Grade 11
FROM THE LITERATURE OF THE END OF THE XX - THE BEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY. MODERN LITERARY PROCESS
M. PAVLIN, P. ZYUSKIND
SAMPLE ESSAYS
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille - "dark genius" from art
From the very beginning of the novel, the author warns the reader that we are talking about a person who belonged to the number of the most brilliant and most disgusting figures of an era rich in brilliant and disgusting personalities. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.
It would seem that everything is clear. But in fact, the image of a perfumer is incredibly complex and contradictory. On the one hand, Grenouille is an unhappy child who was nearly killed by her own mother. They do not like him in the shelter, they try to kill him several times, they do not like the nurses and even the priest, no one has ever experienced friendship with him, the hero has not aroused in anyone a desire to be friends or love.
On the other hand, Jean Baptiste is a genius. He is the only one who understands the essence of smells, creates ingenious perfumes from unexpected ingredients, creates fragrances that can control people.
But there is another side to Grenouille - he is a monster, a killer. To create the formula for the perfect fragrance, he needs new ingredients, and for this he commits crimes. It is interesting that the hero does not even understand the essence of what is happening: he needs the smells of beautiful girls for spirits - he kills them without looking into their eyes, without getting any emotions towards them - he is only interested in purely scientific. He is a monster and a killer, but a brilliant killer, who by his existence proves that genius and crime are quite compatible things.
The brilliant scoundrel Grenouille belongs to the same category as de Sade, Saint-Just, Fouchet and Bonaparte. In some ways, he even surpassed them, because from the moment of birth he was left without a soul, humanity is simply absent in him. He kills without feelings, guided only by cold creative calculation, without remorse and regret, hatred and passion.
He is a maniac, but not in the usual sense for us - a "maniac killer", but in the sense of a "creative maniac" - a person who cannot but create. Its tragedy is that in order to obtain a source for creating masterpieces, you need to deprive a beautiful girl of her life. This maniac genius, killing, consistently and stubbornly goes to his professional goal. He is only an artist, there is nothing personal in his crimes.
The hero of Suskind causes disgust, curiosity and the understanding that he is not a victim, but a killer, although, apparently, deeply unhappy. The writer managed to create an image that, however, does not arouse sympathy, because the purposeful Grenouille does not look like an unfortunate guy, but also a terrible killer too.
The hero achieves his goal: a scent is created that gives him mystical power over the crowd. But the writer paints a picture not of the hero's victory, but of his defeat. The fragrance he created does not improve people, but, on the contrary, corrupts them. It is impossible to remake humanity for the better with the help of art devoid of morality. Confirmation of this idea is the scene of a public orgy that took place after an attempt to execute Grenouille's murderer.
The hero, who wanted to appropriate the created smell in order to be like everyone else, in the end could not do it. This smell gave him only a temporary, illusory power over the crowd, which will end when the last drop pours out of the bottle.
The finale of the novel once again emphasizes the idea that Art, Perfection and Beauty should go together.
"Perfume" is a book by Patrick Suskind, which was made into a cool movie. The book itself is no less interesting. For those who are too lazy to read, catch a video review of the novel:
The novel was first published in Switzerland in 1985. Today, it is recognized as the most famous novel written in German since the time and has gone through many editions with a total circulation of more than 12 million copies. The book has been translated into 45 languages, including Latin.
Heroes and victims of the Perfumer:
1. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is the protagonist, he has an incredibly subtle and strong sense of smell along with a complete lack of his own smell.
2. Mother Grenouille - accused of infanticide.
3. Jeanne Bussy - a simple-hearted nurse.
4. Father Terrier is an expert in church dogma.
5. Madame Gaillard - hostess of the shelter. Refers to children only as a way to earn money.
6. Grimal - tanner. Very rude and cruel person
7. The girl from the Marais is Grenouille's first victim.
8. Giuseppe Baldini - Parisian perfumer. Possessing no creative talents in perfumery, he has vast knowledge in the production technology itself and the preservation of aromas.
9. Chenier - apprentice Baldini.
10. Pelissier is Baldini's competitor, the most popular perfumer. Only mentioned, does not appear in person.
11. The Marquis de la Tailade-Espinasse is the eccentric creator of the "fluid theory".
12. Madame Arnulfi - the widow of a perfumer from Grasse.
13. Dominique Druot - master perfumer from Grasse and lover of Madame Arnulfi.
14. Antoine Rishi - Second Consul of Grasse, a shrewd man.
15. Laura Rishi - his daughter, a red-haired beauty. Grenouille's last victim.
Summary of the novel "Perfumer" from Wikipedia
Part one
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born in Paris, at a stinking fish shop, next to the Cemetery of the Innocents. His mother wants to get rid of the unwanted child, but the plot is revealed. She is accused of infanticide and executed, and the baby is transferred to the care of the monastery and a wet nurse is assigned to him. The woman refuses to take care of the child because, according to her, he "does not smell like other children" and is possessed by the devil. The priest, Father Terrier, defends the rights of the baby, but fearing that he "shamelessly sniffs him", arranges Grenouille away from his parish - to Madame Gaillard's shelter.
