Perfumeby

Patrick Süskind

Key questions to be answered in this session

• What connections can be made between the novel and its author?

• In what ways is the era in which the novel is set relevant?

Patrick Süskind

• Novelist, Playwright, Essayist, Script Writer • Catapulted to fame in the 1980s by the

monodrama Der Kontrabass [The Double Bass, 1981]

• Published the hugely successful novel Perfume in 1985

• Gives no interviews and accepts no awards• A postmodern Diogenes: elusive and

reclusive

Make the connections…• In pairs, share the reading of the

information about Süskind’s life in the Reading Journal and on Handout 1

• Task 1: What links can you make between Grenouille and his creator, Süskind?

• Task 2: What can we say about why Patrick Süskind wrote this novel? Where has it come from? To what is it a response?

How does the novel open?

• 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. His story will be told here…

What is being foregrounded in this opening?

• What was eighteenth century France like?• Who were the gifted and abominable

personages referred to in the opening sentence of the novel? And in what ways were they ‘gifted’ and ‘abominable’?

Key questions

• Why does Süskind foreground the 18c setting of the novel?

• What is significant about this setting in time (era)?

• How and where do we see the historical context reflected in the novel?

How much do you know about this era?

• How many of the following words can be connected to 18c. France? And which are not relevant?

• Discuss meaning and relevance of 18c key words…cross out any ‘red herrings’

18c. FranceIn particular, what do you know

about…• Louis XIV• The Age of Revolutions/The French

Revolution• The Age of Enlightenment• Prominent 18c. philosophers

Jigsaw reading: collaborative learning and teaching

• In Home groups of 4, share the extracts which give information about the four aspects of this historical period in Europe mentioned on the previous slide

• Make each group member responsible for reading and summarising key points on one aspect of the era

• Join an Expert group. Together, read, summarise, annotate and make notes on ‘your’ extract … prepare to teach your Home group members about your specialist area

Making links

• Stage 1: create a web diagram to show what significant aspects of the setting (18c life/culture etc in France) Süskind has included

• Stage 2: In another colour, consider the uses of setting (time and location) of another World Lit text

• Stage 3: And then in another colour, analyse the uses of setting in the third World Lit text

• Stage 4: Overview…Similarities? Differences?

Plenary: 15 minute write up• Either…• Compare/contrast the ways that two of the

three authors have used either the era (time in which the text is set) to create and develop the narrative

• Or…• Explore the ways in which two of the three

authors have made use of their own lives and times to create their novels