Hit Me, Beat Me, Make Me Write Bad Checks! Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's VENUS IN FURS

It is quite an accomplishment to have your name given to a sexual perversion. According to his biographer, James Cleugh, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895) “was born in 1836, in Lemberg, Galicia. His father was the Chief of Police, his mother a noble-woman. A nervous and excitable child, he was once badly thrashed by an aunt he adored, and though he later recalled the pain as terrible, he was enraptured by it. Thus the beginning. Later in life, he demanded sexual stimulus of an incredible nature: the whips had to have specially sharpened hooks or nails, and they were called for several times a day.” (From the dust jacket of The First Masochist: a biography of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Stein and Day, 1967).

Sacher-Masoch was a prolific author, writing over ninety books. The novella, Venus In Furs (1870), is his most famous work. Venus In Furs was intended to be a part of a much larger work, a projected multi-volume work to be called The Legacy of Cain, in which Sacher-Masoch intended to diagnose all of the ills of the human condition. Venus In Furs was a part of the volume on Love which Sacher-Masoch completed and which contained a series of six novellas.

Venus In Furs is the story of the affair between Severin, a young nobleman, and Wanda, a wealthy widow. Venus In Furs begins with an elaborate framing story in which “Sacher-Masoch” has a dream in which he is talking with Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love, who is reclining by a fireplace wrapped only in furs. The Goddess and “Sacher-Masoch” talk about the true nature of the relationship between men and women. Venus tells “Sacher-Masoch” that man must either dominate woman or put himself entirely under her yoke:

“Man is the one who desires, woman the one who is desired. This is woman’s entire but decisive advantage. Through his passion nature has given man into woman’s hands, and the woman who does not know how to make him her subject, her slave, her toy, and how to betray him with a smile in the end is not wise.

. . . The more devoted a woman shows herself, the sooner the man sobers down and becomes domineering. The more cruelly she treats him and the more faithless she is, the worse she uses him, the more wantonly she plays with him, the less pity she shows him, by so much the more will she increase his desire, be loved, worshipped by him.”

After “Sacher-Masoch” wakes up from his dream, he goes to have dinner with his friend Severin. “Sacher-Masoch” is appalled when Severin strikes his beautiful serving girl:

“But Severin,” I said placing my hand on his arm, “how can you treat a pretty young woman thus?

“Look at the woman,” he replied, blinking humorously with his eyes. “Had I flattered her, she would have cast the noose around my neck, but now, when I bring her up with kantchuk, she adores me.”

“. . . Goethe’s ‘you must be hammer or anvil’ is absolutely appropriate to the relationship between man and woman. Didn’t Lady Venus in your dream prove that to you? Woman’s power lies in man’s passion, and she knows how to use it, if man doesn’t understand himself. He has only one choice: to be the tyrant over or the slave of the woman. As soon as he gives in, his neck is under the yoke, and the lash will soon fall upon him.”

“Sacher-Masoch” sees a painting on Severin’s wall which shows a beautiful woman wrapped in furs, who appears to be the Venus of his dream, with Severin lying at her feet as her slave. When “Sacher-Masoch” asks about the painting, Severin gives him a manuscript titled “Confessions of a Supersensual Man.” The remainder of the novel consists of the contents of the manuscript.

Severin is living in an apartment building which has a garden with a statue of Venus in its center. Severin is sexually aroused by the statue and sits for hours and stares at it. He has a card with a drawing of Venus wearing furs which he keeps in a book. A beautiful young red headed widow lives on the first floor of the building. The widow, Wanda, borrows some books from Severin including the book in which he has left the card of Venus In Furs. One evening, as Severin is sitting in the garden fantasizing about the statue of Venus, he sees his Venus come to life wrapped in furs and reclining on a park bench. The Venus come to life turns out to be Wanda who has dressed herself as the Venus In Furs in Severin’s picture card.

Severin and Wanda become involved with each other. Wanda promises to live with Severin for a year in which he will have all the rights of a husband. After the year, Wanda will decide whether or not she wishes to marry Severin.

