Shakespeare said "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Smells can trigger vivid memories almost instantaneously, and the sense of smell has been referred to as the "emotional brain". But what happens when smell is both totally pervasive and non-existent at the same time?
In mid-eighteenth century Paris, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with an incredibly heightened sense of smell. He is able to instantly retain and identify scents, and aspires to become the world's greatest perfumer. But as a young man, he comes to the shocking realization that he has no scent of his own, and thus does not feel fully human. This changes his ambition, as he determines not only to create a scent for his own body, but one that will make the world bow down before him- no matter what the cost, or who must die.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind is (translated from the German book by John E. Woods) was the 1987 World Fantasy Award Winner. It was also made into a dark and rather disquieting film with Alan Rickman, Ben Wishaw, and Dustin Hoffman.
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