Patrick Süskind
Born March 26, 1949
From Ambach, Bavaria, Germany · Nationality: Germany · Writes fiction
Patrick Süskind is a German writer and screenwriter, best known for his internationally acclaimed novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, first published in 1985.
Süskind was born in Ambach am Starnberger See, near Munich in Germany. His father was writer and journalist Wilhelm Emanuel Süskind, who worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and is famous as the co-author of the well-known Aus dem Wörterbuch des Unmenschen (From the Dictionary of an Inhuman), a critical collection of essays on the language of the Nazi era. Patrick Süskind went to school in Holzhausen, a little Bavarian village. His mother worked as a sports trainer; his older brother Martin E. Süskind is also a journalist.
Süskind studied Medieval and Modern History at the University of Munich and in Aix-en-Provence from 1968-1974, but never graduated. Financially supported by his parents, he moved to Paris where he wrote "mainly short, unpublished fiction and longer screenplays which were not made into films." In 1981, he had his breakthrough with the play Der Kontrabaß (The Double Bass), which was originally conceived as a radio play. In the 1984-85 theatrical season, the play was performed more than 500 times. Süskind was also successful as a screenwriter for the TV productions Monaco Franze (1983) and Kir Royal (1987), among others. For his screenplay of Rossini, directed by Helmut Dietl, he won the Screenplay Prize of the German Department for Culture in 1996.
Quotes
“The rivers stank, the marketplaces stank, the churches stank, it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. The peasant stank as did the priest, the apprentice as did his master’s wife, the whole of the aristocracy stank, even the king himself stank, stank like a rank lion, and the queen like an old goat, summer and winter.”
Perfume, Chapter 1 “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.”
Perfume, Chapter 1 “Whoever has survived his own birth on a rubbish heap is not so easily shoved back out of this world again.”
Perfume, Chapter 4 “He disgusted them the way a fat spider that you can’t bring yourself to crush with your own hand disgusts you.”
Perfume, Chapter 4 “People are stupid and use their noses only for blowing, but believe absolutely anything they see with their eyes.”
Perfume, Chapter 35
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by Patrick Süskind in order
Books by Patrick Süskind in the order they were published, from Perfume (1985) to Güvercin (2021).
- 1Perfume
Perfume1985 - 2El Contrabajo/the Contrabass
El Contrabajo/the Contrabass1986 - 3The Double Bass
The Double Bass1987 - 4The Pigeon
The Pigeon1987 - 5Die Geschichte Von Herrn Sommer
Die Geschichte Von Herrn Sommer1991 - 6La Contrebasse
La Contrebasse1992 - 7Perfume Title:the Story of a MurdererPerfume Title:the Story of a Murderer1992
- 8Mr. Summer's Story
Mr. Summer's Story1993 - 9Three Stories and a Reflection
Three Stories and a Reflection1996What's in it (4)
- 10Un Combat et autres récits
Un Combat et autres récits1997 - 11Das Parfum (Parfüm). Königs Erläuterungen und Materialien, B
Das Parfum (Parfüm). Königs Erläuterungen und Materialien, Bd. 3862001 - 12Parfi͡umer
Parfi͡umer2002 - 13Koku. Das Parfüm
Koku. Das Parfüm2003 - 14The Story of Mr Sommer
The Story of Mr Sommer2003 - 15Golubka
Golubka2004 - 16On Love and Death
On Love and Death2006 - 17A história do senhor SommerA história do senhor Sommer2007
- 18Pachnidło
Pachnidło2007 - 19La historia del señor Sommer
La historia del señor Sommer2008 - 20El Perfume
El Perfume2013 - 21Il profumo
Il profumo2017 - 22Koku
Koku2019 - 23Güvercin
Güvercin2021