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Title: Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Author: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Genre: Classic
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: A pair of rakes, one male and one female, basically bring misery and destruction to everyone who knows them. But so stylishly.
Thoughts: This is a book about terrible people doing terrible things.
But they're so very clever and witty, and the innocent people they're doing awful things to are so foolish and naive, that you find yourself rooting for them. Valmont and Merteuil are deliciously wicked, until one of them says something that pulls you up sharply.
The really distressing thing is that almost nothing Valmont writes would be that different than any of the garbage spouted by a lot of Men's Rights activists and Pick-Up Artists today. He wants a woman who doesn't want him, therefore she is a game. She tries to gently demur, so he steps up his game. She frantically tries to get him to leave her alone, therefore she must totally want him. She tricks him into allowing her to escape, therefore she is a bitch who humiliated him, and now he's justified in doing anything at all to ruin her as thoroughly as possible. It's awful...and horribly familiar.
Merteuil, on the other hand, is far more interesting. She very carefully maintains a reputation of piety and respectableness so that she can do what she want. She's a brilliant auto-didact whose learning is entirely disrespected by those around her. But she's got her own streak of viciousness about her, and gleefully sets up both the unjust and the just for ruin.
It's not entirely clear how much the author sympathizes with, and wants us to sympathize with, his characters. A quick glance at reviews over the centuries reveals that no one's ever been quite certain of this.
The letters between Valmont and Merteuil are a guilty delight. Unfortunately, the ones between Valmont and his quarry are tediously repetitive. The pacing...takes some getting used to. Written entirely in epistolary format, the action scenes are entirely skipped while the musing tends to linger. It makes some of the key pivots of the story remarkably understated, which can be its own reward. But it takes some patience to untangle it all.
Author: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Genre: Classic
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: A pair of rakes, one male and one female, basically bring misery and destruction to everyone who knows them. But so stylishly.
Thoughts: This is a book about terrible people doing terrible things.
But they're so very clever and witty, and the innocent people they're doing awful things to are so foolish and naive, that you find yourself rooting for them. Valmont and Merteuil are deliciously wicked, until one of them says something that pulls you up sharply.
The really distressing thing is that almost nothing Valmont writes would be that different than any of the garbage spouted by a lot of Men's Rights activists and Pick-Up Artists today. He wants a woman who doesn't want him, therefore she is a game. She tries to gently demur, so he steps up his game. She frantically tries to get him to leave her alone, therefore she must totally want him. She tricks him into allowing her to escape, therefore she is a bitch who humiliated him, and now he's justified in doing anything at all to ruin her as thoroughly as possible. It's awful...and horribly familiar.
Merteuil, on the other hand, is far more interesting. She very carefully maintains a reputation of piety and respectableness so that she can do what she want. She's a brilliant auto-didact whose learning is entirely disrespected by those around her. But she's got her own streak of viciousness about her, and gleefully sets up both the unjust and the just for ruin.
It's not entirely clear how much the author sympathizes with, and wants us to sympathize with, his characters. A quick glance at reviews over the centuries reveals that no one's ever been quite certain of this.
The letters between Valmont and Merteuil are a guilty delight. Unfortunately, the ones between Valmont and his quarry are tediously repetitive. The pacing...takes some getting used to. Written entirely in epistolary format, the action scenes are entirely skipped while the musing tends to linger. It makes some of the key pivots of the story remarkably understated, which can be its own reward. But it takes some patience to untangle it all.
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Date: 2015-04-25 03:38 am (UTC)From: