Other things being equal, we will always have a preference for the time when we were young, even though we know full well that much of that time was filled with boredom, misery and sadness. We cannot even say objectively that the times in the plural were better than they are now, when in so many ways they were so much worse.
So what are we saying? That, other things being equal, we will look back fondly on the books, films, TV programmes and music of our youth and early adulthood - conveniently forgetting that we often hated them at the time!
These wholly unoriginal and somewhat laboured thoughts are prompted by this old Paul Simon song sung by a young Swedish folk duo. Can it be true that the purest nostalgia is for things and places one has never seen?
So what are we saying? That, other things being equal, we will look back fondly on the books, films, TV programmes and music of our youth and early adulthood - conveniently forgetting that we often hated them at the time!
These wholly unoriginal and somewhat laboured thoughts are prompted by this old Paul Simon song sung by a young Swedish folk duo. Can it be true that the purest nostalgia is for things and places one has never seen?
That’s a nice rendition, much more than just a cover. As you probably know, that song (the original recording) is in a Bernie Sanders television spot.
ReplyDelete“Can it be true that the purest nostalgia is for things and places one has never seen?” I think so. I’ve been trying for a long time to track down an observation I once read — that nostalgia is really for the time just before one’s own time.
I did know, Michael, but had forgotten! As to your other point, I think there's a lot of truth in it. I don't know whether was nostalgia or the quest for an identity, but when I was growing up, I was obsessed by the big bands of the swing era - the more commercial the better!
ReplyDeleteI was nostalgic for the America of the 1940s and 1950s; so unattainable as to be almost another world.