Cousin Pons: Part Two of 'Poor Relations' (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Balzac, Honoré De

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140442057 ISBN 13: 9780140442052

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1978

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Balzac was born in 1799, the son of a civil servant. At the age of thirty - heavily in debt and with an unsucessful past behind him - he started work on the first of what were to become a total of ninety novels and short stories that make up The Human Comedy. He died in 1850.

Translated and introduced by Herbert J. Hunt

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1978
• ISBN 10: 0140442057
• ISBN 13: 9780140442052
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336