Here the child lives up to eight years. Other children shun him, considering him weak-minded, besides, he is ugly and crippled. But Grenouille is noticed for amazing deeds: thanks to hidden abilities, he is not afraid to walk in the dark, he knows how to predict rain. No one guesses that Grenouille is unique, a person with a keen sense of smell, which can even detect smells that have no name. When Grenouille, thanks to his nose, finds the money hidden by the hostess of the shelter, she decides to get rid of him and hands him over to the tanner.
Grenouille works in difficult conditions, enduring beatings and illnesses, the only consolation for him is the study of new smells. Both perfume and slop stench are equally interesting to him. Once on the street, he smells an unusual fragrance, its source is a young girl who smells like "beauty itself." Grenouille, wanting to take possession of the fragrance, strangles the girl, enjoys her scent and hides unnoticed. His conscience does not torment him, on the contrary, he is happy that he possessed the most precious fragrance in the world. After this incident, Grenouille realizes that he has learned everything about smells, and his vocation is to be their creator, a great perfumer.
To learn this craft, he is hired as an apprentice to the master Baldini, making wonderful perfumes for him beyond any rules. From Baldini, he learns the language of formulas and how to “take away” their scent from flowers using sublimation. All formulas of fragrances invented by Grenouille are appropriated by Baldini. The hero will be disappointed - not every smell can be enclosed in a glass bottle, like flower perfumes. Grenouille is so unhappy that he even falls ill and comes to his senses only when he learns from the master that there are other ways to get smells from various bodies. Having given the conceited Baldini all the perfume formulas known to him and having received an apprentice's patent for this, Grenouille leaves him. Shortly thereafter, Baldini tragically dies when the Changer Bridge, on which his house was located, collapses into the Seine.
Part two
Now the hero's goal is the city of Grasse, whose perfumers have other secrets of craftsmanship. But along the way, Grenouille finds himself in an uninhabited cave, where he enjoys loneliness for several years. By chance, he is visited by a terrible guess: he himself does not smell at all. He needs such spirits so that people stop shunning him and take him for an ordinary person. From his refuge, Grenouille falls under the patronage of the Marquis Taillade-Espinasse, an adherent of the "fluid theory", following which, in his own opinion, Grenouille again made a man from a cave beast. But in reality it happened thanks to good soap and perfume, which Grenouille created from cat feces and a piece of cheese.
Part three
Jean-Baptiste leaves the Marquis and travels to Grasse, where he becomes an apprentice to Madame Arnulfi, the perfumer's widow. Here he learns the most subtle ways of mastering smells. Suddenly, next to someone's garden, he again smells an aroma, even more luxurious than the aroma of the girl he once strangled. It is the scent of the young Laura Richis playing in the garden, and Grenouille decides that he has found the pinnacle of his future perfume - his main creation in life: a fragrance of absolute beauty that inspires every breathed feeling of true love. Over the course of two years, he learns the science of collecting odors and is convinced that the scent of the skin and hair of a beautiful woman is best received by fabric treated with odorless fat. But since Grenouille in the eyes of others is a dirty, ill-mannered, half-crazy vagabond, he cannot obtain the smell in any other way than by killing its bearer. A wave of strange murders begins in the city - young girls become their victims. They belong to different strata of society, and it has been established that they were not subjected to sexual violence - there is no connection between the killed, the fact that this was the work of one killer is indicated only by the fact that all the victims were beautiful with the genuine beauty of a newly formed woman, and then that they were all found naked and shaved bald. The killer is Grenouille, but he acts so carefully, skillfully using his invisibility, that no one can suspect him of being a killer. And Grenouille continues his terrible and ingenious work of collecting notes for his future perfumes.
Only one person in Grasse is so insightful that he begins to see the true motives of the killer. This is Laura's father, Consul Rishi. He sees that all the victims are a kind of collection of true beauty, and fear creeps into his heart: Rishi realizes that there is no one in the city who would surpass his daughter in this subtle, luxurious beauty, and sooner or later an unknown killer will want to kill and her.
Rishi decides to stop it. He secretly takes Laura out of the city and hides with her on a remote island. He did not take into account only one thing: the killer finds his victims by the aroma, and all the precautions with which he and his daughter arranged an escape from the city were powerless against the main thing: as soon as Laura disappears, her aroma will also disappear. And it is his disappearing train that gives the direction of flight and the refuge where Laura is hidden.
Grenouille receives the last note of his perfume. But as soon as his work is done, he is arrested.
