9780451501271 - Title: Liaisons Dangereuses Les by Choderlos De Laclos, Pierre-ambrois-francois (1 results)

paperback. Condition: Very Good in Wrappers. No Jacket. First Edition. New York. 1962. May 1962. Signet/New American Library. 1st Signet Classic Paperback Edition. Very Good in Wrappers. 0451501276. Translated From The French By Richard Aldington. Foreword By Harry Levin. 384 pages. paperback. CT127. keywords: Signet Classic Paperback Literature France Translated 18th Century. DESCRIPTION - The systematic corruption of the innocent by two partners - in - jealousy is the theme of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the great French novel that crystallizes the tragedy of the highly civilized society where the intellect reigns supreme in every facet of life, especially love. Revealed through their intimate, wickedly detached correspondence.; the conquests effected by the Marquise de Merteuil and the libertine Valmont, her former lover, are, on the surface, motivated by revenge. In a deeper sense, they are seen to be the results of a power struggle between the pair for sexual supremacy. Laclos has likened their exposure and eventual ruin to the doom of the hyperrational eighteenth - century regime whose immoralities he had observed so closely. Andre Gide wrote of the author and his masterpiece: 'There is no doubt as to his being hand in glove with Satan. Yet this book, diabolical as its inspiration is, turns out, like every work of profound observation and exact expression, to contain, without the author's desire, much more instruction on morals than many a well - intentioned treatise.' inventory #29125.