BDSM in books

[Arria]

My all-time favourite is "The Queen of the Grove" by Louise Malatesta. I never had Femdom things in real life, but - unlike so much else - this book is beautifully written, and basically the dominant person in the stories could have the other gender just as well.

The other one I like a lot is "The Q Letters" by SirQ, which provides good insight into a Dom´s world of feelings, especially at the beginning of his experiences.

I also like the books of Sina-Aline Geißler, but she´s German and I do not know if her books were translated into other tongues; my favourite one by her is "Mut zur Demut".

[Polaris]

I was actually considering that as a topic for my diploma thesis

It strikes me how often there are BDSM references in literature. Just from the top of my head, Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" (which is a short story found in the collection of the same name) is pretty explicitely BDSM. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has subtle references -- Frankenstein is extremely possessive about his sister/lover...she's his most prized obsession. I agree on Victorian literature...but the reason for this may be the picture of the Victorian woman (I'm not launching into a speech here, ahem). Does locking your (mad because a sexual creature) wife up in the attick count? In that case, add Jane Eyre to the collection. All I can think of right now, I'll have to see if I can still find my list.

I don't know about the Conan books -- never read any of them -- but I can testify that in the mmorpg based onthe series...well, the second thing you see is a half naked woman in chains. So I can imagine that it's no different in the books