Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos was born in Amiens on 18 October 1741. His father was a government official who was ennobled but without a title. In January 1760 Laclos became a pupil of the Royal Corps of Artillery and two years later, as a second lieutenant, was posted to the port of La Rochelle. With the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Laclos was transferred to north-eastern France. It was while stationed there that he published his first literary piece, a poem in a periodical in 1767. In 1769 he moved to Grenoble where he stayed until being garrisoned in Besançon in 1775. During this period he was promoted and published other minor verse. In December 1776 he became a freemason. The following year saw th

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First published 11 December 2002

Citation: Davies, Simon. "Pierre Choderlos de Laclos". The Literary Encyclopedia. 11 December 2002.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2588, accessed 9 February 2010.]