Les Liaisons dangereuses (na francuskom: Opasne veze) je epistolarni roman koga je 1782.

objavio francuski knjievnik Choderlos de Laclos. Njegovi protagonisti su markiza de Merteuil i vikont de Valmont, dvoje plemia i bivih ljubavnika koje koriste seks i manipulaciju kako bi se osvetili jedno drugom. esto se navodi kako roman predstavlja prikaz moralne dekadencije vladajue klase u predrevolucionarnoj Francuskoj. Roman je doivio veliku popularnost te bio estim predmetom kazalinih, filmskih i televizijskih adaptacija.

Les Liaisons dangereuses (French pronunciation: le lj .z d . . z ; The Dangerous Liaisons) is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two rivals (and ex-lovers) who use sex as a weapon to humiliate and degrade others, all the while enjoying their cruel games. It has been claimed to depict the decadence of the French aristocracy shortly before the French Revolution, thereby exposing the perversions of the so-called Ancien Rgime. However, it has also been described as a vague, amoral story. As an epistolary novel, the book is composed entirely of letters written by the various characters to each other. In particular, the letters between Valmont and the Marquise drive the plot, with those of other characters serving as illustrations to give the story its depth. It is often claimed to be the source of the saying "Revenge is a dish best served cold", a paraphrased translation of "La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid" (more literally, "Revenge is a dish that is eaten cold"). However the expression does not actually occur in the original novel in any form

Plot summary[edit]
The Vicomte de Valmont is determined to seduce the virtuous (and married) Madame de Tourvel, who is living with Valmont's aunt while Monsieur de Tourvel, a magistrate, is away on a court case. At the same time, the Marquise de Merteuil is determined to corrupt the young Ccile de Volanges, whose mother has only recently brought her out of a convent to be married to Merteuil's recent lover, who has become bored with her and discarded her. Ccile falls in love with the Chevalier Danceny (her music tutor), and Merteuil and Valmont pretend to want to help the secret lovers in order to gain their trust, so that they can use them later in their own schemes. Merteuil suggests that the Vicomte seduce Ccile in order to exact her revenge on Ccile's future husband. Valmont refuses, finding the task too easy, and preferring to devote himself to seducing Madame de Tourvel. Merteuil promises Valmont that if he seduces Madame de Tourvel and provides her with written proof, she will spend the night with him. He expects rapid success, but does not find it as easy as his many other conquests. During the course of his pursuit, he discovers that Ccile's mother has written to Madame de Tourvel about his bad reputation. He avenges himself in seducing Ccile as Merteuil had suggested. In the meantime, Merteuil takes Danceny as a lover. By the time Valmont has succeeded in seducing Madame de Tourvel, it is suggested that he might have fallen in love with her. Jealous, Merteuil tricks him into deserting Madame de Tourvel and reneges on her promise of spending the night with him. In response Valmont reveals that he prompted Danceny to

reunite with Ccile, leaving Merteuil abandoned yet again. Merteuil declares war on Valmont, and in revenge she reveals to Danceny that Valmont has seduced Ccile. Danceny and Valmont duel, and Valmont is fatally wounded. Before he dies, he is reconciled with Danceny, giving him the letters proving Merteuil's own involvement. These letters are sufficient to ruin her reputation and she flees to the countryside, where she contracts smallpox. Her face is left permanently scarred and she is rendered blind in one eye, so she loses her greatest asset: her beauty. But the innocent also suffer from the protagonist's schemes: hearing of Valmont's death, Madame de Tourvel succumbs to a fever and dies, while Ccile returns to the convent.

Literary significance and criticism[edit]

Les Liaisons dangereuses is celebrated for its exploration of seduction, revenge and human malice, presented in the form of fictional letters collected and published by a fictional author. The book was viewed as scandalous at the time of its initial publication, though the real intentions of the author remain unknown. It has been suggested that Laclos's intention was the same as that of his fictional author in the novel; to write a morality tale about the corrupt, squalid nobility of the Ancien Rgime. However, this theory has been questioned on several grounds. In the first place, Laclos enjoyed the patronage of France's most senioraristocrat the duc d'Orlans. Secondly, all the characters in the story are aristocrats, including the virtuous heroines Madame de Tourvel and Madame de Rosemonde. Finally, many ultra-royalist and conservative figures enjoyed the book, including Queen Marie Antoinette, which suggests that despite its scandalous reputation it was not viewed as a political work until the events of the French Revolution years later made it appear as such, with the benefit of hindsight. Wayland Young notes that most critics have viewed the work as ... a sort of celebration, or at least a neutral statement, of libertinism... pernicious and damnable... Almost everyone who has written about it has noted how perfunctory are the wages of sin..." He argues, however, that ... the mere analysis of libertinism carried out by a novelist with such a prodigious command of his medium... was enough to condemn it and play a large part in its destruction.
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In a well-known essay on Les Liaisons dangereuses, which has often been used as a preface to French editions of the novel, Andr Malraux argues that, despite its debt to the libertine tradition, Les Liaisons dangereuses is more significant as the introduction of a new kind of character in French fiction. The Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, Malraux writes, are creations "without precedent". [2] They are "the first [in European literature] whose acts are determined by an ideology". In a manner, Les Liaisons dangereuses is a literary counterthesis to the epistolary novel as executed with Richardson's Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. Whereas Richardson uses the technique of letters to provide the reader with a feeling of knowing the protagonist's true and intimate thoughts, Laclos' use of this literary device is exactly opposite: by presenting the reader with grossly conflicting views from the same writer when addressing different recipients, it is left to the reader to reconcile story, intentions and

characters behind the letters. The use of duplicitous characters with one virtuous face can be viewed as a complex criticism of the immensively popular nave moral epistolary novel.

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