Cousin Bette, Honore de Balzac
Cousin Bette, Honore de Balzac
List: $29.00 | Sale: $20.31
Club: $14.50

Cousin Bette

Author: Honoré de Balzac

Narrator: Lucy Scott

Abridged: 16 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2020

Categories: Fiction, Classic


Synopsis

Lisbeth Fischer has lived in the shadow of her beautiful cousin Adeline for much of her life. Pampered while Lisbeth works in the fields, Adeline makes an enviable leap in status when Baron Hulot offers her his hand in marriage. Out of kindness, they bring Lisbeth to Paris, where she falls in love with the artist Wenceslas, her protege. However, when she is jilted for Adeline's daughter Hortense, her jealousy and rage exponentially intensify, and she resolves to bring the Hulot family to ruin, employing the cold seductress Valerie Marneffe as her vehicle for revenge. A classic tale of obsession, self-destruction and unabated desire, Cousin Bette is a blazing portrayal of libertine France, and the fatal excesses which drive the novel to its dark end.

About Honore de Balzac

Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) was a French journalist and writer and is considered one of the creators of realism in literature. Balzac's huge production of novels and short stories are collected under the name La Comedie Humaine, which originated from Dante's The Divine Comedy. Before his breakthrough as an author, Balzac wrote without success several plays and novels under different pseudonyms. Despite prolific output, Balzac lived in debt.

Balzac was born in Tours, France. He spent the first four years of life in foster care in the village of Saint-Cyr and was returned to his parents at the age of four. At school Balzac was an ordinary pupil. He studied at the College de Vendome and the Sorbonne, and then worked in law offices. In 1819, Balzac announced that he wanted to be a writer. He returned to Paris and was installed in a shabby room at 9 rue Lediguieres. A few years later, he described the place in La Peau de Chargin, though his first work was Cromwell.

By 1822 Balzac had produced several novels under pseudonyms, but he was ignored as a writer. Against his family's hopes, Balzac continued his career in literature, believing that the simplest road to success was writing. Unfortunately, he also tried his skills in business. Balzac ran a publishing company and he bought a printing house, which did not have much to print. When these commercial activities failed, Balzac was left with a heavy burden of debt. It plagued him to the end of his career.

In 1829, Balzac wrote La Dernier Chouan, a historical work in the manner of Sir Walter Scott, which he wrote under his own name. Gradually, Balzac began to gain notice as an author. Between the years 1830 and 1832 he composed six novelettes titled Scenes de la Vie Privee, which was addressed more or less to a female readership.

In 1833, Balzac conceived the idea of linking together his old novels so that they would comprehend the whole society in a series of books. This plan eventually led to 90 novels and novellas, which included more than 2,000 characters. Balzac's huge and ambitious plan drew a picture of the customs, atmosphere, and habits of the bourgeois France. Balzac got down to the work with great energy, but also found time to pile up huge debts and fail in hopeless financial operations. After two years, he had to flee from his creditors and conceal his identity under the name of his housekeeper, Madame de Brugnolle.

Among the masterpieces of La Comedie Humaine are Le Pere Goriot, Les Illusions Perdues, Les Paysans, La Femme de Trente Ans, and Eugenie Grandet.


Reviews

This book had good moments but I'm disappointed I didn't enjoy it more than I did. It's about a jealous old spinster paying her family back for decades of being treated as inferior for being the ugly cousin. She teams up with the beautiful Madame Marneffe (cue the homoerotic undertones) to destroy t......more

Goodreads review by Anne

Pro Tip: Honoré de Balzac isn't a name that someone with a Southern accent has an easy time with, and I walked around for a week telling everyone that I was reading a book by someone whose name was Ballsack. Honestly, I should have just listened to the book, shut up, and kept my redneck pronunciation......more

Goodreads review by J.L.

Compelling (and unsavory) characters drew me into Honore de Balzac's Cousin Bette (1846). The main plot centers on Cousin Bette's revenge on her family; however, all the stories which make up the novel are imbued by obsessions which drive the narrative to its dark end. Much of how I described Balzac......more