Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2013

Department 1

German

Abstract

Department stores have long been associated with the trope of seducing female consumers, at least since the publication of Emile Zola’s novel Au bonheur des dames in 1883. This fictionalized portrayal of the Parisian department store Bon Marche, which has exerted considerable influence among early chroniclers of department store culture, identifies store owners as men who build ‘temples’ for prospective customers, and who use inebriating tactics to encourage them to enter and spend money. The consumer is gendered female in this and in many other literary works on the department store of the time; she is depicted as reluctant, yet sometimes eager to be tempted by male-driven consumer worlds.

ISBN/ISSN

978-3-631-64116-3

Version

Version of Record

Required Publisher's Statement

Original version was originally published by Peter Lang.

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