Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch

Venus in furs

LA Venus De Las Pieles

Venus in Furs

Apr�s une longue absence, ZŽsim Jadewski revenait dans son pays. Jusqu'alors il avait ŽtŽ garnison ˆ Moscou, ˆ PŽtersbourg, et m�me pendant quelque temps dans le Caucase. A peine eut-il foulŽ avec son rŽgiment le sol sacrŽ de l'antique Kiew, l'ancienne ville des czars, qu'il demanda un congŽ; et maintenant il se rendait en toute h‰te chez sa m�re, qui possŽdait un domaine dans le voisinage. Le soleil avait presque disparu derri�re la for�t lointaine. Il n'y avait plus que les cimes des arbres o� flott‰t encore lŽg�re teinte rouge. Plaines, collines, bois, hameaux, ch‰teaux s'apercevaient maintenant ˆ travers le voile gris transparent du crŽpuscule du soir. Les b�tes fauves regagnaient leurs tani�res, et dans les broussailles qui bordaient les p‰turages se montraient des flammes errantes, feux follets ou yeux brillants de quelque loup, en qu�te d'une proie. Dans leur course rapide, ils franchirent un marais, pass�rent sur un pont en ruine, travers�rent un petit bois de h�tres, et arriv�rent enfin au village de Koniatyn. De tous les c™tŽs s'Žlevait une fumŽe bleu‰tre: ici elle sortait d'une cheminŽe de pierre; lˆ elle se frayait un passage ˆ travers un toit de chaume noirci. Une vapeur lŽg�re flottait autour des cabanes basses; elle s'Žlevait des haies et des vergers. Par les portes ouvertes on voyait la lueur rouge des ‰tres; les chiens aboyaient avec fureur. Aupr�s du puits se tenaient des jeunes filles avec de longues tresses et les pieds nus, qui remplissaient leurs seaux de bois. Il faisait maintenant tout ˆ fait sombre. ZŽsim se pencha hors de la voiture pour dŽcouvrir la maison paternelle. Elle Žtait lˆ; lˆ s'Žtendait son toit entre les hauts peupliers, et ˆ l'une des petites fen�tres brillait une lumi�re. Le jeune officier sentit un attendrissement de bonheur dans son ‰me. DŽjˆ le vieux chien de chasse aveugle de son dŽfunt p�re le saluait avec un gŽmissement de joie. La porte s'ouvrit; la cal�che entra dans la cour; il Žtait dans ses foyers. Sa bonne et douce m�re descendit les marches du perron. Il se jeta dans ses bras; elle le regarda, le toucha pour s'assurer que c'Žtait bien lui, le cher enfant, le fils dont elle avait si longtemps privŽe. Puis elle tra�a le signe de la croix sur son front et lui donna un baiser.

