Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803) was a French novelist, official, freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel Dangerous Liaisons. 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. 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-Edme Rétif.