Venus in Furs

                   "Venus in Furs" from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

On October 27th, Lou Reed, one of the twentieth century's most influential songwriters, passed away at the age of 71. One of his best known songs, "Venus in Furs" from the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico, was inspired by an 1870 novel of the same name written by Ritter von Leopold Sacher-Masoch. I've long had this novel at the back of my mind as a contender for a piece for The Overleaf, and recent news of Reed's death moved it to the front of the line. 

Venus in Furs is a novel about a man and a woman involved in a consensual, female-dominant, sadomasochistic relationship. With the exception of a good, stimulating hot sauce, I'm not one to mix my pleasures with pain. While I've been curious about this book for a number of years, I wasn't sure if it would appeal to me. As it turns out, I actually enjoyed it and was surprised by the novel's depth. Sacher-Masoch (as in "masochism") was a reasonably good writer who managed to sustain a novel-length story of difficult subject matter with only two main characters. That's an achievement in and of itself, but the fact that this book was published in 1870, long before D. H. Lawrence and Henry Miller and one hundred forty years before  E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Gray, makes it all the more intriguing. Lou Reed's recent passing and our culture's current obsession with BDSM-themed best sellers and films (with or without vampires) suggests to me that the time is right to explore this novel.

Ritter von Leopold Sacher-Masoch
1836-1895

Venus in Furs (1870) by Ritter von Leopold Sacher-Masoch

After dreaming of a dialogue about love and cruelty with Venus clad in furs, an unnamed narrator visits his friend, Severin von Kusiemski, to tell him about his dream. Severin hands him a manuscript to read entitled Memoirs of a Suprasensual Man in the hopes that his friend can benefit from his own experience with such visions and feelings.

The "book within the book" is the story of Severin, a self-described dilettante of no fixed profession who is vacationing at a resort in the Carpathian mountains. He is a lover of art, given to ruminating on the terrible beauty and power of woman in her ideal form as expressed in the classics, Goethe, the Bible and a stone statue of Venus in the garden which he often visits and silently worships. He purchases a photographic reproduction of Titian's Venus with a Mirror, a painting that depicts Venus wrapped in furs and attended by angels. On the photo, next to some scribbled quotes from literature, he writes

To love, to be loved, what happiness! And yet how the glamour of this pales in comparison with the tormenting bliss of worshipping a woman who makes a plaything out of us, of being the slave of a beautiful tyrant who treads us pitilessly underfoot.

Titian's "Venus with the Mirror" c. 1555

The photo finds its way into the hands of Wanda von Dunajew, the rich widow who lives upstairs, when it is accidentally left in a book that Severin has loaned to her. The photo and its strange inscriptions bring these two together. One day while in the garden, he is taken aback when he sees Wanda, resplendent in her furs and the very vision of his beloved Venus come to life. 

The first third of the novel depicts a negotiative process wherein these two twentysomethings get to know one another and come to agree on the nature of their relationship. We also get an inside look at the psychology of masochism as Severin describes his inner need to be emotionally and physically dominated by a woman. Wanda is reluctant to agree at first, but becomes more and more intrigued by the idea of being worshiped and served by a man who is utterly enslaved to her. However, she warns him very early on that her cruelty, once unleashed, would be difficult to contain and that Severin's course is one taken at his own peril. The dynamic having been established, the two start to play their respective roles. They even go whip shopping.

Before leaving on a trip to Florence, Wanda even draws up a contract in which Severin is to agree to be her slave until he is dismissed. Severin is to accompany her as her servant, Gregor. During their time in Florence, things really start to heat up. Wanda makes hints of imminent betrayal and subjects Severin to even greater physical and emotional abuse. The more abuse he suffers, the more humiliation he feels, the more physical agonies he is subjected to, the more he feels an unquenchable passion and desire for the woman he loves. No spoilers here, but it doesn't end well. After all, this is a cautionary tale.

This is a short, concise novel. The pacing is brisk and the story mostly told through dialogue, which he had a clear knack for writing. Sacher-Masoch, uses the novel as confessional to bare his innermost feelings while blurring the line between fiction and autobiography. Welts are raised and blood is spilled. The physical sensation of pain, coupled with chastisement and humiliation send Severin into raptures, but also propel him further and further into anguish. Severin's turmoil is so painful and personal as to make the reader uncomfortable at times, but above all. this is a work of brutal honesty that documents one man's obsession while speaking to the larger struggle that men and women play out in relationships, societal roles and politics. It is a prescient work.

"Venus in Furs" image from
the author's personal stationery.

Not surprisingly, Venus in Furs was widely misunderstood as just another dirty book to be banned for the public's own good (the introduction, which I recommend, touches on this). But reading through it one is struck by how blatantly unsexy it is. It does contain scenes of abject cruelty in the context of a sexual relationship, but always in service to a larger purpose; this is Freud before Freud, and an early reexamination of sexual politics after the industrial revolution redefined the roles that men and women would play both personally and politically. The questions raised in this novel are far more subversive than any titillating content ever could be. 

In fact, Sacher-Masoch shows great restraint. There is nothing too explicit here, and the language he uses and the things he omits are what gives the novel its real power. The author lets us experience the emotional turmoil of a man whose need to be maltreated and humiliated is inexorably bound with his need for love and validation. Even if you've never felt that way, chances are you'll feel for him. This sort of conflict is the very stuff of great literature and is a theme that has been explored countless times and in many art forms. But here, everything is laid bare. The relationship between Severin and Wanda is nothing if not honest; men and women play out their power struggles in subtle and sinister ways every day, but their relationship, puts all the cards on the table as their assumed roles become more and more real.

Of course, a grain of salt comes in handy. Severin's dilemma seems very much like a first world problem in light of the very real suffering that was going on in 1870 (the Franco-Prussian War springs to mind). After all, Severin and Wanda are rich, educated Northern Europeans not burdened by concerns like finding food and shelter or even dressing themselves. But this novel was much, much better than I had anticipated. It's influence was greatly bolstered by Lou Reed's song and I can clearly see why he was attracted to this book as good subject matter for song lyrics. The Velvet Underground's first album led many listeners--myself included--to a pretty good book. So thanks, Lou. I'm just sorry I couldn't thank you in person. Rest in peace.

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