Dangerous Liaisons
Page 45
Paris, 4 December 17**
Appendix 2
Selected Adaptations of
Dangerous Liaisons
1950 Les Liaisons dangereuses, a radio play by Paul Achard, inspired by Laclos; also staged in the theatre of Montparnasse-Gaston-Baty in 1952.
1960 Les Liaisons dangereuses, a film by Roger Vadim with Gérard Philipe and Jeanne Moreau.
1974 Les Liaisons dangereuses, an opera by Claude Prey presented in Strasbourg and re-staged in Aix-en-Provence in 1980.
1982 and 1985 Les Liaisons dangereuses, a televised drama by Charles Brabant.
1985 Dangerous Liaisons, a play by Christopher Hampton, staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
1985 and 1989 Quartett, a play by Heiner Müller, produced by Patrice Chéreau, théâtre des Amandiers de Nanterre and by Jean-Louis Martinelli, théâtre de l’Athénée-Louis Jouvet.
1988 Dangerous Liaisons, a film by Stephen Frears, based on Hampton’s 1985 play, with Glenn Close and John Malkovich.
1989 Valmont, a film by Milos Forman, with screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière.
1999 Cruel Intentions, a film by Roger Kumble.
2003 Untold Scandal, a film by Lee Je Young set in eighteenth-century Korea.
2004 Dangerous Liaisons, an exhibition of costumes and interiors of the period at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
2005 Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a ballet at Sadler’s Wells, London.
Notes
EPIGRAPH
1. Julie…Héloïse: Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s novel, Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse, Lettres de deux amants habitant d’une petite ville au pied des Alpes (Letters of Two Lovers Living in a Small Town at the Foot of the Alps) (1761), is a frequent reference point throughout Dangerous Liaisons. This epistolary novel, which recounts the story of the impossible love of Saint-Preux and Julie, crystallized sentimental ideals at a time when the excesses of a cynical rationalism were starting to provoke a moral reaction in France. In Dangerous Liaisons a similar relationship is exemplified by that of Cécile and Danceny.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
2. Sixty thousand livres: The nobility had on average an income of between forty and sixty thousand livres a year. The livre was an old French coin. By 1740 it had shrunk in value to such an extent that coins of a larger denomination were needed. See also louis, Part One, note 17.
PART ONE
1. en grande toilette: Dressed in her finery.
2. secrétaire: Writing-desk popular in France in the second part of the eighteenth century.
3. tourière: A nun responsible for communicating with people outside the convent.
4. rouerie: A cunning trick.
5. Gercourt’s cousin: Madame de Merteuil is the cousin of Madame de Volanges.
6. new romance: Merteuil often sees social relationships in literary terms. See, for example, Letter 10.
7. myrtle…triumph: In classical times the winner of the games at Olympia was crowned with myrtle and laurel leaves.
8. a great poet: Jean de La Fontaine, famous poet and writer of fables, 1621–95. The quotation is from the dedicatory epistle to the Dauphin in the first book of Fables (1668)
9. a Knight of Malta: The Knights of Malta were a religious order responsible for protecting pilgrims from the Turks. Before they took their final vows they were not obliged to be celibate. See Letter 51.
10. his regiment in Corsica: Corsica became French in 1768, but two military campaigns were necessary in 1768 and 1769 to impose French administration.
11. my petite maison: A ‘petite maison’ was a discreet house in the faubourgs (i.e. outside the city walls) where lovers met for secret assignations of a sexual nature.
12. Le Sopha…La Fontaine: Le Sopha (1745), a notorious novel by Crébillon fils; Julie ou La Nouvelle Héloïse by Rousseau; and the licentious tales of La Fontaine.
13. the boulevard: Only one boulevard existed at the time where the old ramparts had been, near the present-day boulevards of Bonne-Nouvelle and Saint-Martin. Most of the modern Paris boulevards were constructed in the 1850s by Baron Haussmann.
