Narrateur, Narratrice: Polyphonia in Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Abstract

After reading the first four letters of Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses the reader is struck with the remarkable number of polyphonic nuances that are clearly present. What Bakhtin has mentioned about Dostoevsky in Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics—that there is “a plurality of independent and unmerged voices and consciousnesses, a genuine polyphony of fully valid voices” (Bakhtin, 6) is characteristic of Laclos’ poetics as well. What is specifically novel about Les Liaisons Dangereuses is not only the epistolary method that Laclos uses, but the multiplicity of voices that he creates which all but nullify Laclos’ own voice. Unlike Prévost’s monophonic tones, Laclos structures his characters’ voices so that they reflect not only the character’s character, but also, syntactically, his/her manner of being.