Patrick Süskind was born in Ambach, near Munich,
in 1949. He studied medieval and modern history at the University
of Munich. His first play,
The Double Bass, was
written in 1980 and became an international success. It was
performed in Germany, in Switzerland, at the Edinburgh Festival, in
London, and at the New Theatre in Brooklyn. His first novel,
Perfume became an internationally acclaimed
bestseller. He is also the author of
The Pigeon
and
Mr. Summer''s Story, and a coauthor of the
enormously successful German television series Kir Royal. Mr.
Süskind lives and writes in Munich.
1. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born in a food
market that had been erected above the Cimetiere des Innocents, the
"most putrid spot in the whole kingdom" [p. 4]. He barely escapes
death at his birth; his mother would have let him die among the
fish guts as she had her four other children. But Grenouille
miraculously survives. How would you relate the circumstances of
his birth to the life he grows up to live?
2. When the wet nurse refuses to keep Grenouille because he has
no smell and therefore must be a "child of the devil" [p. 11],
Father Terrier takes him in. But he is exasperated. He has tried to
combat "the superstitious notions of the simple folk: witches and
fortune-telling cards, the wearing of amulets, the evil eye,
exorcisms, hocus-pocus at full moon, and all the other acts they
performed" [p. 14]. In what ways can Perfume be
read as a critique of the eighteenth century''s conception of
itself as the Age of Reason? Where else in the novel do you find
rationality being overcome by baser human instincts?
3. Throughout the novel, Grenouille is likened to a tick. Why do
you think Süskind chose this analogy? In what ways does Grenouille
behave like a tick? What does this analogy reveal about his
character that a more straightforward description would not?
4. Grenouille is born with a supernaturally developed sense of
smell. He can smell the approach of a thunderstorm when there''s
not a cloud in the sky and wonders why there is only one word for
smoke when "from minute to minute, second to second, the amalgam of
hundreds of odors mixed iridescently into ever new and changing
unities as the smoke rose from the fire" [p. 25]. He can store and
synthesize thousands of odors within himself and re-create them at
will. How do you interpret this extraordinary ability? Do you think
such a sensitivity to odor is physically possible? Do you feel
Süskind wants us to read his novel as a kind of fable or allegory?
Why do you think Süskind chose to build his novel around the sense
of smell instead of one of the other senses?
5. What motivates Grenouille to commit his first murder? What
does he discover about himself and his destiny after he has killed
the red-haired girl?
6. Do the descriptions of life in eighteenth-century France-the
crowded quarters, the unsanitary conditions, the treatment of
orphans, the punishment of criminals, etc.-surprise you? How are
these conditions related to the ideals of enlightenment, reason,
and progress that figure so prominently in eighteenth-century
thinking?
7. The perfumer Baldini initially regards Grenouille with
contempt. He explains, "Whatever the art or whatever the craft-and
make a note of this before you go!-talent means next to nothing,
while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means
everything" [p. 74]. And yet Grenouille is able to concoct the most
glorious perfumes effortlessly and with no previous experience or
training. What do you think the novel as a whole conveys about the
relationship between genius and convention, creativity and
destruction, chaos and order?
8. The narrator remarks, "Odors have a power of persuasion
stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The
persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us
like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally.
There is no remedy for it" [p. 82]. Do you think this is true? Why
would an odor have such power? In what ways does Grenouille use
this power to his advantage?
9. Some reviewers have claimed that the Süskind''s writing in
Perfume is "verbose and theatrical," while others
have described it as "sensuous and supple." Clearly, the writing is
more extravagantly imaginative than the pared down minimalism of
much recent American fiction. How do you respond to Süskind''s
prose? How do you respond to the critical reactions outlined
above?
10. Grenouille is introduced as "one of the most gifted and
abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and
abominable personages" [p. 3]. Does Süskind manage to make him a
sympathetic character, in spite of his murders and obsessions? Or
do you find him wholly repellent? How might you explain
Grenouille''s actions? To what extent do his experiences shape his
behavior? Do you think he is inherently evil?
11. When Grenouille emerges from his self-imposed seven-year
exile, he is brought to the attention of the marquis de La
Taillade-Espinasse, whose theory that "life could develop only at a
certain distance from the earth, since the earth itself constantly
emits a corrupting gas, a so-called fluidum letale, which lames
vital energies and sooner or later totally extinguishes them" [pp.
139 - 140] seems to explain Grenouille''s sad condition. This
theory also contends that all living creatures therefore "endeavor
to distance themselves from the earth by growing" upwards and away
from the earth [p. 140]. What attitudes and beliefs is Süskind
satirizing through the character of Taillade-Espinasse?
12. Grenouille becomes, toward the end of the novel, a kind of
olfactory vampire, killing young women to rob them of their scents.
"What he coveted was the odor of certain human beings: that is,
those rare humans who inspire love. These were his victims" [p.
188]. Why does he need the scents of these people?
13. In the novel''s climatic scene, just as Grenouille is about
to be executed, he uses the perfume he''s created to turn the
townspeople''s hatred for him into love and to inspire an orgy
which collapses class distinctions and pairs "grandfather with
virgin, odd-jobber with lawyer''s spouse, apprentice with nun,
Jesuit with Freemason''s wife-all topsy-turvy, just as opportunity
presented" [p. 239]. Grenouille is revered and regards himself as
godlike in this triumph. Does he enjoy this moment, or is it a
hollow victory? What is the novel suggesting about the nature of
human love? About order and disorder?
14. After Grenouille leaves the town of Grasse, where he has
caused so much death and suffering, his case is officially closed
and we''re told, "The town had forgotten it in any event, forgotten
it so totally that travelers who passed through in the days that
followed and casually inquired about Grasse''s infamous murderer of
young maidens found not a single sane person who could give them
any information" [p. 247]. Why do the townspeople react this way?
Why isn''t it possible for them to integrate what has happened into
their daily consciousness?
15. How do you interpret the novel''s ending, as Grenouille
returns to the Cimetiere des Innocents and allows himself to be
murdered and eaten by the criminals who loiter there? What ironies
are suggested by the narrator''s assertion that Grenouille''s
killers had just done something, for the first time, "out of love"
[p. 255]?
16. Perfume is set in eighteenth-century France
and tells an extravagant story of a man possessed with a magical
sense of smell and a bizarrely destructive obsession. Do its
historical setting and fantastic elements make it harder or easier
to identify with? What contemporary issues and anxieties does the
story illuminate?