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applesodaperson's review
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book was actually hilarious in such an absurd way. Like seriously imagine having an entire, very popular, kink/fetish category named after you. And I honestly have never thought about how masochism got its name, and its crazy that it came from a guy in the 1800s.
I also absolutely loved the writing in this book. Lots of classics feel hard to read and comprehend, but this one wasn't at all. I also appreciate that it wasn't too long. I liked the fast pace. Lots of classics go on and on and spend pages talking about 1 thing, but this book didn't do that. I just enjoyed how dysfunctional the relationship was. It was kind of unclear how much Wanda was actually into the master/slave dynamic, or if she was just pretending for Severin's benefit. But I guess this doesn't actually matter all that much.
A random thought that I had was that I loved how Severin calls Venus "divinity" and "goddess of love".
But the thing that stood out to me the most in this book was the childhood origins of Severin's fetish. When he was an adolescent, his aunt was really mean to him, but then tied him up and whipped him. And even though in this case, it is totally child abuse, it connected with sexual pleasure in his developing mind, and eventually turned into an adult fantasy/fetish. And despite this book being written before psychology was even a field of study, this actually fits with what we know about many kinks/fetishes. Exposure to certain content as a preteen/teenager (especially with boys) can lead to that content becoming connected with sexual pleasure in the mind.
Overall a really interesting book.
Read from the BYU library.
I also absolutely loved the writing in this book. Lots of classics feel hard to read and comprehend, but this one wasn't at all. I also appreciate that it wasn't too long. I liked the fast pace. Lots of classics go on and on and spend pages talking about 1 thing, but this book didn't do that. I just enjoyed how dysfunctional the relationship was. It was kind of unclear how much Wanda was actually into the master/slave dynamic, or if she was just pretending for Severin's benefit. But I guess this doesn't actually matter all that much.
A random thought that I had was that I loved how Severin calls Venus "divinity" and "goddess of love".
But the thing that stood out to me the most in this book was the childhood origins of Severin's fetish. When he was an adolescent, his aunt was really mean to him, but then tied him up and whipped him. And even though in this case, it is totally child abuse, it connected with sexual pleasure in his developing mind, and eventually turned into an adult fantasy/fetish. And despite this book being written before psychology was even a field of study, this actually fits with what we know about many kinks/fetishes. Exposure to certain content as a preteen/teenager (especially with boys) can lead to that content becoming connected with sexual pleasure in the mind.
Overall a really interesting book.
Read from the BYU library.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
theworstpear's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Toxic relationship
studydniowka's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
To było tak piekielnie nudne XD Książka o tym, jak to kobieta jest despotką i biczuje faceta, spełniając jednocześnie jego pragnienie bycia zdominowanym 🥰 To takie emancypacyjne, jak kobieta jest dominą 🥰
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
Minor: Racial slurs and Racism
fleural's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
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: Antisemitism, Misogyny, and Racism
bluedilly's review
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Sexual content
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