La p_cheuse d'Šmes

Translated by George Warner

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was born in Lemberg, Austrian Galicia, on January 27, 1836. He studied jurisprudence at Prague and Graz, and in 1857 became a teacher at the latter university. He published several historical works, but soon gave up his academic career to devote himself wholly to literature. For a number of years he edited the international review, Auf der Hohe, at Leipzig, but later removed to Paris, for he was always strongly Francophile. His last years he spent at Lindheim in Hesse, Germany, where he died on March 9, 1895. In 1873 he married Aurora von Rumelin, who wrote a number of novels under the pseudonym of Wanda von Dunajew, which it is interesting to note is the name of the heroine of Venus in Furs. Her sensational memoirs which have been the cause of considerable controversy were published in 1906. During his career as writer an endless number of works poured from Sacher-Masoch's pen. Many of these were works of ephemeral journalism, and some of them unfortunately pure sensationalism, for economic necessity forced him to turn his pen to unworthy ends. There is, however, a residue among his works which has a distinct literary and even greater psychological value. His principal literary ambition was never completely fulfilled. It was a somewhat programmatic plan to give a picture of contemporary life in all its various aspects and interrelations under the general title of the Heritage of Cain. This idea was probably derived from Balzac's Comedie Humaine. The whole was to be divided into six subdivisions with the general titlesLove, Property, Money, The State, War, and Death. Each of these divisions in its turn consisted of six novels, of which the last was intended to summarize the author's conclusions and to present his solution for the problems set in the others. This extensive plan remained unachieved, and only the first two parts, Love and Property, were completed. Of the other sections only fragments remain. The present novel, Venus in Furs, forms the fifth in the series, Love.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was born in Lemberg, Austrian Galicia, on January 27, 1836. He studied jurisprudence at Prague and Graz, and in 1857 became a teacher at the latter university. He published several historical works, but soon gave up his academic career to devote himself wholly to literature. For a number of years he edited the international review, Auf der Hohe, at Leipzig, but later removed to Paris, for he was always strongly Francophile. His last years he spent at Lindheim in Hesse, Germany, where he died on March 9, 1895. In 1873 he married Aurora von Rumelin, who wrote a number of novels under the pseudonym of Wanda von Dunajew, which it is interesting to note is the name of the heroine of Venus in Furs. Her sensational memoirs which have been the cause of considerable controversy were published in 1906. During his career as writer an endless number of works poured from Sacher-Masoch's pen. Many of these were works of ephemeral journalism, and some of them unfortunately pure sensationalism, for economic necessity forced him to turn his pen to unworthy ends. There is, however, a residue among his works which has a distinct literary and even greater psychological value. His principal literary ambition was never completely fulfilled. It was a somewhat programmatic plan to give a picture of contemporary life in all its various aspects and interrelations under the general title of the Heritage of Cain. This idea was probably derived from Balzac's Comedie Humaine. The whole was to be divided into six subdivisions with the general titles Love, Property, Money, The State, War, and Death. Each of these divisions in its turn consisted of six novels, of which the last was intended tosummarize the author's conclusions and to present his solution for the problems set in the others. This extensive plan remained unachieved, and only the first two parts, Love_ and _Property, were completed. Of the other sections only fragments remain. The present novel, Venus in Furs, forms the fifth in the series, Love. The best of Sacher-Masoch's work is characterized by a swift narration and a graphic representation of character and scene and a rich humor. The latter has made many of his shorter stories dealing with his native Galicia little masterpieces of local color.

Looking abroad from the table-land of Esced, over the Hungarian plain that stretches from the foot of Mount Matra to Szolnok, and finally merges into the horizon where the silver thread of the Theiss winds its way, the eye is attracted by a smiling section of country whose vineyards and cornfields gleam brightly in the sun. This fair spot is neither a park nor grove nor pleasant woodland, but the imposing village of Hort, its pretty white houses half concealed by a wealth of trees and shrubbery. In this village lived a Jewish bookbinder, Simcha Kalimann, a wit and bel esprit, the oracle of the entire province, the living chronicle of his times and people. Reviewing in reverie the procession of events in his own life, Kalimann could see, as in a mirror, the phases through which his co-religionists in Hungary had passed in their efforts toward liberty. He had lived during that dark period when the Jew dared claim no rights among his fellow-countrymen. He had suffered evil, he had endured disgrace, and the storehouse of his memory held many a tragi-comic picture of the days that were no more. But he had also lived in times when the spirit of tolerance took possession of menÕs minds, and he had been swept along on that tidal movement inaugurated by Count Szechenyi, the greatest of Hungarians, through his celebrated book, ÒLight.Ó The revolution of 1848 brought about the new Hungarian Constitution, and put an end to feudal government. Light penetrated into the darksome streets of the Ghetto, and through the windows opened to receive the Messiah, a saviour entered proclaiming liberty and equality to the downtrodden and oppressed.

The Bookbinder of Hort

Gilles Deleuze

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Includes "Coldness and Cruelty," by Gilles Deleuze, a study of masochism and sadism, as well as "Venus in Furs," the original novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch

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