The Department Store and Self-Conception at the Axis of Modernity and Socioeconomic Change in 19th-Century Paris

<a href="https://embed.stanford.edu/iframe/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurl.stanford.edu%2Fpw483sh9758" class="su-underline">Show Content</a>

Abstract/Contents

Abstract: This thesis explores the changes in public life, visibility, and self-conception that resulted from the shift from specialty boutiques to department stores in 19th-century Paris. It entails a literary analysis of Émile Zola's novel Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies' Delight), which centers on Denise Baudu, a young provincial girl who moves to Paris to find a better future as a shopgirl at a large department store in the city, Au Bonheur des Dames. While Denise humanizes the store and its Casanova proprietor, Octave Mouret, the store impacts her deeply and forces her to change herself to fit into the ideal of its employees and customers. The essay explores the sense of shame that increased public visibility, changing socioeconomic standards, and conceiving of oneself in the gaze of others that the new age of the department store brought, and considers parallels to the modern world.

Type of resource	text
Date created	May 2018

Author	MacLeod, Madeline
Advisor	Edelstein, Dan
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, French and Italian Department

Subject	department stores
Subject	Paris
Subject	Zola, Émile, 1840-1902
Subject	Stanford
Subject	Stanford University
Subject	Stanford University Division of Literatures Cultures and Languages
Subject	self-conception
Subject	socioeconomic conditions
Subject	modernity
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/pw483sh9758

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.

Preferred Citation: MacLeod, Madeline. (2018). The Department Store and Self-Conception at the Axis of Modernity and Socioeconomic Change in 19th-Century Paris. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/pw483sh9758

Undergraduate Theses, French and Italian Department, Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, Stanford University.

Loading usage metrics...