Venus in Furs

The novel draws themes, like female dominance and sadomasochism, and character inspiration heavily from Sacher-Masoch''s own life. Wanda von Dunajew, the novel''s central female character, was modelled after Fanny Pistor, who was an emerging literary writer. The two met when Pistor contacted Sacher-Masoch, under assumed name and fictitious title of Baroness Bogdanoff, for suggestions on improving her writing to make it suitable for publication.