Perspectives

The world of smell plays a central role in the novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind. The main character, Grenouille is born in 18th-century France, a world in which scents and smells were valued completely differently than they are today. But what were conditions really like in the ever-expanding cities, especially Paris? Our perspective section will first provide an overview of the world of perfumes in 18th century France as well as a page dedicated to the historical background.

Furthermore, we explain in detail the literary period of postmodernism. We will also discuss which characteristics of this period can be found in the novel. In addition we will discuss Perfume as a Bildungsroman, that is, a novel that presents the evolution of the main character to some form of maturity, as an artist's novel, and as a crime novel. 

We will dedicate a section for the 2006 film adaptation and show where it differs from the novel. As well as this, we also draw attention to how the female characters are portrayed in the book.