Introduction to 722 Homecomings and Nostalgia. What is the literature of homecoming? What makes nostalgia such a magnet for narrative? BIU 722 with Dr. Daniel Feldman

1. H O M E C O M I N G S
B I U E N G L I S H 7 2 2 - F A L L 2 0 1 4 - D R . D A N I E L F E L D M A N
& NOSTALGIA

2. L I T E R A R Y R E L A T I O N S H I P S
• Person
• Period (or past)
• Idea or belief
• Place

3. W H E R E A R E Y O U ?
“‫”?איכה‬
‫״כי‬‫עפר‬‫אתה‬‫ואל‬‫עפר‬‫תשוב״‬

4. H I S T O R Y A S
H O M E C O M I N G
• Paradise Lost
• Paradise Regained
• Exile and Return
• Origin and Telos
• Nostalgia

5. M I G R A T I O N
A L I E N A T I O N A N D D I S P L A C E M E N T

6. M I G R A T I O N
A L I E N A T I O N A N D D I S P L A C E M E N T

7. H I S T O R Y A S
H O M E C O M I N G
• Paradise Lost
• Paradise Regained
• Exile and Return
• Origin and Telos
• Nostalgia

8. – M I L A N K U N D E R A
Nostos: Origin as Myth, Return as Template
A L G O S M E A N S " S U F F E R I N G . " S O N O S T A L G I A I S T H E S U F F E R I N G C A U

9. T H E O D Y S S E Y :
B O O K S 2 2 - 2 4
F I R S T R E A D I N G : N E X T
W E E K
HOMER
The Odyssey

10. N O S T A L G I A
L A Y E R S O F M E M O R Y

11. N O S T A L G I A : H O M E + L O N G I N G
The Future of Nostalgia
by Svetlana Boym (2001)
The word “nostalgia” comes from two Greek roots: νόστος, nóstos (“return home”)
and ἄλγος, álgos (“longing”). I would define it as a longing for a home that no longer
exists or has never existed. Nostalgia is a sentiment of loss and displacement, but it
is also a romance with one’s own phantasy. Nostalgic love can only survive in a
long-distance relationship. A cinematic image of nostalgia is a double exposure, or a
superimposition of two images—of home and abroad, of past and present, of dream
and everyday life. The moment we try to force it into a single image, it breaks the
frame or burns the surface.

12. N O S T A L G I A : H O M E + L O N G I N G
In spite of its Greek roots, the word “nostalgia” did not originate in ancient Greece.
“Nostalgia” is only pseudo-Greek, or nostalgically Greek. The word was coined by the
ambitious Swiss student Johannes Hofer in his medical dissertation in 1688. (Hofer also
suggested monomania and philopatridomania to describe the same symptoms; luckily,
the latter failed to enter common parlance.) It would not occur to us to demand a
prescription for nostalgia. Yet in the 17th century, nostalgia was considered to be a
curable disease, akin to a severe common cold. Swiss doctors believed that opium,
leeches, and a journey to the Swiss Alps would take care of nostalgic symptoms. By the
end of the 18th century, doctors discovered that a return home did not always cure the
nostalgics—sometimes it killed them (especially when patriotic doctors misdiagnosed
tuberculosis as nostalgia). One doctor claimed that nostalgia was a “hypochondria of the
heart,” which thrives on its symptoms. From a treatable sickness, nostalgia turned into
an incurable disease. A provincial ailment, a maladie du pays, turned into a disease of
the modern age, a mal du siècle.

15. V E T E R A N I N A N E W F I E L D
W I N S L O W H O M E R , 1 8 6 5 ( M E T M U S E U M , N Y )
T H E R E T U R N I N G S O L D I E R : H O M E L A N D

16. – H E N R I E T T A B E N S O N D E S C R I B I N G H E R S O N , 1 8 6 5
“He came home so changed that his best friends
did not know him.”

18. – B R U C E D A W E , “ H O M E C O M I N G ” ( 1 9 6 8 )
“They’re bringing them home,
now, too late, too early”

20. T H E H U R T L O C K E R ( 2 0 0 8 ) : H T T P : / / Y O U T U . B E / H U R T
“Where’s the cereal?”

21. T H E R E T U R N
O F M A R T I N
G U E R R E
N A T A L I E Z . D A V I S
S E C O N D R E A D I N G : W E E K 2 / 3

22. H O W D O W E
G E T T H E R E ?
• How is home portrayed in
literature?
• What is the relationship
between the self and
home?
• What accounts for the
power of nostalgia over the
modern psyche?

25. E X I L E A S T H E L I T E R A R Y
C O N D I T I O NRobert Browning
Home Thoughts, from Abroad
O, to be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!
And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossom'd pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge—
That 's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

