Abstract
For the last few years, the bookshops of the Boulevard Saint-Germain have had a volume in their windows with an alluring label: "le plus audacieux roman de notre littérature." If you pick it up, you discover that it is a new edition of Choderlos de Laclos' novel, Les Liaisons dangereuses, first published in 1782. The most audacious novel! At first glance, the phrase looks like a shameless attempt to sell a book on the strength of a pornographic cover. For at least a century and a half, French literature has been periodically jolted by “audacious” novels, some of which have even got their authors into the police courts. Yet a romance contemporary with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, composed seven years before the Revolution, is now advertised as surpassing all the rest for daring.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
