What Nostalgia Was

War, Empire, and the Time of a Deadly Emotion

Nonfiction, History, Modern, 19th Century, European General
Cover of the book What Nostalgia Was by Thomas Dodman, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Thomas Dodman ISBN: 9780226493138
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: January 10, 2018
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Thomas Dodman
ISBN: 9780226493138
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: January 10, 2018
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Nostalgia today is seen as essentially benign, a wistful longing for the past. This wasn't always the case, however: from the late seventeenth century through the end of the nineteenth, nostalgia denoted a form of homesickness so extreme that it could sometimes be deadly.
 
What Nostalgia Was unearths that history. Thomas Dodman begins his story in Basel, where a nineteen-year-old medical student invented the new diagnosis, modeled on prevailing notions of melancholy. From there, Dodman traces its spread through the European republic of letters and into Napoleon's armies, as French soldiers far from home were diagnosed and treated for the disease. Nostalgia then gradually transformed from a medical term to a more expansive cultural concept, one that encompassed Romantic notions of the aesthetic pleasure of suffering. But the decisive shift toward its contemporary meaning occurred in the colonies, where Frenchmen worried about racial and cultural mixing came to view moderate homesickness as salutary. An afterword reflects on how the history of nostalgia can help us understand the transformations of the modern world, rounding out a surprising, fascinating tour through the history of a durable idea.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Nostalgia today is seen as essentially benign, a wistful longing for the past. This wasn't always the case, however: from the late seventeenth century through the end of the nineteenth, nostalgia denoted a form of homesickness so extreme that it could sometimes be deadly.
 
What Nostalgia Was unearths that history. Thomas Dodman begins his story in Basel, where a nineteen-year-old medical student invented the new diagnosis, modeled on prevailing notions of melancholy. From there, Dodman traces its spread through the European republic of letters and into Napoleon's armies, as French soldiers far from home were diagnosed and treated for the disease. Nostalgia then gradually transformed from a medical term to a more expansive cultural concept, one that encompassed Romantic notions of the aesthetic pleasure of suffering. But the decisive shift toward its contemporary meaning occurred in the colonies, where Frenchmen worried about racial and cultural mixing came to view moderate homesickness as salutary. An afterword reflects on how the history of nostalgia can help us understand the transformations of the modern world, rounding out a surprising, fascinating tour through the history of a durable idea.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Frontier Seaport by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book We Have Not a Government by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Coming to Mind by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Time's Reasons by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book The Dawn of Green by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Friending the Past by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Philanthropy in Democratic Societies by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book The Science of Stress by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Doing Style by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Scenes from Deep Time by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Magic's Reason by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Why the Wheel Is Round by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Freedom Is an Endless Meeting by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book The Invention of the Oral by Thomas Dodman
Cover of the book Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500 by Thomas Dodman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy