A Study Of Grotesques In Patrick Süskind’s Works

Patrick Süskind, one of the most influential writers in contemporary Germany, is a well-known international popular writer, but he has always been low-key, as he tends to keep distance from the outside world. His works are rare and small, but all of them are well received by the critics and the readers for their good quality. Characters in Süskind’s works, like the writer a lot, who always keeping them away from the society and behaving uniquely, have distinctive characteristics of the grotesque. In this essay, we take a deep look at the protagonists from four works of Süskind, namely Der Kontraba?, Das Parfum, Die Taube and Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer, so as to discover the meaning behind the grotesque image.This paper is composed of introduction, main body and conclusion. The main body is divided into four chapters: the first chapter, origin of grotesque image, firstly traces to the source of grotesque concept, and try to define the specific connotation of grotesque in this paper; based on this connotation, together with the social and historical reality, literature and cultural tradition and the writer’s personal feelings etc, we find out that the intention of Süskind’s works, which describe a lot of the survival situation of the protagonists, are to write fables about living condition of modern western life. The second chapter to the forth chapter is the core of the article; mainly make an analysis on the image of grotesque characters from Süskind’s four works that can be divided into three kinds. The first kind, we can take Grenouille, the character from Das Parfum, as the representative. Among all the grotesque image series created by Süskind, Grenouille is a self destructing Avenger, abandoned by the society and the age, who hatred human beings but also thirst for inclusive. In his encounter we see human’s base and greed, and his tragic resistance, hoping to integrate into human society, also contains the writer’s serious thinking of love and death, survival and destruction and other issues. The second kind, we can take characters from Die Taube and Der Kontraba?, as the representative. In these two works, Süskind creates two bizarre little citizens who share similar personalities. They resign themselves to adversity and close themselves under the pressure of modern urban life, want to break out of an encirclement, but unable to make a change; their fatigue life and the fear and anxious coming from the life, deeply reflects the widespread contradiction and confusion of freedom and security that exist in modern western society. The third kind, we can take Mr. Summer, characters from Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer, as the representative. Mr. Summer chooses self isolation, where he insist himself and fulfill freedom. Through Mr. Summer’s abnormal behavior called non-stop running, Patrick Süskind shows us how Mr. Summer acquire the true essence as an individual in the society when he keeps away from the other. This character contains Süskind’s some loss and hope, and again conveys the writer’s deep thoughts and unique understanding of the philosophical proposition of existence.Patrick Süskind’s works are bizarre and profound in meaning, the three kinds of grotesque characters are lonely wanderers and waifs of spiritual home under the background of modern life, they generally presents a life course of searching for self—self realization—insisting self, which is a repetition of the symbolic journey for self in the Myth(from the Odyssey to Ulysses). However, Süskind doesn’t find a satisfactorily way out for the grotesque characters, instead he just show their survival plight deeply and truly, the rest is reserved for those readers who love wisdom.