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Perfume
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Perfume (1985) (edit title/settings)

The Story of a Murderer

by Patrick Süskind (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The year is 1738; the place, Paris. A baby is born under a fish-monger’s bloody table in a marketplace, and abandoned. Orphaned, passed over to the monks as a charity case, already there is something in the aura of the tiny infant that is unsettling. No one will look after him; he is somehow... read more

Summary edit see section history

Grenouille (French for "frog") is an unwanted Parisian orphan who, having little personal scent, is rejected by others because they are disturbed by his lack of odor. He has an extraordinary power to discern odours, and comes to loathe the scent of other people. He becomes apprenticed to a... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Grenouille (French for "frog") is an unwanted Parisian orphan who, having little personal scent, is rejected by others because they are disturbed by his lack of odor. He has an extraordinary power to discern odours, and comes to loathe the scent of other people. He becomes apprenticed to a tanner at the age of eight, and after work explores the city. One day he smells a divine scent and follows it, and is shocked to find that the source of this beautiful scent is a young woman. He kills her to get a better smell of her scent, but after death the scent ceases. He dedicates his life to preserve this perfect scent.

In his quest to isolate and preserve scents, he becomes apprenticed to a great perfumier, Baldini, and proves a talented pupil, making Baldini the most popular perfumier in Paris. But Baldini cannot teach him how to isolate the scent of glass and iron. He falls ill with small pox but, on discovering that techniques other than distillation can be used to preserve such odours, he miraculously recovers and resolves to journey to the city of Grasse to further his quest.

On his way to Grasse, Grenouille becomes so disgusted by the scent of humanity that he spends seven years in a cave on top of the Massif Central. One day he wakes with a start from a nightmare of being suffocated by his own body odour, and realises with a shock that he has no personal scent at all.

Grenouille journeys to Montpelier where an amateur scientist, the Marquis de La Taillade-Espinasse, uses Grenouille to test his thesis of the "so-called fluidium letale". The Marquis combines a treatment of decontamination and revitalization for Grenouille, and subsequently, Grenouille looks like a clean gentleman for the first time in his life. Grenouille in turn tricks his way into the laboratory of a famous perfumier. There he creates a body odour for himself from ingredients including "cat shit," "cheese," and "vinegar", whereupon he is accepted by society.

Moving to Grasse, Grenouille once again becomes intoxicated by the scent of a young woman, Laure. He decides that she is not quite mature and resolves to kill her in two years time. Meanwhile he embarks on a career of serial murder of beautiful virgins to form a base for the scent he will make from Laure, while at the same time refining his powers until he can preserve any smell.

Eventually Laure's father pieces together the pattern of murders and realises that Laure is to be the next victim. He flees with Laure but Grenouille pursues them and kills Laure, capturing her scent.

He is eventually apprehended and sentenced to death, but on the day of his execution the intoxicating scent of Laure combined with the backdrop essences of the twenty-four virgins he murdered, overwhelms all present, and instead of an execution the whole town becomes a massive orgy.

Grenouille is pardoned for his crimes, and Laure's father even wants to adopt him. But the experience of the power has dissatisfied Grenouille, because he is not loved for himself, but for the perfume which he created. He realises that he had always found gratification 'in hatred, in hating and being hated', not love. He decides to return to Paris upon finding that the satisfaction that he initially felt has transformed itself into hatred and disgust.