Severin tells Wanda that his fantasy is to be totally dominated by a woman. He tells her how his aunt, wearing a fur coat, once whipped him as a boy and how he became extremely sexually aroused. (Severin has a serious fur fetish!) Severin tells Wanda that he wants to be her slave and be totally in her power. At first Wanda is scandalized by the idea, but after Severin continues to pester her to allow him to be her slave, she gives in:

“I have two ideals of woman. If I cannot obtain the one that is noble and simple, the woman who will faithfully and truly share my life, well then I don’t want anything half-way or lukewarm. Then I would rather be subject to a woman without virtue, fidelity, or pity. Such a woman in her magnificent selfishness is likewise an ideal. If I am not permitted to enjoy the happiness of love, fully and wholly, I want to taste its pains and torments to the very dregs; I want to be maltreated and betrayed by the woman I love, and the more cruelly the better. This too is a luxury.”

“Have you lost your senses,” cried Wanda.

“I love you with all my soul,” I continued, “with all my senses, and your presence and personality are absolutely essential to me, if I am to go on living. Choose between my ideals. Do with me what you will, make of me your husband or your slave.”

“Very well,” said Wanda, contracting her small but strongly arched brows, “it seems to me it would be rather entertaining to have a man, who interests me and loves me, completely in my power; at least I shall not lack pastime. You were imprudent enough to leave the choice to me. Therefore I choose; I want you to be my slave, I shall make a plaything for myself out of you!”

. . . And everyone knows and feels how closely sexual love and cruelty are related.”

Wanda dresses Severin up as a servant and requires him to go by the name “Gregor.” When traveling Wanda requires "Gregor" to travel and eat with the other servants. Wanda and “Gregor” travel to Italy where Wanda leases a villa in the Italian countryside. “Gregor” is only allowed to come to Wanda when she calls for him. "Gregor" is required to address Wanda as his mistress at all times. When "Gregor" is called for, Wanda is usually dressed in her furs and little else. On most occasions, the Mistress will have “Gregor” tied up and whip him. Wanda may then allow “Gregor” to pleasure her.

The sexual intercourse is more implied than explicit. Venus In Furs suffers from the disease of 19th century novels that it is mostly talk. What little action there is in this book moves very, very slowly. Mostly the characters sit around in drawing rooms and talk. (Of course a lot of this talking occurs with “Gregor” kneeling at his Mistress’ feet while she reclines on the sofa wearing nothing but her furs and brandishing her whip!)

(Charcoal Drawing by Eileen Sedgwick)  

www.eileensedgwick.com

www.eileensedgwick.blogspot.com  

Mistress Wanda makes Severin sign a written agreement that he will continue to serve as her slave until she releases him. She also makes him sign a suicide note which gives Wanda the power to take his life if she so chooses. All of this apparently makes Severin very, very horny.

Wanda acquires a couple of beautiful black woman to assist her with the sex slave. The black women are at Wanda’s beck and call to tie Gregor up, tie Gregor to a plow in the garden, and generally beat Gregor’s ass. We are never told where these sexy black chicks came from. (Maybe Wanda put a classified ad in the paper that said “WANTED: AFRICAN DOMINATRIX TO HELP WITH SEX SLAVE!”) Wanda hires a German painter who is also very excited by Mistress Wanda and also wants to be whipped. The German painter is commissioned to paint the picture of Wanda and “Gregor” which “Sacher-Masoch” admired in Severin’s apartment.

Finally, Wanda begins to go out with other men. She makes “Gregor” find out about men she is attracted to and bring her messages back and forth to them. Ultimately, she tells Severin that she will marry him but it is really an elaborate cruelty. Wanda ties Severin up to a massive marble bed post and her new lover, a young Greek hunk, pulls aside the curtains and steps out of her bed. The Greek is cruel and masculine (in other words he is the kind who will slap Wanda on the ass and tell her to hurry up and bring him another beer!) Wanda then allows her new lover to whip “Gregor” unmercifully. Wanda tells Severin that she is tired of him and wants a man who will dominate her. She then releases Severin from his bond.

