The main protagonist, Aristide, is broke and tries to regain his footing by establishing a financial company—of all places, on the Paris stock exchange. His semi-legal methods have consequences for the macroeconomic context and are disastrous for completely uninvolved parties. Émile Zola's novel from 1891 reveals everything one needs to know about the stock market frenzy. What makes it a page-turner, a melodrama, a widescreen film of its time, is the visionary power, the enormous appetite, the grandiose immodesty of its author, and his ability to draw out the fantastic from reality. Zola's heroes are addicts. Capital is their cocaine.