Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s name is mostly associated with a particular sexual orientation: masochism. His most famous novel Venus im Pelz (1870) has been read as an autobiographical text documenting the peculiar attraction of its author for dominant women. Yet this text is much more than a diary of a perversion or an erotic tale. In my discussion I shall explore the highly fictional texture of the novel, emphasizing the aesthetic dimension created by masochism, and then consider the role played by antiquity in the masochistic constellation as created and depicted in an exemplary way in this foundational text.

Der Vortrag findet auf englisch statt.

Respondenz: Anja Bettenworth (Klassische Philologie, Universität zu Köln)