Grenouille is exposed and sentenced to death. The Rishi, maddened by the loss of his daughter, is looking forward to the execution on the wheel. He visits Grenouille in prison and describes the torments ahead of him, without hiding that this will be a balm for his broken heart.
However, before going to his execution, Grenouille retrieves a vial with a completed fragrance miraculously hidden from the guards.
One drop of this divine smell was enough for the guards to release Grenouille, and for the executioner to drop his hands. The smell flies over the crowd of spectators who have gathered to admire the execution of the Grasse monster - and subjugates them. The aroma excites in people the desire to love and awakens carnal passion. People are looking for satisfaction right there, on the square, everything turns into a real passionate orgy. Grenouille stands among the crowd and enjoys the effect he has made. Antoine Rishi rises to the platform and falls to Grenouille, recognizing his son in him.
Taking advantage of the general madness, Grenouille disappears.
After the intoxication of the scent of love wears off, people find themselves naked in each other's arms. Embarrassedly dressing, everyone secretly decides to "forget" about what happened. Instead of Grenouille, an innocent is executed, if only to put an end to this story.
Part Four
Grenouille is free, he is leaving the city. Now he knows the strength of his power: thanks to the spirits, he can become a god if he wants to. But he understands that among those who blindly worship him there will not be a single person who can appreciate the true beauty of his fragrance. He returns to Paris and heads to the Cemetery of the Innocents, the place where he was born. Here, thieves and vagabonds gathered around the fire. Grenouille sprays himself from head to toe with perfume, and people, blinded by attraction to him, tear him apart and devour the remains of the great perfumer.
The book turned out to be very interesting due to the description of smells and the construction of the world through the prism of these descriptions. Jean-Baptiste "Perfumer" himself is shown by the author very unambiguously and does not cause regrets. At the same time, his spiritual world and all the torments are subtly described. Yes, no, but the murders here are more sophisticated ...
“Perfumer, the story of a murderer”: reviews
There are books, after reading which I calmly lie down and fall asleep, and there are others - to which I mentally return from time to time, I continue to analyze. "Perfume" is not a very suitable bedtime reading, that's for sure. There is no more nasty and disgusting there than in any modern bestseller, especially one made by our compatriots. But the feelings that gripped me after reading this creation are very, very unusual, and completely new. It does not cause such depression as the works of Hemingway (sorry for the comparison), but in some ways very akin. It seems to me that our dark side is affected here or something. After all, almost everyone who read Perfume, though not for long, but sympathized with him, seemed to be in his shoes .. Maybe even rejoiced at his successes ... Or is it just me that such metamorphoses occur?!
Even as a child, when I watched the cartoon ‘Just you wait! somehow I sympathized more with the wolf, he was such a loser ...Unfortunately, in Russian this work turned out to be out of place, and this does not give readers the opportunity to appreciate it. An inaccurate translation of the name “Das Parfum” (it would be “Smell” or “Fragrance” would be correct) immediately takes the reader away from the author’s intentions into the section of maniac literature. And no one is looking for hidden subtexts (they begin with the similarity of the names of the hero Jean-Baptiste Grenouille and the English director Peter Greenaway). For some reason, people often talk about the closeness of Suskind's novel with Fowles' The Collector, although, in my opinion, there are no more similarities between them than between Mine Reed's The Headless Horseman and Furmanov's Chapaev. "Perfume" is an innovative novel in which the usual psychologism is replaced by the development of the idea of smell. The author decided to show how much the sense of smell means in our life - one of the five senses.
I think that with time "Perfumer" will take its rightful place among those works that have changed European literature, such as "Towards Swann" by M. Proust or "Ulysses" by D. Joyce.
When you humiliate a pimply fellow student, remember that there are devils in still waters. It is quite possible that this downtrodden and unfortunate student may turn out to be a maniac who will come up with a way to become the ruler for all time ...
Another thought does not leave me from the moment of honoring the book with the strange title “Perfumer. The story of a killer” by Patrick Suskind: Chemistry rules everything in the world. everything is based on sympathy. and beauty has a very definite flavor. rather, not quite so. Beauty smells special. Yes exactly. beautiful people have a very special flavor. And for this reason, I believe that if there really was such a perfumer, then the reaction of those who inhaled the fragrance emitted from the bodies of beauties could well cause general madness...
Aphrodisiacs are created according to the principle that the author of the work wanted to talk about.
"Perfumer. The story of a killer” reads quite easily. The syllable is easy, accessible. The scenes are not for the faint of heart, but after reading there is no feeling of a vile aftertaste.
The finale, of course, is stronger than in the film, but the cinema is inferior in this, it is always easier to write, it is much more difficult to transfer to film ...
True, not everyone is delighted with this all:
After reading, there was a feeling of disgust and disgust for the hero, for the plot, for the book. The author too “relishes” every detail of the madness and manic passion of the protagonist. Too realistic and therefore disgusting. But for those who love stories like The Silence of the Lambs, I think it will be interesting. I would not read if I knew that I would have such an unpleasant aftertaste. But I'll watch the movie, because I expect it to soften the impression. Still, the word of the author plus the imagination of the reader is sometimes stronger than the captured image.
Name: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
A country: France
Creator:
Activity: murderer
Family status: not married
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille: character history
The works of Patrick Suskind excited the readership of the early 20th century. They felt the fresh breath of the new time, the spirit of outstanding literary experiments and the charm of intricate plots. "Perfume" is a book that has become a vivid example of the writer's creative research. It attracts intellectuals and ordinary people, leaving a mark in the souls.
History of creation
The German playwright and novelist Patrick Suskind took a curious approach to the creation of literary works. Each of them tells about the human drama. The novel "Perfumer" was published in 1985, collecting rave reviews from critics and readers. Among the nine books of Suskind, he was the most sought-after work.
The full title of the book is Perfume. The Story of a Murderer. The action takes place in the 18th century. Researchers attribute the novel to the direction of pseudo-realism due to the imagery with which the author recreated the described era. The plot is complemented by detailed characteristics of the characters and the environment. The writer indicates the dates, the slightest nuances of relationships and physiological details, creating a sense of the reality of what is happening.
Patrick Suskind's Perfume book Russian readers got acquainted with the work in 1991, when it was published in the journal Foreign Literature. The book tells of a man who grovels before everything that is stronger than him, and rises to the status of a deity.
Story and prototype
As in the case of any work, where every detail has a detailed description, the plot of the novel provoked the question - "Did Jean-Baptiste Grenouille have a prototype?". Whether the real character lived in France, what his biography is, is hard to say. But the facts confirm that history keeps the secrets of people who were engaged in similar activities and had interests similar to Grenouille.
The image of a perfumer whose main desire was to come up with delicious perfumes cannot be considered fictional. People of this profession did not disdain any experiments and manipulations to get what they wanted. A certain Crollius, who studied the effects of incense, chemistry and medicine, argued that the smell of the body of a recently deceased young man has an ingredient that can enhance the effect of perfume aroma. Crollius believed that the ideal victim would be a man with a mop of red hair, hanged or impaled no later than a day ago.
The researcher voiced the recipe 100 years before writing the novel. Previously, pharmacist and chemist Nicolas Lefebvre suggested using similar instructions. He believed that the muscles cut from the corpse of a young man, soaked in wine alcohol and dried, had a component that was precious to the spirits.
In Spanish Galicia in the second half of the 19th century, a certain Manuel Blanco Romasanta was tried. He was accused of serially killing women and children in order to pump out fat to make scented soap. In Nazi Germany, they set up similar experiments for the development of a perfume and hygiene line
The hero of Suskind, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, combined a maniac and a genius, inclined to the practical application of theories regarding perfumery. He was born near the cemetery of the Innocents and was not a welcome child. The mother tried to get rid of the child by giving birth in the market. The baby was miraculously saved, and the woman was executed for infanticide. Grenouille fell into the care of the monastery, to the wet nurse. But the woman refused him, citing an unfamiliar smell from the boy.
Going to the priest Terrier, Grenouille first of all sniffs a new acquaintance, and he sends the child to the orphanage of Madame Gaillard, where the boy was raised until he was 8 years old. Jean-Baptiste was not the soul of the company. His peers did not like him, considering him a demented freak. Since childhood, the hero has possessed unusual abilities based on the finest sense of smell. He predicted rain and found money by smell. Growing up, the boy became an apprentice to a tanner, where he endured hard working days for the opportunity to get acquainted with new flavors.
Once meeting a girl on the street, Grenouille was struck by her delicious aroma. He decided to own it. Having strangled the chosen one, the young man enjoyed the smell and decided to become a perfumer.
Having become a student of the famous Baldini, Grenouille learns the basics of craftsmanship. He invents ingenious fragrances that Baldini appropriates and presents under his own name. Becoming an apprentice, Grenouille began to work for himself. The perfumer went to Grasse, accompanied by a new discovery: he had no scent. At this moment, the hero decided to invent perfumes, thanks to which he would cease to be an outcast. Under the auspices of the Marquis Taillade-Espinasse, Grenouille is working on a special perfume.
In Grasse, the hero is hired as an apprentice to the widow Arnulfi and smells the magic scent again. It exudes Laura. Jean-Baptiste, by studying the effect of fragrances and the peculiarities of their imprinting, comes to the conclusion that a fabric impregnated with fat preserves them best. This is how the serial murders of the perfumer begin. The victims are young girls. Their corpses are found without clothes and with shaved heads. Laura's father realizes that his daughter will become a victim of the perfumer because of her striking beauty. The young man is arrested and sentenced to death.
Shot from the film "Perfumer" Climbing the scaffold, Grenouille opens a bottle of invented perfume. And everyone who came to watch his death is enchanted by the aroma. The smell awakens carnal passion in people, which provokes an orgy in the city square. Those present admire the perfumer. Gradually adoration reaches a peak. Laura's father recognizes him as a son, forgiving the crimes. Jean-Baptiste is hiding from the place of execution. When the scent dissipates, the townspeople are left amazed at their own appearance and what happened.
Realizing what his power over people is, Grenouille analyzes how great such power is. Such perfumes will give the perfumer the appearance of a god in the eyes of people who will never appreciate his creation. Grenouille returns to Paris, to the cemetery of the Innocents. Caught among vagrants and bandits, he inflicts invented perfumes on himself. Surroundings pounce on him, tear him apart and devour the remains.
Screen adaptations
The novel "Perfume" was filmed in 2006 by director Tom Tykwer. The director accurately conveyed the situation of the era described by Suskind, focusing on the subtleties and nuances of the given characteristics. He played the main role in the film. The actor, whose appearance, like that of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, was not attractive or repulsive, created a reliable screen image. Thanks to the professional intuition of the performer, the dramatic intensity in the tape increased due to the development of the personality of the portrayed hero.
Participation in the novel project was the first major work for Wishaw. Engaged in dramatic productions on the theater stage, the actor instantly gained fame in film circles and received a lot of offers. The following films with his participation were Cloud Atlas, Paddington Adventures, 007: Skyfall.
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1766. Grasse, south of France.
A crowd of people gathered in the town square to hear the verdict that would be passed on the perfumer Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. The crowd erupts in shouts as he, shackled, is dragged onto the balcony of the citadel; the scream turns into a roar as the criminal is sentenced to death.
22 years ago, Paris.
Grenouille was born on the hottest day of the year in a stinking Parisian fish market. His mother (tried to get rid of the unwanted child by burying him in a pile of fish tripe thrown under her counter. However, the newborn, as if to spite his mother, screamed so loudly and desperately that he was saved by a passerby. The mother was arrested and hanged for attempted to kill a child.
Grenouille spends the first few years of his life in the orphanage of Madame Gaillard. Other children think that something is wrong with him, and on the first night in the orphanage they try to strangle him. However, Madame Gaillard, not wanting to lose the allowance she receives for the newly arrived orphan, saves him. By the age of three, he had not learned to walk or talk, but it is clear that he has a phenomenally developed sense of smell. He crawls around the shelter and learns the world around him using his amazing sense of smell.
The city stops paying money to Madame Gaillard to raise the boy when he reaches 13 years of age. For 10 francs, she is inferior to his tanner Grimal. Working in the tanning pits filled with stinking nitrates and rotting skins is hard and dangerous, but the boy survives in these hellish conditions and grows into a strong young man.
During his first walk in Paris, surrounded by a mixture of city smells, Grenouille suddenly feels an amazing, intoxicating aroma carried to him by a gust of wind, which he had never met before. In a frenzy, he hurries through the moonlit streets and lanes to where the smell leads him - to the lovely Plum Seller. The girl feels a sudden chill in the air, turns around - and sees Grenouille's eyes fixed on her. She does not have time to scream - Grenouille clamps her mouth shut and drags her into the shade so that a couple passing by will not see them. Watching passers-by from the darkness, Grenouille sees them kissing, while the girl beats in his arms, trying to inhale a breath of air. Finally, the couple turns the corner, Grenouille releases the girl and sees that she is dead. He desperately tries to get hold of her scent, to drink it, to scoop up handfuls of the scent as if it were a liquid. But this irresistible smell melts, leaves, as life leaves the girl's body, and Grenouille is seized by an unbearable feeling of loss - the loss of a smell that has completely disappeared. Now it will become his life's work - to find and take possession of it again ...
Grenouille becomes an apprentice to perfumer Baldini, whose business has fallen into disrepair and who desperately wants to create new perfumes of his own. It soon becomes clear that Grenouille has an amazing talent for compiling excellent perfumes that will help restore Baldini's reputation. He, in turn, asks the old master to teach him how to extract the aroma and preserve it. When he learned that the smell of a living being cannot be distilled and turned into essence, Grenouille nearly died of despair. Baldini tells him that the only place in the world where the mysterious method of enfleurage is applied is the city of Grasse. There he will find what he is looking for.
And Grenouille immediately goes to Grasse. In a mountain cave in the middle of the Massif Central, he discovers that he has no scent of his own, as if he himself does not exist. This fact shocks him to the core, and he decides to create for himself a completely irresistible fragrance.
On the way to Grasse, he meets a carriage in which the daughter of a merchant, the beautiful Laura, is traveling. Grenouille sucks in air through his nostrils. It was him again, that magical smell he had already met once. A scent that should be his...
Grenouille goes to work in a small perfume workshop of Madame Arnulfi. He is entitled to a small salary and a tiny windowless room in which he sleeps. He begins to study the art of enfleurage in order to be able to extract and preserve any smell.
