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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart.« O quelle volupté d'être battu ! » : ainsi s'intitulait une des nouvelles de Sacher-Masoch, et on ne peut s'étonner que le psychiatre Krafft-Ebing se soit inspiré de son œuvre pour créer le terme de « masochisme ». L'univers romanesque de cet écrivain autrichien est en effet empreint d'une sensualité trouble, d'un constant sentiment de culpabilité, de l'angoisse du péché et du mal. Le héros de « La Vénus à la fourrure » raconte comment, aux termes d'un contrat créé avec sa maîtresse, il s'est engagé à être son esclave, contraint de subir toutes les humiliations qu'elle jugerait bon de lui infliger : le bonheur alterne sans fin avec la douleur, comme si l'un ne pouvait venir que de l'autre.
Il y a beaucoup de problèmes de genre dans ce roman. Évidemment, le livre doit être pris avec la mise en garde de la période, mais ce n'est toujours pas facile à avaler. Il y a une citation anaphorique de Goethe :
Du musst herrschen und gewinnen, oder dienen und verlieren; leiden oder triumphieren, Amboss oder Hammer sein.Là se résume le point de vue de notre ami Von Sacher-Masoch sur les hommes et les femmes : certains hommes sont dominants et d'autres soumis, mais ils sont soit l'un soit l'autre ; les femmes, pareil. De toute évidence, sa proclamation est fausse, et à peu près tout lecteur moderne devrait savoir mieux, mais cependant, cela détériore l'expérience de la lecture néanmoins. En tant qu'étendue sur le genre, les relations entre les sexes, ou la propension pour les relations BDSM, le livre n'est pas si bon. Cependant, en tant qu'histoire étrange mais érotique d'un homme qui désire qu'une femme riche et sexy lui marche dessus... absolument incroyablement génial.
Не складываются у меня отношения (хорошие) с немецкими полуписателями-полуфилософами!!! И эта книга (особенно эта!!!) не стала исключением.
В начале чтения мне было очень смешно и казалось, что это всё какой-то фарс, что всё это не всерьёз. Но чем дальше, тем яснее становилось, что и в этот раз я столкнулся с книгой-оправданием своему (автора, не моему!) образу жизни!!! И самый обыкновенный (ну, может быть, не совсем) порок подаётся под соусом высоких материй, а количество употребления слова "любовь" просто зашкаливает!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Но самое убийственное, что главные герои заключают ДОГОВОР (по поводу того самого)!!! Это меня окончательно добило!!!!
P.S. Мне кажется, если бы автор попробовал свои силы в юмористическом жанре, то у него получилось бы намного лучше!!!
В начале чтения мне было очень смешно и казалось, что это всё какой-то фарс, что всё это не всерьёз. Но чем дальше, тем яснее становилось, что и в этот раз я столкнулся с книгой-оправданием своему (автора, не моему!) образу жизни!!! И самый обыкновенный (ну, может быть, не совсем) порок подаётся под соусом высоких материй, а количество употребления слова "любовь" просто зашкаливает!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Но самое убийственное, что главные герои заключают ДОГОВОР (по поводу того самого)!!! Это меня окончательно добило!!!!
P.S. Мне кажется, если бы автор попробовал свои силы в юмористическом жанре, то у него получилось бы намного лучше!!!
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Jail. Jail for these characters!
If you’re a modern participant of “the scene” reading this book, you will hear sirens going off in your head. To put in contemporary lingo: nothing about this dynamic is SSC or RACK. It is, quite really, just a story of abuse that’s difficult to go through for this exact reason. Masoch himself objected to the term ‘masochism,’ and now I would like to do that too. If anything, this book should’ve suggested the term be used for fur fetish.
And if you’re in it for an erotica, you too will be disappointed. It’s quite boring, as nothing really happens. It’s pretty much just implications, and even the supposedly kinky scenes are cut short.
The writing in the beginning was spectacular. Though the author is very confused about Ancient Greece, going as far as calling Aphrodite exclusively “Venus,” some of the initial thoughts are great as well. Unfortunately, soon enough, the writing lost its lustre, and the story became repetitive.
