' 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 & powerful portrayal of one man's struggle to enlighten & instruct himself & others in the realm of desire Published in 1870 the novel gained notoriety & 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 & control