author
Choderlos de Laclos
1741–1803
Best remembered for Dangerous Liaisons, he turned a sharp eye on power, seduction, and manipulation in one of the great scandalous novels of the 18th century. His life as a career military officer gave his writing an unusual mix of discipline, strategy, and cool psychological insight.
4 Audiobooks
Les liaisons dangereuses, volume 2 (of 2) or, Letters collected in a private society and published for the instruction of others
by Choderlos de Laclos
Dangerous Connections, v. 1, 2, 3, 4 A Series of Letters, selected from the Correspondence of a Private Circle; and Published for the Instruction of Society.
by Choderlos de Laclos
About the author
Born in Amiens in 1741, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos was a French soldier and writer who spent much of his life in the army. He is now chiefly known for Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782), the epistolary novel published in English as Dangerous Liaisons, which became famous for its brilliant, unsettling portrait of aristocratic intrigue.
Reference works describe him as both a military officer and a novelist, and that combination helps explain his distinct voice: precise, controlled, and deeply interested in tactics—whether on the battlefield or in private life. Although he wrote on other subjects, his reputation rests above all on this one extraordinary novel, often seen as an early masterpiece of psychological fiction.
Laclos died in 1803 in Taranto, Italy. More than two centuries later, his work still feels modern for the way it exposes vanity, cruelty, desire, and the games people play with one another.