14. High Priest…Temple: The petite maison is a temple of love. Contemporary erotic literature frequently used religious metaphor.
15. piquet: A card game popular at the time.
16. I dote…passion: Merteuil is claiming she does not wish to seduce Cécile, but her relationship with her is not lacking in sensuality. See Letters 38, 57 and 63.
17. ten louis: The louis, so called because it bore the head of the king, was a gold coin circulating in France before the Revolution. One louis was worth twenty-four livres, so Valmont effectively pays half the tax bill.
18. the gazette: This was a forerunner of the modern newspaper, usually aimed at a popular audience. It contained gossip, trivia and the sensational news items of the day.
19. the least trace…occurred: She does, however, keep a copy; see Letter 44.
20. that pliability…spoken: See Letter 23.
21. Métromanie: Alexis Piron’s play was successfully performed in 1738.
22. Scipio himself: Scipio, in an episode recounted by Livy (XXVI, 50) famously renounced a beautiful girl after the taking of Carthage and gave her back to her husband-to-be.
23. my ladies…green room: Many women with connections in the theatre at the time were prostitutes or ‘kept women’.
24. just a head: I.e. seal it in the usual way.
25. The very table…love: Émilie’s buttocks become in turn the table and the altar of love. The whole of this letter is a masterpiece of double entendres.
PART TWO
1. a Merveilleuse: The Merveilleuses were fashionable young women of the time who adopted a classical style of dress and later, about 1797, came to characterize an anti-revolutionary and unconventional attitude in the period of the Directoire. Cf. the Incroyables, similar people of fashion who affected certain speech characteristics such as the dropping of the letter ‘r’.
2. a Céladon: A respectful lover, like the character Céladon in the popular seventeenth-century novel L’Astrée by Honoré d’Urfé.
3. For if one went…Malta: Certain monastic orders had a very bad reputation at the time and frequently figure in eighteenth-century pornographic novels.
4. A wise man…problem: See Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Émile, Oeuvres Complètes, La Pléiade, vol. IV, p. 384.
5. All is lost: Another echo of La Nouvelle Héloïse where Julie’s mother discovers Saint-Preux’s letters (Oeuvres Complètes, La Pléiade, vol. II, xxvii, p. 306).
6. ‘What he has said, I shall do’: Another reference to La Nouvelle Héloïse (IV, ii, p. 405).
7. Le Méchant, Comédie: Jean-Baptiste Gresset’s play was written in 1747.
8. Magdalene…sinner: A biblical reference. Mary Magdalene, a prostitute converted by Christ, came to represent penitence in western art and literature.
9. I led her…entirely: The sexual innuendoes Laclos has made so far about the relationship between Merteuil and Cécile are made more obvious in this passage.
10. put it in the post: An internal postal service had been functioning in Paris since 1759.
11. Comte de B—: See Letter 59.
12. the Prince: A somewhat indecent poem about Joan of Arc by Voltaire called La Pucelle (The Maiden) (1762), ll. 56–60.
13. the world stage: A recurring metaphor in the novel to designate the social scene; see Letter 81.
14. the details…to me: Valmont is not really interested in run-of-the-mill seductions. Compare the manner in which he wishes Tourvel to surrender to him, described in Letter 70.
15. wearing…wear: Néron observes Junie thus in Racine’s play Britannicus (1669).
16. old chestnuts about rats: The sexual connotations of ‘rat’ here are obvious.
17. nothing…strange to me: An echo of a line by Terence which became the motto of the Enlightenment: ‘I am a man, I count nothing human foreign to me.’
18. one of those…style: See Letter 10.
20. women rivals to contend with: The homosexual reference is obvious here.
21. le sept et le va: A rare move in the card game of pharaon, or faro, which entitles the player to a sevenfold win.
22. ten leagues: Roughly 38 kilometres.
