Study of Industry and Culture in Modern France through the Works of Zola

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In this project, we have tried to demonstrate how Emile Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart represents the relation between the developpement of industry, scientific technology and great modern cities, on the one hand, and a new culture or human mentality, on the other hand, in the latter half of 19th century France. Our works will be divided into three points :1. The renovation of Paris by Haussmann---we have seen in La Curee, Zola's ingenious way of novelizing this work, and particularly, in the scene of the visit to demolition works at the Boulevard Prince-Eugene, we have examined that the "dissection" of the city becomes a metaphor of modern scientific operations. We also made clear that the "glasshouse", prototype of modern architecture with iron and glass, represents the modern society as a space of exposition and desire.2. The developpement of the department store and the fashion industry---the Rue du Dix Decembre, new wide street on which Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames wants to be faced, runs between the stock exchange and the opera. It shows us with the very fact the department store is for Zola a union of speculation and spectacle. We have analyzed the aesthetics of seduction in the glass space of the department store. Through the examen of Rene's various costumes, we also have discussed the problem of fashion and culture under the Second Empire.3. The problem of industrialized society and gender---Zola conceives of his department store managed by Octave Mouret as a gigantic and monstrous "machine" which symbolizes the industrial society. It is a mechanism of exploiting women invented by men. We have examined the relation between women and consumer capitalism through the feminin characters in the novel divided into three categories---the shoppers (consumer), the employees (worker) and the wife of manager (housekeeper).