Venus in Furs. Demonic Women

“Venus in Furs” is a novella by the Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, his best-known work.

The desire described in it—to seek pleasure through humiliation and violence—drew researchers’ attention soon after the book’s release and gave a name to a phenomenon that came to be known by the term “masochism.”

Nobleman Severin von Kusiński dreams of meeting a strong, authoritative woman—his ideal, which he poetically calls “Venus in Furs.” At a quiet, almost deserted resort, he becomes captivated at first sight by the young widow Wanda von Dunajew. At first, Wanda—half in jest—offers Severin to become her slave, her toy, and a laughingstock. But once Severin readily and enthusiastically agrees, Wanda herself quickly begins to get pulled into the game as well, going further and further in the role of the mistress.

This edition also includes the novellas “The Moonlight Night” and “Plato’s Love”—like “Venus in Furs,” they belong to the conditional cycle “Cain’s Legacy”—as well as the collection of stories “Demonic Women.”