One of the most memorable is "The Death of a Government Clerk, " a glorious parody in which a fawning official is undone by an ill-timed sneeze. "On the Road, " the history of an educated man's search for convictions, is one of Chekhov's finest dramatic stories and the source of his first full-length play, Ivanov. And in "The Steppe, " which marked a turning point in Chekhov's career, a boy's picaresque journey across the Russian heartland evokes the soul of Russia itself.

    

    

    In the moonlight by Guy de MaupassantLove's awakening by Guy de MaupassantThe thief by Fyodor DostoevskyThe wedding by Fyodor DostoevskyThe overcoat by Nikolai GogolThe mysterious mansion by Honore de BalzacChrist in Flanders by Honore de BalzacThe kiss by Anton ChekovThe lottery ticket by Anton ChekovZodmirsky's duel by Alexandre DumasThe shot by Alexander PushkinThe long exile by Leo Tolstoy

    This new edition of David Kunzle's rich and revealing history of corsetry and body sculpture shows how this neglected phenomenon is closely bound up with sexual self-expression. Drawing on sources as diverse as medical literature and popular magazine articles, this fascinating history shows how in many ways the use of the corset rejected the role of the passive, maternal woman - so that in Victorian times it was actually seen by many as a scandalous threat to the social order. Even today fashion designers recognise its subversive powers, as a symbol of eroticism, decadence and control. Taking in other curiosities such as ancient body decoration, male corsetry, masochism and foot fetishism, this is an often racy journey into the enigma of all those who sculpt the shape of their desires onto their bodies.