The novel is epistolary (told through letters). But ignore the romantic imagery of quills and wax seals. In this world, a letter is a .
The ending is infamous: Valmont dies in a duel; Merteuil is socially ruined and physically scarred by smallpox (a metaphorical "unmasking"). But the text provides a devastating epilogue. We see the letters from the servants, the priest, and the bystanders.
The novel is composed of 175 letters. In many abridged versions or early censored translations, publishers removed the "boring" letters—the philosophical monologues, the slow-burn social maneuvering, and the letters from the virtuous Madame de Tourvel. By cutting these, they destroyed the book’s tension.
