Patrick Suskind is a famous German writer, playwright and screenwriter. Born in Germany, in the city of Ambach, near Munich, March 26, 1949. The author is known for his short stories, plays, and performances, which are regularly staged on the stages of European theaters. But his calling card, of course, is the novel "Perfumer". Patrick Suskind, whose biography still has many gaps, and today attracts millions of readers around the world.
The early years of the writer
The future writer spent his childhood in the small village of Holzhausen. Here he studied at a local school and gymnasium, and also received a musical education. He demonstrated his mastery of the piano in the evenings, which were regularly organized at home by his father, a well-known Bavarian publicist and journalist.
After receiving secondary education, he served in the army, attended courses in France and studied history at the University of Munich. During this period, he made his living in a variety of ways: by working in a bar, as an instructor in table tennis, and as an employee of the patent department at Siemens Corporation.
Beginning of a writing career
Patrick Suskind began writing activities from about 1970 and positions himself as a free writer. He writes short stories and screenplays, which he calls "unpublished" and "not set."
After graduation, the work of Patrick Suskind begins to bring him income. He writes a variety of scripts for cinema and theater, and in 1984 the solo performance "Double Bass" brings him first popularity.
The legendary "Perfumer"
Suskind approached the writing of his novel with great care. He traveled around the scene of his future creation, raised a large number of authentic literary and cultural sources and studied the perfumery craft in a cosmetics company.
The novel about the brilliant and terrible Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was published in 1985, bringing the author world recognition. Top positions in the ranking of best-sellers for almost ten years and translation into about fifty languages, including even Latin, is far from a complete list of the merits of the book "Perfumer".
Thanks to the novel, Patrick Suskind becomes one of the most successful writers of not only national German, but also modern world literature. In the same year, the author said that working on the book was just awful, and that he doubted that he would start something like that again in his life.
The novel was published by Diogenes. It initially cautiously reacted to the work that Patrick Suskind provided. Books were published in the amount of only 10 thousand copies, but after a few months this figure increased by more than 10 times with the annual reprint.
Regarding the history of the publication "Perfumer" there is a whole legend. According to her, the secretary of the publishing house’s director accidentally got into the production of the play “Double Bass”, which he really liked. He told his boss about this, and he read the play. During a meeting with Suskind, the publisher asked if the author still had something unpublished. To which the writer replied that he has a novel, which, most likely, is not worth much attention …
"Perfumer" and today is one of the most popular and best-selling novels around the globe. Based on it, a rock opera was written and a film of the same name was shot, for the production of which the most famous world directors fought.
Other popular works
After the publication of "Perfumer", the author begins to work on his next creations. In 1987, the book “The Dove. Three stories and one observation” appeared, which describes the loneliness of a person both in society and alone, and in 1991 an autobiographical work “The History of Mr. Sommer” was published.
The protagonists of these works, as in the novel "Perfumer", have common distinguishing features. As a rule, these are people who cannot find themselves in their modern society. Fearing communication with others and the world as a whole, they hide from prying eyes in cramped rooms and block themselves from society in all possible ways.
Characteristics of Patrick Suskind's Works
In addition to alienation from society, the work of the author has other distinctive characteristics. Firstly, these are autobiographical influences. These are echoes of musical education, and the question of the formation of a genius and its merciless collapse. This is reflected in his first failures in his writing career, contradictions with his father and protest against the depth of works, on which the critic insists.
The author outlines situations that could happen to absolutely everyone, and also points out the inconsistency of human nature. In his works, brave people are afraid of pigeons, and scientists believe in fantastic forms of creation and collapse of the world.
Patrick Suskind pays special attention to the psychological state of his antiheroes, trying to know their soul. In addition, in most cases, his characters are people with physical or mental disabilities, which gives the author simply unlimited resources for creativity.
