I was in the town of Nancy one Saturday, and happened upon a used bookstore. I love used books. The worn pages, the musty smell, sometimes with a note inside the front cover, sometimes something clever in a margin. And I love used bookstores, because the people working in them tend to be a tad more passionate about their merchandise than clerks in other retail establishments. I walked in and headed straight for the sale bin. Smack dab in front was Patrick Süskind's Perfume! My boyfriend had mentioned it a long time ago, and it is also the favorite book of my best friend in Metz, so it had been on my shopping list. I snapped it up.
That night, I discovered it would be an almost impossible read for me. Much of the vocabulary was beyond my comprehension. I had to first read a sentence for gist, translate the words I didn't know, reread it, then read the whole paragraph again after following that sequence for every sentence ... and then re-translate some of the words I'd forgotten! After one hour, I had read and understood five paragraphs.
But what a sensual five paragraphs! Laden with nouns and adjectives, I could smell 18th century Paris from the safety of my 20th century Metz apartment! I was excited! And disappointed, as I knew I would have to read the English version to fully understand it.
As I prepared to move back to California, I discovered a new used bookstore had opened in my hometown a few doors down from what used to be my parent's pharmacy. My first week back, I walked into B Street Books. The man behind the counter asked if he could help me find anything.
"I'm looking for Patrick Süskind's Perfume."
And a voice behind one of the shelves said "It just so happens I have a copy of it in my hand!"
Well, that was easy! My French is better now, so I am reading a paragraph in French first, then reading the English version to see what I missed and using the French-English dictionary for the words I can't figure out. The going is still slow, but it is a little faster than before. I wonder what everyone else is reading this summer...
I read the German version once (haha, who would have thought this? ;-) ... with emphasis on _once_ ... I am wondering if/how you liked it ..
ReplyDeleteI would love to read the German version -- I think something is lost, even with a good translation -- but I only know about five German verbs, and only in present indicative, ten nouns and a few adjectives, none of which have anything to do with scent or smelling!
ReplyDeleteI am advancing slowly, a few paragraphs per night (I may end up reading only the English version). So far, it seems as though Süskind is developing a somewhat sympathetic character, which seems to be in contrast to his opening paragraphs about how Grenouille rates as one of the most reprehensible characters in history. But perhaps that is because so far, I've only read about what he smells! Süskind hasn't revealed anything else that goes on in Grenouille's head.
I am guessing you were unimpressed with it?
Hmm, perhaps I should read it again before I comment further, but yes, reading a novel only once says something ... ;-)
ReplyDeleteI am not happy with German German (I do like some Austrian and Swiss literature) contemporary literature - perhaps that is why I read mostly English books ---
What's left to me of "Das Parfüm" is an impression of something very very very very painstaking over-endeavoured boring ... but that was around 1985/1986 ... yes, perhaps I should read it again ...
I think this is the first (translation of a) contemporary German work I have read! I will stop short of saying it is boring (it is still early in the book), but it does seem to move a bit slowly, possibly because the world he creates is purely sensual, and limited to just one sense, at that!
ReplyDeleteYaa, I will read it again, was just thinking that it has been over twenty years since I read it - uuuuuuuuuh.
ReplyDeleteI must say that there is nothing quite like reading a favorite novel in the original language. Reading "Like Water For Chocolate" en espanol is quite marvellous (and delicious).
ReplyDeleteRecently I found my old copy of "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert. I remember reading it with relative ease. Now it was slow going--I had to refer to my dictionnaire and re-read each sentence. Like watching a movie with lots of commercial interruptions, it kind of took away the magic.
Mais je essayerai une autre fois un de ces jours!
Glad to know that you are home.
Like Water for Chocolate -- another sensual book (I admit to reading the English translation)! If I remember correctly, she shared your passion for cooking, Clementina. I understand Spanish as well as I do German, but maybe one day I will be able to read the Spanish version. I am a fan of Mario Vargas Llosa's older works (and my neighbor's kids laugh at my horrible Spanish!) so I have motivation to learn.
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