We extracted expressions concerning corsets from literature published for the period from 16th century to early 20th century, while corsets were in fashion, and attempted to review from the viewpoint of the science of clothing hygiene through the eyes of authors in the above era. In this study we searched mainly works of male novelists and made comparison and examination with works of female novelists which have already been reported. The following ten literary works have been searched this time ;
“LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES”, “VEDOVA SCALTRA”, “Войнаймир”, “LA COUSINE BETTE“, “LE PÈRE GORIOT”, “La Dame aux Camélias”, “Nana”, “Крейцеровасоната/дъявол”, “ELISABETH D' AUTRICHE”, and “Cakes And Ale”.
Results :
1. Male novelists have no experience in wearing corsets, and have low recognition that corsets cause physical pain. As a result, their writings concerning corsets are limited to the beauty of external appearance of wearing them and objective sensuous expressions. In addition, there are many examples of severe criticism about women over the middle age.
2. Works of female novelists were written on the basis of true stories of their own experience in wearing corsets, as well as their mothers and grandmothers. As a result, there are many expressions concerning the concrete functions of living bodies. In addition, there are many subjective expressions seen, which are negative psychological descriptions (such as mental anxiety and nervous prostration) as a result of wearing corsets.
3. The circumstances of the eras can been seen from the expressions of designs and raw materials of corsets in the times of works.
