Les Liaisons Dangereuses, by Peirre Choderlos de Laclos , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics : All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Love . . . sex . . . seduction. Of the three, only the last matters. Love is a meaningless word, and sex an ephemeral pleasure, but seduction is an amusing game in which victory means power and the ability to humiliate one’s enemies and revel with one’s friends. So it is for the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, two supremely bored aristocrats during the final years before the French Revolution. Together they concoct a wildly wicked wager: If Valmont can successfully seduce the virtuous wife of a government official, Madame de Tourvel, then Madame Merteuil will sleep with him again. But Madame Merteuil also wants Valmont to conquer the young and innocent former convent schoolgirl, Cécile Volanges. Can he do both?

When Les Liaisons Dangereuses was first published in 1782, it both scandalized and titillated the aristocracy it was aimed against, who publicly denounced it and privately devoured it. Today we still recognize its relevance, for what could be more contemporary than its appalling image of everyday evil small, selfish, manipulative, and mean. Alfred Mac Adam, Professor at Barnard CollegeColumbia University, teaches Latin American and comparative literature. He is a translator of Latin American fiction and writes extensively on art.

肖德洛·德·拉克洛（Choderlos de Laclos, 1741-1803），法国作家，生于索姆省亚眠市。1780年7月至1781年9月，他构思创作了《危险的关系》，出版后即刻风行一时，引起巨大的社会反响，在作者生前至少印了五十版，但在十九世纪，此书却被法院以“内容淫猥、有伤风化”为由多次列为禁书，作者也因此声名不彰。直到二十世纪中后期，保尔·布尔热对他的揄扬以及波德莱尔有关这部小说的笔记的出版，尤其是二战以后，纪德、马尔罗、吉罗杜、莫罗亚、罗歇·瓦扬、布托尔等作家都对他给予高度评价，恢复了他在文学史上的崇高地位，此书最终取代了卢梭的《新爱洛伊丝》，成为法国文学史上一部不朽的名著。拉克洛成了法国大学课程上规定研读的作家，人们发现他的作品还能十分顺利地经过改编转换到别的传播媒介上。所有这些经改编的影片和剧作不可能百分之百地传达出拉克洛原作的精髓和微妙之处。但应该看到，拉克洛的作品经过屡次加工改造，却总能剪裁得适合流行的时尚潮流的口味。