PENGUIN CLASSICS : VENUS IN FURS PB B FORMAT – LEOPOLD VON SACHER-MASOCH-LARRY WOLFF-JOACHIM NEUGROSCHEL-JOACHIM NEUGROSCHEL

Venus in Furs describes the obsessions of Severin von Kusiemski, a European nobleman who desires to be enslaved to a woman. Severin finds his ideal of voluptuous cruelty in the merciless Wanda von Dunajew. This is a passionate and powerful portrayal of one man s struggle to enlighten and instruct himself and others in the realm of desire. Published in 1870, the novel gained notoriety and a degree of immortality for its author when the word masochism – derived from his name – entered the vocabulary of psychiatry. This remains a classic literary statement on sexual submission and control.