Bette

Author: Balzac
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-01
Features: The novel is set against the backdrop of the upper-class life in 19th-century Paris. It follows the fate of the Count of Erlwein, narrating how he, driven by mad desires, gradually betrays his innocent wife, harms the innocent girl, ruins the family's reputation, and stains the honor of the army, leading to his lifelong downfall. The various characters, intricate plot, and thrilling struggles between the spiritual and the physical, love and hatred, good and evil, form a fully fleshed-out tragedy of human life, a dazzling history of morality, and an endless lament for the inevitable collapse of the upper class.