EPISODE 17: Honoré de Balzac, ”Cousin Bette” (1846), Part One

Introduction: 0:00—London to Paris. 8:00—Paris in the 1840s. 12:56—Balzac’s home. 15:50—Balzac at work. 20:35—Interlude.

Chapters 1-17: 21:09—Military & Nobility. 25:06—“de.” 28:57—Dissent & consent.  41:38—Bette vs. Adeline. 50:53—"A kind of god.” 52:59—Bette the common worker. 55:26—Bette the old maid. 55:55—Bette’s neighborhood. 58:10—Balzac’s Paris. 59:43: Special military operation in Poland. 1:02:52—Saving Steinbock. 1:07:36—Domestic perfection. 1:09:01—La Comédie Humaine. 1:10:30—A new economic reality. 1:16:39—Marx & Engels. 1:17:57—Balzac’s reactionary politics. 1:19:58—The bourgeoisie. 12:20:08—Interlude.

Chapters 14-32: 1:22:36—Hulot’s gaze. 1:25:05—Meeting the Marneffes. 1:29:09—Balzac’s realism. 1:32:43—Upper-class display. 1:35:00—Hulot rejected. 1:40:36—Hortense & Steinbock. 1:44:26—Rue Vaneau. 1:48:12—A new way to love. 1:50:50—Smothering Steinbock. 1:55:41—Bette & Valerie, bff. 2:00:45—Losing Steinbock. 2:02:33—Interlude.

Chapters 33-37: 2:05:15—The conquest of Algeria. 2:18:42—“The most consummate devilry.”

Text: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Bette. Translated by Sylvia Raphael. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992.

Interludes: Frederic Chopin, Waltz in A Flat Major, No. 3, Op. 64 (1847), performed by John Robson.

Illustration: Honoré de Balzac, portrait by Louis-Auguste Bisson, 1842, Wikimedia.

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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Steven Vincent and the students of History 530: Modern France, NCSU Spring 2023.