Three officers named Hulot were recognized for their valor in the Napoleonic Wars, and some suggest that Balzac borrowed the name of Comte Hector d'Aure. "[52] Others are less accusatory; Adeline's nearly infinite mercy, they say, is evidence of foolishness. When creating La Cousine Bette, however, he submitted the work to his editor piece by piece, without viewing a single proof. Elle parvient à rencontrer le jeune artiste et est immédiatement séduite. The_Puritans` ÒÉ` ÒÊBOOKMOBI € P/ 8Ï B KB T… ]œ fï p y ‚# ‹2 ”3 W ¦Y ¯3 ¸Š ÁJ"ÊS$Ó_&ܘ(å¹*î÷,øQ. The poison which kills Valérie and Crevel is also described in ghastly detail. Baron Hulot is so overcome by his taste for female flesh that he even asks his wife – without irony – if he can bring home his fifteen-year-old mistress. [63], If Balzac's goal was (as he claimed) to write a realist novel from his "own old pen" rather than mimic the style of Eugène Sue, history and literary criticism have declared him successful. McGuire adds: "This gender whirligig serves to inform the dynamics of the entire narrative ...". Baron Hulot, meanwhile, is rejected by Josépha, who explains bluntly that she has chosen another man because of his larger fortune. [91], Gender roles, especially the figure of the ideal woman, are central to La Cousine Bette. The doctor Bianchon explains: "Ses dents et ses cheveux tombent, elle a l'aspect des lépreux, elle se fait horreur à elle-même; ses mains, épouvantables à voir, sont enflées et couvertes de pustules verdâtres; les ongles déchaussés restent dans les plaies qu'elle gratte; enfin, toutes les extrémités se détruisent dans la sanie qui les ronge." ("Darkness, silence, an icy chill, and the cavernous depth of the soil combine to make these houses a kind of crypt, tombs of the living. C’est jour après jour que les lecteurs découvrent un récit qui lui aussi continue à s’écrire, à s’amplifier au fil des numéros. Dans les années 1840, le roman-feuilleton, très populaire en France, est surtout représenté par Eugène Sue avec ses écritures socialistes. Balzac wanted to challenge Sue's supremacy, and prove himself the most capable feuilleton author in France. [15], Balzac's usual mode of revision involved vast, complicated edits made to galley proofs he received from the printer. Like Louis Lambert and Lucien Chardon in Illusions perdues, he is a brilliant man – just as Balzac considered himself to be. [34] Her fierce persona is attributed partly to her peasant background, and partly to her virginity, which provides (according to Balzac) "une force diabolique ou la magie noire de la volonté" ("diabolical strength, or the black magic of the Will"). Le roman est classé par Balzac dans les Scènes de la vie parisienne. [56], The Polish sculptor Wenceslas Steinbock is important primarily because of Bette's attachment to him. Hanska's aunt Rosalie Rzewuska, and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. I have won! [70] Bette's residence is on the opposite end of the social spectrum, in the impoverished residential area which surrounded the Louvre: "Les ténèbres, le silence, l'air glacial, la profondeur caverneuse du sol concourent à faire de ces maisons des espèces de cryptes, des tombeaux vivants." C'est le cadavre de la force. She had pushed her clenched fingers under her cap to clutch her hair and support her head, which felt too heavy; she was on fire. La Cousine Bette Résumé Lisbeth Fischer, paysanne vosgienne montée à Paris, ne peut réussir dans la société élégante parce qu'elle est laide. Hunt, p. 380; Floyd, p. 36; Jameson, p. 247. These debts, compounded by the money he borrowed to lavish on Josépha, threaten the Hulot family's financial security. La critique attaque aussi au jour le jour ce que le milieu … La Cousine Bette (French pronunciation: ​[la kuzin bɛt], Cousin Bette) is an 1846 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac. ")[80], The intensity of passion, and the consequences of its manifestation, result in a stark contrast of vice and virtue. Before he is nurtured and directed by Bette, however, Steinbock's genius languishes under his own inertia and he attempts suicide. [41] Because of their relationship and similar goals, the critic Frederic Jameson says that "Valérie serves as a kind of emanation of Bette". As one critic says: "Valérie's body becomes, at least symbolically, the locus of Bette's only erotic pleasure. [35][36], In a letter to Mme. For these reasons, it is considered a key antecedent to naturalist literature. Critic Herbert J. Nathalie Aubert, « En attendant les barbares : Constanze Baethge, « Fictions critiques : érotique et politique dans. Bette works with Valérie Marneffe, an unhappily married young lady, to seduce and torment a series of men. 425–426. [112] Margaret Tyzack played the role of Bette in the five part serial Cousin Bette made in 1971 by the BBC, which also starred Helen Mirren as Valérie Marneffe. L'un d'eux est Hector Hulot, mari d'Adeline Hulot, la cousine de Lisbeth. Elle apprend de Lisbeth, une vieille fille, cousine de la famille, que l'on appelle la Cousine Bette, que celle-ci a pris sous sa protection un jeune artiste polonais, Wenceslas Steinbock. Fiche de 11 pages en littérature : Honoré de Balzac La Cousine Bette : résumé. Hanska with each visit and by 1846 he had begun preparing a home to share with her. As she became aware of his affection for Mme. He sacrifices his family's fortune and good name to please Valérie, who leaves him for a well-off merchant named Crevel. She is described from the outset as having "des qualités d'homme" ("certain manly qualities"),[94] with similar descriptions elsewhere. McGuire, p. 178. Prendergast insists that the incident "must literally be described as an act of theft". ")[20] At the start of the novel, Adeline Hulot – wife of the successful Baron Hector Hulot – is being pressured into an affair by a wealthy perfumer named Célestin Crevel. The smoke of the flame that scorched her seemed to emanate from her wrinkles as from the crevasses rent by a volcanic eruption. ")[74], La Cousine Bette is unapologetic in its bleak outlook, and makes blunt connections between characters' origins and behavior. [47] Critics also connect the pride and anguish felt by Balzac during Mme. [92], Critics pay special attention to Bette's lack of traditional femininity, and her unconventional relationships with two characters.