Venus in Furs

<p>Leopold von Sacher-Masoch didn't invent the sexual practice that bears his name but he did popularize it in this short novel. An example of the found-manuscript manner of storytelling <em>Venus in Furs</em> is framed by an unnamed narrator telling his dreams to his friend Severin. In those dreams the narrator discusses love with Venus while she wears furs.</p><p></p><p>Severin suggests the narrator can break this obsession by reading a manuscript called <em>Memoirs of a Suprasensual Man</em>. That manuscript tells the story of a man who is so infatuated with a woman that he asks to be her slave.</p><p></p><p>At first she doesn't understand the request but after humoring him she grows to accept and appreciate the idea eventually embracing it enthusiastically. They travel to Florence with the man assuming a generic servant's name as he falls completely into the role of her servant. In Florence Wanda treats him brutally as a servant and recruits a trio of women to dominate him.</p><p></p><p>The relationship comes to a crisis when she meets another man to whom she would like to submit.</p><p></p><p>This is a passionate and powerful portrayal of one man's struggle to enlighten and instruct himself and others in the realm of desire. It remains a classic literary statement on sexual submission and control.</p>