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Tue 23 Mar, 2004 12:56 pm
Hey everyone; I was wondering whether anyone else liked my favourite book of all time, Laclos' 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses?' Ever since I first took it out-- alongside 'A hero of our time'-- at the age of thirteen, the book enthralled me. If you've not heard of it, which I guess is doubtful if you clicked this thread, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is the heroless tale of two disillusioned aristocrats-- the Marquise de Merteuil, and the Vicomte de Valmont-- and their debauched, complex game of destroying everyone around them: always unaware that they will destroy themselves. Like in Lolita, the protagonists are-- if one looks at them at face value-- absolutely detestable. But, through sparkling letters, Laclos gets us to appreciate their wit and genius; even though what they're doing-- destroying the innocent Mlle. de Volanges and the reputable Mme. de Tourvel-- repels us. Laclos, for me, has one of the best skills of characterisation ever seen; and, in deftly dealing with such emotive subjects as ruin, love, lust, despair and depravity, he both ties knots and leaves ambiguities: did Valmont really love Tourvel? Was his betrayal of her a result of false priorities? Should we look to Merteuil and Valmont as villains, or strange heroes?
I can't commend it too highly; I think that everyone should read it; what do you all think?
It is a wonderful book, very entertaining, and "closely" written (one needs to pay attention). I also felt that when it was made into a motion picture, they didn't do a bad job, given the limitations of that medium. I do recall being sad, though, to think that Hollywood was so hard up for good scripts, that they had to reach back two hundred years to come up with a really compelling story.
It is ironic-- and saddening--, you're right, that the supposed 'pinnacle' of writing (yeah, right!) should need to revive two-hundred year old scripts. I don't think that I can say that I prefer any film to a book; a film just.. loses nuance. Still, I probably would prefer to see an adaption of something like LLD than something.. so entirely inpersonal; movies churned out to-day that don't have their own uniqueness at all; in which the words could be anywhere. Did you think that Valmont loved Tourvel, Setanta?
Perhaps, although that would be as in "realized he loved her too late." Perhaps this is why he so carelessly surrendered his life (in a sense, he ought never to have lost, his carelessness was tantamount to suicide)? Laclos provides just enough information on the character's motivation to involve one in the story, but not enough to eliminate the piquancy of wondering. It is a tour de force, in my never humble opinion
Thanks for this thread Drom.....yes to films losing
and creating havoc with the essence of a novel.....Look no further than
"Out of Africa" starring Meryl Streep and Robert
Redford, and written by the inimitable Karen
Blixon.............
Out of Africa was excellent--fortunately, i never saw the fil-um.
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