• Publisher: Beletrina
• 246 pages
• Author: Katja Perat
• Original title: Mazohistka

Designed as a historical novel, set at the end of the 19th century, The Masochist forges an intimate portrait of a young, tenacious woman who, in uncertain times of intricate political, social and cultural tur- bulences chose an uncertain path – the only path that could lead her to freedom. On Christmas Eve 1874, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whom history would remember as the most famous masochist, left his home in Bruck an der Mur in Austria for the unknown. The novel surmises that he didn’t come back alone but brought with him a new

family member: a tiny red-haired girl who he found in the forests around Lemberg (today known as Lviv). The Masochist is the story of Nadezhda Moser, the woman this little girl be- comes, a fictional character who forces her way into the com- pany of the most prominent historical figures of the time.

This is a pseudo-autobiographical novel that returns post-postmodernism to modernism. But more than that, it is a story about the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the turn of the century that ponders the limits of women’s desire and free- dom against the backdrop of ethnic, class and gender tensions in an empire which hadn’t yet perceived that its decline had

30 already begun.

The Masochist, the first prose work by a leading Slovenian po- etic voice Katja Perat, shines a spotlight on the aspirations of women in a time when they weren’t at the forefront of any- one’s mind.

About the author

Katja Perat

Katja Perat (1988) is one of the leading poetic voices of her gen- eration. Her first poetry collection The Best Have Fallen (Najboljši so padli) came out in 2011 and re- ceived both the Best Debut Award and the Kritiško sito Award, an award bestowed by the Slovenian Literary Critics’ Association for best book of the year. Her second book of poetry Value-Added Tax (Davek na dodano vrednost, 2014) was also extremely well received. Currently she is a doctoral student of compar- ative literature at the Washington University in St. Louis, USA. The Masochist (Mazohistka), published in 2018, is her first novel.