Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos De Laclos
Paperback book
Penguin 1989? (Translation Copyright 1961)
Love… sex… seduction. Of the three, only
the last matters. Love is a meaningless
word, and sex an ephemeral pleasure, but seduction is an amusing game in which
victory means power and the ability to humiliate one’s enemies and revel with
one’s friends. So it is for the Vicomte
de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, two supremely bored aristocrats during
the final years before the French Revolution.
Together they concoct a wildly wicked wager: If Valmont can successfully seduce the
virtuous wife of a government official, Madame de Tourvel, then Madame Merteuil
will sleep with him again. But Madame
Merteuil also wants Valmont to conquer the young and innocent former convent
schoolgirl, Cécile Volanges. Can he do
both?
When Les Liaisons Dangereuses was first published in 1782, it both scandalised
and titillated the aristocracy it was aimed against, who publicly denounced it
and privately devoured it. Today we
still recognise its relevance, for what could be more contemporary than its
appalling image of everyday evil - small, selfish, manipulative, and mean.
Condition:
The book is in very good condition for an ex-library book. The cover has a plastic library covering and
has a couple of slightly bent corners and faint surface marks and
scratches. Inside, the book has a couple of library stamps and related writing, a small bit missing to the top of the inside page, a couple
of slightly creased / bent corners, minor marks and wear and very slight age
browning. The pages appear to be in
tight and clean condition.