Patrick Süskind, Die Taube

Jeffrey T. Adams (University of North Carolina, Greensboro)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1987

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

After the worldwide success of his novel Perfume (1985), Süskind chose to write his next work of fiction in the form of the traditional German novella, to which he adheres with the ironic zeal of a postmodern parodist. The “unheard-of event” characteristic of the novella is here occasioned by the sudden appearance of a common pigeon at the door of one Jonathan Noel, a fifty-something bank guard who lives in quiet seclusion in contemporary Paris. Noel has arranged his life to achieve a state of “vollkommener Ereignislosigkeit” (complete uneventfulness); He has the utmost concern to avoid disturbances of his perfectly static existence, which consists of living alone in a tiny rented room and going …

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916 words

Citation: Adams, Jeffrey T.. "Die Taube". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 July 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16835, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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