Dangerous Liaisons book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Compiler’s Preface to Letter 66

1. Can Valmont's charity deserve praise when he stages it for an audience but finds unexpected pleasure in the gratitude?
2. How should Tourvel weigh a warning about Valmont against the restrained behavior she describes?
3. What makes Merteuil's permission to correspond appealing to Cécile, and what would better guidance offer?
4. What does Valmont's use of a false postmark suggest about how he understands Tourvel's refusal?
5. How fair is Madame de Volanges's demand that Danceny return her daughter's letters?

Meeting 2: Letters 67 to 111

6. What room for friendship remains when Tourvel demands silence about love and Valmont calls romantic devotion honesty?
7. How does making trust in Valmont a test of affection change what Danceny asks of Cécile?
8. Does Merteuil's account of her education in secrecy make her pursuit of Prévan more understandable, more troubling, or both?
9. What does the sympathy Merteuil receives after staging Prévan's disgrace suggest about how people judge such events?
10. How should readers understand Cécile's agreement to take the key after she first refuses it?

Meeting 3: Letters 112 to 175

11. How should Valmont's unexpected attachment affect our judgment of the calculated pressure he describes using against Tourvel?
12. What can Rosemonde's refusal to blame Tourvel achieve when her comfort also challenges Tourvel's romantic hopes?
13. How much responsibility does each person bear when Merteuil supplies a cruel farewell and Valmont sends the copied letter?
14. Where does Valmont's demand for renewed intimacy leave Merteuil's freedom to refuse?
15. What would distinguish fair judgment from revenge when Danceny gives Rosemonde the letters?

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