caa a22 4500 463200551 CHVBK 20180405153111.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170326e20070401xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11061-006-9002-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11061-006-9002-3 Fowler J. School of European Culture and Languages, Cornwallis Building, University of Kent, CT2 7NF, Canterbury, Kent, UK aut The Sense of An Ending: Les Liaisons Dangereuses Revisited [Elektronische Daten] [J. Fowler] It is generally accepted that in Laclos's novel the Marquise de Merteuil competes with Mme de Tourvel for Valmont's adoration, and that she does so by attempting to impress him with her libertine prowess more effectively than the Présidente does by her virtue. However, I argue here that as Merteuil sees this strategy continually failing, she turns instead to an opposite one, which is to demonstrate that she can prove herself Tourvel's superior on the latter's own territory. Valmont has from the outset praised Tourvel's virtue, manifested in her determination to resist his advances; indeed, for him ‘virtue' and ‘resistance' are interchangeable terms. Accordingly, when towards the end of the novel the Marquise spurns Valmont, she provocatively shows herself more capable of resistance, and therefore of ‘virtue', than her fallen rival. By the same token, she surprisingly ceases to behave as a libertine (who observes a form of ascesis but never renounces her object) in order to behave instead as a version of the prude (who strives to overcome desire). Though this strategy is revealed in the denouement, its seeds are sown in the earliest letters, and it is developed in a number of ways throughout the novel. Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., 2007 Neophilologus Kluwer Academic Publishers 91/2(2007-04-01), 197-213 0028-2677 91:2<197 2007 91 11061 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-006-9002-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-006-9002-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Fowler J. School of European Culture and Languages, Cornwallis Building, University of Kent, CT2 7NF, Canterbury, Kent, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Neophilologus Kluwer Academic Publishers 91/2(2007-04-01), 197-213 0028-2677 91:2<197 2007 91 11061 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer