Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
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Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch (January 27, 1836 — March 9, 1904), writer and journalist. Today, he is best known for his novel Venus in Furs and his name being the basis for the term masochism.
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Biography
He was was born in Lemberg, Austrian Empire (now Lviv, Ukraine), the son of an Austrian police director in Lemberg and Charlotte von Masoch, a Ukrainian lady of noble birth. He started learning German at age 12.
During his life, Sacher-Masoch was well-known as a man of letters, who was seen by some as a potential successor to Goethe. He was a utopian thinker who espoused socialist and humanist ideals in his fiction and non-fiction. He associated with the artistic elite of Mitteleuropa, but was frequently in debt.
He did his best to live out the fantasies outlined in Venus in Furs with his mistresses and wives. He pressured his first wife, Aurora Rümelin, into living out the experience of the book, against her preferences. He wasn't excited about his family life, got a divorce and married his assistant Hulda Meister. In his late 50s, his mental health began to deteriorate and he spent the last years of his life in psychiatric help. According to official reports, he died in Lindheim, Germany in 1895; however some claim that he actually died in an asylum in Mannheim in 1905.
Venus in Furs
He planned to write a series of six novels under the collective title The Heritage of Cain: only the first two were ever completed, of which Venus in Furs (1870) is the most famous today. (Venus im Pelz is the original title in German). It is also the only Sacher-Masoch book commonly available in English.
Influence
The term masochism was coined by the 19th century psychiatrist Krafft-Ebing with Sacher-Masoch and his writings in mind. Sacher-Masoch was not pleased with this development.
The novel has been adapted for film three times: in 1967, in 1969 and in 1994. The 1994 film was directed by Maartje Seyferth and Victor E. Nieuwenhuijs, and received an award at the 1994 international film festival of Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The lyrics of The Velvet Underground song "Venus in Furs" refer to this book. In the 1998 Todd Haynes film Velvet Goldmine, main character Brian Slade's backing band is called "Venus in Furs".
Sacher-Masoch is related to British singer/actress Marianne Faithfull on her mother's side, the Viennese Baroness Eva Erisso.
Romantic involvements
See also
Books
Selected bibliography of Masoch's fiction books: novels and collections of short stories. For detailed original bibliography, see the main article.
- 1858 A Galician Story 1846.
- 1865 Kaunitz.
- 1867 The Last King of Hungary.
- 1870 The Divorced Woman.
- 1870 Legacy of Cain. Vol. 1: Love. (includes his most famous novella Venus in Furs)
- 1872 Faux Ermine.
- 1873 Female Sultan.
- 1873 The Messalinas of Vienna.
- 1873-1874 Russian Court Stories: 4 Vols.
- 1873-1877 Viennese Court Stories: 2 Vols.
- 1875 The Ideals of Our Time.
- 1875 Galician Stories.
- 1877 The Man Without Prejustice.
- 1877 Legacy of Cain. Vol. 2: Property.
- 1878 The New Hiob.
- 1878 Jewish Stories.
- 1878 The Republic of Women's Enemies.
- 1879 Silhouettes.
- 1881 New Jewish Stories.
- 1883 The Godmother.
- 1886 Eternal Youth.
- 1886 Stories from Polish Ghetto.
- 1886 Little Mysteries of World History.
- 1887 Polish Stories.
- 1890 The Serpent in Paradise.
- 1891 The Lonesome.
- 1894 Love Stories.
- 1898 Entre nous.
- 1900 Catherina II.
- 1901 Afrikas Semiramis.
- 1907 Fierce Women.
Biographies
- James Cleugh's The First Masochist (the only English-language biography of Sacher-Masoch).
