Navigating the Temporal Veil of Nostalgia: Playing the Boundary Without Crossing it

Abstract

Remarking on Geniusas’ phenomenological explication of nostalgia, I review nostalgia as a form of daydreaming but with its own unique constituent of wider temporal horizons. Also, I concur with Geniusas’ observation that nostalgia is about a boundary of impossibility whereas most other forms of daydreaming offer possibility. I then contrast two modes of nostalgia, fulling nostalgia that playfully, and even lucidly, accepts the temporal boundaries and pathological nostalgia that makes demands on the temporal boundary. I conclude with a reflection, on the cultural level, on how reactionary social movements are typically characterized by pathological nostalgia that rejects current conditions and demand a return to an impossible past. This highlights the significance of nostalgia for further study.