Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"Boucher painted the book of libertinism, and Nerciat described the feel of it. Laclos wrote down its rules in vitriol and thereby destroyed it." --Eros Denied (1964) by Wayland Young |
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Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (October 18, 1741, Amiens, France - September 5, 1803, Taranto, Italy) was a French novelist, official and army general.
As a writer, he is best remembered for his epistolary novel, Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), a classic celebrated for its exploration of seduction, revenge, and human malice, presented in the form of fictional letters collected and published by a fictional author whose intent was to portray a morality tale about the corrupt, squalid nobility of the Ancien Régime. The book was viewed as scandalous at the time of its publications and the real intentions of the author remain unknown.
The story has been adapted as a film several times—notably in 1988 as Dangerous Liaisons, directed by Stephen Frears, in 1989 as Valmont, directed by Miloš Forman with screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière, and in 1999 as Cruel Intentions, written and directed by Roger Kumble.
Laclos died in the former convent of Saint Francis in Taranto, but following the demise of Napoleon Bonaparte the locals destroyed his burial tomb and it is believed that his bones were tossed into the sea (citation required).
Bibliography
- Ernestine (1776)
- Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782)
- Des Femmes et de leur éducation (1783)
- Instructions aux assemblées de bailliage (1789)
- Journal des amis de la Constitution (1790–1791)
- De la guerre et de la paix (1795)