Cousin Pons

In this 1847 novel, often seen as a companion piece to Balzac’s Cousin Bette, Sylvain Pons is a musician who despite modest means has amassed a valuable collection of art. Only after a wealthy cousin banishes him as her guest does she learn of the collection—and becomes one of many who would like to get their thieving hands on it.

In this 1847 novel, often seen as a companion piece to Balzac's Cousin Bette, Sylvain Pons is a musician who despite modest means has amassed a valuable collection of art. Only after a wealthy cousin banishes him as her guest does she learn of the collection—and becomes one of many who would like to get their thieving hands on it.

Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) was one of the supreme French novelists. His monumental series of stories and novels, La Comedie humaine, was his masterwork—describing life in France in the post-Napoleonic era. Regarded as a founding father of realism, his characters were drawn with a depth previously absent from literature.