Venus in Furs

"The moral of the tale is this: whoever allows himself to be whipped, deserves to be whipped." A book by Leopold Sacher-Masoch, that largely led to him lending his name to the term Masochism. It deals with his fantasies of a pale skinned woman wearing furs (hence the name) and dominating him. It was supposed to be part of a larger series of novellas, covering "all" of human life. Sacher-Masoch never finished the series, and what he did write apart from Venus is pretty much forgotten.

The plot: Severin von Kusiemski, a young nobleman, falls in love with a beautiful woman, Wanda von Dunajew, whom he calls his "Venus in Fur". They start a relationship, with him as the slave (she even makes him sign a document, explicitly stating this). Later however, she falls in love with Alexis Papadopolis, a dominant Greek man and Byronic Hero, who brutally whips the narrator. Later, after the Greek has died, she tells her (now ex-)slave that she might have married him -- if only he hadn't been that perverted and insisted to be her slave. Severin admits he's been wrong and from now on treats women dominantly. He says of Wanda:

"''That woman, as nature has created her, and man at present is educating her, is man's enemy. She can only be his slave or his despot, but never his companion. This she can become only when she has the same rights as he and is his equal in education and work."

The Velvet Underground made a well-known song from it, and there have obviously been several film adaptations. Some even attempt to be artsy!

It has its counterpart in the works of Marquis Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, most notably Justine, Juliette and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom; and its other counterpart in The Story of O, by Pauline Reage.


 * An Aesop: See the page quote.
 * Author Appeal
 * Bishonen - Alexis Papadopolis. Severin even recounts how Alexis dressed as a woman in Paris and had many admirers.
 * Byronic Hero - Alexis.
 * Contemptible Cover: Just do a search on Google Images.  You'll find more than enough.
 * Fetish - A book focused about it.
 * Fiery Redhead - Wanda
 * Naked in Mink
 * Pretty in Mink
 * Trope Namer: Okay, not a trope on this site, but Masochism was named for the author because of this book.
 * Whip It Good: Inherent in the premise.