26. E X I L E A S T H E L I T E R A R Y
C O N D I T I O N
‫יר‬ ִׁ‫ש‬‫לֹות‬ֲ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ַ‫ה‬‫ְּשּוב‬‫ב‬‫ה‬ ' ‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬‫ת‬ַ‫ב‬‫י‬ ִׁ‫ש‬‫ּיֹון‬ִׁ‫צ‬‫ינּו‬ִׁ‫י‬ָ‫ה‬‫ים‬ ִׁ‫ְּמ‬‫ל‬ֹ‫ְּח‬‫כ‬
‫ָאז‬‫א‬ֵ‫ל‬ ָ‫מ‬ִׁ‫י‬‫חֹוק‬ ְּ‫ש‬‫ינּו‬ִׁ‫פ‬‫נּו‬ֵ‫נ‬‫ְּשֹו‬‫ל‬‫ּו‬‫ָה‬‫נ‬ ִׁ‫ר‬
‫ָאז‬‫רּו‬ ְּ‫ֹאמ‬‫י‬‫ם‬ִׁ‫י‬‫ּגֹו‬ַ‫ב‬‫יל‬ ִׁ‫ְּד‬‫ג‬ִׁ‫ה‬‫ה‬ ' ‫שֹות‬ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫ל‬‫ם‬ִׁ‫ע‬‫ֶה‬‫ל‬ֵ‫א‬
‫יל‬ ִׁ‫ְּד‬‫ג‬ִׁ‫ה‬‫ה‬ ' ‫שֹות‬ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫ל‬‫נּו‬ ָ‫מ‬ִׁ‫ע‬‫ינּו‬ִׁ‫י‬ָ‫ה‬‫ים‬ִׁ‫ח‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְּ‫ש‬
‫ָה‬‫ב‬‫שּו‬‫ה‬ ' ‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬‫נּו‬ ֵ‫ית‬ִׁ‫ב‬ ְּ‫ש‬‫ים‬ ִׁ‫יק‬ִׁ‫פ‬ֲ‫א‬ַ‫כ‬‫ֶב‬‫ג‬ֶ‫נ‬ַ‫ב‬
‫ים‬ִׁ‫ע‬ ְּ‫ֹר‬ ‫ז‬ַ‫ה‬‫ה‬ָ‫ע‬ ְּ‫מ‬ ִׁ‫ְּד‬‫ב‬‫ָה‬‫נ‬ ִׁ‫ְּר‬‫ב‬‫ֹרּו‬ ‫צ‬ ְּ‫ק‬ִׁ‫י‬
‫לֹוְך‬ָ‫ה‬‫ְך‬ֵ‫ל‬ֵ‫י‬‫ֹה‬ ‫ָכ‬‫ב‬‫ּו‬‫א‬ ֵ‫ֹש‬ ‫נ‬‫ְך‬ ֶ‫ש‬ ֶ‫מ‬‫ע‬ ַ‫ָר‬‫ז‬ַ‫ה‬‫ֹא‬ ‫ב‬‫ָבֹוא‬‫י‬ָָּ‫נ‬ ִׁ‫ְּר‬‫ב‬‫ה‬‫א‬ ֵ‫ֹש‬ ‫נ‬‫יו‬ ָ‫ֹת‬ ‫ֻמ‬‫ל‬ֲ‫א‬

27. M E A N I N G S O F H O M E C O M I N G
The Lake Isle of Innisfree - W.B. Yeats (1888)
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

28. M E A N I N G S O F H O M E C O M I N G
your homecoming will be my homecoming - e.e. cummings (1961)
your homecoming will be my homecoming-
my selves go with you,only i remain;
a shadow phantom effigy or seeming
(an almost someone always who’s noone)
a noone who,till their and your returning,
spends the forever of his loneliness
dreaming their eyes have opened to your mourning
feeling their stars have risen through your skies:
so,in how merciful love’s own name,linger
no more than selfless i can quite endure
the absence of that moment when a stranger
takes in his arms my very lifes who’s you
-when all fears hopes beliefs doubts disappear.
Everywhere and joy’s perfect wholeness we’re.

29. M E A N I N G S O F H O M E C O M I N G
Homecoming - Simon Armitrage (1988)
Think, two things on their own and both at once.
The first, that exercise in trust, where those in front
stand with their arms spread wide and free-fall
backwards, blind, and those behind take all the weight.
The second, one canary-yellow cotton jacket
on a cloakroom floor, uncoupled from its hook,
becoming scuffed and blackened underfoot. Back home
the very model of a model of a mother, yours, puts
two and two together, makes a proper fist of it
and points the finger. Temper, temper. Questions
in the house. You seeing red. Blue murder. Bed.

30. M E A N I N G S O F H O M E C O M I N G
Then midnight when you slip the latch and sneak
no further than the phonebox at the corner of the street;
I'm waiting by the phone, although it doesn't ring
because it's sixteen years or so before we'll meet.
Retrace that walk towards the garden gate; in silhouette
a father figure waits there, wants to set things straight.
These ribs are pleats or seams. These arms are sleeves.
These fingertips are buttons, or these hands can fold
into a clasp, or else these fingers make a zip
or buckle, you say which. Step backwards into it
and try the same canary-yellow cotton jacket, there
like this, for size again. It still fits.

31. M E A N I N G S O F H O M E C O M I N G
Homecoming
Think, two things on their own and both at once.
The first, that exercise in trust, where those in front
stand with their arms spread wide and free-fall
backwards, blind, and those behind take all the weight.
The second, one canary-yellow cotton jacket
on a cloakroom floor, uncoupled from its hook,
becoming scuffed and blackened underfoot. Back home
the very model of a model of a mother, yours, puts
two and two together, makes a proper fist of it
and points the finger. Temper, temper. Questions
in the house. You seeing red. Blue murder. Bed.
Then midnight when you slip the latch and sneak
no further than the phonebox at the corner of the street;
I'm waiting by the phone, although it doesn't ring
because it's sixteen years or so before we'll meet.
Retrace that walk towards the garden gate; in silhouette
a father figure waits there, wants to set things straight.
These ribs are pleats or seams. These arms are sleeves.
These fingertips are buttons, or these hands can fold
into a clasp, or else these fingers make a zip
or buckle, you say which. Step backwards into it
and try the same canary-yellow cotton jacket, there
like this, for size again. It still fits.

32. • For next week: Odyssey, books 22-24 (optional: 18-24,
ideally 13-24)
• Confirm name, email, degree on contact sheet