Naturalism in the novel The Patrick Süskind perfume
Can we consider the work "El Perfume" a naturalistic novel?
"The perfume: the story of a murderer" is the first novel by Patrick Süskind, German writer and screenwriter. It was published in 1985 and immediately became a best-seller.
The story tells the life of the main character, Jean Baptiste Grenouille, who discovers and perceives the world through the sense of smell. However, he lacks his own smell and that is why he spends his life in search of one. The development of this faculty will be what makes Grenouille a reputed perfumer, ascending from the lowest social scale.
Süskind collects features of different narrative trends in his work due to the time in which it was written. "The perfume" belongs to the 80’s literature, which was characterized by creative freedom and the opening of trends adopted by the authors. Among the previous genres and styles retaken in this work, the Bildungsroman (since it is a training or learning novel) and naturalism, which is reflected in the subject, the characterization of the characters, the point of view of the narratorand space.
Naturalism was born in nineteenth -century Europe in a context of confrontation between two tendencies, realism and romanticism. This movement includes a high influence of the scientific and sociological works of Comte’s positivism, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Mendel’s genetics and the historical materialism of Marx and Engels. It emerged mainly in France and its term was defined by the writer Émile Zola as "a conception of man and a method to study and transcribe his behavior". Naturalism aims to represent reality objectively, reproducing both the most sublime and beautiful aspects and the most vulgar and dark, avoiding the incredible, exotic or supernatural.
Naturalism embraces a philosophical doctrine called determinism that portrays the origins of human problems in their genetics, their social taras and their social and economic environment, that is, the idea that the current state determines the future. Thus, their stories usually investigate the lowest social strata to criticize the unfair constitution of society. This aspect is related to the pessimistic approach of naturalism, which shows us these social groups as the marginalized sector of society. Therefore, the characters of these works will be full of internal conflicts and will try to change society and climb the social pyramid until reaching a high place in it. In turn, we can distinguish the presence of Darwinism, which demonstrates how the evolution of species is determined by the struggle for survival.
Many of the above aspects, such as biological and social determinism, we can find them in the work under study. On the theme of the work "The perfume" highlights the impossibility of improving the characters, braking by society. Similarly, Zola professed socialist political ideas;He thought that, although the individual was not free, he had to aspire to a social organization that offered him equal living conditions. In this sense, we can see that, as a result of biological determinism, Grenouille discovers the social rejection generated by lack of their own smell. Biological determinism shows us that society is a faithful reflection of biology;Therefore, Grenouille tries to achieve equality through the creation of a perfume that he can use as his own smell;He "he wanted to be only the same as the other men". Once he gets it and manages that everyone has the respect they would have to any other being, he understands that it is not enough. He intends to be superior to the rest and be worshiped by all;Thus, he needs to find the perfect fragrance combination to create this hypnotizing perfume or, as he defines it in chapter 32: "… so indescribablely good and full of vigor that whoever smelled it would be bewitched".
As for the social determinism present in the work, we observe how Grenouille is a character who lives conditioned by his past, since he was abandoned from the moment of his birth by his mother and is adopted in orphanages where they reject him, feeling forced to look for resourcesto survive. In another context, that is, if Grenouille had been born in a higher family of status, he would not have had the need to work so hard and his life would have been less complicated. As I said previously, in this way Süskind clearly shows the differences between social classes, thus making a criticism throughout the entire work about the unfair social pyramid. The impossibility of being accepted in society leads to the individual to achieve it through deception, a deception that society itself not only accepts, but also promotes.
The foregoing is joined by the principle that human existence, in naturalism, is controlled by natural forces outside the will, which fall on instinct and passion. They parade tarados, alcoholics, psychopaths and other beings that obey without knowing their hereditary impulses;They are usually the protagonists of naturalistic novels. In this case the psychopath is Grenouille, who is not only harmed by his social status, but his great smell and his passion for odors induce him to act without any control;"He didn’t love a person, not even the girl … He loved the fragrance."
Deepen more in the characterization of the characters, the protagonists of these novels are cold, gray characters, without feelings, distant and vulgar. The previous adjectives fit perfectly with the description of Grenouille, a selfish person who cares only about himself. Kill young women just to get a perfume and, when killing them, does not suffer for them, but enjoy thinking about the future result;“His figure of him was not interested;It did not exist for him as a body, only as an incorporeal fragrance… ”[Footnoteref: 5]. Süskind also shows us this coldness in chapter 49 by saying “and suddenly he knew that he would never find satisfaction in love, but in hate, hate and be hated … that they would hate him in turn to correspond to this only feeling that he hadexperienced in your life ".
As for the point of view of the work, the heterodiegetic and omniscient narrator uses an impersonal tone;He describes reality objectively without getting involved with the characters or showing signs of affection or contempt for situations that occur. This objectivity is used by Süskind due to the scientific approach of naturalists, which contributes to the creation of social criticism.
In this way, naturalism managed to bring philosophy closer to science, promoting the use of the scientific method to investigate any real element;The title of the book directly shows us the importance of science in the work. In addition, while Grenouille works for Baldini, Süskind describes in detail the elaboration of perfumes through the use of chemicals, alcohol and natural elements such as flowers for the cooling: “He poured the alcohol of the bottle in the flask, now on thefreshly mixed perfume, and threw in the funnel … ". The author uses the fashion theme, the scientist, as the main approach of the work, since everything happens around the perfumes that Grenouille uses to investigate the different behaviors of society towards him according to his smell.
At the same time, Süskind places the action in real places, providing detailed descriptions such as the one we found in the first chapter of the work: “The streets stinled to manure, the interior courtyards struggled to urine, the holes of the stairs stretched into rotten wood…. Naturalists used plausible spaces such as Paris, Montpellier and Grasse to show a reality close to the reader.
In conclusion, the novel "The perfume" cannot be considered a naturalistic novel since naturalism is a movement that did not take place at the time when the work was written. However, the author makes great use of numerous characteristics of this movement in the novel since it belongs to the 80’s literature and this offered writers the freedom to choose between a wide variety of previous trends. The influence of determinism on the subject of the work, the characterization of the characters, and the vision and objective description of society and space through the narrator and the scientific method are the main features of naturalism that we observe in the work. Through these aspects, Süskind conveys the true reality of the time with its difficulties, establishing a social criticism.
Bibliography
- Süskind, p. (2007). Perfume. Barcelona, planet.
- Naturalist, l. (2019). Naturalism, and the literature of the time. Naturalist literature.Blogspot.com. Available at: http: // literature-naturalist.Blogspot.com/2011/10/el-naturalism-and-la-literatura-de-la.html [consulted 11 Feb. 2019].
- Lifer. (2019). The 10 most important characteristics of naturalism – Lofede. Available at: https: // www.Lifer.com/ characteristics-of-naturalism/ [Consulted 11 Feb. 2019].
- Centers.Edu.Xunta.it is. (2019). Available at: http: // centers.Edu.Xunta.is/IESASTELLEIAS/DEPT/LINCAS/THEMES/LITE/S%20XIX/REALIS.PDF [Consulted 10 Feb. 2019].
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