In Paris, Grenouille approaches a group of low-life people (thieves, murderers, whores, etc), who do not notice him approaching. He deliberately douses himself with the perfume he created, while among the group. Overcome with desire, they tear him to pieces and devour the remains. They feel slightly disgusted having just eaten a human being, but they feel overwhelmed with happiness. They are "uncommonly proud. For the first time they had done something out of Love." - "Love" is deliberately capitalized which is open to interpretation.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Jean-Baptiste Grenouille: the main character; has a supernaturally powerful sense of smell and lacks a personal smell himself. Becomes a killer in order to produce the exquisite fragrance which can only be made by using young virgin's blood.
  • Grenouille's mother: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was her fifth baby
  • Dominique Druot: Widow Anulfi's lover, then second husband; first journeyman parfumeur
  • Pelissier: Ser solitário com um olfato único.
  • Jeanne Bussie: One of Grenouille's many wet-nurses
  • Father Terrier: He is in charge of the church's charities. He initially sees Grenouille as attractive until the baby wakes up. He is made quite uncomfortable by an infant and sends the babe to foster with Madame Gallard.
  • Laure: Add a description of this character.
  • Madame Gaillard: A foster mother who raises children for the pension she is paid by the church.She has a poor (or no) sense of smell.
  • Children at the Boarding House: They are repulsed by Grenouille
  • Chenier
  • Marquis De La Taillade-espinasse
  • Messina
  • Saint-antoine
  • Grimal: A tanner who lives near the river in the rue de la Mortellerie.He is Grenouille's first employer, or master - in the apprentice system.
  • The Plum Girl: A young read haired woman that Grenouille finds due to her unique odor.Her natural scent is that of sea breeze, water lillies, and apricot blossoms
  • Giuseppe Baldini: An old perfumer who becomes Grenouille's master after reconciling himself to the fact that the boy had a gift. He buys the boy's apprentice contract from the tanner. He subsequently becomes rich thanks to the Perfumes Grenouille makes for him.
  • Chénier: Baldini's assistant
  • Pélissier: Never actually appears in novel. He is only talked about because he is considered the most innovative perfumer in Paris.
  • Taillade-Espinasse: Marquis, liege lord of a town of Pierrefort and a member of parliament.He is a proponent of fluid theory.
  • Madame Arnulfi: A lively, black-haired woman of around thirty who owns a perfume distillery in Grasse, where Grenouille wants to work.
  • Dominique Druot: Arnulfi's journeyman and lover
  • Antoine Richis: Second consul and the richest man in Grasse
  • Laure Richis: A beautiful red-headed girl, daughter of Antoine Richis, one of Grenouille's last victims. Grenouille is infatuated with her scent.
Show all 23 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “What he had always longed for - that other people should love him - became at the moment of its achievement unbearable, because he did not love them himself, he hated them. And suddenly he knew that he had never found gratification in love, but always only in hatred - in hating and being hated.”
  • “He could do all that, <rule the world> if only he wanted to. He possessed the power. He held it in his hand. A power stronger than the power of money or the power of terror or the power of death: the invincible power to command the love of mankind. There was only one thing that power could not do: it could not make him able to smell himself. And though his perfume might allow him to appear before the world as a god - if he could not smell himself and thus never know who he was, to hell with it, with the world, with himself, with his perfume.”
  • “No one knows how good this perfume really is, he thought. No one knows how well made it is. Other people are merely conquered by its effect, don’t even know that it’s a perfume that’s working on them, enslaving them. The only one who has ever recognized it for its true beauty is me, because I created it myself. And at the same time, I’m the only one that it cannot enslave. I am the only person for whom it is meaningless.”
  • “Looked at objectively, however, there was nothing at all about him to instill terror. As he grew older, he was not especially big, nor strong-----ugly, true but not so extremely ugly that people would necessarily have taken fright at him. He was not aggressive, nor underhanded, nor furtive, he did not provoke people. he preferred to keep out of their way.”
  • “And so it happened quite naturally and as the result of no particular decision that his plan to take the fastest road to Grasse gradually faded; the plan unravelled in freedom, so to speak, as did all his other plans and intentions. Grenouille no longer wanted to go somewhere, but only to go away, away from human beings.”
  • “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.”

First Sentence edit see section history

In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.

Glossary edit see section history

  • cipher: The narrative mentions cipher more than once. Cipher in the thesaurus: zero; nothingness, blank, diddly squat, goose egg, insignificancy, nada, naught, nil, nobody, nonentity, nothing, nullity, zilich, zippo. Grenoiuille believes he is an olofactory cipher, but the author suggests he is perhaps more all encompassing than that - in his nothingness.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 99 of 94 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by Corelli's Mandolin, and followed by House Rules.

This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 175 of 200 in Newman and Jones 200 Best Horror Novels. (community list)

Preceded by Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Volumes 1-3, and followed by Finishing Touches.

This is book 243 of 1271 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Handmaid's Tale, and followed by Old Masters.

This is book 9 of 10 in 10 most disturbing novels. (community list)

Preceded by Justine, and followed by Misery.

This is book 71 of 196 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Lord of the Flies, and followed by The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

This is book 53 of 96 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)

Preceded by A Prayer for Owen Meany, and followed by Doctor Zhivago.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Patrick Süskind (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. John E. Woods (Translator)
  2. Ronald Jonkers (Translator) - Translated from German
  3. Tom Rønnow (Translator) - Norwegian Translation
  4. Alfred A Knopf (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: German
Publisher: Diogenes Verlag
Country: Switzerland
Publication Date: 1985
ISBN: 3257228007
Page Count: 367

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PT2681.U74 P313 1986
  • Dewey: 833.914

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

This novel can be a bit violent sometimes.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • On Love and Death
  • The Lady Waved Good-Bye: A Ramón Lull López Mystery
  • Innocent Blood
  • The Pigeon
  • The Reader
  • The Secret History

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • The Three Musketeers
  • Three Stories and a Reflection
  • The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
  • The Nature of Blood

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • Lustmord

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