Cousin Betty Honore De Balzac James Waring 9781359905369 Books
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Cousin Betty Honore De Balzac James Waring 9781359905369 Books
I've always wondered about the part in The Music Man, when an imposing woman wanders through spouting "Balzac!" at various points when they're worrying about the degeneration that is likely to happen to young people who don't have proper diversions, like a community band as opposed to things bound to lead to trouble (which starts with 't', that rhymes with 'p' and stands for pool...or something like that—also Balzac starts with 'b' which rhymes with 'p' that....). Anyway, I had the vague feeling that reading Balzac must cause some kind of moral decay. So, a couple of years ago, I hunted up a Balzac book, Father Goriot, and it didn't seem all that racy to me. It was ok, if not first class.Now that I'm reading Cousine Bette, I'm getting a better idea. People are ruining themselves financially so that they can have mistresses. I'm not much into mistresses myself. I guess I was brought up too much of a Puritan, or Calvinist or something, to understand the appeal.
So, I had problems with this book. It's basically a story of moral decay. Cousine Bette (my spouse, a French teacher, would kill me if I used the barbarous Americanization of her name that was used in the translation I read), is a poor relation. Her "better" relations choose to steal from her when it suits them and ignore her otherwise. She becomes eccentric. Eventually, she takes up with a starving artist type, being his mentor and benefactress (but not his lover). But when her more well-off relations steal the young man for Cousine Bette's niece, she vows retaliation. She begins a covert campaign to ruin the family by having the men all lose their fortunes, and then some, to a young "courtesan", i.e. a high-class 'ho', or mistress, if you will.
I dunno, the book was interestingly enough written, and I suppose one could view it as humorous. For some reason my older sister thought it was hilarious. I would have expected her to have been brought up as much of a Calvinist Puritan as I was.
One other problem I had with the book, which isn't really Balzac's fault, is that there were lots of cultural references—some to Greek and Roman classics, some to historical French culture—that I didn't really understand. So, I'm sure that had I been better educated, I'd have gotten more out of this book. As it is, I think I'm likely done with Balzac.
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Cousin Betty Honore De Balzac James Waring 9781359905369 Books Reviews
balzac has done a magnificent job in this novel.he shows the interrelationships between members of decaying french family.cousin bette,the poor relation does an effective job of destroying her relatives.
Great Deal, much appreciated.
First I viewed the video....then I read the book. I'm glad I watched the video first because it helps to be able to visualize the characters and the writing is archaic. But the story is just such fun I could not put it down.
This is among the best of Balzac's works that I've read. Wonderful characters, amazingly well crafted plot. The "Vanity Fair" of French literature.
Dont' buy this, it's a very strange translation and basically unreadable. How did this get on anyway? I had to buy another copy as I couldn't read this translation.
I'm a big fan of Balzac novels and their window into French life in the 18th/early 19th century. Cousin Betty is a good read. It's full of the usual Balzac characters that you sort of love and hate, that are sometimes good and sometimes really awful. The main plot lines are like 19th-century soap operas, but the book itself is quite good.
I "discovered" Balzac quite by accident - wondering why Rodin chose that ugly fat guy as a model for several sculptures - and grew to love Balzac's emotional and expressive writing style. He can spend eight pages describing some trivial object and make you feel that you are holding it in your hands. Even minor characters are studied until you feel you've known them all your life.
The same is true of this book, but unfortunately, after a tremendous investment in reading it, the "ending" is a big empty nothing.
After reading a half-dozen of his books, I'm also weary of his conceit in typing them all together under the umbrella "The Human Comedy." I really don't care to realize that a minor character in this book was also a minor or major character in another book.
Still, Balzac was an innovative and powerful writer.
I've always wondered about the part in The Music Man, when an imposing woman wanders through spouting "Balzac!" at various points when they're worrying about the degeneration that is likely to happen to young people who don't have proper diversions, like a community band as opposed to things bound to lead to trouble (which starts with 't', that rhymes with 'p' and stands for pool...or something like that—also Balzac starts with 'b' which rhymes with 'p' that....). Anyway, I had the vague feeling that reading Balzac must cause some kind of moral decay. So, a couple of years ago, I hunted up a Balzac book, Father Goriot, and it didn't seem all that racy to me. It was ok, if not first class.
Now that I'm reading Cousine Bette, I'm getting a better idea. People are ruining themselves financially so that they can have mistresses. I'm not much into mistresses myself. I guess I was brought up too much of a Puritan, or Calvinist or something, to understand the appeal.
So, I had problems with this book. It's basically a story of moral decay. Cousine Bette (my spouse, a French teacher, would kill me if I used the barbarous Americanization of her name that was used in the translation I read), is a poor relation. Her "better" relations choose to steal from her when it suits them and ignore her otherwise. She becomes eccentric. Eventually, she takes up with a starving artist type, being his mentor and benefactress (but not his lover). But when her more well-off relations steal the young man for Cousine Bette's niece, she vows retaliation. She begins a covert campaign to ruin the family by having the men all lose their fortunes, and then some, to a young "courtesan", i.e. a high-class 'ho', or mistress, if you will.
I dunno, the book was interestingly enough written, and I suppose one could view it as humorous. For some reason my older sister thought it was hilarious. I would have expected her to have been brought up as much of a Calvinist Puritan as I was.
One other problem I had with the book, which isn't really Balzac's fault, is that there were lots of cultural references—some to Greek and Roman classics, some to historical French culture—that I didn't really understand. So, I'm sure that had I been better educated, I'd have gotten more out of this book. As it is, I think I'm likely done with Balzac.
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