Over the next few weeks, several exceptionally beautiful girls are killed. Merchant Rishi suspects that the murderous villain is obsessed with a mania - sort of like collecting beauty. At first, the killed are simple girls: a shepherdess, a lemon seller, a cowgirl. But after the murder of the beautiful twins, the daughters of his friend Tallien, found naked and with shaved heads, Rishi begins to fear for the life of his daughter Laura.
And now twelve girls have already been killed. Grenouille opens a small cabinet and carefully examines twelve tiny glass vials, each containing only a few drops of amber-coloured oil. Now he only needs one fragrance, one final note, and his perfume will be ready.
Panic gripped the city: residents lock their doors, board up windows. A man suspected of the murders is arrested, but Rishi is convinced that an innocent man has been captured. Under the cover of night, Rishi, taking his daughter with him, leaves the city and brings the girl to a small, inconspicuous seaside hotel. However, Grenouille follows Laura, the scent that calls him, all the way to the Mediterranean. The next morning, Rishi finds the dead naked body of his daughter, her locks cut. Rishi is desperate.
Grenouille is kneeling in front of a small fire set in the woods, next to which he has placed his accessories. The last drop of oil falls into a small vial from the spout of the distillation apparatus. He mixes the last ingredient with the other twelve. He inhales the fragrance through his nostrils and slips the bottle into his pocket. Suddenly he is surrounded by soldiers: he is arrested. During interrogation in Grasse, he easily confesses to the crimes he committed, but remains silent about the motives that prompted him to commit them.
A huge crowd gathered in the central square of Grasse on the day of the execution, but Grenouille manages to secretly drip a few drops of his perfume on his wrist. The wind carries the fragrance around the square, conveys it to the audience - and suddenly in the crowd everyone, as one, throws themselves on each other's necks. Even the weeping Rishi embraces his daughter's killer, begging for forgiveness. Grenouille, whom no one has ever loved in his life, falls unconscious. How is he going to use the rest of his perfume?..
K:Wikipedia:Articles without images (type: not specified)Name origin
Grenouille's mother, who worked in the fish market, did not give him a name and was executed shortly after his birth. Police officer Lafosse wanted to first take the baby Grenouille to the orphanage on Saint-Antoine street, from where the children were sent daily to Rouen, to the state foundling facility, but since Grenouille was not baptized, he was handed over to the Saint-Merry monastery, where he received at baptism name Jean-Baptiste.
Biography
Part one
Jean-Baptiste was born in a fish shop on the Rue Haut-Fer near the Cemetery of the Innocents in Paris on July 17, 1738. Grenouille's mother, who had no intention of letting him live, was soon executed for repeated infanticide in the Place de Greve. Possessing a phenomenal sense of smell, Grenouille, however, does not have its own smell, which repels several nurses from itself. In the end, it was decided to bring him up at the expense of the monastery of Saint-Merry. To this end, he was given to the nurse Jeanne Bussy, who lived on the Rue Saint-Denis, with an offer of 3 francs a week as payment. However, a few weeks later, Jeanne Bussy appeared at the gates of the monastery and told Father Terrier (a fifty-year-old monk) that she was no longer going to leave him with her, because the baby did not smell. An unpleasant dialogue took place between Father Terrier and the nurse, as a result of which Jeanne Bussy was fired.
“... You can explain it as you like, holy father, but I,” and she resolutely crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the basket at her feet with such disgust, as if a toad was sitting there, “I, Jeanne Bussy, will no longer take this to yourself!”
"- Oh well. Have your way, - said Terrier and removed his finger from under his nose. -... I state that for some reason you refuse to continue breastfeeding the baby Jean-Baptiste Grenouille entrusted to me and at the moment you are returning him to his temporary guardian - the monastery of Saint-Merry. I find this upsetting, but I can't seem to change anything. You are fired."
Having taken the child for himself, Father Terrier was at first indignant at the nurse's dissatisfaction and was touched by the child provided to him: he even began to imagine himself the father of this child, as if he were not a monk, but an ordinary layman who married a woman who bore him a son. But the pleasant fantasy ended when Jean-Baptiste woke up: the child began to sniff Terrier, and the latter was horrified, because it seemed to him that the baby had stripped him to the naked, sniffed out everything about him and knew all his ins and outs.
