Patrick Suskind: biography of the screenwriter

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

Patrick Suskind is a famous German writer, playwright and screenwriter. Born in Germany, in the city of Ambach, not far from Munich, on March 26, 1949. The author is known for his stories, plays, as well as performances that are regularly staged on the stages of European theaters. But his hallmark, of course, is the novel "Perfume". 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 playing the piano at the evenings regularly organized at home by his father, a well-known Bavarian publicist and journalist.

After completing his secondary education, he served in the army, attended courses in France and studied history at the University of Munich. During this period, he earned his living in a variety of ways: working in a bar, as a table tennis instructor, and as an employee of the corporation's patent department. Siemens.

The beginning of a writing career

Patrick Suskind has been writing since about 1970 and positions himself as a freelance prose writer. He writes short stories and screenplays that he calls "unpublished" and "unproduced".

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 "Contrabass" brought him his first popularity.

Legendary "Perfumer"

Süskind approached the writing of his novel with the utmost care. He traveled around the scenes of his future creation, collected a large number of authentic literary and cultural sources and studied the craft of perfumery in a cosmetics company.

The novel about the brilliant and terrible Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is published in 1985, bringing worldwide recognition to the author. Top positions in the bestseller ranking for almost ten years and translation into about fifty languages, including even Latin - this is not a complete list of the merits that the book "Perfume" has.

Patrik Suskind, thanks to the novel, becomes one of the most successful writers not only of national German, but also of modern world literature. In the same year, the author says that working on the book was simply terrible, and that he doubts that he will start something like this again in hislife.

The novel was published by Diogenes. It was initially wary of the piece provided by Patrick Suskind. The books were released in the amount of only 10 thousand copies, but within a few months this figure increased more than 10 times with the annual reprint.

Regarding the history of the publication of "Perfume" there is a whole legend. According to her, the secretary of the head of the publishing house accidentally got to the production of the play "Contrabass", which he really liked. He told his boss about it, and he read the play. During a meeting with Suskind, the publisher asked if the author had anything else unpublished. To which the writer replied that he had a novel, which, most likely, was not worth much attention…

"Perfume" is still one of the most popular and best-selling novels around the globe today. Based on it, a rock opera was written and a film of the same name was shot, for the production of which the world's most famous directors competed.

Other popular pieces

After the publication of "Perfume", the author begins to work on his next creations. In 1987, the book "Dove. Three stories and one observation" appeared, which describes the loneliness of a person both in society and alone with himself, and in 1991 the autobiographical work "The Story of Mr. Sommer" was published.

ProtagonistsThese works, as well as in the novel "Perfumer", have common distinctive features. As a rule, these are people who cannot find themselves in their contemporary society. Fearing communication with others and the world in general, they hide from prying eyes in cramped rooms and fence themselves off from society in every possible way.

Characteristic features of the works of Patrick Suskind

Besides alienation from society, the author's work has other distinctive characteristics. First, there are autobiographical influences. These are echoes of musical education, and the question of the formation of a genius and his merciless collapse. Here are his first failures in his writing career, contradictions with his father and a protest against the depth of the works, on which criticism insists.

The author describes situations that could happen to absolutely anyone, 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 anti-heroes, trying to get 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.

Author's personal life

Like his characters, the writer is quite a peculiar person. Patrick Suskind, whose biography was collected by enthusiasts literally bit by bit, leads a rather hidden andhermit lifestyle. He never gives interviews and did not appear at any ceremony, where he was supposed to receive various literary awards and prizes. He practically never happens in crowded places and lives either in Munich or in France. For such behavior, he even received the nickname "phantom of German entertainment literature." It is still unknown whether the author is married and has children. Despite worldwide popularity, only three of his photographs have been officially published.

Patrick Suskind is an internationally renowned writer and screenwriter. He is the author of a number of well-known stories, plays, performances and the legendary novel "Perfumer. The Story of a Murderer". Despite his worldwide popularity, he leads a rather reclusive and secretive life and practically does not appear in front of the public.