The French gloried in the national prestige brought by the great Parisian stores.[152] Émile Zola set his novel Au Bonheur des Dames (1882–83) in a typical department store, based on research he did at Le Bon Marché in 1880. Zola represented it as a symbol of the new technology that was both improving society and devouring it. The novel describes merchandising, management techniques, marketing, and consumerism.[153]