Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs [Paperback]

Gilles Deleuze (Author), Leopold von von Sacher-Masoch (Author), Jean McNeil (Translator), Aude Willm (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 1991

In his stunning essay, Coldness and Cruelty, Gilles Deleuze provides a rigorous and informed philosophical examination of the work of the late 19th-century German novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Deleuze's essay, certainly the most profound study yet produced on the relations between sadism and masochism, seeks to develop and explain Masoch's "peculiar way of 'desexualizing' love while at the same time sexualizing the entire history of humanity." He shows that masochism is something far more subtle and complex than the enjoyment of pain, that masochism has nothing to do with sadism; their worlds do not communicate, just as the genius of those who created them - Masoch and Sade - lie stylistically, philosophically, and politically poles a part.Venus in Furs, the most famous of all of Masoch's novels was written in 1870 and belongs to an unfinished cycle of works that Masoch entitled The Heritage of Cain. The cycle was to treat a series of themes including love, war, and death. The present work is about love. Although the entire constellation of symbols that has come to characterize the masochistic syndrome can be found here - fetishes, whips, disguises, fur-clad women, contracts, humiliations, punishment, and always the volatile presence of a terrible coldness - these do not eclipse the singular power of Masoch's eroticism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This provocative work places von Sacher-Masoch's classic 1870 novel Venus in Furs next to Deleuze's essay arguing that popular assumptions beginning with Freud have effectively obscured the unique power of von Sacher-Masoch's eroticism as well as the true nature of what might be called a masochist 'order.'" Keith Thompson , Utne Reader

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Zone; 6th edition (March 19, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942299558
• ISBN-13: 978-0942299557
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not So Painful, April 10, 2003

By 

Lucas K. Hergert (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs (Paperback)

For those who have tried their hand at Deleuze's other works--notably _A Thousand Pleateus_ and _Anti-Oedipus_--the title of my review will completely make sense. In this essay, Deleuze presents an engaging arguement about the development of the Oedipal complex and its relation to masochism. Basically, in the final stage of Freud's Oedipus the son is meant to internalize an identification with the father. In revolt he engages in the masochistic drama--a desperate attempt to re-enter the early stage of identification with the mother. By engaging in Masoch's drama, the woman becomes the subject's mother, and she proceeds to ritualistically beat the father out of the son. After all, dad is the one guilty of forcing the two apart in the first place. But this woman, this actress playing the mother, is certainly not a "sadist"; she herself is a masochist, because masochism has by this point proven to be an entire setting--an entire life--all of the characters, tools, words, rituals and scripted parts involved therein.

Contract, ritual, drama and fear combine to show us complexities of human expressions of violence, care, sexuality and the inter-relation between these three. I do not understand why this book has not recieved as much attention as some of Deleuze's others; its brilliance and accessibility--packaged of course with the eloquent and important _Venus in Furs_--make it well worth your time and money.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A literary masterpiece and some rather misguided philosophy, December 30, 2009

By 

J. T. Harviainen - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs (Paperback)

Venus in Furs is undeniably a genuine literary masterpiece. It has been sadly neglected due to Krafft-Ebing's labeling of the author's name as a diagnosis for, well, masochism. It is definitely worth a read, or many, and is wonderful as both a novel-in-itself and as a description of how a fantasy which gets realized can be a terrible thing. To it, I'd give the full five stars.

Deleuze's introductory essay, on the other hand, is a very low-quality piece of work. His argumentation is brilliant (as practically always - I admit that I love his works), but the essay itself is completely misleading. This is because it has been based on his ideology and some highly faulty reference material: Krafft-Ebing never bothered with empirics, just quoted mostly literary sources, and what empiric references (e.g. Freud) Deleuze does use were done on psychiatric patients, not what we'd nowadays consider "sado-masochists". Therefore, despite the excellent reasoning in the text, Deleuze arrives into completely ridiculous conclusions that contradict the reality of the phenomenon. As an example of Deleuzian philosophy, the essay is very good. As an analysis of masochism, it is not only worthless, but actually harmful. Read it for the former, but not the latter.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than meets the eye, March 3, 2002

By 

"badacidtrip" (Cavalier, North Dakota United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs (Paperback)

This refers to the book, Venus in Furs, not the essay by Deleuze. I loved this book. Not because I'm some psycho who enjoys pain, but because it tastefully deals with an issue that is too often either misrepresented as some libertine taboo or dealt with in a clinical way. Instead you have a story that deals with love in a different way than a typical Danielle Steele romance novel or a "boy meets girl," sappy drugstore paperback. And while it deals with passionate cruelty it, unlike books by Sade, captures unbridled desire and an inflamed heart. It is truly a great work of literature, easily comparable to "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe.

If you like sappy romance stories, buy something else. If you want an intriguing love story full of the passion of life and the strumming of the stings of emotion, read away.