RIFLE RANGE BOY: senses

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (German; 1985)
Author: Patrick Süskind

https://www.amazon.com/Perfume-Story-
Murderer-Patrick-Suskind/dp/0375725849

Thank you to MC for introducing this excellent book. It is an engaging read that baffles me how one can write a whole book just based on all descriptions about our olfactory sense and fragrances. It is one book that I think he managed to use all the words in the English language to describe smells.

The olfactory sense is said to be one of humans' most primitive sensations. It is said that even unicellular organisms had this in their most rudimentary form. Unlike other sensory organs, smell is not carried by nerves, but has a direct connection to the brain.

Perhaps because of its ancient origin in the evolutionary ladder and its close proximity to the brain, it has a profound effect on the human brain. It is not surprising that fragrances can arouse the reptilian part of our suppressed brain, to unleash the beast within.

Entering many Hindu homes, one would encounter a painting or a metal tooling sculpture of a golden chariot. The chariot would be manned by five horses. The reins would be held firmly by the charioteer against the five prancing horses. It could be a representation of a scene from the Bhagavad Gita.

It could very well be a reference to Plato's Chariot Allegory, where the charioteer (man) needs to balance the power between the two horses (a noble and an unruly one) to lead the charioteer (body) to the path of the Truth. Freud, in his writings, could have referenced it to the eternal struggle between the id (instincts), the ego (reason) and the superego (guiding force).

In the Gita version, the five horses denote our five senses. The rein, with the wisdom (Buddhi) of the charioteer (mind), controls the senses (horses), so that the chariot (body) is not led astray.

The book, set in pre-Bastille France, follows the tragic life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Left to grow up in an orphanage after his mother was guillotined for killing Grenouille's three other siblings, he is unloved. Grenouille somehow escaped his mother's murder attempt, as he likes to think that he is invincible. This thought is reinforced when he recovers from the pox.

After the orphanage, he is sent to work as a tanner. Grenouille has an inborn ability to distinguish a vast range of scents. Paradoxically, he does not have his own individual smell. A diligent and hardy worker, he yearns to be a perfumer.

After capturing the scent of a virginal pubescent girl, he becomes somewhat fixated on the smell. Wanting to keep all the scent to himself, he strangles her and kills her.

The author further narrates about his self-exile, the discovery, his experimentation with perfumes, his fixation with the extraction of pubescent girls and his obsessive interest in one particular lass, Laure, the fairest of them all.

A nice book which brings vivid descriptions of various smells and piques into the business of perfumery as it was carried out before.

'The Perfume' is often stated as Kurt Cobain's favourite book. It is even believed to have significantly influenced his song "Scentless Apprentice" from Nirvana's album In Utero. The cautionary lesson from Cobain's life experience is that one should not be tempted away from one's duties by the allure of sensory pleasure. The final outcome is usually undesirable. The only silver lining may be that Cobain departed in a state of bliss.