Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

By Bright Summaries

Unlock the more straightforward side of Cousin Bette with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac, which tells the story of a woman driven by jealousy to try and destroy her cousin’s family by any means possible. Along with her beautiful but malicious friend, Bette schemes to push the Hulot family into infidelity, betrayal and financial ruin. Cousin Bette stands out for its realism, with vivid descriptions of its cast of characters and a perceptive examination of the social changes taking place in 19th-century Paris. The novel is one of the Scenes of Parisian Life in Balzac’s The Human Comedy, a hugely ambitious series of around 90 novels and novellas which aimed to depict the entirety of 19th-century French society. Honoré de Balzac was one of France’s most prolific and influential writers, and his work played a major part in laying the groundwork for the modern realist novel.

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This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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• Language: English
• Publisher: BrightSummaries.com
• Release date: Nov 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9782806287885

Book preview

French writer

Born in Tours in 1799

Died in Paris in 1850

Notable works:

Les Chouans [The Chouans] (1829), novel

Eugénie Grandet (1833), novel

Father Goriot (1835), novel

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) is one of the major French writers of the 19th century. As a young man, he found his way into the world of the Parisian aristocracy, which he constantly frequented. However, he was soon ruined by various disastrous business ventures and his excessive lifestyle: literary writing, which he undertook passionately and diligently, became his only way of paying off his debts.

He was an ambitious man and embarked on a monumental work, The Human Comedy, which features more than 90 novels and whose aim was to draw and exhaustive portrait of the society of his time, so vast that it could compete with the official records. Its most famous novels include