Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Portrait attributed to Alexander Kucharsky
Portrait attributed to Alexander Kucharsky
BornPierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos
(1741-10-18)18 October 1741
Amiens, Picardy, Kingdom of France
Died5 September 1803(1803-09-05) (aged 61)
Taranto, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
OccupationWriter, official and army general
NationalityFrench

Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (French: [pjɛʁ ɑ̃bʁwaz fʁɑ̃swa ʃɔdɛʁlo laklo]; 18 October 1741 – 5 September 1803) was a French novelist, official, Freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) (1782).

A unique case in French literature, he was for a long time considered to be as scandalous a writer as the Marquis de Sade or Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne. He was a military officer with no illusions about human relations, and an amateur writer; however, his initial plan was to "write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on earth after his death"; from this point of view he mostly attained his goals with the fame of his masterwork Les Liaisons dangereuses. It is one of the masterpieces of novelistic literature of the 18th century, which explores the amorous intrigues of the aristocracy. It has inspired many critical and analytic commentaries, plays and films.