The Poor Relations: Cousin Betty & Cousin Pons


Book Description

"Cousin Betty" – Set in mid-19th-century Paris, it tells the story of an unmarried middle-aged woman who plots the destruction of her extended family. Bette works with Valérie Marneffe, an unhappily married young lady, to seduce and torment a series of men. One of these is Baron Hector Hulot, husband to Bette's cousin Adeline. He sacrifices his family's fortune and good name to please Valérie, who leaves him for a tradesman named Crevel. "Cousin Pons" – Sylvain Pons, a musician in a Parisian boulevard orchestra, has two failings: his passion for collecting works of art and his passion for good food. Being a gourmet, Pons much enjoys dining regularly with his wealthy lawyer cousins M. and Mme Camusot de Marville. To remain on good terms with the Camusots, he tries to find a man for their unappealing daughter Cécile, but when this falls through, he is banished. However, when Mme Camusot learns of the value of Pons's art collection she strives to obtain possession of it as the basis of a dowry for her daughter. In this new development of the plot a bitter struggle ensues between various vulture-like figures, all of whom are keen to lay their hands on the collection.




Cousin Bette


Book Description

Poor, plain spinster Bette is compelled to survive on the condescending patronage of her socially superior relatives in Paris: her beautiful, saintly cousin Adeline, the philandering Baron Hulot and their daughter Hortense. Already deeply resentful of their wealth, when Bette learns that the man she is in love with plans to marry Hortense, she becomes consumed by the desire to exact her revenge and dedicates herself to the destruction of the Hulot family, plotting their ruin with patient, silent malice. Cousin Bette is a gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexual passion and treachery, and a brilliant portrayal of the grasping, bourgeois society of 1840s Paris. The culmination of the Comédie humaine, Balzac's epic chronicle of his times, it is one of his greatest triumphs as a novelist.




Cousin Bette


Book Description







Cousin Pons


Book Description

Mild, harmless and ugly to behold, the impoverished Pons is an ageing musician whose brief fame has fallen to nothing. Living a placid Parisian life as a bachelor in a shared apartment with his friend Schmucke, he maintains only two passions: a devotion to fine dining in the company of wealthy but disdainful relatives, and a dedication to the collection of antiques. When these relatives become aware of the true value of his art collection, however, their sneering contempt for the parasitic Pons rapidly falls away as they struggle to obtain a piece of the weakening man's inheritance. Taking its place in the Human Comedy as a companion to Cousin Bette, the darkly humorous Cousin Pons is among of the last and greatest of Balzac's novels concerning French urban society: a cynical, pessimistic but never despairing consideration of human nature.




Poor Relations


Book Description

"Poor Relations" portrays the lives of impoverished people living in Paris in the early 19th century. The story revolves around the Marneffe and Fischer families as they struggle to maintain their social status and navigate through a society that is largely driven by wealth and social standing.







Delphi Complete Works of Honoré de Balzac (Illustrated)


Book Description

This comprehensive eBook presents the complete Human Comedy of Honoré de Balzac in English, with beautiful illustrations, concise introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (28MB Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Balzac's life and works * Concise introductions to the novels and other works * The COMPLETE 'La ComÈdie humaine' in English translation * The whole series is precisely organised into Balzac's plan * Includes Balzac's introduction AVANT-PROPOS * Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Famous works such as FATHER GORIOT, COUSIN BETTY, THE MAGIC SKIN and many more are illustrated with their original artwork * Balzac's five plays * Criticism section, with seven essays by writers such as Henry James and Leslie Stephen, evaluating Balzac's contribution to literature * Features five biographies - discover in depth Balzac's literary life! * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres * Special CHARACTERS resource, with information on all members of the cast 'La Comédie humaine', with references to the novels and stories they appear in Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse our range of exciting titles. CONTENTS: THE HUMAN COMEDY THE HISTORY OF 'LA COM…DIE HUMAINE' AVANT-PROPOS (PREFACE) THE COMPLETE HUMAN COMEDY - OVER 110 NOVELS AND STORIES (too many to list) The Short Stories DROLL STORIES THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE The Plays INTRODUCTION TO BALZAC'S DRAMAS by J. Walker McSpadden VAUTRIN THE RESOURCES OF QUINOLA PAMELA GIRAUD THE STEPMOTHER MERCADET RESOURCES The Criticism HONOR… DE BALZAC by Henry James A LETTER, 1883 by Robert Louis Stevenson BALZAC by John Cowper Powys BALZAC'S NOVELS by Leslie Stephen BALZAC by William Ernest Henley BALZAC AS A DRAMATIST by Epiphanius Wilson THE NOVEL by D. H. Lawrence The Biographies HONOR… DE BALZAC by Albert Keim and Louis Lumet HONOR… DE BALZAC, HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS by Mary F. Sandars BALZAC AND MADAME HANSKA by Elbert Hubbard BALZAC by Frederick Lawton WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF BALZAC by Juanita Helm Floyd Glossary of Characters in 'La ComÈdie humaine' Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to view the full list