Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Translated by Joachim Neugroschel
When young nobleman Severin von Kusiemski meets the beautiful young widow Wanda von Dunajew at a Carpathian resort, he believes he's found his perfect woman – a veritable Venus, particularly when draped in her furs.
For the "suprasensual" Kusiemski has, since boyhood, nurtured an idea of idealised woman – beautiful and powerful as the Greek gods. And fit for him to worship and serve.
As he and Wanda fall in love – he pleads with her to fulfil his fantasies and use him as a slave, as cruelly as she cares. Eventually, she agrees.
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's notorious 1870 novella, which inspired Austrian psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing to coin the word 'masochism' in his Psychopathia Sexualis 16 years later, is a fascinating read.
Krafft-Ebing regarded male masochism as a "sexual anomaly" – the female version didn't even register on psychiatry's scale, since it was considered the normal and natural state for a woman, particularly in terms of relationships with men.
But Wanda is the most intriguing character here. As the story opens, she has no apparent inclination for dominance, but is looking for someone to, in effect, master her. Yet even at this point, she doesn't fit any traditional idea of female submission: she a liberal, liberated woman who wants to experience a particular variety of passionate relationship. What Kusiemski does is awaken another side of her sexual character – introduce her to the possibility of a different type of passionate relationship.
It's a masterpiece of erotic fiction, but like the best literary porn, goes beyond a simple litany of fleshy pleasures.
Sacher-Masoch also uses his tale to appeal for equality of the sexes. Although he himself was submissive (he signed a contract with his mistress, Fanny Pistor, to be her slave in similar fashion to that in his book), the novella suggests that he himself ultimately saw such relationships as unnatural and a direct consequence of the inequality of the sexes.
He also uses the book to comment on differences between northern and southern Europe.
Having arrived in Florence, the suffering Kusiemski notes that: "Supposedly, dying is easier in the south".
And things become a little clearer a few pages later when he notes, of a besotted young German artist who is painting Wanda: "He began a Madonna, a Madonna with red hair and green eyes! He wanted to turn this fiery woman into the image of virginity: only the idealism of a German can do that".
The suppression of sensual pleasure beneath a neo-puritan idea has been a widespread symptom of Protestantism in many forms in northern Europe – the 'Protestant work ethic' is one aspect of it. Another form is the ideal of a womanhood that desexualises women – turning Wanda into a virgin here.
Sacher-Masoch contrasts this with the southern – ancient, Classical – ideal of voluptuous and strong woman.
There is an idea that Classical (pagan) ideas are more natural and enjoyable than those current at the time (ie Christian ones); a sense of human nature and life and relationships having been warped by Christianity.
It's little wonder that Sacher-Masoch was viewed as 'perverted', a 'perversion' that was a threat to the society of the time, to the 'order' of society and a challenge to the religious beliefs that helped maintain that order. And indeed, it harks back to the man with whom he is now eternally linked – the Marquis de Sade, whose greatest 'crime' in terms of the state that imprisoned him for so long, was his blasphemy.
Entertaining and interesting.
Translated by Joachim Neugroschel
When young nobleman Severin von Kusiemski meets the beautiful young widow Wanda von Dunajew at a Carpathian resort, he believes he's found his perfect woman – a veritable Venus, particularly when draped in her furs.
For the "suprasensual" Kusiemski has, since boyhood, nurtured an idea of idealised woman – beautiful and powerful as the Greek gods. And fit for him to worship and serve.
As he and Wanda fall in love – he pleads with her to fulfil his fantasies and use him as a slave, as cruelly as she cares. Eventually, she agrees.
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's notorious 1870 novella, which inspired Austrian psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing to coin the word 'masochism' in his Psychopathia Sexualis 16 years later, is a fascinating read.
Krafft-Ebing regarded male masochism as a "sexual anomaly" – the female version didn't even register on psychiatry's scale, since it was considered the normal and natural state for a woman, particularly in terms of relationships with men.
But Wanda is the most intriguing character here. As the story opens, she has no apparent inclination for dominance, but is looking for someone to, in effect, master her. Yet even at this point, she doesn't fit any traditional idea of female submission: she a liberal, liberated woman who wants to experience a particular variety of passionate relationship. What Kusiemski does is awaken another side of her sexual character – introduce her to the possibility of a different type of passionate relationship.
It's a masterpiece of erotic fiction, but like the best literary porn, goes beyond a simple litany of fleshy pleasures.
Sacher-Masoch also uses his tale to appeal for equality of the sexes. Although he himself was submissive (he signed a contract with his mistress, Fanny Pistor, to be her slave in similar fashion to that in his book), the novella suggests that he himself ultimately saw such relationships as unnatural and a direct consequence of the inequality of the sexes.
He also uses the book to comment on differences between northern and southern Europe.
Having arrived in Florence, the suffering Kusiemski notes that: "Supposedly, dying is easier in the south".
And things become a little clearer a few pages later when he notes, of a besotted young German artist who is painting Wanda: "He began a Madonna, a Madonna with red hair and green eyes! He wanted to turn this fiery woman into the image of virginity: only the idealism of a German can do that".
The suppression of sensual pleasure beneath a neo-puritan idea has been a widespread symptom of Protestantism in many forms in northern Europe – the 'Protestant work ethic' is one aspect of it. Another form is the ideal of a womanhood that desexualises women – turning Wanda into a virgin here.
Sacher-Masoch contrasts this with the southern – ancient, Classical – ideal of voluptuous and strong woman.
There is an idea that Classical (pagan) ideas are more natural and enjoyable than those current at the time (ie Christian ones); a sense of human nature and life and relationships having been warped by Christianity.
It's little wonder that Sacher-Masoch was viewed as 'perverted', a 'perversion' that was a threat to the society of the time, to the 'order' of society and a challenge to the religious beliefs that helped maintain that order. And indeed, it harks back to the man with whom he is now eternally linked – the Marquis de Sade, whose greatest 'crime' in terms of the state that imprisoned him for so long, was his blasphemy.
Entertaining and interesting.