Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782)

A book on scandal with a scandalous history of its own! The famed French poet Baudelaire said of it, "If this book burns, it burns as only ice can burn."
 
When Les Liaisons Dangereuses was first published in 1782, it caused a great scandal in France. Forty years later, it was subjected to a government decree that condemned it and was destroyed for the ‘danger’ it posed to society. In fact, it was publicly incinerated!

Les Liaisons Dangereuses is an 18th century novel written by  Pierre Ambroise Francois Choderlos de Laclos, a French novelist and army officer. It's a fabulous novel of the French aristocracy, with a story that amply lives up to its notorious reputation.

The novel is entirely made up of letters, as written by various characters to one another. There’s a phalanx of nobles involved, with the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont working together to seduce the married noblewoman Madame de Tourvel and the young, impressionable Cécile de Volanges.

The novel serves as a study in human cruelty, depraved vanity and sexual intrigue – the protagonists are steeped in the art of seduction and scheming, where friendships are betrayed, love is abused, trust destroyed and lives driven to tragedy.

At the heart of it all is an overwhelming desire to exact revenge and a selfish determination to declare victory over virtue. One also wonders whether there is something to be said for the excesses of boredom as well.

To a certain extent, the novel comes across as a celebration of sin – there appears to be no end to the successes of the villains. One after another, the virtuous fall under the persistent pressure of pursuit and the innocents are robbed of their faith in friendship and love.

At the same time, it’s not so black and white as it may first appear. There is a tipping point to those valiantly attempting to protect their virtue and innocence. There is a point at which they surrender, whether out of perceived necessity or out of sheer exhaustion – but they do surrender, and that consciousness is the deadly burden they carry to the bitter end.

But they don’t surrender to your average villain – these are highly intelligent, charming schemers with well laid out traps. They are glamorous, well connected and disturbingly ruthless. You may even admire them – but only so far.

This painting of Choderlos de Laclos is attributed to Alexander Kucharski (1741-1819),
Amiens, Musée de l'hôtel de Berny. Source: Wikipedia

In light of the French revolution that took place years after the publication of the novel, it has come to be viewed as a political work, but at the time Laclos wrote the novel this was not so. His intention was to “write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on earth after his death.” And what an achievement!

The language is beautiful – well-articulated thoughts in flowing phrases – but at times it can make for an exhausting read. It calls for a deeper level of concentration. Of course, reading it made me feel as if we’ve lost some of the skill needed to bend and shape a language at its expressive best. Here’s a short taste:

You pretend to be afraid of love, and do not wish to see that it is you alone who are the cause of the evils for which you hold love to blame. Ah, certainly, it is a painful feeling when it is not shared by the one who inspires it. But let it be reciprocated, and where else can happiness be looked for? Tender affection, mutual confidence – and a confidence without reserve – griefs assuaged and pleasures multiplied, sweet hopes, delicious memories, where else but in love can these be found? You slander its name, you who have only to cease from resisting it in order to taste all the joys it has to offer you. As for me, I forget all my sufferings to speak in its defence.

It’s great story with a constantly moving plot line. It keeps you guessing and rather on edge, which I believe is generally a good sign for a novel. It also lets you delve deep into the human psyche and discover some brutal truths. In this sense of revelation lies the strength of this fascinating tale.