A UTOPIA DO CONSUMO EM "O PARAÍSO DAS DAMAS", DE ÉMILE ZOLA

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the representation of the consumer society and commercial relations in late 19^th century Paris, as presented in the naturalistic novel The Ladies´ Paradise, published in 1883 by the French writer Émile Zola. The central theme of the narrative addresses the spread of consumer society through the rise and growth of a large department store, Ladies´ Paradise, which, inspired in real Parisian magazines of the 19^th century, transforms the organization of local commerce. For this purpose, the research is based on the theoretical concepts of Colin Campbell (2001), regarding the romanticization of consumption, of Jean Baudrillard (1995), which brings the organization of consumption signs and the evidence of surplus, of Pierre Bourdieu (2010), which addresses the theory of the symbolic and organizational system of consumption, and of Zygmunt Bauman (2008), who contributes with his theory of consumer society and the transformation of subjects into goods.