Cousin Pons

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.

ISBN 0140442057   Pages 336 ISBN13 9780140442052 (What's this?)   Part volume Cousin Pons Publisher Penguin Books Ltd   Volumes 1 Imprint Penguin Classics   Weight (grammes) 252 Format Paperback   Published in London Publication date 25 May 1978   Series title Classics S. Non-book description 333 p.   Height (mm) 198 Translator Herbert James Hunt   Width (mm) 129 Library of Congress PZ3.B22 CU   Spine width (mm) 19 DEWEY 843.7   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC21   Alternative ISBN 9781586270292

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