The Future of Nostalgia

Can a person feel nostalgia for a home they never had? What is the reason for the global epidemic of nostalgia that accompanies the age of globalization? What is the fate of memories of the Old World in the era of the New World order? Are we aware of what exactly we are nostalgic for? In her exploration of the history of the "hypochondria of the heart" ranging from a curable ailment to an incurable form of modern existence, Svetlana Boym managed to uncover a new applied field, a new typology, the identification of a new aesthetic, namely - nostalgic studies: from "Jurassic Park" to the Garden of Totalitarian Sculpture in Moscow, from love letters on Kafka's grave to the revelations of an imitator of Hitler, from the ruins of the New Synagogue in Berlin to the restored Sistine Chapel… Boym argues that nostalgia is not only an attraction to a departed home or a forsaken homeland but also a longing for other times - a period of our childhood or a distant historical era. Combining the genres of philosophical essay, aesthetic analysis, and personal memories, the author explores the spaces of collective nostalgia, national myths, and personal stories of exiles. She guides us through the ruins and construction sites of post-communist cities - St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Berlin, explores the imagined homelands of writers and artists - V. Nabokov, I. Brodsky, and I. Kabakov, examines collections of souvenirs in the homes of ordinary immigrants, etc.