Telling the Truth

Last year I began reading Émile Zola’s novel, The Ladies’ Paradise, because of the back cover, not the front cover (above).  These quotes caught my eye.

‘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.’ (from the novel)

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.  (from the back cover summary)

New translation published by Oxford University Press 1995; first published as a novel in 1883

Commodified women. Read the rest of this entry »