Sadism and masochism in fiction

Novels

The Marquis de Sade's works, including Justine and Juliette are written from an extreme sadistic viewpoint.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novel Venus in Furs (1870) is essentially one long masochistic fantasy, where the male principal character encourages his mistress to mistreat him.

The Story of O (1954) is another classic masochistic novel, this time written by a woman, Pauline Réage. In this novel, the female principal character is kept in a chateau and mistreated by a group of men.

L'Image[?] (1956) is another classic sadomasochistic novel, written by another French woman, Catherine Robbe-Grillet[?], under the pseudonym Jean de Berg. It was made into a 1975 film, The Image[?], also known as The Punishment of Anne[?].

The writer Anne Rice has produced a number of examples of well-written sado-masochistic fiction, including Exit to Eden[?] and Belinda[?] as well as The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty and its sequels, Beauty's Punishment and Beauty's Release.

As of 2003, sado-masochistic themes are now common in mainstream erotic fiction, to the point of cliché.

More literary sado-masochistic fiction includes the works of authors such as

• Laura Antoniou[?], including the Marketplace series of novels
• Pat Califia[?]'s works including Macho Sluts

To do: gay and lesbian sadomasochistic fiction

Mainstream films

Consensual BDSM is not generally depicted accurately or sympathetically in mainstream films, to say the least. However, film-makers often find some way to incorporate BDSM imagery[?] into many films. The following films feature BDSM as a major plot point, not just as an exploitative add-on.

Sado-masochism is featured as a central plot element in the following mainstream drams films:

Art movies:

• The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant[?] by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1972)
• Maîtresse[?], (1976) starring Gérard Depardieu and Bulle Ogier[?]
• A Woman in Flames (1983)
• Blue Velvet (1986)
• Nine and a Half Weeks[?] (1986)
• Secretary (2003) (starring Maggie Gyllenhaal[?] and James Spader)

Comedy:

• Exit to Eden
• Preaching to the Perverted
• Personal Services (starring Julie Walters)

Thrillers:

• Body of Evidence

External links

• An article on gay and lesbian sadomasochistic fiction (http://www.glbtq.com/literature/sadom_lit)