‘I resolved to write a book which would create some stir in the world and continue to do after I had gone from it.’ - Choderlos de Laclos A great sensation at the time of first publication, Les Liaisons Dangereuses reads as much the most 'modern' of eighteenth-century novels. Viewed by some critics as a morality tale and others as a subtle inquiry into libertinism, it brilliantly depicts the foibles of the French aristocracy on the eve of the French Revolution. Renowned for its exploration of lust, revenge and human malice, and still carrying a tremendous power to shock, its adaptations for screen and stage have made its central characters notorious for their sophisticated and ultimately tragic games of seduction and manipulation.

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。