Penguin Classics Au Bonheur Des Dames [Paperback]

"The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Au Bonheur des Dames is the eleventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola. Zola's classic centers around the bright lights of the massive department store (of which the novel is named) run by the charming, yet licentious Octave Mouret. In many ways Octave is almost the male equivalent of Zola's "Nana". The latter used the beauty of her sex to beguile men; while the former uses all the `material girl' treasures on sale at his colossal department store. It is this department store, 'Au Bonheur des Dames', which quickly becomes the center of Parisian society, especially for the upper class female population.

The story begins with the petite, soft-hearted, eighteen-year old Denise Baudu and her two younger brothers, Jean and Pepe entering into the big city for the first time. The trio have suddenly found themselves orphaned and in dire need of money. In order to support her two younger brothers, who in many ways are more like her children than siblings, Denise takes a lowly position as an assistant at the store. Despite the fact that she's an unworldly, poor country girl and to the rest of the staff comes across as weak and simple-minded, the real fact of the matter is - she's as tough as nails, very strong and very intelligent. She also is one of the most genuine, compassionate, and heroic belles I have ever been introduced to in literature. She is the total antithesis of Nana, and is without a doubt my favorite female character in all of French literature. Definitely my favorite character EVER of Zola's!

Zola's classic paces itself in many ways similar to that of a soap opera. He uses the department store as a new phenomenon to show how it helped reshape the business and social life of his country under the Second Empire (1851-1870). "Au Bonheur des Dames" is obviously a microcosm of French society, and when you read this novel you will easily see why. The beauty of his Rougon-Macquart series is that each story centers upon an important aspect of French society during that dynamic, distinctive period. While this may not be my favorite of his (it was # six for me thus far), it does possess quite a bit of charm and again, also introduces his most endearing character in Denise Baudu. Her Cinderella story is the main reason why I enjoyed this one so much, and why I recommend it.

On the minus side for me, as a few other reviewers aptly pointed out, was the fact that Zola really over does it at times with his lavish, overly decorative descriptions of the department store, its many luxurious displays, the day to day operations, etc... etc... At times, I was saying to myself "okay Emile, enough already! Get to the point my friend!" Also, the majority of the characters in this classic are extremely repugnant people with very few agreeable qualities. But that is not atypical when it comes to a Zola classic. For some reason, many of his characters are much seedier than those of his contemporaries (i.e. Flaubert, Balzac, Maupassant, et al...). Which is saying a lot, because none of them sugar-coated anything!

If you are a fan of French literature, love stories, and/or Horatio Alger works (i.e. rags to riches stories) than you probably will enjoy this one. I certainly did!

Au Bonheur des Dames is the story of an orphaned young girl Denise. She moves to Paris with her younger siblings to live with her uncle and aunt and immediately is enthralled with the lights and the beauty of the city. She begins work in the store Au Bonheur des Dames and falls in love with its propriator. The novel is a love story but also examines the perpetual battle between the old and the new ways of living. The store Au Bonheur des Dames sells a variety of products while the store of Denise's family is simply a clothing store. Zola's novel is before its time. It accurately describes a social issue of today, the bigger commercial store taking over the small, personalized store.

Domination is the name of the game. Octave Mouret, anti-hero of `Pot Bouille', has made it to the top of the heap. He has exceeded his own wildest dreams. He has invented the department store. His Au Bonheur des Dames rules the retail commerce in the Paris of the 1860s. He has married the woman that he had targeted for himself and is now a happy widower who can seduce and drop as many women as he pleases.
This novel is volume 11 of the Rougon Macquart series, and it can really be called a sequel to volume 10, Pot Bouille, in the same way as Nana is a sequel to L'Assommoir. Times and manners of the 2nd Empire under Napoleon III were deeply obnoxious to Zola. His disgust did not blur his vision.

Au Bonheur des Dames could serve well as an illustration to contemporary theories of capital concentration, such as the one that Karl Marx, in his London library, developed in his magnum opus Das Kapital. Whatever one thinks of Marx as a philosopher and politician, it can hardly be denied that his economic theory was on to something, despite essential doubts about his value theory. He developed the classical theories inherited from Smith and Ricardo into a different direction than other followers of that school, say the so-called Neoliberals following Hayek a.o. The recent crashes have apparently revived interest in Marx as an economist. Well worth a visit!

I am digressing. Zola himself is also interesting as a historian of management. His Mouret is crafted after some real life business moguls who came up with the department store, mail order sales, supply chain management, sales incentives, staff bonus systems, innovative sales price strategies, employee shareholding in expanding companies, outrageous salaries for top managers, real estate corruption, and all the other familiar modern day practices.

The second main theme of the novel is Mouret's obsession with being victorious with women. Early on, his main business peer predicts that one day a woman will come who will take revenge for all her humiliated sisters.

My conclusion: this works for me mainly as a work of history. It is harder to take an interest in the persons of this novel as people. They are pawns in a plan, Zola's plan. That diminishes admiration for the novel as `art' somewhat, but its historical values still merit 5 stars.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 10 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars