Much more relevant than I expected.

As a Domme who deals with all kinds of sexual masochist I found this 137 year old novel a much more useful insight into the mind of male masochists then Stephen Elliott's "My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats me Up."

Leopold is more aware of his own inner emotional state.

I'm am amused to see how many reviewers think this book is not "erotic" because it does not contain graphic descriptions of sex. I think what those reviews fail to realize is that, for some people, descriptions of humiliation and abuse *are* sexual.

For some people this is a very hot scene: "To be the slave of a woman, a beautiful woman, whom I love, whom I worship."
"And who on that account maltreats you," interrupted Wanda, laughing.
"Yes, who fetters me and whips me, treads me underfoot, the while she gives herself to another."
"And who in her wantonness will go so far as to make a present of you to your successful rival when driven insane by jealousy you must meet him face to face, who will turn you over to his absolute mercy. Why not? This final tableau doesn't please you so well?"
I looked at Wanda frightened. "You surpass my dreams."
"Yes, we women are inventive," she said, "take heed, when you find your ideal, it might easily happen, that she will treat you more cruelly than you anticipate."
"I am afraid that I have already found my ideal!" I exclaimed, burying my burning face in her lap. ( )

I'm not a fan of the style of most 19th Century writing, and this book is no exception. However, as the origin of the word Masochism, it can't really be passed up and it's mercifully short if, like me, you don't like the style.

It's an odd mix of the perverse and the coquettish, it's not erotica, not by any modern standard anyway, but it contains so many elements that permeate BDSM as we know it now that it's a fascinating read. ( )

bought becuase of the velvet underground's "venus in furs" ( )

I wonder if perhaps I should be worried: reading this philosophical-sexual novel, I began to identify strongly with Severin, and understood a lot of the logic behind his supposedly illogical actions.

The book itself is finely written, although I had tried this one before and struggled, not realising that the first few pages formed an artistic dream that Severin would be woken from; I'm not good with books that begin this way, and last time I put the book down, not to take it up again. That was something like three years ago. Now that I've read it again, I can say that Sacher-Masoch's work is of the upmost importance for all of us who have a tendency to put ourselves down and belittle our characters, especially around women. I don't think that I've learnt enough from Severin's folly to help myself in the future, but at least I can be reassured with the knowledge that I am not alone. Though I have no intention of ever allowing myself to be whipped! ( )

I think I may have pinpointed the reason this novel didn’t impress me so much: In the end of the novel, a moral to the story is introduced—that women and men, at the time of Sacher-Masoch’s writing, were not able to live as equal companions, but that one must inherently dominate the other because of the inequalities made for them in their society.

But I don’t think that moral applies quite so well in the present time, and I have to agree that, in the end, the novel probably is a product of its times. You kind of read the novel with certain expectations, knowing (and perhaps misbelieving) what people do today about masochism through psychology and mainstream or underground media. I think this novel may be a bit different than our usual perceptions, because, after all, it was only the basis for the definition of a word taken from the author’s name over a century ago.

I thought the characters were kind of comic throughout the novel; the book is actually funny at times. As such, I didn’t really “connect” with any of the characters. Severin seems to dabble in a lot of the arts, all the while seemingly obsessed with powerful women in history and mythology—the Roman Goddess Venus in particular. He seeks to realize his interpretation of a cruel Venus in Wanda, a tenant in the same house as he. Wanda decides to play along with his fantasies, on the pretense that she’ll get this "weird" fantasy out of the way so they can marry and live normally. As the novel progresses, she unexpectedly becomes crueler and crueler, and the scenes, perhaps, become more and more off the wall. The novel does get a bit repetitive at this point, but I didn’t find it boringly so.

However, only in the end did I actually “connect” and feel sad and sorry for poor Severin. And then, of course, Severin’s change of mind shocked me out of that! :)

Don’t be fooled if this book is described as “erotica”—it is very well written (probably unlike most of the books that would surround it on an “erotica” shelf at the bookstore!), and it grabs your senses and may change your perception of things. Most of all, there are absolutely no crude terms, nor even any descriptions of sex at all in this book. It mainly plays with your senses and your imagination. ( )