The Story of Mr Sommer

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer
The Story of Mr Sommer
Hardback & paperback
)
  • Audio book

    • The Story of Mr Sommer (Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer) is a novella in German by Patrick Süskind, published in 1991, dealing with memories of childhood in a village in Germany. The book was illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé. It was translated into English by Michael Hofmann.

    History

    After Süskind had written

    The Literary Encyclopedia.[6]

    The book was richly illustrated by drawings by Jean-Jacques Sempé,[7] and published by Diogenes in Zürich in 1991. A translation into English by Michael Hofmann, The Story of Mr Sommer, was first published by Fox, Finch & Tepper in Bath.[8] It was published by Bloomsbury Publishing as a paperback in 2003.

    Plot and themes

    Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer is told in the first person by a man aged around 40, remembering growing up in a fictional village in Germany after World War II.[4] The narration features elements reminiscent of fairy-tales of the Brothers Grimm,[6] such as the boy being sure he could fly if only he was determined enough.[8] It is written as if told spontaneously,[9] described as a "beguiling, unsentimental account of childhood in rural Germany"[8] of a "clever, imaginative, logical and lonely little boy".[8] He remembers living away from other children, being attracted to his classmate Carolina, and enduring piano lessons that he reached riding his mother's bike, too large for him.[8]

    The narrator meets an unusual man, Herr Sommer, who is described as from the same village where the boy lives but on restless permanent wanderings (Wanderschaft),[10] from early morning until late at night.[5] Three meetings are described in detail. The first occurs during a terrible storm and hail when the boy and his father, returning from a horse race by car, offer him a ride, and he utters the only spoken phrase quoted in the book: "Ja so laßt mich doch endlich in Frieden!" ("Why don’t you just leave me in peace!").[5][8][10] The boy meets him again, watching from a high tree which he climbed with the idea of ending his life by jumping; Mr Sommer unusually interrupts his walk, lies down in the grass and lets go a gruesome long groan ("a hollow anguished sound from deep within his chest")[8] that makes the boy forget his intentions.[5] In the end, the boy watches the man walk into the lake where he drowns, as Ludwig II of Bavaria died. The boy keeps it to himself.[3][5][7]

    Publication

    References

    1. JSTOR 462617
      .
    2. ^ Pike, Laurie (2013-11-04). "'Perfume: The Story of a Murderer' to Reshow With Newly Created Scent Track". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
    3. ^ a b Der Spiegel 1991.
    4. ^ a b Julin 2017.
    5. ^ a b c d e Dresler 2022.
    6. ^ a b Adams 2005.
    7. ^ a b Zimmermann 2004.
    8. ^ a b c d e f g Battersby 2015.
    9. ^ Wunderlich 2002.
    10. ^ a b Bopp 2012.

    Cited sources

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Story_of_Mr_Sommer&oldid=1190386595"