23. What problems…overcome: Merteuil is attacking Valmont’s privileged position in society.
24. When have you…created: Merteuil here praises the methods of observation and experimentation typical of eighteenth-century rational enquiry.
25. a truth…secret: Merteuil compares herself with Delilah in the Old Testament story of Samson. When Delilah discovered Samson’s secret she shaved off his hair: all his strength left him and he was subdued. See Judges 13.
26. the victim…but for me: It is likely that she means her maid had committed infanticide, a relatively common practice at that time.
27. frotteur: This was the servant who scrubbed and polished the floors in the castle.
28. a fairy godmother to you: Fairy-tales were very popular at the time. Forty-one volumes of the Cabinet des fées (The Cabinet of Fairy-tales), a collection of fairy-tales including those of the famous seventeenth-century writer the Comtesse d’Aulnoy, were published in Geneva between 1786 and 1789.
29. lansquenet: A popular gambling card game similar to faro, dating from the fifteenth century, but much in vogue in France in the latter half of the eighteenth century.
30. The Bishop…supper: The dining room was on the ground floor and the sitting room on the first floor.
31. the effect…produce: Prévan’s sexual excitement is easily visible in his tight-fitting costume.
32. Zaïre…weeping: A reference to Voltaire’s tragedy Zaïre (1732), in which the heroine proves her love for Orosmane by weeping.
33. like Annette…in fact: A reference to Annette et Lubin, a light opera by Charles Simon Favart (1710–92). Annette and her lover Lubin were pastoral characters of the Rousseau-esque kind much in vogue in the literature of the 1760s.
34. my baths…interrupt: Bathing was a very fashionable therapy at the time.
PART THREE
1. I have never…lenteurs: Valmont is referring to his taste for proceeding slowly in his enjoyment of sexual pleasure.
2. pretend to be a dream: A common motif in classical mythology.
3. Achilles’ sword…cause: In Homer’s Iliad, Telephas is wounded and then cured by Achilles’ sword.
4. I speak…gallantry: Voltaire, Nanine (1749), I, vii.
5. I am tricked…despair: In Richardson’s epistolary novel Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady (1748–9), the seducer Lovelace says much the same in a similar situation. Clarissa was translated (and adapted) by the Abbé Prévost into French in 1751 as Clarissa Harlowe and, like La Nouvelle Héloïse, had an important influence on Laclos. There are many parallels between the two novels, for example the characters of the seducers Love-lace and Valmont.
6. the days of Madame de Sévigné: The Marquise de Sévigné (1626–96), belle-lettriste.
7. Clarissa: See note 5 above.
8. the Feuillants: A convent that was situated at the present numbers 229–35 in the rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.
9. Tournebride: A dependency whose purpose was to house the servants and the horses belonging to visitors to the chateau.
10. I certainly…valet: Azolan is typical of the Ancien Régime in that he is very aware of who is superior or inferior to himself in rank. He counts himself superior to the liveried servant, as the noblesse d’épée (old nobility) is superior to the noblesse de robe (acquired nobility).
11. Heavenly powers…happiness: Saint-Preux’s hymn of happiness when Julie confesses her love for him (La Nouvelle Héloïse, I, v, p. 41).
12. to make her…Clarissa: In Richardson’s Clarissa, Lovelace uses opium to put Clarissa to sleep and rape her.
13. the pleasures…virtue: Julie’s words to Saint-Preux in La Nouvelle Héloïse, I, ix, p. 49.
14. overcome…vapours: The ‘vapours’ was a general term in the eighteenth century to designate any nervous or psychosomatic illness.
15. Love…reason: From Jean-François Regnard’s book, Folies amoureuses (The Follies of Love) (1704), which had for its theme the escapades of a pupil who manages to evade the supervision of her tutor.
16. catechism of debauchery: The pornographic Catéchisme à l’usage des gens mariés (Catechism for the Use of Married People), by Father Féline, was published in 1782, and banned by the Church. Another frankly pornographic and anonymous catechism intended for the use of prostitutes, Catéchisme libertin, appeared in 1791.
