Au bonheur des dames, entrepreneurs and creative destruction

This article aims to show a link between economics and literature through the novel by Émile Zola : Au bonheur des dames. The economic entry points are those of the change in the nature of trade and changing competition. We will examine how the entrepreneur, the central figure of change, will be at the heart of the process of creative destruction. These, and this is the richness of the work of Zola, do not concern only the price.