Nostalgia, and what it used to be

Abstract

As the cliché has it, nostalgia ain't what it used to be. Except this cliché is true: nostalgia hasn't always been the relatively benign, comforting longing for a lost time which we know today; it used to be a dangerous disease, a deadly form of homesickness. This article traces the surprising history of nostalgia from its origins in the late Seventeenth Century to the present. It both sketches the different ways in which nostalgia has been experienced over the past three centuries, and reviews existing literature that has sought to grasp this protean emotion across the disciplines. As the article shows, contrary to our presentist common sense, when it comes to our affective lives, history matters.

Keywords: Disease; Emotion; Homesickness; Nostalgia; Solastalgia.