Both Severin and Wanda are insufferable characters, both so puerile that despite being twice the intended age of the characters, they act comically like Romeo and Juliet with their over-dramatic reactions. At least, hilarity is often intended in the book, so if you’re not as infuriated by these characters as I was, you might have a laugh at them as well.
There was also a lot of misogyny woven into this book, I was surprised how it somewhat ended on a somewhat feminist note, saying that women can only be equal to men once they’ve had equal rights, and equal access to education and work.
If you’re a modern participant of “the scene” reading this book, you will hear sirens going off in your head. To put in contemporary lingo: nothing about this dynamic is SSC or RACK. It is, quite really, just a story of abuse that’s difficult to go through for this exact reason. Masoch himself objected to the term ‘masochism,’ and now I would like to do that too. If anything, this book should’ve suggested the term be used for fur fetish.
And if you’re in it for an erotica, you too will be disappointed. It’s quite boring, as nothing really happens. It’s pretty much just implications, and even the supposedly kinky scenes are cut short.
The writing in the beginning was spectacular. Though the author is very confused about Ancient Greece, going as far as calling Aphrodite exclusively “Venus,” some of the initial thoughts are great as well. Unfortunately, soon enough, the writing lost its lustre, and the story became repetitive.
Both Severin and Wanda are insufferable characters, both so puerile that despite being twice the intended age of the characters, they act comically like Romeo and Juliet with their over-dramatic reactions. At least, hilarity is often intended in the book, so if you’re not as infuriated by these characters as I was, you might have a laugh at them as well.
There was also a lot of misogyny woven into this book, I was surprised how it somewhat ended on a somewhat feminist note, saying that women can only be equal to men once they’ve had equal rights, and equal access to education and work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse
The first half of this is fantastic, then it slows and gets repetitive around the center but picks up again towards the end. Overall though, it's still an interesting book about the sexual desires of one taken to the extreme. I was actually kind of surprised how tame it was in its portrayals of sexual activity, considering the word 'Masochism' derives from the author's last name.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The book and subsequencial writer who ended up being de origin of the coinage of 'masochism'. The book is short and well-written book on a historical sub-dom dynamic and relationship -- it's well written and enjoyable, definitely worth the read if any of the above sounds entriguing.
dark
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is available from Project Gutenberg, a database of free e-Books whose U.S. copyrights have expired. Fernanda Savage's forward is an excellent introduction to this text so I specifically recommend this edition, of which only 1,225 have been printed.
Venus in Furs by Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch takes place as social commentary and romance, the story really beginning when a man contests his friend's romantic pinings over a portrait meant to be of the goddess Venus. The reader then delves into the history of this painting, who is an ex-lover of this man.
My rating is not exactly for how the story itself is told but its deeper significance and how Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch is somehow able to incorporate the fundamentals of boundaries, communication problems, and selfish interpretations of others' needs and life lessons in a fast-moving 160ish page erotic novel written in the Victorian Era. The character recounting his love affair is almost insufferable, an echo of the meme where "women are so mysterious" and the woman in the portrait contests with what amounts to "not really, if you would just listen." I see a lot of contemporary parallels in this book, and I would be extremely interested to read, within the same settings and times and characters Venus in Furs, from the female protagonist's perspective.
But I can only imagine it would be 60+ pages of "Why won't this guy just treat me like an equal? I don't need to be exalted, I just need my freedom, so why can't we be on the same level?" because the original is essentially "This woman needs to be either Mary or Jezebel for me because her *potential* interest in polyamory doesn't fit with my ability to understand she is a whole human being so I would rather her enslave, psychologically torture, and whip me than admit we are just not compatible in terms of a romantic relationship and let her seek out more compatible suitors... Ouch, why is she being so mean?!"
I'm noting that this book due to its nature should come with a content warning. While it is mostly BDSM, there are parallels that echo trauma bonding as well as objectification. And, of course, there are -isms, including racism and anti-Semitism just casually occasionally written into the text.
