| Dangerous Liaisons Contributor(s): Choderlos de Laclos, Pierre (Author), Constantine, Helen (Introduction by), Constantine, Helen (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0140449574 ISBN-13: 9780140449570 Publisher: Penguin Group OUR PRICE: $11.70 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2007 Annotation: The complex moral ambiguities of seduction and revenge make Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature. Its prime movers, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, gifted, wealthy, and bored, form an unholy alliance and turn seduction into a game - a game which they must win. And they play with such wit and style that it is impossible not to admire them - until they discover that the game has mysterious rules that they cannot understand. In the ensuing vicious battle there can be no victors, and the innocent will suffer with the guilty. This new translation gives Laclos a modern voice, and readers will be able to judge whether the novel is as 'diabolical' and 'infamous' as its critics have claimed, or whether it has much to tell us about the kind of world we ourselves live in. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Epistolary |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Series: Penguin Classics |
| Physical Information: 1.05" H x 5.16" W x 7.76" (0.73 lbs) 448 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 18th Century - Cultural Region - French - Cultural Region - Western Europe |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |