Did She Fall Or Was She Pushed? Dangerous Liaisons Readalong 2024

[BishyBarnyBee]

Following a series of successful Fallen Women readalongs - War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, Ruth - we continue our exploration of desire, hypocrisy, disgrace and redemption with the earlier (and even more scandalous) Dangerous Liaisons.

Widely adapted in text, film, opera and even ballet, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is an epistolatory novel comprising 175 letters.

Author Chodelos de Laclos "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." His book was a succès de scandale on its 1782 publication, reviewed as "diabolique" while becoming an instant bestseller. Marie Antoinette commissioned a blank cover copy for her library, and Virginia Woolf later read it with "great delight".

Readalongs are Mumsnet's best kept secret - a quiet corner of the site where we tackle the books we might not manage alone, sharing our thoughts and reactions, and encouraging each other to keep going when life - or the book - are challenging. It's fine to dip in and out as life permits, very few of us manage to keep up consistently.

We've only heard good things about DL, so do join us for a cracking good read. We start 1st May, 1 letter a day:

1 - 31 May Letters 1 - 31
1 - 30 June Letters 32 - 61
1 - 31 July Letters 62 - 92
1 - 31 August Letters 93 - 123
1- 30 September 124 - 153
1 - 22nd October 154 - 175

There are summaries of each letter at shmoop.com. I'll post them when I can, but anyone is welcome to start us off if you are first here on the day.

Looking forward to it!

Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) Summary

Free summary and analysis of the events in Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos's Les Liaisons dangereus...

Letter 150: The Chevalier Danceny to Madame de Merteuil

• In his weepy style, Danceny explains why the two of them should write to one another when they cannot see each other in person.
• He doesn't understand why the Marquise has decided that writing to each other would be dangerous.

Letter 151: The Vicomte de Valmont to the Marquise de Merteuil

• Valmont can't believe the Marquise could think she could keep from him the fact that she has been seeing Danceny.
• Is he to be treated like a naïve schoolboy who can't figure things out?
• She's been in Paris for four days and has seen Danceny each day. She has not seen Valmont.
• Valmont is not pleased. Nope. Nope. Nope.
• He insists she give up seeing the boy, just as he gave up Madame de Tourvel, who even at that minute is probably dying of grief
• He insists on seeing her tomorrow evening to get his reward.
• He warns her that things will go very badly for her if she refuses.
• This is starting to get ugly.

Letter 152: The Marquise de Merteuil to the Vicomte de Valmont

• The Marquise explains that she never married again because she didn't want the annoyance of someone complaining to her when she refused to sleep with him.
• She's annoyed with Valmont. She doesn't owe him a thing.
• She knows he doesn't want her love; he just wants to show he has power over her.
• Not a chance.
• He's not the man he used to be, she says, and so her promise before doesn't hold. It would be infidelity to keep it.
• Seriously, he was willing to sacrifice a woman he really cared about in two seconds just to avoid being ridiculed.
• Should she even consider going out of her way for a man like that?
• Fuhgeddaboutit

Wow - fascinated to know what happens next!

fuhgeddaboutit...😄

It's all going to blow up, isn't it?

It looks like it doesn’t it Fuzzy! Excited to know what happens, there aren’t many pages left in the book to go now.

Would one not say you had never made another woman happy, perfectly happy? If you doubt that, you have very little memory!"

It's taken me a few days to get my head round this. I kept re reading and it still didn't make sense. Then I realised I could just take out the double negative.

Would one not say you had never made another woman happy, perfectly happy? If you doubt that, you have very little memory!"

So yes, their love affair is at the heart of this game.

And now I'm thinking the moral might just be, when you play with fire, you are going to get burnt. Because it's suddenly shifted to Merteuil looking a little vulnerable.

It's so well crafted! Stunning to think it was written in the 18th century.

There is a double negative in the French text as well; 'Ne dirait-on pas que jamais vous n'en avez rendu une autre heureuse, parfaitement heureuse?'

It sounds like she is saying how much he meant to her but she isn't being direct with him. Previously in the book she mentioned a secret, that she had something over him but this is not being followed through so I agree with Bishy that their love affair is at the heart of the book.

'Would one not say you have never made another woman happy?' sounds faithful to the original but clunky. We would be more likely to say 'Would you not say you never made another woman happy?' or 'Could it be said that you never made another woman happy?' (to convey the 'on'). We could do with cassandre's input here as our resident French expert :)

Yes @BishyBarnyBee it's an amazing book.

Edit typo

Letter 153: The Vicomte de Valmont to the Marquise de Merteuil

• Valmont reminds the Marquise that they each possess all that is needed to ruin the other.
• He will be her lover or her enemy, nothing else.
• Any obstacle will be, to him, a declaration of war.
• He asks for a word in response.
• She gives one: war!

So @FuzzyCaoraDhubh we come back to the secret you mention, but now it is spelt out that they are both holding something over the other - I'm not sure that was clear to me before. This letter (and its answer) were certainly straight to the point. We are winding up to a climax!

Oho! Very interesting! We will never find out what that is unfortunately!
What a cliff-hanger! Two words will do, he says. She returns his letter with 'Eh bien! la guerre!' written at the foot of it.
It's awful but it's fabulous.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh how do you know we will never know?
We will never find out what that is unfortunately!

Do you know because you've read it before or do we all know because it's told us in the text we will never know?

Because @BishyBarnyBee I had a look ahead! Curiosity got the better of me!

Letter 154: Madame de Volanges to Madame de Rosemonde

• Valmont has sent a letter to Madame de Volanges pertaining to Madame de Tourvel.
• He's expressing despair but she doesn't know if he's sincere.
• Regardless, Madame de Tourvel is too delirious to be told anything about it. She's still very, very ill.
• Madame de Volanges doesn't think Valmont should be encouraged or answered.

Letter 155: The Vicomte de Valmont to the Chevalier Danceny

• Valmont has visited Cécile and has a letter from her for Danceny.
• He knows Danceny has a rendezvous with Madame de Merteuil this evening. He's turning into a regular Don Juan.
• But guess what? Cécile also wants to see him this evening. All the obstacles to this relationship have been removed.
• It's all up to him what happens next.
• Valmont tells Danceny that he must choose between an innocent and timid girl (yeah, right) and a woman who is experienced (italics Valmont's).
• If Valmont were in his shoes, he'd go for the young one, because he might change her mind at any time.
• Plus, it would be another notch in his belt. The Marquise has already given in.
• He recommends that he stand up the Marquise, but not to give her advance notice. Just don't show up and he'll have tie to think of excuses the next day.
• He must add that he misses Madame de Tourvel very much and tells Danceny that only love can make a person happy.

Interesting him encouraging Danceny to be a Don Juan and also telling him only love will make him happy. But presumably he just wants M de M to be humiliated at this point?

The mention of that "delightful petite maison that has been taken for you alone" made me slightly queasy knowing the procession of men who have thought it was taken for them alone. M de M coming over as more sleazy than powerful at this point.

Yes I agree, Bishy. Just thinking that Danceny is the latest in the line of good-looking young men to visit that house. One of many!

I also think Valmont is trying to humiliate Merteuil by diverting Danceny to Cécile.

Yes - especially the way he encourages Danceny not to tell her he's not coming. He says it's to give him time to think of an excuse, but clearly he's relishing the idea of Merteuil waiting for him in vain.

You can just picture him rubbing his hands together in glee!

Letter 156: Cécile de Volanges to the Chevalier Danceny (attached to the preceding letter)

• With her mother away, Cécile has arranged with the porter to sneak Danceny into her home.
• She asks him to come this evening and promises him her love and adoration.
• She'll send this letter via her good friend Valmont.
• We find out later that Valmont actually wrote the letter himself to move his plan along.

Letter 157: The Chevalier Danceny to the Vicomte de Valmont

• Danceny asks Valmont to spare Cécile the details of his infidelity.
• He'll break things off with Madame de Merteuil and tell her they should just be friends. He knows she'll be fine with it, kind and honorable person that she is.
• We'll see.

Letter 158: The Vicomte de Valmont to the Marquise de Merteuil (written immediately upon waking)

• Valmont asks the Marquise how her evening with Danceny went, knowing full well he was a no-show.
• He confesses to having dictated the letter from Cécile that inspired Danceny to return to her. Piece of cake.
• He tells her that it's better to have him as her friend than her enemy.

Letter 159: The Marquise de Merteuil to the Vicomte de Valmont (a note)

• Madame de Merteuil notes that when she wants revenge, she takes it, and doesn't indulge in sarcasms.
• He shouldn't get so confident that he's won the war.

Letter 160: Madame de Volanges to Madame de Rosemonde

• In a moment of clarity, Madame de Tourvel starts dictating a letter to Julie.
• Then she gets delirious again and the letter gets incoherent.
• Julie doesn't know to whom it should be addressed. Madame de Volanges is surprised that Julie doesn't know it's for Valmont, which is what Madame de Volanges suspects. She's enclosing the letter so Madame de Rosemonde can see what's going on with her poor friend.

Letter 161: The Présidente de Tourvel to … (dictated by her and written by her maid)

• The letter begins and ends with hostility to Valmont.
• She feels abandoned by all her friends because of what's happened.
• She wishes her husband would return so he could punish her for being unfaithful.
• Instead, God is punishing her by making her think about the man who has ruined her.
• She seems to hallucinate Valmont first as a tender lover, then as a monster.

Thanks for posting the summaries. So things are setting up for a final showdown between MdM and VdV. Quite exciting now!

Thanks for posting all the summaries Tarahumara!

It feels like the final showdown is nigh!
Not much longer to go and it is very exciting.

Letter 156: It's sad that Cécile* *has lost her voice and her identity. She has become a tool in Valmont's hands.
Letter 159: Merteuil must be raging! This note is brief. She's not messing around.

Letter 161: This is an upsetting one. It's almost like her swansong. Poor Tourvel :(

Letter 162: The Chevalier Danceny to the Vicomte de Valmont

• Danceny has learned of Valmont's affair with Cécile—no doubt from his friend the Marquise.
• He challenges Valmont to a duel in the morning.
• Well, that escalated quickly!

Well now! The gloves are off!
En garde!!

Yes - that was an unexpected twist!

Wasn't it! Danceny is a hot head and he's not going to hang around. I love how it's framed very politely and formally though!

Exit Valmont!
I was thinking how Valmont is so central to the book as he is the linchpin, writing letters to both Merteuil and Tourvel.
There's a sense of everything winding down now.

Really sudden isn’t it! Trying to sort out my feelings. Anti climactic almost.

Yes definitely Cornish!

Letter 163: Monsieur Bertrand to Madame de Rosemonde

• Bertrand sadly gives the news to Madame de Rosemonde that her nephew was killed in a duel. Valmont was carried home, bleeding to death from two sword wounds
• Danceny's there as well, weeping.
• Everyone's shocked when Valmont tells them not to blame Danceny and embraces him as friend.
• He gives Danceny a pack of letters and asks to speak to him privately.
• After receiving the last rites, Valmont dies.
• Bertrand is very sad about Valmont's death. He informs Madame that she is now free to dispose of her property however she likes; it was to have passed to Valmont

Letter 164: Madame de Rosemonde to Monsieur Bertrand

• Less forgiving than Valmont, his aunt wants a legal complaint lodged against Danceny.
• She thinks duels are a ridiculous relic of a time long past.
• As a precaution, she asks Bertrand to get some legal advice about this matter.

Letter 165: Madame de Volanges to Madame de Rosemonde

• Madame de Volanges consoles Madame de Rosemonde about her nephew's death and has more bad news to share. Madame de Tourvel has died.
• When Madame de Tourvel learns of Valmont's death, her condition deteriorates even more.
• She sends everyone away except Madame de Volanges and asks God to forgive Valmont.
• She asks to meet with Father Anselme and she gives Madame de Volanges a box of documents to give to Madame de Rosemonde.
• She spends an hour with Father Anselme. After an hour, she seems calm but the priest is in tears.
• Everyone spends the day in prayer, and Madame de Tourvel dies that evening.
• Madame de Volanges reminisces about what a perfect life everyone thought that Madame de Tourvel had—beauty, a loving husband, fortune, lots of friends.
• Who would have thought things would end like this?
• Upon hearing of the two deaths, Cécile faints.

Letter 166: Monsieur Bertrand to Madame de Rosemonde

• Bertrand received advice not to press charges against Danceny, as it would ruin Valmont's reputation by bringing everything out into the open.
• It's already a public scandal, and this would just make it worse.
• Bertrand will await further instructions from Madame de Rosemonde.