The essay is rooted in a personal anecdote: Hustvedt’s experience working as an extra in the 1997 film adaptation of Henry James's Washington Square
While the essay is set in Victorian lace, its sting is contemporary. Hustvedt draws devastating parallels between the 19th-century corset and 21st-century shapewear (Spanx), high heels, and even breast augmentation. She argues that while we laugh at our ancestors for "swooning" due to tight lacing, modern women still voluntarily restrict their bodies to fit cultural shapes. The essay asks: What are the "corsets" of our own age that we have internalized so deeply we no longer feel them? siri hustvedt eight days in a corset pdf
Performance artists and writers search for this PDF to study how Hustvedt uses the "endurance test" format. Her eight days in a corset is a piece of conceptual art, and her writing about it is a masterclass in embodied criticism. The essay is rooted in a personal anecdote:
If you hit a snag (e.g., your library’s catalogue returns no hits) let me know the name of your library and I can walk you through a more specific search strategy. The essay asks: What are the "corsets" of
Irigaray, L. (1985). This Sex Which Is Not One. Cornell University Press.