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Dangerous Liaisons
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Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
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3 stars
This book has been on my to-do list for quite a few years. I am glad to have finally read it. Originally published in 1782, it is a novel of France's aristocracy as told through letters. The protagonists are Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont who scheme against the young and naive Cecile Volanges and Chevalier Danceny. Other themes include distinction of classes, coming-of-age, language/relationships through letters, love and marriage. I appreciate the uniqueness of the novel for the time period but the story seemed dated to me and the characters unlikable. Looking forward to re-watching the movie.
“Yes I will carefully keep those letters he no longer cares to retain. I will impose upon myself the shame of re-reading them every day, until my tears have washed out the last traces of them; and I shall burn his as being infected with the dangerous poison which has corrupted my soul.”
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I read this (and listened to it). My book was translated by Helen Constantine. The book is an epistolary book written by the author in 1782 and is an excellent example of a a pre soap opera book set in France. I didn't care for the characters. It reminded me just a bit of The Charterhouse of Parma. This book was quite scandalous when it was written and it serves as a morality tale. Rating: 4.285
I loved this book. I wish I had read it rather than listened to an audio version because I was rather confused about who was who to begin with. As the story developed through letters written by various characters their characteristics shone through, both in their use of language and in their attitudes. It was an original theme and the main protagonists were breathtaking in their cynicism and insouciance, engaging in a game of one upmanship with each other in how successfully they could seduce the innocent.
I am very impressed that an army engineer who was evidently devoted to his wife had the imagination to come up with the reasoning of his main "monster" characters. The tone of voice throughout with its, to use Pip's phrase: "cynicism and insouciance", is done at a very high level. Also, unlike Clarissa, where the author's main goal appears to be to make the reader understand Clarissa's suffering (and sell more books), here the author is really going for entertainment at a very subtle level. The labor and middle class may have brandished the book to condemn the upper classes but they nevertheless bought and read the book which implies that they thoroughly enjoyed it. We have very dastardly deeds and double plots galore combined with innocent victims that are not very innocent and manipulations right and left. To top it off, the "monsters" pay for their crimes through death, or a living death of being hideous and poverty stricken. I really enjoyed this one.
Great book: gave it 4 stars. I thought it was so effective at portraying the horrible idle rich who see everyone as pawns in their fabricated struggles because they are so idle and rich that they can see everything and everyone in terms of commodities for them in trying to relive their existential boredom when they can buy their way out of every other problem.It also makes great commentary on the evil of a society that allows this to occur, and how an out of touch ultra-rich class will drag other people into petty machinations at the detriment to everyone else (in modern terms I think of Elon Musk giving and then revoking internet aid to Ukraine when a Ukrainian official criticized him).I can see how this book helped add flames to already existing revolutionary sentiment.
Some other aspects I really enjoyed were Valmont playing at being one of those pathetic men who claim he needs a woman's love to 'save' him in some way. Sadly, a ruse still used by some men (including secular ones that now frame it as women being responsible for improving their mental health or desire to live, or ability to succeed); the older women being 'educators' by ironically being the enforcers/teachers of the gender roles of the time, and their 'helpful advice' while perhaps does make the lives of younger women easier in this time/place, essentially teaches them what their limitations and restrictions are as women; that bizarre allegiance many servants had to their employers, in their involvement in the machinations and their 'absolute honesty' to their masters and how unreturned it is (and how the bourgeoise are also like this with their servants and try to mingle more with the aristocracy despite them being far removed from both of these classes), and love being discussed in battle and commodity terms to show how deplorable the ruling class truly is.
What a delight it was to re-read this book. I love the juxtaposition of the different type of letter; scheming ones next to flowery, love-struck ones. It is fascinating to be in the heads of the Vicomte and Marquise as they devote themselves to exploiting others for their own advantage. They are so charming and yet so ruthless.
Laclos takes aim at the convent (un)education of women which leaves them vulnerable and unprotected and a society which makes its members idle and easily jaded but allows hypocrisy as long as it is undiscovered.
One of my favourite books of all time.
Letters written by randy French Aristocrats.
The language was so flowery & the subject matter of the courtship of characters that were mostly unlikeable & had nothing better to think about than the trembling of their own hearts had me skip-reading a lot of this. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book robotically, half-writing a shopping list in my head, but unfortunately I did with this. I can appreciate the history of this novel - written close to the beginning of the French Revolution - and can see why it’s termed a Classic but it’s given me a closer understanding why starving peasants rioted.