Dangerous Liaisons: The Novel

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 masterpiece, Dangerous Liaisons, remains one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature. Composed entirely of imagined letters, this epistolary novel coldly dissects the psychology of passion and the destructive nature of social games among the French aristocracy. In this course, we examine how this anatomy of 18th-century amorality reflects surprisingly modern behaviors and universal human emotions. Our discussion focuses on the rivalry between the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two jaded lovers-turned-adversaries who treat human lives as pawns. The fire that burns between them, as Baudelaire famously put it, is an “icy fire” where lives are played with, ruined, and lost. By analyzing this wicked social game, we reveal the novel’s final amorality and its timeless exploration of sensuality, jealousy, and despair. Suggested book: Dangerous Liaisons, by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.