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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
https://youtu.be/mnH74-CNn6A?feature=shared
I feel like no one talks about the furs part of this book. I have never in my life seen someone who liked furs that much. Like I'm genuinely fascinated.
Anyway this book (novella?) was interesting to experience knowing it's cultural impact and influence (the Velvet Underground song makes a lot more sense now) but it's very dated, with some very jarring instances of racism and anti-Semitism, and overall has some weird pseudo-scientific gender essentialist ideas peppered in throughout the entirety about the natural order of male/female dynamics which feels like bizarre quackery even for the time period.
I am curious what Sacher-Masoch's intention with this was - to be titillating, or to make some profound warning to humanity, or some muddled combination of both? I can't tell if he intends for Severin to serve as a mouth piece or not, because Wanda is so explicitly clear about what will happen if they pursue their "relationship" and he's still shocked and betrayed when she does... literally everything she warns him she will? So is this meant to be a didactic story about what Severin learned, or what he failed to learn? Does it even matter?
An incredibly Victorian book, for better or for worse.
Anyway this book (novella?) was interesting to experience knowing it's cultural impact and influence (the Velvet Underground song makes a lot more sense now) but it's very dated, with some very jarring instances of racism and anti-Semitism, and overall has some weird pseudo-scientific gender essentialist ideas peppered in throughout the entirety about the natural order of male/female dynamics which feels like bizarre quackery even for the time period.
I am curious what Sacher-Masoch's intention with this was - to be titillating, or to make some profound warning to humanity, or some muddled combination of both? I can't tell if he intends for Severin to serve as a mouth piece or not, because Wanda is so explicitly clear about what will happen if they pursue their "relationship" and he's still shocked and betrayed when she does... literally everything she warns him she will? So is this meant to be a didactic story about what Severin learned, or what he failed to learn? Does it even matter?
An incredibly Victorian book, for better or for worse.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a strange novella about masochism and female dominance, even stranger to know it was kinda autobiographical
A confused babble of Freudian analysis, completely missing the point, and tinged with a casual but ingrained antisemitism.
read as part of the serious book club for boys
for the full immersive experience I had the librarian hit me in the back of the head with the heel of her shoe while reading but now I can't remember the book !
for the full immersive experience I had the librarian hit me in the back of the head with the heel of her shoe while reading but now I can't remember the book !
This was not only a very engaging classic, it was addicting. I could not stop reading it.
It's so interesting that such forms of submission was discussed so long ago, and it was so peculiar at the time that they had to come up with a new word for it - masochism.
Today it means someone who enjoys pain, and while there is a small mention about enjoying pain in this book, Sacher-Masoch mainly talks about submission, and how he enjoys giving up his freedom to a dominating woman.
I especially loved when he says this-
"'God did punish him and deliver him to a woman's hands' I repeated to myself. Well, what could I possibly do to make Him punish me?"
"If you love me, be cruel to me"
If you're curious about the work that gave birth to masochism, it's definitely worth giving this a read. I was fascinated.
Also come on, Shiny Shiny, Shiny boots of leather...
It's so interesting that such forms of submission was discussed so long ago, and it was so peculiar at the time that they had to come up with a new word for it - masochism.
Today it means someone who enjoys pain, and while there is a small mention about enjoying pain in this book, Sacher-Masoch mainly talks about submission, and how he enjoys giving up his freedom to a dominating woman.
I especially loved when he says this-
"'God did punish him and deliver him to a woman's hands' I repeated to myself. Well, what could I possibly do to make Him punish me?"
"If you love me, be cruel to me"
If you're curious about the work that gave birth to masochism, it's definitely worth giving this a read. I was fascinated.
Also come on, Shiny Shiny, Shiny boots of leather...
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i, too, understand the desire to be completely and utterly submissive to a redhead.
this guy is just plain weird though!!!!!!!!!!!! this was a fun read. much funnier than i anticipated though i guess with something as inherently absurd as sado-masochism i should've expected it to be funny. the penguin classics version in particular is really great. at the end of the book it tries to propose this moral/argument to the whole affair, and right after the publishers decided to do a very funny thing by adding two contracts that Sacher-Masoch and his wife signed (it's exactly what you expect) all but confirming that there was NO moral to be had and the whole book was just Sacher-Masoch revealing his deepest sexual fantasies! i'm interested in the autobiography his wife put out since for a fair portion of the book it seemed that Severin was actually the one in the relationship who held power and was using it to manipulate Wanda into being his mistress, so I'm interested in how that toxicity would show in Sacher-Masoch's real relationship. i guess i have to move onto De Sade now, he seems equally as ridiculous but much more sickening which, while intriguing, i'm not super looking forward to.
this guy is just plain weird though!!!!!!!!!!!! this was a fun read. much funnier than i anticipated though i guess with something as inherently absurd as sado-masochism i should've expected it to be funny. the penguin classics version in particular is really great. at the end of the book it tries to propose this moral/argument to the whole affair, and right after the publishers decided to do a very funny thing by adding two contracts that Sacher-Masoch and his wife signed (it's exactly what you expect) all but confirming that there was NO moral to be had and the whole book was just Sacher-Masoch revealing his deepest sexual fantasies! i'm interested in the autobiography his wife put out since for a fair portion of the book it seemed that Severin was actually the one in the relationship who held power and was using it to manipulate Wanda into being his mistress, so I'm interested in how that toxicity would show in Sacher-Masoch's real relationship. i guess i have to move onto De Sade now, he seems equally as ridiculous but much more sickening which, while intriguing, i'm not super looking forward to.