Dangerous Liaisons

A new translation of one of the most notorious novels of all time Published just years before the French Revolution, Laclos’s great novel of moral and emotional depravity is a disturbing and ultimately damning portrayal of a decadent society. Aristocrats and ex-lovers Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont embark on a sophisticated game of seduction and manipulation to bring amusement to their jaded lives. While Merteuil challenges Valmont to seduce an innocent convent girl, he is also occupied with the conquest of a virtuous married woman. Eventually their human pawns respond, and the consequences prove to be more serious—and deadly—than the players could have ever predicted.

Choderlos de Laclos (1741-û1803) entered the army at the age of eighteen and reached the rank of capitaine-commandant without seeing battle. He was sent to the island of Aix, where Dangerous Liaisons was written.
Helen Constantine, current chairman of the Translators-' Association, has translated Th+¬ophile Gautier-'s Mademoiselle de Maupin for Penguin Classics.