Séduction et manipulation dans Les Liaisons dangereuses de Choderlos de Laclos
Seduction and Manipulation in Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos

Summary/Abstract: Written in the form of letters, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is part of the great tradition of the epistolary novel which provides particularly rich resources to the seduction code. Seen as a seduction weapon, in between ‘presence’ and ‘distance’, the letter represents the ideal place for the confrontation of ideas, of antagonistic viewpoints, and of opposite styles, not only in the relationship that the libertines cultivate with each other, but also in the relationships built between the libertines and the naïve and virtuous characters. In brief, the genre highlights the language habits of everyone, as well as their strategies of acting upon the other. In this precise context, studying seduction and manipulation in Les Liaisons dangereuses also means accentuating the persuasive elements mobilised in the argumentative and rhetorical process. Our method therefore proves to be a rhetorical reading, which approaches the text by trying to underline its different modalities to create meaning, by analysing its expressive and oratory parts, and by apprehending its different figures of speech and arguments.

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