Point de lendemain

by Vivant Denon

"Point de lendemain" by Vivant Denon is a novella first published anonymously in 1777. A young, naive man experiences his first encounter with the sophisticated world of aristocratic libertinage. Invited to an evening at a chateau, he becomes entangled in an elaborate game of seduction and manipulation orchestrated by the clever Madame de T. Through luxurious settings and secret chambers, he discovers that everyone plays a carefully assigned role—and nothing is as it seems. This concise tale of social and erotic awakening reveals the coded rituals of eighteenth-century French society.