“The child, who had no smell, shamelessly sniffed him, that's what. The child heard it! And suddenly Terrier seemed to stink - sweat and vinegar, sauerkraut and unwashed dress. He seemed to himself naked and ugly, as if someone who did not give himself away was staring at him. It seemed that he sniffed it even through the skin, penetrating inside, into the very depths. The most tender feelings, the dirtiest thoughts were exposed in front of this small, greedy nose, which was not even a real nose yet, but just a kind of tubercle, rhythmically wrinkling, and swelling, and trembling tiny perforated organ. Terrier felt chills. He was sick. Now he, too, twitched his nose, as if there was something foul-smelling in front of him, with which he did not want to deal. Farewell, illusion of father, son and fragrant mother. It was as if the soft train of affectionate thoughts that he fantasized around himself and this child was cut off: a strange, cold creature lay on his knees, a hostile animal, and if it were not for self-control and God-fearing, if it were not for the reasonable outlook on things inherent in Terrier’s character, he I would have shaken him off in a fit of disgust like some kind of spider.
As a result, Terrier decided to get rid of the child by sending him as far away as possible so that he could not reach him. At the same moment he rushed to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine and gave the child to Madame Gaillard, who took any children, as long as she was paid.
Grenouille lived with Madame Gaillard until 1747, until the age of eight. During this time, he survived "measles, dysentery, chicken pox, cholera, a fall into a six-meter-deep well, and burns from boiling water that scalded his chest." Grenouille inspired unconscious horror in other children, they even tried to kill him, but he survived.
At the age of three, he only got to his feet, at four he uttered the first word - “fish”. At the age of six, he knew the smell of all his surroundings. As a result of a careless visit to the parish school at Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, he learned to read and write his name a little.
This fragrance captivated him.
“... He had a vague feeling that this fragrance is the key to the order of all other fragrances, that one cannot understand anything in smells if one does not understand this one, and he, Grenouille, will live his life in vain if he fails to master it. He must get it, not just to quench his thirst for possession, but for the peace of his heart. He almost fainted from excitement."
Having reached the Rue Marais, turning into the alley and passing through the archway, he saw a red-haired girl who was cleaning the mirabelle - this aroma emanated from her.
Approaching her from behind, he strangled her. Then he took off her dress and absorbed all her fragrance.
Returning home unnoticed to his closet, he realized that he was a genius, and that his goal was to become the greatest perfumer. That same night, he began classifying smells.
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An excerpt characterizing Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
"It's over, I'm gone! he thought. Now a bullet in the forehead - one thing remains, ”and at the same time he said in a cheerful voice:Well, one more card.
- Good, - answered Dolokhov, having finished the summary, - good! 21 rubles are coming, - he said, pointing to the number 21, which equaled 43 thousand, and taking a deck, he prepared to throw. Rostov obediently turned back the corner and instead of the prepared 6,000, he diligently wrote 21.
“I don't care,” he said, “I just want to know if you kill or give me that ten.
Dolokhov seriously began to throw. Oh, how Rostov hated at that moment these hands, reddish with short fingers and with hair visible from under his shirt, which had him in his power ... Ten was given.
“You have 43 thousand behind you, Count,” Dolokhov said and stood up from the table, stretching. “But you get tired of sitting for so long,” he said.
"Yes, and I'm tired too," said Rostov.
Dolokhov, as if reminding him that it was indecent for him to joke, interrupted him: When will you order me to receive the money, count?
Rostov flushed and called Dolokhov into another room.
“I can’t suddenly pay everything, you will take the bill,” he said.
“Listen, Rostov,” Dolokhov said, smiling clearly and looking into Nikolai’s eyes, “you know the saying: “Happy in love, unhappy in cards.” Your cousin is in love with you. I know.
"ABOUT! it’s terrible to feel so at the mercy of this man,” thought Rostov. Rostov understood what a blow he would inflict on his father and mother by announcing this loss; he understood what happiness it would be to get rid of all this, and understood that Dolokhov knew that he could save him from this shame and grief, and now he still wanted to play with him, like a cat with a mouse.
“Your cousin…” Dolokhov wanted to say; but Nicholas interrupted him.
“My cousin has nothing to do with it, and there’s nothing to talk about her!” he shouted furiously.
So when do you get it? Dolokhov asked.
“Tomorrow,” said Rostov, and left the room.
It was not difficult to say "tomorrow" and maintain a tone of propriety; but to come home alone, to see sisters, brother, mother, father, confess and ask for money to which you have no right after the given word of honor, it was terrible.
Haven't slept at home yet. The youth of the Rostovs' house, having returned from the theatre, had supper, sat at the clavichord. As soon as Nikolai entered the hall, he was seized by that loving, poetic atmosphere that reigned that winter in their house and which now, after Dolokhov's proposal and Yogel's ball, seemed to thicken even more, like the air before a thunderstorm, over Sonya and Natasha. Sonya and Natasha, in the blue dresses they wore at the theatre, pretty and knowing it, were happy and smiling at the clavichord. Vera and Shinshin were playing chess in the living room. The old countess, expecting her son and husband, was playing solitaire with an old noblewoman who lived in their house. Denisov, with shining eyes and disheveled hair, was sitting with his leg thrown back at the clavichord, and clapping his short fingers on them, he took chords, and rolling his eyes, in his small, hoarse, but true voice, sang the poem he had composed "The Enchantress", to which he tried to find music.
