Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac6/12/2023 Here’s Balzac’s idea of an ugly woman: Paysanne des Vosges, dans toute l’extension du mot, maigre, brune, les cheveux d’un noir luisant, les sourcils épais et réunis par un bouquet, les bras longs et forts, les pieds épais, quelques verrues dans sa face longue et simiesque, tel est le portrait concis de cette vierge.Ī native of the Vosges, a peasant in the fullest sense of the word, lean, brown, with shining black hair and thick eyebrows joining in a tuft, with long, strong arms, thick feet, and some moles on her narrow simian face–such is a brief description of the elderly virgin. Lisbeth is ugly while Adeline is beyond lovely. Lisbeth and Adeline Fischer are cousins, and both women come from a remote village of Lorraine, in the Vosges. La Cousine Bette is the story of an implacable vengeance fomented by Lisbeth Fischer, the poor relative of the extended Hulot family. It appears that not all editions have this chapter subdivision and it may be a good thing for the modern reader as it breaks the flow. The book is divided in 132 chapters, each chapter having a specific title. I read the kindle version from Gutenberg Project. It was first published as a roman-feuilleton in a newspaper, Le Constitutionnel. La Cousine Bette is included in La Comédie Humaine, in the section Scènes de la vie parisienne. Translated into English by James Warin (Cousin Betty)
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