17. My unfortunate…again: Presumably this is because of the autumnal weather.
18. strengthen…her virtue: From On ne s’avise jamais de tout! (One Can Never Think of Everything!), a comic opera by Sedaine (1761).
19. to obtain…it is: Valmont probably means anal intercourse.
20. a second cycle…hopes: The second menstrual cycle will confirm Cécile’s pregnancy.
21. He does…yourself: Valmont is making fun of Danceny through the mouthpiece of Cécile. Cf. his letter to the Présidente (Letter 48).
22. His wig was indeed unpowdered: Powdered wigs were worn everywhere at the time, by servants as well as nobles.
PART FOUR
1. a Turenne or a Friedrich: Valmont, who has already compared himself with Alexander the Great (Letter 15), now likens himself to two other generals: the Vicomte de Turenne (1611–75) and Frederick II of Prussia (1712–86). Lovelace in Richardson’s novel compares himself with Caesar and Alexander.
2. Hannibal…Capua: Having conquered the Roman army, the Carthaginian general Hannibal didn’t march on Rome but camped at Capua, where his men are reputed to have indulged in the pleasures of the flesh.
3. Sometimes…my person: See Letter 10.
4. Town: I.e. Paris.
5. if this is…over: Compare with Merteuil’s view of the ‘illusion’ of love in the previous letter.
6. The more…home: From the patriotic tragedy Le Siège de Calais, written by de Belloy in 1765, soon after France ceded Canada and India to England.
7. For reasons…that direction: Sexual relations during menstrual bleeding were taboo at the time, but Cécile is pregnant and therefore Valmont may continue to have sex with her unhindered.
8. your virtue: This is the first time that the familiar ‘tu’ form is used between the sexes in the novel, but its tone here is contemptuous and not lovingly intimate.
9. The veil…happiness. Cf. Rousseau’s La Nouvelle Héloïse: ‘the veil is torn: this long illusion has vanished’, said in similar circumstances, when Julie is betrayed (III, vi, p. 317).
10. The Sage…happiness: In La Nouvelle Héloïse, Rousseau asserts that man’s vanity is the source of his greatest troubles (V, iii, p. 574).
11. I shall soon…unhappy: An approximate reference to what Socrates apparently said, quoted by Jean-François Marmontel in his Conte moral d’Alcibiade (Moral Tale of Alcibiades) (1765). Alcibiades (450–424 BC) was a handsome and reckless Athenian general and politician who betrayed his homeland.
12. over there: That is, at the petite maison referred to earlier (see Part One, note 11).
13. provided…triumphs: Valmont’s secret, known to Merteuil, has to do with politics.
14. I shall ensure…us: Danceny is challenging Valmont to a duel. The practice of fighting duels, condemned by Rousseau, was still current and much debated at the time.
15. the Président de —: A colleague of Madame de Tourvel’s husband.
16. two letters: Letters 81 and 85, in which Merteuil recounts ‘the most scandalous anecdotes
about herself in the most libertine fashion’ (p. 390).
17. the Commanderie de —: A commanderie was a religious property belonging to the military.
18. We cannot…Merteuil: This note implies that Cécile did not remain in her convent, and that Madame de Merteuil had more adventures in Holland. The suggestion has inspired many imitators of Laclos from the end of the eighteenth century right through until the present day: for example, Les Nouvelles Liaisons dangereuses, Roman de moeurs modernes (The New Dangerous Liaisons, a Novel of Modern Morals) by Marcel Barrière, Paris, Albin Michel, 1925; Les Amants (The Lovers), by Robert Margerit, 1957, Paris, Phébus, 1990; L’Hiver de beauté (The Winter of Beauty) by Christiane Baroche, Paris, Gallimard, 1987, and many more. For a list of other works inspired by Laclos, and adaptations of Dangerous Liaisons see Appendix 2.