Venus in Furs

Sacher-Masoch, Leopold, Ritter von, 1835-1895Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 250K words
Chapters: 25

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Venus im Pelz by Ritter von Leopold Sacher-MasochAuthor: Sacher-Masoch, Leopold, Ritter von, 1835-1895,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Dec 10, 2017

Editor's review

Venus in Furs is the representative work of Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, a first-person account of a domination-and-submission relationship established by contract, holding a distinctive place in German-language literature. Its value lies first in its literary-historical significance: the work examines desire, power, and gender roles within a coolly rational framework, and its title later gave rise to the psychological term "masochism," a measure of its deep influence. The novel's structure is not complex; much of it consists of dialogue and inner confession between the two protagonists, reading like a speculative experiment on emotional power. It is not a sensational work but presents the evolution and collapse of a relationship in an almost dispassionate register, suited to readers interested in psychological portraiture and gender issues. A caveat: the book depicts domination and submission, and should be read with a critical eye, understood within the intellectual context of the nineteenth century rather than taken as a guide to relationships. The German original is clear and fluid, also suitable for advanced language learners.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in German literary history and psychological fiction
Literature enthusiasts concerned with gender roles and power relations
Advanced learners with good German who wish to read the original
Readers studying nineteenth-century European thought and sexual culture

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a light love story or romantic comedy
Readers uncomfortable with themes of domination and submission
Beginners with weak German unable to handle the original's long sentences

Reading tips

Learn about the author's era first before entering the text, to avoid misreading it as a modern relationship guide.
Pay attention to the protagonists' dialogue; power relations hide in linguistic detail.
After reading, consult relevant literary-historical commentary to understand the origin of the term "Masoch."
German learners can close-read a passage of dialogue to appreciate the narrator's dispassionate tone.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an erotic novel?

It depicts domination and submission, but its focus is not sensory stimulation; rather, it analyzes the power structure of emotion through contract and dialogue. More accurately, it is a novel with strong psychological and intellectual dimensions, and should be understood in its nineteenth-century context.

Is the term "masochism" related to this book?

Yes. The psychologist Krafft-Ebing later coined the term from the author's name to describe a tendency to derive satisfaction from suffering pain or submission. The novel is an important literary source of the concept, but a literary work is not the same as a clinical diagnosis.

Is the German original difficult to read?

Compared with works of the same period, the narrative is relatively clear, dialogue-heavy, and the sentences are not obscure, though it involves abstract speculation and archaic expressions. Readers with intermediate German or above can attempt it; beginners are advised to read a Chinese translation first to grasp the content.

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About the author

Sacher-Masoch, Leopold, Ritter von, 1835-1895 Author

Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch (1835–1895) was an Austrian writer best known for the novel Venus im Pelz, also circulated as Venus in Furs. His work deals with themes such as relations between the sexes, power and desire, religion and morality, and combines realism with psychological description, often using plot to explore the complex dynamics of domination and submission. The term masochism in psychology derives from his name. Besides Venus in Furs, his representative works include Le legs de Caïn, La Mère de Dieu, La pêcheuse d'âmes and La Pantoufle de Sapho. He also wrote Jüdisches Leben in Wort und Bild, a record of everyday Jewish life. His writings were controversial in his own lifetime and have continued to attract attention for their treatment of psychological and gender issues.