Synopses & Reviews
Cousin Bette (1846) is considered to be Balzac's last great novel, and a key work in his
Human Comedy. Set in Paris in the 1830s and 1840s, it is a complex tale of the devastating effects of violent jealousy and sexual passion.
Against a meticulously detailed backdrop of post-Napoleonic France struggling with massive industrial and economic change, Balzac's characters span many social classes, from impoverished workers and wealthy courtesans to successful businessmen and official dignitaries. The tragic outcome of the novel is relieved by occasional flashes of ironic comedy and the emergence of a younger generation which has come to terms with the new political and economic climate.
Synopsis
Cousin Bette (1846), long considered Balzac's last great novel, is a key work in his Comedie humaine. Grounded in a meticulous documentation of contemporary France, this tale is set in the prosperous Paris of Louis-Phillipe and details a jealous woman's campaign of persecution against her own family. This new translation has an introduction by David Bellos which sets this work in its social, historical, and literary context.