No Tomorrow

Vivant Denon’s No Tomorrow is one of the masterpieces of 18th-century French libertine literature, a book to set beside Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuse, except that where Laclos’s icy novel is one of hellish depravity Denon’s ravishing novella is a paradisal diversion. This tale of seduction that is itself a seduction, with a plot that could be said to slowly unveil itself before arriving at last at an unexpected consummation. Summoned by Madame de T___ to her country house, the young hero of the novella is taken on a tour of the grounds, only the beginning of night that will not only be full of unanticipated delights but will give rise to unexpected, perhaps unanswerable, questions. Lydia Davis’s definitive translation of Denon’s slim masterpiece is accompanied by the French text. Peter Brooks, professor of comparative literature at Yale University, provides an introduction that explores the mysteries of No Tomorrow’s original publication and the subtleties of Denon’s ethics of love.