Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Patrick Süskind
Low-born orphan Grenouille has a powerful sense of smell that allows him to smell scents far below that which typical humans can smell. This story follows him from his birth in a fish market to an orphanage, a tannery, and finally to a perfumery. From there, his quest to develop a perfume so sublime that everyone would fall in love with him begins, and so to, does his work as a murderer.
Major thematic elements: the nature of evil and what it means to be human, power and control, ambition, social class, scent.
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IB Literature and IB Language and Literature Connections
Readers, writers and texts | Time and space | Intertextuality: Connecting texts
Identity | Culture | Creativity | Communication
Perspective | Transformation | Representation
Place of publication: Germany
Language: German
Era: 20th Century
Genre: Fiction
Author: Male
Full text, basic summaries, and overviews
Perfume | Wikipedia |
The Wikipedia entry for Perfume is a good starting point if you’re not familiar with the novel. The plot overview gives a great summary of the text.
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A Killer, Haunted By Smells | The New York Times | Peter Ackroyd | September 21, 1986
Book review of Perfume written just after the release of the English translation of the novel.
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Perfume Study Guide | LitCharts
This study guide includes plot summary, chapter summaries, themes, characters, symbols and more.
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Study Guide | Course Hero
This study guide includes plot summary, chapter summaries, themes, symbols, quotes, and more.
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Excerpt from Perfume | Penguin Random House
This excerpt includes chapter 1 and most of chapter 2.
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind | Chareads | YouTube | Book Review | 8:38
This review is fantastic—it includes an excellent summary of the book and some discussion of the literary features of Süskind’s writing.
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Book Review: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | YouTube | The Book Was Better | 13:33
This longer review is also good. It includes a summary of the plot, discussion of the prose style, discussion of the character arc of Grenouille, a discussion of what a sociopath is and whether or not it applies to Grenouille, and a discussion of the film.
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About the author
Patrick Süskind | Wikipedia
Süskind is notorious for not giving interviews, and so there’s not a lot out there on him. Because of that, Wikipedia is a good start.
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Success of Smell is Sweet for New German Novelist | The New York Times | James M. Markham | October 9, 1986
This article has some great background information on Süskind, especially in relation to the publication of Perfume.
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Germany’s most reclusive author? Patrick Süskind at 70 | DW.com | Cristina Burack | March 26, 2019
Burack reflects on the career of Patrick Süskind and his continued reluctance to give interviews or reveal personal information.
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Articles, essays, and videos about Madame Bovary
Perfume: The Tragedy of Humanity | e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work, 3.3.3 | Abby Hodge | 2013
From the abstract: “This article examines two adaptations—film and novel—of the story Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Through comparing these mediums this article explains themes within each.”
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Narcissism and Creativity in the Postmodern Era: The Case of Patrick Süskind’s Das Parfum | The Germanic Review | Jeffrey Adams | 2000
This is a difficult essay, but for advanced readers, or readers who have taken philosophy, it’s a good read. This article could also be used in pieces—the first three paragraphs could be analyzed for structure, word choice, etc.
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Smell as Self-identity: Capitalist Ideology and Olfactory Imagination in Das Parfum’s Multimedia Storytelling | Chapman University | Xinrong Liu | May 2020 | Masters Thesis
from the abstract: “This thesis explores smell as a cultural signifier in Perfume’s multimedia storytelling. By extablishing the theoretical ground upon the historical importance of scent, the thesis focuses particularly on its close interrelationships with the politics of identity.
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The Evanescence of Smell and Sympathy: A Study of Transience in the Filmic and Written Forms of Patrick Süskind’s Perfume | Duke University | Justin Haejoon Yi
This is a very readable essay with plenty of discussion of the novel separate from the film. When formatted to print 2 pages per sheet, it’s only a 5-page document.
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Caricature, Parody, Satire: Narrative Masks as Subversion of the Picaro in Patrick Süskind’s Perfume | University of Minnesota | Edith Borchardt | 1992
Another short, readable essay. Print quality won’t be great—the document looks like it’s scanned from a book—but very readable online.
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Analysis of Manipulative Relationships and Animal Metaphors in Patrick Süskind’s Perfume | IB Survival | March 16, 2018 | Student Paper
This student essay has pros and cons, and could be a great resource for students learning how to peer edit, especially in terms of using consistent verb tenses, keeping the analysis focused on the author’s choices rather than the character’s, and including sufficient analysis with quotations to prove the overarching thesis.
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How Kurt Cobian’s favourite book inspired a Nirvana classic song | Far Out Magazine | Joe Taysom | June 2021
This is a fun article—more student interest than academic. The music video for the song is embedded on the page.
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PHILOSOPHY - Nietzsche | YouTube | The School of Life | October 2014 | 6:56
Nietzsche and nihilism often come up when discussing Perfume. This video is a good introduction to both.
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Perfume (2006) - Movie | MovieclipsFILM | 8-videoclip playlist | ~22:00
Previewing these clips before showing them to a class is strongly recommended.
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Lesson plans and other teaching resources
Perfume Reader’s Guide | Penguin Random House
This guide has 16 discussion questions and a brief biography of Süskind.
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Works in Translation 1 - Perfume Patrick Süskind | John McGlashan College English | Teacher Website
This page has several great resources: in the center are downloadable PDF presentations for Perfume. Along the right side are links to study notes, character notes, sample essays, and much more.
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Bryan High School | IB English 3 page
Three Word documents are linked at the bottom of the page: a Süskind biography, Perfume Journals activity, and Socratic Seminar instructions.
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Lesson 1 Perfume intro and background | SlideShare | S_Rodgers | December 2011
This slide includes background information about the novel, author and 18th-century France, with questions and a written activity at the end.
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Perfume - The Story of a Murderer
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The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind
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