โBette is a wronged soul; and when her passion does break, it is, as Balzac says, sublime and terrifying,โ wrote V. S. Pritchett. A late masterpiece in Balzacโs La Comรฉdie Humaine, Cousin Bette is the story of a Vosges peasant who rebels against her scornful upper-class relatives, skillfully turning their selfish obsessions against them. The novel exemplifies what Henry James described as Balzacโs โhuge, al ...Full description
โBette is a wronged soul; and when her passion does break, it is, as Balzac says, sublime and terrifying,โ wrote V. S. Pritchett. A late masterpiece in Balzacโs La Comรฉdie Humaine, Cousin Bette is the story of a Vosges peasant who rebels against her scornful upper-class relatives, skillfully turning their selfish obsessions against them. The novel exemplifies what Henry James described as Balzacโs โhuge, all-compassing, all-desiring, all-devouring love of reality.โ