Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

242 Pages·1986·1.13 MB·English

by  Patrick Suskind

Acclaim for
PATRICK SÜSKIND’S
Perfume
“Perfume gives off a rare, sinfully addictive chill of pure evil.
Süskind has seductive power as a storyteller.”
—Connoisseur
“Mr. Süskind himself is a perfumer of language.… A remarkable
debut.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Beautifully researched … brilliant.”
—John Updike, The New Yorker
“Immensely seductive … storytelling at its best.”
—The Kansas City Star
“Mesmerizing from first page to last … a highly sophisticated
horror tale.”
—The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) “An ingenious story … about a
most exotic monster … Suspense builds up steadily.”
—Los Angeles Times
PATRICK SÜSKIND
Perfume
Patrick Süskind was born in Ambach, near Munich, in 1949. He
studied medieval and modern history at the University of
Munich. His first play, The Double Bass, written in 1980, became
an international success: performed in Germany, in Switzerland,
at the Edinburgh Festival, in London, and at the New Theatre in
Brooklyn. His first novel, Perfume, became an internationally
acclaimed bestseller. He is also the author of The Pigeon, Mr.
Summer’s Story, and a collection of essays titled Three Stories
and a Reflection. He is coauthor of the enormously successful
German television series Kir Royal. Mr. Süskind lives and writes
in Munich.
Also by PATRICK SÜSKIND
Mr. Summer’s Story
The Pigeon

FIRST VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2001
Copyright © 1986 by Alfred A. Knopf
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in
the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and
simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in
Switzerland in German as Das Parfum by Diogenes Verlag, Zurich, in 1985. Copyright © 1985 by
Diogenes Verlag AG. This translation first published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred
A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1986.
Vintage is a registered trademark and Vintage International and colophon are trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows: Süskind, Patrick
Perfume : the story of a murderer / Patrick Süskind.
Translation of Das Parfum.
p. cm.
ISBN: 0-394-55084-6
I. Title
PT2681.U74P313 1986
833’.914—dc21 86-45419
Vintage ISBN: 0-375-72584-9
eBook ISBN: 978-0-80415297-6
www.vintagebooks.com
v3.1
Contents
Cover
About the Author
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Part Two
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Part Three
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Part Four
Chapter 51
Also Available From Vintage International