in psychology and social psychology. In addition, the review of the studies on this topic is applied as reference for the writer to picture the alienation revealed by the
main character of the literary work.
18
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is a novel entitled
Perfume: Story of a Murderer
by Patrick Süskind. This novel is originally entitled in German
Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Morders
. Patrick Süskind is one of the most celebrated younger writers in the contemporary German literature.
The novel
Perfume
was published in several countries such as Germany, USA, and United Kingdom in 1985. The publisher in Germany was Diogenes,
while in USA and UK are Alfred A. Knopf and Hamish Hamilton.
Perfume: Story of a Murderer
is a novel with 255 pages long that is divided into 4 parts and 51 chapters.
There are three special records that
Perfume
has achieved. “The records
achieved by
Perfume
are the publication of the works, film adaptation, and inspiration of several songs” goodreads.com, 2015.
First,
Perfume
is one of the most-read German novels since it has been translated into twenty-five languages such as English and Indonesian language.
Thereafter,
Perfume
has reached millions copies of selling because its translation into many languages. Thus,
Perfume
is believed to be read by most people over the world.
Second, a film adaptation from the novel
Perfume: The story of a Murderer
is made and premiered in Germany 2006. The m ovie’s title is the
same with the novel’s title and it gains many audiences in its premiere. Third, the story of
Perfume
has inspired several musicians to create several songs pioneerperfume.com, 2015. Kurt Cobain, a singer and guitarist of Nirvana
his group band, made a song that is inspired from the novel
Perfume: The story of a Murderer
. The song is entitled “Scentless Apprentice” in the music album
In Utero
1993. Other than Cobain, there is also a song by a Portuguese gothic- doom metal band Moonspell that is derived from the story of
Perfume
. The title of the song is “Herr Spiegelmann”. Another song is written by French downtempo
duo Air entitled “Red Head Girl”. It is inspired by the red-headed girl characters in the story: a plum seller and Laure Richis. Lastly, there are two songs that are
inspired by the novel
Perfume
. The songs are entitled “Du riechst so gut” in German means “You Smell So Good” by Rammstein and “Nearly Witches Ever
Since We Met” by Panic At the Disco.
Perfume: Story of a Murderer
by Patrick Süskind sets in around 18
th
C in France. Perfume tells about a misfortune child who was born unwantedly and
suffers alienation. He feels different with others. Therefore, it becomes the main reason why he is detached from society. In contrast with his absence of body odor,
he has an unusual ability: able to smell any odor. Because of his own awareness towards his ability, he demands himself to explore, distinguish every odor, and
enrich his odor experience. So, he can sharpen his ability.
In short, in the journey to explore his ability and fulfill his ambition, he meets several significant figures, has many odor experiences, and always learns
how to keep preserving the odor eternally. Therefore, this leads to his ambition to preserve a perfect odor that will make people aware of his existence and recognize
him. So, he will be freed from his state of being alienated. Unfortunately, the perfect odor that Grenouille wants to preserve is the human odor that comes from
the extract of beautiful virgin women.
B. Approach of the Study
Since in this research the writer discusses about the alienation experienced by the main character of a novel entitled
Perfume
, the most appropriate approach to be applied is psychological approach.
As Knellwolf and Norris 2008 deliver that psychological approach is the most appropriate approach to examine
human’s psychology in the state of being alienated. Hence, in this research the writer focuses
on the main character’s psychology.
In addition, psychological approach is appropriate to study about one’s
behavior. In the work of literature, this approach can be applied to study about the character’s psychological conflict such alienation. As stated by Guerin,
“Psychological approaches provide insight into the thematic and symbolic mysteries of a work of literature and enhance other readings. These critics
seek the possible motives behind the literary work, reading “between the
lines” for author’s and character’s psychological conflicts” Guerin, 2011: 222.
