Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac

I don’t remember how I stumbled on this one. Surely I read about it in some other work, and I remember why I put it on my to-read list. It was held up as one of the finest studies of humanity ever portrayed in fiction.

Well, yes and no, as it turns out.

…in 1829 he launched upon the most ambitious project which a novelist (who claimed also to be a philosopher) had ever yet undertaken. The ‘Human Comedy’ was the result of this. He only found a title for his collected works about 1840, and he only began to edit or re-edit them under this title from 1842. But he had the whole scheme roughed out at least as early as 1834. It was an ever-expanding project. Disease and death caught up with him before it arrived at completion. Yet, as it stands, it comprises about ninety-seven novels, short stories and other ‘studies.’

This from the book’s introduction by Herbert J. Hunt. Cousin Pons is, evidently, only one-ninety-seventh of the finest study of humanity ever portrayed in fiction.

I flirted with the idea of placing all ninety-seven volumes on my to-read list -- not quite understanding that had I done so and had I managed to read them all, I would most likely be only one of a handful of people on the planet ever to accomplish such a feat -- but after wading through Cousin Pons I decided not to bother.

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This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.