Nicholas Frobenius, a popular Norwegian writer, playwright and screenwriter, made his debut with the collection Maelstrom (1986), received unanimous critical praise for his first novel, The Illustrious Love of Young Wilhelm Oxenstierna (1989); "irony and burlesque... language and the revival of Plato's aesthetic ideal... unpredictable plot twists." In 1996, the novel Latour's Catalog was published, which instantly brought Frobenius worldwide fame. Today the book has been translated into 10 languages, and in the English and French editions it has the title “The Footman of the Marquis de Sade.” The events of the novel take place in France in the 18th century (the time and place of action are the same as in “Perfume” by Patrick Suskind, and this is by no means the only parallel with the famous bestseller noticed by critics). The main character, conceived as a result of brutal rape and deprived of sensitivity to pain from birth, is filled with the desire to avenge the death of his mother; he devotes himself to anatomy, the search for the pain center in the human brain and becomes the faithful assistant of the Marquis de Sade.