The Ladies' Paradise (Oxford World's Classics)

Zola, Émile

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199536902 ISBN 13: 9780199536900

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2008

The Ladies' Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the spectacular development of the modern department store in late nineteenth century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family; it is emblematic of consumer culture and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century.

Octave Mouret, the store's owner-manager, masterfully exploits the desires of his female customers. In his private life as much as in business he is the great seducer. But when he falls in love with the innocent Denise Baudu, he discovers she is the only one of the salesgirls who refuses to be commodified.

This new translation of the eleventh book in the Rougon-Macquart cycle captures the spirit of one of Zola's greatest novels of the modern city.
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Review:

Brian Nelson's lively translation of Au Bonheur des Dames, which was inspired by the revolutionary "Bon Marché" department store, reminds us that this was a ground-breaking book about a seismic shift in social behaviour and gender roles: the first shopping-and-striving epic. (Boyd Tonkin, The Independent i)

About the Author:

Brian Nelson is Professor of French at Monash University, Australia