Mrs. Begonia Contretemp

Title: Spokesperson Emerita of the Why-and-the-Wherefore Cohort, Nouvelle Vague Zwischenschaft (NVZ)

**She merely follows Protocol 4.3.1 of the NVZ Internal Memo on Etiquette During Civilizational Collapse: Maintain posture, sip amaretto, and never interrupt a culture mid-fall.**

Role: Council Correspondent for European Disruptions, Cultural Etiquette Under Duress, and the Decorative Collapse of Civilizations

Bio:

Mrs. Begonia Contretemp is not one woman, but many. The name itself—phonetically “Be gone, you unfortunate occurrence”—is a kind of incantation against decline, wielded with gloves on and vowels fully pronounced. It is the shared pen name of various old maids, disillusioned matrons, and culturally overqualified widows who write for the Council-of-Concerned-Conservationists when the world becomes too vulgar to face unmasked. These women, many of them émigrés from failed salons, believe in calling things by their proper names and refusing to die quietly amid the scented candles of modernity.

As a figurehead, Mrs. Contretemp blends Continental precision with Victorian spite, always ready to diagnose the spiritual mildew behind contemporary trends. She is the author of devastating Council communiqués written in cursive and sometimes on embossed stationery. Her preferred method of dissent is a raised eyebrow followed by a veiled remark about the decline of wallpaper standards.

She is the originator of the Council maxim:

“If we cannot stop the decline, we can at least comment on the wallpaper as it peels.”

Though she frequently appears seated with her back to the room—usually at The Gist & Tangent Supper Club—her presence is unmistakable: a yellow neck gaiter, a cigarette holder fitted with a vape, and a neat shot of amaretto placed precisely, if judgmentally, before her.

Notable Publications: