Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty

Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (French: Présentation de Sacher-Masoch) is a 1967 book by the philosopher Gilles Deleuze, originally published in French as Le Froid et le Cruel (Les Éditions de Minuit, 1967), in which the author philosophically examines the work of the late 19th-century Austrian novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. In the Foreword Deleuze states that Masoch has a particular way of "desexualising love while at the same time sexualizing the entire history of humanity". Deleuze attempts to "cut through" the various forms of expression and content that are the artistic creation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. He also attempts to develop a problematic of masochism in contradistinction to sadism, concluding that the two forms of 'pornology' are non-communicating, and cannot be integrated into Sadomasochistic entity. Deleuze argues that Masochism is something far more subtle and complex than the enjoyment of pain and that Masochism has nothing to do with Sadism.