He is one of the lucky and talented authors to have won awards at the end of 2024: thanks to his Dream of the Jaguara family saga rooted in Venezuela and published by Rivages, Miguel Bonnefoy won the Prix Femina but also the Grand Prix de l'Académie Française. But this is not the first text by the writer, himself of Venezuelan and Chilean origins, to have been noticed: in 2021, his novel Legacy received, for example, the Booksellers Prize, and it was on this occasion that our colleagues from Vogue had interviewed him.
Also discover: “The Dream of the Jaguar”: these 4 other Books for which the author Miguel Bonnefoy was rewarded
“Le Parfum” by Patrick Süskind: a serial killer in search of the most beautiful perfume in the world
During this exchange around the books that marked his life, the author revealed that his favorite novel character was a protagonist who was chilling to say the least, revealed for the first time in 1985 in a German novel: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, perfumer with a heart of Parfum ofPatrick Süskind (available in the Pocket Book). A singular professional to say the least: in order to obtain the perfect perfume essence in his eyes, this former abandoned child, passionate about the smells that have always surrounded him, must kill young women (virgins if possible) whose he then enlarges the body in his workshop. The exceptional fragrance of their bodies capsizes hearts and even provokes unconventional desires… including in the final pages!
Also discover: “Magisterial” and “intoxicating”: this is one of Nicolas Beuglet’s bedside books, and it’s not a thriller!
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, character among “the most brilliant” and “the most abominable” in literature according to Miguel Bonnefoy
But Miguel Bonnefoy assures him: if Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, “ the largest nose of the French 18th century ”, is according to him one of the characters “ the most brilliant in literature “, he is also ” one of the most abominable ”, and for good reason! This serial killer will take the lives of nearly thirty women throughout the novel. In 2006, actor Ben Wishaw brought this monster to life on the big screen in the adaptation Perfume, story of a murderer by Tom Tykwer, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman. In 2018, sales of Parfum by Patrick Süskind, his very first novel, sold twenty million copies worldwide, translated into forty-five languages.
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