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Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Penguin Classics)
by: Pierre-Ambrois-Francois Choderlos de Laclos

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 843.6
EAN: 9780140441161
ISBN: 0140441166
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: November 30, 1961
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Sales Rank: 433449
Studio: Penguin Classics

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Product Description:
An epistolary novel chronicles the cruel seduction of a young girl by two ruthless, 18th-century aristocrats.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Moral, not immoral, piece of work
I've seen the 1988 picture directed by Stephen Frears several times, and each viewing left me making a promise to myself that I would read the book. Finally I do it with great enthusiasm. This is a reminder that I am reviewing Les Liaisons Dangereuses published by Oxford World's Classics. At the beginning, I am greeted by the bibliography of the author Choderlos de Laclos and then an overlong thirty page introduction of first half offering more insights into Choderlos' life and his personality which is quite educating and second half which dreadfully becomes an analysis of the story itself I am about to embark to read (but I skipped reading the latter half entirely). At least I can say thanks to the presenter for failing to mention that excessively odious made film with three kids that was released in 1999. Now Les Liaisons Dangereuses...I'll say that I am torn apart between two aspects. Firstly, I couldn't stand ... Read More

Rating:

- A wicked tale
I think it was Kierkegaard who advised to be aware of entangling alliances. The web of sin in this book is masterfully woven as letters to frame-up an epistolary novel in which each character's letters speak volumes about the characters themselves. The novel was written in the same period as Rousseau in the Napoleonic era, when the novel as a genre was relatively young. Valmont is the penultimate anti-hero and knave who finds decadent pleasure in conquering, as if it were a military campaign, and then abandoning beautiful, prominent women in high society. His cohort the Marquise de Merteuil must be considered one of the great fiends of this new genre, who earns her just rewards. It's fascinating to witness the noose tightening in the exchange of letters among the characters. The dialogue about the nature of love is beautifully articulated in many places, where it is sincere. "And love: does one have it when one wills? ... Read More

Rating:

- The moralists against the hedonists
I used the Lowell Blair translation.

A lesson in morality----the moralists against the hedonists. Dangerous liaisons, or acquaintances, is a novel against an immoral, powerful and envied class----the aristocrats; it sent a shock-wave through France. The book is in the form of letters, which average two pages each. One man, with his Aunt as an accomplice, sets out to conquer and seduce woman, and split a young couple through deceit and manipulation; it ends in tragedy.

De Laclos wrote for the French army in the late eighteenth century; this was his only novel. He does a remarkable job conveying to the reader the demeanor and uniqueness of each character, from a fifteen to a ninety year old (although the fifteen year old girl does come of as a bit too mature for her age); he is able to leave much to the imagination. I think the use of English names would have made it easier ... Read More

Rating:

- Laclos' Libertine Lust
Dangerous Liaisons (1782) is an epistolary novel, the print candy of the voyeur with the slightest degree of imagination. Laclos has penned letters that weave an intricate toile of lives, loves and hates set in French estates, countrysides and city scapes. Letters between the two leads, a lechorous libertine male (gentelman is unwarrented in his case) and a Grand Dame of French society (on the surface, manipulative witch is far more accurate) for the crux of the story. They spend their time manipulating those around them, creating love affairs, while having strings of assignations with the (guilty and trouble) puppets. During the course of manipulations an increasing antipathy forms between the two main characters. The manipulated are portrayed in the conspirator's letters as insipid, stupid near sock puppets - yet in their own letters they are a moral balance to leading couple. If you are looking for a guide ... Read More

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