Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895) was an Austrian nobleman and writer. Born in Lemberg, modern day Ukraine, Sacher-Masoch was raised in a Roman Catholic household by a father who served as a civil servant in the Austrian Empire and a mother who descended from Ukrainian nobility. Sacher-Masoch studied at Graz University before returning to Lemberg, where he worked as a professor and wrote nonfiction works on the history and folklore of Galicia. In 1869, he began working on an extensive short story collection that eventually became the Legacy of Cain, an unfinished cycle of novellas focusing on themes of love, property, state, war, work, and death. Of these, Venus in Furs (1869) remains the most notable today for its exploration of fetish, inspiring the term "masochism" after its author. From 1881 to 1885, Sacher-Masoch edited Auf der Höhe. Internationale Review, a monthly literary magazine dedicated to progressive issues that advocated for tolerance and inclusion of Jews and for the emancipation of women. Towards the end of his life he dedicated himself to fighting antisemitism, but suffering from a deterioration of mental health was committed to psychiatric care where he died at the age of fifty-nine.
