★"Perfume" is the debut work of the author Juskind, one of the most popular one-act plays in the world, written for every soul living on an island in the city;
★Classic plays of Shanghai Dramatic Art Center.
[About the author] Patrick Süskind is a well-known contemporary German writer. His debut work "Double Bass" premiered in Munich in September 1981 and is still performed frequently today. In 1984, Suskind completed his first novel "Perfume", which caused a sensation in the German literary world after its publication and was later translated into many languages. He is also the author of the novella "Pigeon", "The Story of Mr. Xia" and other non-fiction works, which have a significant influence in the contemporary German literary world.
[Introduction] The novel describes the inner world of an unsuccessful double bass player in a band. The whole play is composed of monologues from beginning to end: I have a father who is an official and a mother who is a musician. I have not been loved by my parents since I was a child. My father wanted me to inherit his father's career and become an official, not an artist. I did the opposite and became a musician against my father's orders. In order to get back at my mother, I chose the ugliest, bulkiest and most inconspicuous instrument, the double bass. During my eighteen-year playing career, I have developed a mixed feeling of love and hate towards the double bass that I have been with day and night. I was eager to get rid of the strict and hierarchical order of the orchestra, but I was also afraid of the unknown prospects and was stuck in my ways. At the same time, I had a crush on Sarah, the female singer in the band, but I was afraid of her and felt very painful... With keen insight and delicate writing, the author depicts the inner loneliness of a little person, as well as the loss and hopelessness of being ignored by the group.
Reader comments
When I first started watching it, I felt a little bored, but as I watched it I found it to be quite interesting. It feels like the whole book is written in one go, as if there really is such a person talking to you in front of you. I don't know much about music and already find it interesting. It might be more fun if I know more about music. He makes a living by playing the double bass and is tired of this ordinary life where he can't get ahead. The thought of the part where he was fantasizing about Sara and realizing that Sara probably didn't even know him was disgustingly funny and pathetic.
Like a person who is unwilling to accept his fate and has no courage to make changes. The double bass is not only his shackles, but also his only support. He can only live by imagination and self-appreciation.
Maybe whether you are a vulgar or an outstanding artist, a large part of his outstanding personality is that he spurns life and obeys it.
The male protagonist is sitting in the corner of the band like this double bass, unnoticed and unknown to the public. He plays gloomily and gloomily all day long, just like his unsuccessful life. As a supporting actor, there are always complaints and grumbles of one kind or another, but back in the real world, he still plays his double bass as always, working on fantasizing about love, but he knows that he is not worthy of the female singer in front of him in all aspects. He has low self-esteem and timidity and has never even stepped forward to say hello or confess. I defy my parents but still work within the system with a stable salary as a national civil servant and fixed holidays. Isn't there no way to escape my fate? I hate the double bass but rely on it to support myself and accompany me in every performance. Always prioritizing the double bass when the weather changes and making myself sick. This kind of contradictory and entangled mentality wants to break through oneself but does not have the courage to break through reality. Aren't most ordinary people living in supporting roles like this? The author gives sympathy to the supporting characters but also ruthlessly shows their real plight. So, do you think he finally dared to shout on the stage? (Sarah, I love you!…) [Laughs]
Goethe: "Music is so noble that even reason cannot approach it. Its influence can control everything. No one can interpret it."
What was originally better died because it ran counter to the train of the times, and the train of the times crushed everything under its wheels.
Thought is a very difficult thing, and it is so difficult that everyone cannot think about it.
This book is very special, it allows me to see the big story behind a small instrument. The author is really great. He connected the double bass with the fate of the protagonist, making me feel their loneliness and helplessness. Like the protagonist, I also had times when I was not understood, but I was inspired to see him persist in his choice in the end. This book is like a piece of low music, which makes people have endless aftertaste.
When I first started watching it, I felt a little bored, but as I watched it I found it to be quite interesting. It feels like the whole book is written in one go, as if there really is such a person talking to you in front of you. I don't know much about music and already find it interesting. It might be more fun if I know more about music. He makes a living by playing the double bass and is tired of this ordinary life where he can't get ahead. The thought of the part where he was fantasizing about Sara and realizing that Sara probably didn't even know him was disgustingly funny and pathetic.
Like a person who is unwilling to accept his fate and has no courage to make changes. The double bass is not only his shackles, but also his only support. He can only live by imagination and self-appreciation. Maybe whether you are a vulgar or an outstanding artist, a large part of his outstanding personality is that he spurns life and obeys it.
The male protagonist is sitting in the corner of the band like this double bass, unnoticed and unknown to the public. He plays gloomily and gloomily all day long, just like his unsuccessful life. As a supporting actor, there are always complaints and grumbles of one kind or another, but back in the real world, he still plays his double bass as always, working on fantasizing about love, but he knows that he is not worthy of the female singer in front of him in all aspects. He has low self-esteem and timidity and has never even stepped forward to say hello or confess. I defy my parents but still work within the system with a stable salary as a national civil servant and fixed holidays. Isn't there no way to escape my fate? I hate the double bass but rely on it to support myself and accompany me in every performance. Always prioritizing the double bass when the weather changes and making myself sick. This kind of contradictory and entangled mentality wants to break through oneself but does not have the courage to break through reality. Aren't most ordinary people living in supporting roles like this? The author gives sympathy to the supporting characters but also ruthlessly shows their real plight. So, do you think he finally dared to shout on the stage? (Sarah, I love you!…) [Laughs]
Goethe: "Music is so noble that even reason cannot approach it. Its influence can control everything. No one can interpret it." What was originally better died because it ran counter to the train of the times, and the train of the times crushed everything under its wheels. Thought is a very difficult thing, and it is so difficult that everyone cannot think about it.
This book is very special, it allows me to see the big story behind a small instrument. The author is really great. He connected the double bass with the fate of the protagonist, making me feel their loneliness and helplessness. Like the protagonist, I also had times when I was not understood, but I was inspired to see him persist in his choice in the end. This book is like a piece of low music, which makes people have endless aftertaste.