부산대학교 도서관

This paper delves into shoes containing narratives about females within ancient Korean and Chinese literature. As shoes represented the people that wore, considering the role of shoes supporting the bodies of their owners, they indicated which class these owners belonged to and their characters. These shoes were vestiges of women or symbolized the arduous times they quietly had to go through. On some occasions, these shoes stood for the female body and portrayed the strong desires of both men and women. Lastly, they served as catalysts facilitating love and tokens of affection wishing for reunion and unity. Although shoes were objectified and distorted as expressions of abnormal desires as they became ways of depicting female bodies in patriarchal societies, shoes in literature helped women escape their boundaries - their households and strict social norms - and venture into the imaginary world. They served as the Talaria of Mercury (winged sandals from Greek mythology) delivering women from feudal customs and leading them to eternity.