Sorceress, tell me what power
Draws me to abandoned strings;
What kind of fire did you plant in your heart,
What delight spilled over the fingers!
He sang in a passionate voice, shining at the frightened and happy Natasha with his agate black eyes.
- Wonderful! Great! Natasha screamed. “Another verse,” she said, not noticing Nikolai.
“They have everything the same,” thought Nikolai, looking into the living room, where he saw Vera and his mother with an old woman.
- A! here's Nikolenka! Natasha ran up to him.
- Is daddy at home? - he asked.
- I'm glad you came! - Without answering, Natasha said, - we have so much fun. Vassily Dmitritch stayed another day for me, you know?
“No, dad hasn’t arrived yet,” said Sonya.
- Coco, you have arrived, come to me, my friend! said the voice of the countess from the living room. Nikolai went up to his mother, kissed her hand, and, silently sitting down at her table, began to look at her hands, laying out the cards. Laughter and cheerful voices were heard from the hall, persuading Natasha.
“Well, all right, all right,” Denisov shouted, “now there is nothing to excuse, barcarolla is behind you, I beg you.
The Countess looked back at her silent son.
- What happened to you? Nikolai's mother asked.
“Ah, nothing,” he said, as if he was already tired of this one and the same question.
- Is daddy coming soon?
- I think.
“They have the same. They don't know anything! Where can I go? ” thought Nikolai and went back to the hall where the clavichords stood.
Sonya sat at the clavichord and played the prelude of that barcarolle that Denisov especially loved. Natasha was going to sing. Denisov looked at her with enthusiastic eyes.
Nikolai began to pace up and down the room.
“And here is the desire to make her sing? What can she sing? And there is nothing funny here, thought Nikolai.
Sonya took the first chord of the prelude.
“My God, I am lost, I am a dishonorable person. Bullet in the forehead, the only thing left, not to sing, he thought. Leave? but where to? anyway, let them sing!”
Nikolai gloomily, continuing to walk around the room, looked at Denisov and the girls, avoiding their eyes.
"Nikolenka, what's wrong with you?" asked Sonya's gaze fixed on him. She immediately saw that something had happened to him.
Nicholas turned away from her. Natasha, with her sensitivity, also instantly noticed the state of her brother. She noticed him, but she herself was so happy at that moment, she was so far from grief, sadness, reproaches, that she (as often happens with young people) deliberately deceived herself. No, I'm too happy now to spoil my fun with sympathy for someone else's grief, she felt, and said to herself:
"No, I'm sure I'm wrong, he must be as cheerful as I am." Well, Sonya, - she said and went to the very middle of the hall, where, in her opinion, the resonance was best. Raising her head, lowering her lifelessly hanging hands, as dancers do, Natasha, stepping from heel to tiptoe with an energetic movement, walked across the middle of the room and stopped.
"Here I am!" as if she were speaking, answering the enthusiastic look of Denisov, who was watching her.
“And what makes her happy! Nikolay thought, looking at his sister. And how she is not bored and not ashamed! Natasha took the first note, her throat widened, her chest straightened, her eyes took on a serious expression. She was not thinking of anyone or anything at that moment, and sounds poured out of the smile of her folded mouth, those sounds that anyone can produce at the same intervals and at the same intervals, but which leave you cold a thousand times, in make you shudder and cry for the thousand and first time.
Natasha this winter began to sing seriously for the first time, and especially because Denisov admired her singing. She sang now not like a child, there was no longer in her singing that comic, childish diligence that had been in her before; but she did not yet sing well, as all the judges who heard her said. “Not processed, but a beautiful voice, it needs to be processed,” everyone said. But they usually said this long after her voice had fallen silent. At the same time, when this unprocessed voice sounded with incorrect aspirations and with efforts of transitions, even the experts of the judge did not say anything, and only enjoyed this unprocessed voice and only wished to hear it again. There was that virginal innocence in her voice, that ignorance of her own strengths and that still unprocessed velvety, which were so combined with the shortcomings of the art of singing that it seemed impossible to change anything in this voice without spoiling it.
“What is this? Nikolay thought, hearing her voice and opening his eyes wide. - What happened to her? How does she sing today? he thought. And suddenly the whole world for him concentrated in anticipation of the next note, the next phrase, and everything in the world became divided into three tempos: “Oh mio crudele affetto… [Oh my cruel love…] One, two, three… one, two… three… one… Oh mio crudele affetto… One, two, three… one. Oh, our stupid life! Nicholas thought. All this, and misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and malice, and honor - all this is nonsense ... but here it is real ... Hy, Natasha, well, my dear! well, mother! ... how will she take this si? took! God bless!" - and he, without noticing that he was singing, in order to strengthen this si, took the second third of a high note. "My God! how good! Is this what I took? how happy!” he thought.