What I find really interesting is that within the narrator's totally skewed (and at the root, misogynistic) perception, feminist ideals keep sneaking into the dialogue even when the female protagonist herself is revealing some facets of internalized misogyny (e.g. using expressions like "frivolous woman"). The characters themselves are products of their epoch, relying on classical antiquity as a backdrop for otherwise almost-progressive ideals, or at least good dialogue starters for them. But the way this is presented by the writer makes me believe that he himself was opening a dialogue for de-stigmatizing what otherwise is often seen as “sexual deviance” and also (maybe unintentionally, I really don’t know) emphasizing the importance of communication (and respect) in romantic relationships. Or at least it illustrates what happens in the absence of any of that really.
Because of course, there was no real effort to discuss the problem that heteronormative gender dualism presents and throughout the entire book, regardless of whose voice comes through, it is pretty obvious that Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch did not care too much about opening any possibility for discussion on gender as separate from sex, although it was interesting how he described the attractiveness of one character as so profound that he essentially dressed in drag "once" and obtained suitors from across the globe. His ultimate rejection of them was not "I'm a cishet man," however, "but I am a man."
I do have to wonder if Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch had been alive in a time more conducive to exploring sexuality and gender, if he would have felt more liberated to explore the theme of gender specifically.
All in all, I really enjoyed this text -- enough to read it all in one sitting.
First book of 2020 and it’s worth it. But read it critically.
Venus in Furs by Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch takes place as social commentary and romance, the story really beginning when a man contests his friend's romantic pinings over a portrait meant to be of the goddess Venus. The reader then delves into the history of this painting, who is an ex-lover of this man.
My rating is not exactly for how the story itself is told but its deeper significance and how Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch is somehow able to incorporate the fundamentals of boundaries, communication problems, and selfish interpretations of others' needs and life lessons in a fast-moving 160ish page erotic novel written in the Victorian Era. The character recounting his love affair is almost insufferable, an echo of the meme where "women are so mysterious" and the woman in the portrait contests with what amounts to "not really, if you would just listen." I see a lot of contemporary parallels in this book, and I would be extremely interested to read, within the same settings and times and characters Venus in Furs, from the female protagonist's perspective.
But I can only imagine it would be 60+ pages of "Why won't this guy just treat me like an equal? I don't need to be exalted, I just need my freedom, so why can't we be on the same level?" because the original is essentially "This woman needs to be either Mary or Jezebel for me because her *potential* interest in polyamory doesn't fit with my ability to understand she is a whole human being so I would rather her enslave, psychologically torture, and whip me than admit we are just not compatible in terms of a romantic relationship and let her seek out more compatible suitors... Ouch, why is she being so mean?!"
I'm noting that this book due to its nature should come with a content warning. While it is mostly BDSM, there are parallels that echo trauma bonding as well as objectification. And, of course, there are -isms, including racism and anti-Semitism just casually occasionally written into the text.
What I find really interesting is that within the narrator's totally skewed (and at the root, misogynistic) perception, feminist ideals keep sneaking into the dialogue even when the female protagonist herself is revealing some facets of internalized misogyny (e.g. using expressions like "frivolous woman"). The characters themselves are products of their epoch, relying on classical antiquity as a backdrop for otherwise almost-progressive ideals, or at least good dialogue starters for them. But the way this is presented by the writer makes me believe that he himself was opening a dialogue for de-stigmatizing what otherwise is often seen as “sexual deviance” and also (maybe unintentionally, I really don’t know) emphasizing the importance of communication (and respect) in romantic relationships. Or at least it illustrates what happens in the absence of any of that really.
Because of course, there was no real effort to discuss the problem that heteronormative gender dualism presents and throughout the entire book, regardless of whose voice comes through, it is pretty obvious that Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch did not care too much about opening any possibility for discussion on gender as separate from sex, although it was interesting how he described the attractiveness of one character as so profound that he essentially dressed in drag "once" and obtained suitors from across the globe. His ultimate rejection of them was not "I'm a cishet man," however, "but I am a man."
I do have to wonder if Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch had been alive in a time more conducive to exploring sexuality and gender, if he would have felt more liberated to explore the theme of gender specifically.
All in all, I really enjoyed this text -- enough to read it all in one sitting.
First book of 2020 and it’s worth it. But read it critically.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism
dark
tense
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
medium-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