Briefly returning to the framing story, “Sacher-Masoch” asks Severin what the moral of the story is. Here is Severin’s answer:

“That woman, as nature has created her and as man is at present educating her, is his enemy. She can only be his slave or his despot, but never his companion. This she can become only when she has the same rights as he, and is his equal in education and work. At present we have only the choice of being hammer or anvil, and I was the kind of donkey who let a woman make a slave of him, do you understand? The moral of the tale is this: whoever allows himself to be whipped, deserves to be whipped.”

Venus In Furs is a classic of Sado-Masochistic literature by one of the guys who invented it. As a classic it definitely deserves at least four whips and chains out of five.

Orrie Hitt's EX-VIRGIN

Ex-Virgin (1958) is my first Orrie Hitt novel. Orrie Hitt (1916 - 1975), dubbed “the Shakespeare of Sleaze,” was a prolific writer of “adult books” from the 1950s through the early 1970s. A resident of Port Jervis, New York, Hitt authored somewhere between 250 and 300 “paperback originals” for the “adult book” market. Hitt usually wrote on a typewriter placed on the kitchen table while his wife and children came and went. While writing, Hitt chain smoked cigarettes and drank one glass of iced coffee after another. Hitt usually worked 7 to 10 hours per day and churned out a new novel every two weeks. Hitt paperbacks are now prized by collectors and Hitt is finally getting some critical recognition as a chronicler of the seedy side of American life in the mid-twentieth century. Hitt is also getting some new life as some of his books are published as e-books for Kindle. I read the e-book edition of Ex-Virgin published by Disruptive Publishing, Inc.

The "Shakespeare of Sleaze," Orrie Hitt

Ex-Virgin is the story of Mary Sharpe, age 17. Mary is the illegitimate daughter of Kay Sharpe who got pregnant with Mary when she was a teenager and has no idea who her father was. Kay lives in a seedy tenement on Ferry Street in the town of Centerville. Ferry Street is a slum area and the red light district of the town. Kay, who is only 35, works for Garfield, an older man who is widowed. As well as being his employee, Kay is also Garfield’s mistress. Mary works at a soda fountain where her large bosom attracts a lot of male customers.

Mary is dating Sam Burger who works at the local gas station. Mary and Sam are planning to be married after Sam is able to buy the gas station from his boss, Mark Dolan. Mary has carefully guarded her virginity and refuses to go “all the way” with Sam. Frustrated, Sam occasionally visits a local prostitute, Anna Martin.

Anna is being pimped by Joe Summers, who works at the lip stick factory and has trouble getting dates because his hands are stained red from the lip stick dye. Joe was from a better part of town, but when his parents were both killed in an automobile accident, Joe wanted to stand on his own two feet without taking charity from anybody. In addition to his factory job, Joe makes extra money by acting as a pimp for Anna. Joe sometimes sleeps with Anna and with Janice Herbert a girl who lives in a tenement on Ferry Street and likes to sunbathe in a skimpy bikini. Joe’s room at Ruby’s, a seedy boarding house run by a former prostitute, is just across the street from Kay Sharpe’s apartment. Joe can look across from his window and see Mary Sharpe getting undressed.

Sam Burger’s parents are both alcoholics who are always asking him for money. Sam is doing well at his job at the gas station. The owner, Mark Dolan, is a middle aged man who is having trouble keeping his young, voluptuous wife Lucy satisfied. Lucy is a gold digger who only married Mark for his money. Mark wants to retire and wants to sell the gas station business to Sam. Lucy seduces Sam and gets him to sleep with her. Lucy then blackmails Sam that unless he cuts her in for one-half of the profits from the gas station after he takes over, that she will tell her husband that Sam raped her and blow up the whole deal.

One afternoon while her mother is away, Mary is assaulted by Garfield who attempts to rape her. Arriving back just in the nick of time, the rape is stopped by Mary’s mother, Kay, who refuses to believe Mary and accuses her of trying to steal her man. Kay orders Mary to get out of her apartment. Depressed, Mary goes to the beach at the river where she loses her virginity to Sam. The next day, Mary moves into a room at Ruby’s boarding house. Joe, who also lives at Ruby’s, goes and gets a case of beer which he brings back to Mary’s room. After getting Mary buzzed, Joe rapes her. Knowing that no one will believe a girl who lives on Ferry Street, Mary doesn’t go to the police.

