Le Cousin Pons is one of the last of the 94 novels and short stories that make up Honoré de Balzac's Comédie humaine. Begun in 1846 as a novella, it was envisaged as one part of a diptych, Les Parents pauvres (The Poor Relations), along with La Cousine Bette (Cousin Bette). The book was originally published as a serial in Le Constitutionnel, but during 1847 it grew into a full-length novel, with a male poor relation, Pons, as its subject, (La Cousine Bette describes a female poor relation).