'Mouret's sole passion was the conquest of Woman. He wanted her to be queen in his shop, he had built this temple for her in order to hold her at his mercy.'
The Ladies' Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the spectacular development of the modern department store in late nineteen-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 takign place at the time.
Octave Mouret, the store's owner-manager, masterfully exploits the desires of his female customers. In his private life too 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.
THIS EDITION INCLUDES
Introduction - Textual note - Bibiliography
CHronology - Explanatory notes - Map