One day Mary goes to the beach because it is so hot. She is again attacked by Joe who pulls her bathing suit off. Mary and Joe are arrested by the police for public indecency. Meanwhile, Mark catches Sam and Lucy having sex. Janice then tells Joe that she is pregnant by him and wants to marry him. Joe refuses. Joe bursts into Mary’s apartment and again tries to rape her but this time is interrupted by Sam who is coming to talk to Mary. Sam whips Joe’s ass and breaks his jaw. When Janice comes to see Joe in the hospital, Joe realizes that Janice is a good girl and he needs to marry her and take responsibility for the baby. When Sam comes to get his final paycheck, Mark tells him that he knew that Lucy was no good and that what happened wasn’t Sam’s fault. Mark is still willing to sell the gas station to Sam for $400 a month. Sam is more than willing to take the deal. Sam asks Mary to marry him. Mary tells Sam to wait, she wants to make sure that she is not pregnant with Joe’s baby first.

“The big thing she thought about was Sam. He was doing well with the station - he even had his father working - and she was positive that her love for him was real. But she had to be positive of something else before going to him. And now she was sure, all right. She wasn’t pregnant. She could go to him clean.”

Sam and Mary marry and live happily ever after. THE END.

For a “dirty book” this little tale about life in the slums is actually pretty moral. All of these young adults have a great work ethic. Sam works at the gas station and wants a station of his own, Mary works at the soda fountain, Joe works at the lip stick factory. Even Anna the whore works hard at her job. Everybody’s goal is to settle down, marry, have a good steady income and raise a family. Everybody wants to raise themselves up and get out of the slums. It is interesting that what was a “dirty book” in the 1950s would now be considered a morality tale. The sex part of the book would have been considered graphic in the 50s but by today’s standards was pretty tame.

I enjoyed this little pot boiler from “The Shakespeare of Sleaze” and am looking forward to reading more.

Stacked Decks

Imagine a group of guys in the late 1950s getting together for the weekly poker game. There’s a brand new deck of cards that came in a plain brown wrapper that was purchased at a gas station. On the back of the cards is a picture of a drooling wolf and on the other side each card has the photograph of a fabulous nude or semi-nude woman. These card decks had names like “Art Studies Deck” and “Models of the World Deck.”

In Stacked Decks: The Art and History of Erotic Playing Cards (Quirk Books, 2006), Mark Rotenburg, who may have the largest collection of vintage erotica in the world, chronicles the history and design of erotic playing cards from the 1830s to the 1970s. The primary reason to get a copy of Stacked Decks, however, is not for the text but for the pictures.

The heyday for girlie decks was the 1950s and 60s. Then as now, sex sells. There are card decks with advertisements for businesses featuring pin up girls. (It reminds me of the auto parts calendars which my Father always had on the wall in the office at his Automotive Radiator Repair Shop which usually featured a scantily clad girl.) As time went on the images on the cards became more graphic. By the 1970s full frontal nudity and even cards depicting hard core sex acts had become normal.

I am definitely a fan of cheesecake. The images from the forties, fifties and early sixties have a certain playful innocence about them that became lost as pornography became ever more hardcore during the so-called “sexual revolution.” During the late sixties and seventies one could find "underground decks" like “Girl Fight Decks," “Lesbian Love Decks,” and "Intercourse Illustrated Decks."

Even though erotic decks of cards were not sold openly until the late 60s and 70s and were illegal in some jurisdictions, they apparently proliferated. (I first knew there was such a thing as decks of cards with naked girls on them after a trip to Panama City, Florida with my grandparents in the seventies).

I am particularly fascinated with the advertising cards from the fifties which have a picture of a scantily clad pin-up girl on the back of the deck and the name of the business. These were pretty much masculine businesses like gas stations, package stores and machine companies and we can assume were only given away to male customers!

There are some photos of very beautiful women in this book. Anyone interested in vintage erotica, the history of sex in culture, or lovely women should definitely check this book out.

Vintage Erotica Collector and Historian Mark Rotenberg