A criminal court condemned the work and it was publicly incinerated. The novel caused quite a scandal in its day and in the decades following its release. 'I resolved to write a book that would be quite outside the ordinary trend, which would make a sensation and echo over the world after I left it.' So wrote the author in 1782 ( Source). It's been a miniseries and ballet as well. Does Cruel Intentions with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Legally Blonde ring a bell? Well, that was another movie adaptation of the novel. Or Valmont, a 1989 version with Colin Firth (sigh) as the seducer. Maybe you've heard of the 1988 movie Dangerous Liaisons with John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Glenn Close. In fact, this novel is so depraved, scandalous and immoral that people couldn't stop adapting it into plays and films. Since we get to read all the letters, we see how the novel is loaded with dramatic irony-we know what terrible stuff's going on while most of the characters have no idea. And the letters tell the scandalous tales. The liaisons detailed in this book are secret, sometimes forbidden sexual encounters. Letters between young things who'd love to be lovers. Les Liaisons Dangereuses, by Chodelos de Laclos, is all about letters. They didn't text back then, unless Doctor Who visited, but they did write letters. Sound like a bad reality TV show or the latest in Twilight fan fic? Well, it was actually the basic setup of a French novel published in 1782, in which two conniving friends see the world as a game in which you can only win by crushing your enemies. She's texting back, ridiculing him for one of his pursuits and encouraging him in the other. He's texting his ex, telling her all about his unsavory exploits and shamelessly going on and on about how awesome he is. Imagine a bored, wealthy guy with all the time in the world who spends it trying to seduce and ruin the reputations of two women. Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) Introduction

Les Liaisons dangereuses by C. Laclos