It's basically about this guy named "Severin" who is a painter and a writer and a typical reserved grown up male who spends time in a house somewhere near the Alps for some time, a house where this beautiful Venus-lookalike-woman resides..
He has an obsession with Venus-statues and he wants to be dominated by a woman..
The rest I'm sure you can figure out.
Velvet Underground made a song called "Venus In Furs" in the 80's, based on this book.