"Venus in Furs"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the book, "Venus in Furs", by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch, which is about the protagonist, Severin, and his lover, Wanda. It looks at how Severin creates a written text of fetish objects by which he writes his desire for pain in a controlled manner, thus imposing his phallic will upon the pain-inflicting, whip-holding hand of his lover, Wanda. It analyzes how, by orchestrating a visually arresting and textual view of the female form through the use of fetish objects, such as whips and the titular furs of the goddess, Venus, of the title, Severin is able to transform a female, human body into a text where he desires to have pain inflicted upon himself.

From the Paper:

"The initial part of the novel thus promotes a an apparent reversal of the discourse of the male and female body, with the female in the dominant pose, but this apparent reversal is always written upon the male's terms. In such a male understanding, the traditionally soft aspects of femaleness, such as furs, become symbols of cruelty. But by becoming such they remind the reader of the true source of fur, the skin of a prostrate and murdered animal. In the portrait commissioned by the male masochistic protagonist, the whip, a traditional source of discipline upon animals, of male over nature, also falls into female hands over the novel's course. Nature, the female, this image, now has control."

More papers on "Venus in Furs":

• Analytical Essay # 65680 : "Venus in Furs"
• Essay # 55240 : "Venus in Art"
• Analytical Essay # 118042 : "The Use of Masks in "Fur Elise"

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