristocrats corrupt a convent girl and a devout wife as a wager, and record every move in letters to each other. Laclos was an artillery officer who wrote it to make a name and succeeded so completely that he was suspected of being one of his own characters; all four volumes are here. This edition carries all four volumes in Thomas Moore's translation, with fifty-nine plates after Lancret, Caraffe, Regnault and Chardin, painted between 1701 and 1805.

"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos is an 18th-century epistolary novel exploring manipulation, seduction, and moral corruption among the French aristocracy.The story unfolds through letters exchanged between the cunning Marquise de Merteuil and the notorious Vicomte de Valmont, former lovers who conspire to corrupt others for amusement and revenge. Their main targets include the virtuous Madame de Tourvel, whom Valmont seeks to seduce, and the innocent young C...

You see, my dear friend, that I keep my word to you, and that bonnets and frills do not take up all my time; there will always be some left for you. However, I have seen more adornments in this one single day than in all the four years we passed together; and I think that the superb Tanville will have more vexation at my first visit, when I shall certainly ask to see her, than she has ever fancied that she afforded us, when she used to come and see us infiocchi. Mamma has consulted me in e...

The complex moral ambiguities of seduction and revenge make Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature. The subject of major film and stage adaptations, the novel's prime movers, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, form an unholy alliance and turn seduction into a game - a game which they must win. This new translation gives Laclos a modern voice, and readers will be able a judge whether the novel is ...

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos produced "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" in an effort to "write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on this earth after his death." He did just that. First published in 1782 in four volumes, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" was an immediate success, and has since inspired a large number of literary commentaries, plays, and films. The novel is an epistolary piece, written as letters between members of the French noble class. An...

"Dangerous Connections," Volume III by means of Choderlos de Laclos, is a charming exploration of ardour, manipulation, and moral ambiguity within the decadent French aristocracy of the 18th century. This epistolary novel, unfolds thru a series of letters exchanged among its characters, presenting an intimate and elaborate portrayal in their relationships. At the coronary heart of the narrative are the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, cunning and amoral aristocrats who emba...

"Dangerous Connections," Volume IV by means of Choderlos de Laclos, is a charming exploration of ardour, manipulation, and moral ambiguity within the decadent French aristocracy of the 18th century. This epistolary novel, unfolds thru a series of letters exchanged among its characters, presenting an intimate and elaborate portrayal in their relationships. At the coronary heart of the narrative are the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, cunning and amoral aristocrats who embar...

"Dangerous Connections," Volume II by means of Choderlos de Laclos, is a charming exploration of ardour, manipulation, and moral ambiguity within the decadent French aristocracy of the 18th century. This epistolary novel, unfolds thru a series of letters exchanged among its characters, presenting an intimate and elaborate portrayal in their relationships. At the coronary heart of the narrative are the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, cunning and amoral aristocrats who embar...