Editing Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (section)

==Masochism==
[[File:Sacher_Masoch_compilation_1901.jpg|thumb|A Sacher-Masoch compilation published in 1901]]
The term ''[[Sadomasochism|masochism]]'' was coined in 1886 by the Austrian psychiatrist [[Richard von Krafft-Ebing|Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing]] (1840–1902) in his book ''[[Psychopathia Sexualis]]'':

{{blockquote|...I feel justified in calling this sexual anomaly "Masochism", because the author Sacher-Masoch frequently made this perversion, which up to his time was quite unknown to the scientific world as such, the substratum of his writings. I followed thereby the scientific formation of the term "[[Daltonism]]", from [[John Dalton|Dalton]], the discoverer of colour-blindness.<br>
During recent years facts have been advanced which prove that Sacher-Masoch was not only the poet of Masochism, but that he himself was afflicted with the anomaly. Although these proofs were communicated to me without restriction, I refrain from giving them to the public. I refute the accusation that "I have coupled the name of a revered author with a perversion of the sexual instinct", which has been made against me by some admirers of the author and by some critics of my book. As a man, Sacher-Masoch cannot lose anything in the estimation of his cultured fellow-beings simply because he was afflicted with an anomaly of his sexual feelings. As an author, he suffered severe injury so far as the influence and intrinsic merit of his work is concerned, for so long and whenever he eliminated his perversion from his literary efforts he was a gifted writer, and as such would have achieved real greatness had he been actuated by normally sexual feelings. In this respect he is a remarkable example of the powerful influence exercised by the ''vita sexualis'' be it in the good or evil sense over the formation and direction of man's mind.<ref>{{cite book|last=Von Krafft-Ebing|first=Richard|author-link=Richard von Krafft-Ebing|title=Psychopathia Sexualis: A Medico-Forensic Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wf3fBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA132|access-date=28 July 2019|year=1939|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-1-4831-9410-3|page=132}}</ref>}}

Sacher-Masoch was not pleased with Krafft-Ebing's assertions. Nevertheless, details of Masoch's private life were obscure until Aurora von Rümelin's memoirs, ''Meine Lebensbeichte'' (My Life Confession; 1906), were published in Berlin under the pseudonym Wanda v. Dunajew (the name of a leading character in his ''Venus in Furs''). The following year, a French translation, ''Confession de ma vie'' (1907) by "[[Wanda von Sacher-Masoch]]", was printed in Paris by Mercure de France. An English translation of the French edition was published as ''The Confessions of Wanda von Sacher-Masoch'' (1991) by [[RE/Search Publications]].