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  • The Study of Manipulation

  • This novel, which was written before the French Revolution, is told solely through the character's correspondances with one another. Some letters are less than enlightening (I found Presidente de Tourvel's and Valmont's bantering quite annoying), but these are minor glitches in a fabulous work that ... Continue

    This novel, which was written before the French Revolution, is told solely through the character's correspondances with one another. Some letters are less than enlightening (I found Presidente de Tourvel's and Valmont's bantering quite annoying), but these are minor glitches in a fabulous work that exposes the French aristocratic lifestyle.

    The Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil are two of the best villains ever created! They're heartless and destructive, yet everyone believes them sincere. They trap the naive in finely spun webs for mere entertainment. They are partners in crime, describing their plots and sexual conquests in detail. It becomes a competition of who can achieve more. De Laclos provides a brilliant study on human apathy that will leave you shaking your head in disgust.

    

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• ― MoirneStark said on Jul 10, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

In the decadent and degenerate world of the pre-revolutionary French aristocracy the suave, satanically elegant Vicomte de Valmont (Ciaran Hinds) and his beautiful ex-lover La Marquise de Merteuil (Lindsay Duncan) play an elaborate and cynical game of sexual conquest and emotional sadism.

Rejecting the prospect of seducing the fifteen-year-old Cecile as too easy a conquest, Valmont seeks prey more worthy of his talent and reputation.  And Madame de Tourvel (Emma Fielding), pious, married and absolutely faithful to both her husband and her God, would be his greatest coup.

As Valmont slowly ensnares his victim he becomes, despite himself, increasingly attracted to her - which is not at all to the liking of his ex-mistress.  And Valmont finds himself challenged by a woman every bit as capable of double-dealing as himself.

• 800 Literatureepistolaryfrench lit16-18th century lit18Ctranslationnovelfiction