The nostalgic loses his gayety, his energy, and seeks isolation in order to give himself up to the one idea that pursues him, that of his country. Nostalgia may be characterized in four words-sadness, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, and weakness. The nost- in nostalgia means "homecoming," and such sentimental yearning for home during field operations was viewed as a disorder of the brain, with symptoms ranging from melancholy and malnutrition to brain fever and hallucinations. Johannes Hofer (1669–1752) was a Swiss physician who named the condition, which he identified as a mania tied to homesickness in Swiss mercenary soldiers. The –algia in nostalgia means "pain" a product of New Latin, it can be found in more clinical-sounding words such as glossalgia (pain in the tongue), cranialgia (a fancy word for headache), and proctalgia (a literal pain in the behind). Danielle Pergament, The New York Times Style Magazine, Winter 2008Īlthough we now associate nostalgia with fond memory, the word was coined to refer to an unwanted medical condition. Call it nostalgia for Greenwich Village in the Beat era or the Left Bank of the Jazz Age: tuned-in travelers are seeking out more local precincts. But as cities around the world have been reshaped by writers, artists, foodies, bons vivants and those who emulate them, the humming little enclaves they create are redrawing the travel map. It used to be that the highlight of a trip to Paris or London was the Tuileries or Trafalgar Square. If 'Fast Car' isn't on that tape, what's the point?Īmericans love the circus because it has the rare ability to invoke the real memories of one's first childhood visit coupled with the nebulous cultural nostalgia of circus parades, mustachioed ringmasters and the assembled curiosities of a world made wide before one's eyes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |