Cousin Bette
La Cousine Bette is an 1846 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac. Set in mid-19th-century Paris, it tells the story of an unmarried middle-aged woman who plots the destruction of her extended family. It has been compared to William Shakespeare’s Othello and Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
About Cousin Bette in brief
La Cousine Bette is an 1846 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac. Set in mid-19th-century Paris, it tells the story of an unmarried middle-aged woman who plots the destruction of her extended family. The book is part of the Scènes de la vie parisienne section of Balzac’s novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Balzac based the character of Bette in part on his mother and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. It has been compared to William Shakespeare’s Othello as well as Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. A number of film versions of the story have been produced, including a 1971 BBC mini-series starring Margaret Tyzack and Helen Mirren, and a 1998 feature film with Jessica Lange in the title role. The novel’s characters represent polarities of contrasting morality. The vengeful Bette and disingenuous Valérie stand on one side, with the merciful Adeline and her patient daughter Hortense on the other. The patriarch of the Hulot family, meanwhile, is consumed by his own sexual desire, though he succumbs to uncertainty and lack of motivation. The character of Wenceslas Steinbock is seen as an important exploration of homoerotic themes. The author wrote tirelessly, driven as much by economic necessity as by the muse and black coffee. His trademark use of realist detail combines with a panorama of characters returning from earlier novels. He spent most of his life trying to repay a variety of debts.
As his work gained recognition, Balzac began corresponding with a Polish baroness named Ewelina Hańska, who first contacted him through an anonymous 1832 letter signed ‘L’Étrangère’ They developed an affectionate friendship, and when she became a widow in 1841, he sought her hand in marriage. He became aware of her affair with his housekeeper, Louise Breugniot, but she fell ill and suffered a miscarriage in December 1846. By 1846 he had begun preparing a home to share with her and by 1846 had begun visiting her each week. He often visited her often in Poland and Germany, but various complications often prevented their union. He had begun a profound transformation in the French century of 19th century. The French government and the government of Germany prohibited his marriage to Mme Hanska, but he grew closer to her each time he visited her. He died in Paris in 1846, and she died the following year. He is survived by his wife, his daughter, his son, his grandson, and his great-grandson. He also had a son and a daughter-in-law, who he left behind a legacy of more than 100 novels and many short stories, including Le Père Goriot, Le Cousin Pons, and Le Cousine Pons. He wrote the novel in two months and it was published in Le Constitutionnel at the end of 1846 and collected with a companion work in 1847.
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This page is based on the article Cousin Bette published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
