Au Bonheur Des Dames - Additional Background

Additional Background

In Au Bonheur des Dames, the store is a symbol of capitalism, the modern city and the bourgeois family. It is emblematic of changes in consumer culture, sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century.

Typical of Zola's novels, the location of the store in the novel is worth noting. Located along the Rue du Dix-Decembre equidistant from the Opera Garnier (under construction in the storyline of the novel) and the Palais Brongniart (the Parisian stock market), Zola's department store is meant to highlight the confluence of 'feminine' shopping and 'masculine' finance. The stock market and the theatre are central elements in other novels in the Rougon-Macquart series (L'argent and Nana).