4 h 45 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 45 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the love you long for demands that you surrender every claim to power?
A narrator dreams of a marble Venus wrapped in furs, then turns to his friend Severin for an explanation. Severin offers a manuscript: Confessions of a Supersensual Man. Its pages lead into a desire that unsettles the boundary between loving someone and wanting to belong to them.
Severin von Kusiemski begs Wanda von Dunajew, a bright young widow, to make him her slave. Amused and curious, she enters his fantasy through a contract of submission. From a Carpathian spa town to Italy, their relationship tests how far chosen surrender can go before desire becomes a trap.
What you’ll discover
- A dream in furs Meet a cold, mocking Venus whose presence opens the door to Severin's unsettling confession.
- A contract of surrender Watch Severin press for the very terms that place his freedom in Wanda's hands.
- Wanda's growing fascination Follow a free young widow as curiosity draws her into the role of mistress.
- Love measured in power Question Severin's belief that one lover must always rule while the other must serve.
- The name behind masochism Explore the short novel that gives the term its name through its author's own.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like stories told as confessions, if you are curious about how fantasy shapes desire, or if you love paintings, myths and a sly sense of humour.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dream of Venus opens a story within a story
- A widow named Wanda declares herself a pagan
- Wanda offers a year of trial before marriage
- Wanda tests the whip and plans a contract
- In Florence the slave signs and Gregor learns his place
- Supersensual: how imagination feeds desire
- Hammer or anvil: the fight over power
- Diary, dreams and pictures: how the story is told
Who’s who
- Severin von KusiemskiA Galician nobleman and self-described dilettante who dreams of being a beautiful woman's slave, and who finally signs a contract to make that dream real.
- Wanda von DunajewA young, red-haired widow who calls herself a pagan, loves pleasure, and agrees to play the cruel Venus in Furs for the man who adores her.
- The narratorA friend of Severin who dreams of Venus after reading Hegel, and who asks his friend the meaning of the painting on the wall.
- Countess SobolSeverin's aunt, who whips him as a boy in her fur-trimmed jacket and fixes his idea of a cruel, beautiful woman.
- The German painterA shy, dreamy young artist whom Wanda hires to paint her portrait, and who falls hopelessly in love with her.
- Alexis PapadopolisA handsome, rich, haughty young Greek whom Wanda first sees riding in the Cascine park, and who stirs her wildly.
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Venus in Furs
by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch · 1870
A man meets Wanda von Dunajew at a Carpathian spa and signs a contract in Florence to be the fur-clad widow's slave.
Medium level2–5 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
Picture yourself falling asleep over a volume of Hegel and dreaming that Venus, the goddess of love, sits by your fireplace. That is how Venus in Furs begins.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dream of Venus opens a story within a story
The book opens with a dream. The narrator sits beside a Renaissance fireplace with Venus, who has wrapped her marble body in a huge fur and shivers like a cat. People of the North, she says, take love too soberly.
The narrator answers that man and woman are mortal enemies, and that whoever fails to master the other will soon feel a foot on the neck. Venus laughs and agrees, adding that it is usually the man who feels it.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1870
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 3 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Sacher-Masoch, Leopold von. Venus in Furs. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/venus-in-furs.
Sacher-Masoch, L. von. (2026). Venus in furs. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/venus-in-furs (Original work published 1870)
Sacher-Masoch, Leopold von. Venus in Furs. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/venus-in-furs.
@book{sachermasoch2026venus,
author = {Sacher-Masoch, Leopold von},
title = {Venus in Furs},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/venus-in-furs},
note = {First published 1870}
}
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What is Venus in Furs about?
It tells of Severin, a landowner who falls for a young widow, Wanda von Dunajew, and asks to become her slave. She tests the idea more and more seriously, first in the Carpathians and then in Florence.
What does the title Venus in Furs mean?
It comes from Titian's painting of Venus wrapped in a fur, which Severin calls a Venus in furs. For him the fur stands for the power and cruelty of a beautiful woman, and Wanda takes on that role.
Who are Severin and Wanda?
Severin von Kusiemski is a dreamy Galician nobleman who calls himself a dilettante. Wanda von Dunajew is a rich, red-haired young widow who calls herself a pagan and wants a life of pleasure and freedom.
The author
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
1836–1895 · Austrian novelist
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was an Austrian author born in Lemberg, now Lviv, in 1836. He wrote novels and short stories in German. His novella Venus in Furs appeared in 1870. He lived in Graz and Leipzig and later in Lindheim, Germany, where he died in 1895.
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