Venus in Furs (1870) is a novella by Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Intended as an installment in his Legacy of Cain cycle, Venus in Furs has far surpassed the author’s other works in cementing his reputation. The work, which inspired Kraft-Ebing to define “masochism,” is notable for its exploration of female dominance and male sexual submission.

The frame narrative begins with an unnamed man who develops a strong sexual desire after having a vivid dream. Disturbed, he tells a friend about the vision, in which he spoke to the goddess Venus while she was wearing luxuriant furs. In the memoir, which appears to have written by his friend, a man named Severin von Kusiemski describes his love affair with Wanda von Dunajew. Moved by a strong desire, Severin asks to be made Dunajew’s slave, and though she denies him at first, she soon grows to take advantage of her power of the man. As she grows progressively more violent in her treatment of Severin, she satisfies his desires while simultaneously learning more about her own. Severin, who describes himself as a suprasensualist travels with Dunajew to Florence, where he invents an identity as a Russian servant and acquiesces to a life of degradation and servitude. When Dunajew meets a domineering and attractive man, however, she begins to question her role as Severin’s master, desiring a submissive relationship of her own. Venus in Furs is a semi-autobiographical work describing Sacher-Masoch’s details through a thin veil of fictional devices, and remains influential for charting new territories in the representation of alternative sexualities.

This edition of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs is a classic of Austrian literature reimagined for modern readers.

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