After spending the 1970s writing what he has characterized as “short unpublished prose pieces and longer un-produced screenplays”, Patrick Süskind was catapulted to fame in the 1980s by the monodrama Der Kontrabass [The Double Bass, 1981], which became an instant success and a favourite of the German stage. In 1985 his status as literary wunderkind was confirmed with the publication of the novel Das Parfüm. Die Geschichte eines Mörders [Perfume. The Story of a Murderer], which quickly topped the European best-seller list and eventually sold millions of copies worldwide. Collaborations with Helmut Dietl on scripts for the popular TV series Monaco Franze (1983) and Kir Royal (1986) further

This article in full comprises 2154 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 26 November 2004

Citation: Adams, Jeffrey T.. "Patrick Süskind". The Literary Encyclopedia. 26 November 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5866, accessed 20 November 2009.]