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Nostalgia : going home in a homeless world  Cover Image Book Book

Nostalgia : going home in a homeless world

Esolen, Anthony M. (author.).

Summary:

Alone among the creatures of the world, man suffers a pang both bitter and sweet. It is an ache for the homecoming. The Greeks called it nostalgia. Post-modern man, homeless almost by definition, cannot understand nostalgia. If he is a progressive, dreaming of a utopia to come, he dismisses it contemptuously, eager to bury a past he despises. If he is a reactionary, he sentimentalizes it, dreaming of a lost golden age. In this profound reflection, Anthony Esolen explores the true meaning of nostalgia and its place in the human heart. Drawing on the great works of Western literature from the Odyssey to Flannery O'Connor, he traces the development of this fundamental longing from the pagan's desire for his earthly home, which most famously inspired Odysseys' heroic return to Ithaca, to its transformation under Christianity. The doctrine of the fall of man forestalls sentimental traditionalism by insisting that there has been no Eden since Eden. And the revelation of heaven as our true and final home, directing man's longing to the next world, paradoxically strengthens and ennobles the pilgrim's devotion to his home in this world. In our own day, Christian nostalgia stands in frank opposition to the secular usurpation of this longing. Looking for a city that does not exist, the progressive treats original sin, which afflicts everyone, as mere political error, which afflicts only his opponents. To him, history is a long tale of misery with nothing to teach us. Despising his fathers, he lives in a world without piety. Only the future, which no one can know, is real to him. It is an idol that justifies all manner of evil and folly. Nostalgia rightly understood is not an invitation to repeat the sins of the past or to repudiate what experience and reflection have taught us, but to hear the call of sanity and sweetness again. Perhaps we will shake our heads as if awaking from a bad and feverish dream and, coming to ourselves, resolve, like the Prodigal, to "arise and go to my father's house." -- From publisher's description.

Contents:

Man, far from home
Man in time
Man in place
Lost among the ruins
The static idol of change
Lost innocence
More than small change
Back to the family
O grave, where is thy victory?

Item details

  • ISBN: 1621578011
  • ISBN: 9781621578017
  • Physical Description: xxiv, 236 pages ; 24 cm
    print
  • Publisher: Washington, DC : Regnery Gateway, [2018]

Contents / Notes

Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Man, far from home
Man in time
Man in place
Lost among the ruins
The static idol of change
Lost innocence
More than small change
Back to the family
O grave, where is thy victory?
Subject: Home Religious aspects Christianity
Nostalgia
Nostalgia in literature

Currently available copies

  • 1 out of 1 copy are currently available at PINES.

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  • 1 current hold on 1 total copy.
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Library System: Library Branch Name
Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status  
Athens Regional Library System:
      Athens-Clarke County Library
NONFIC 233 ESOLEN ( Send Text)
31001003756484 NONFICTION Available

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Showing Item 4 of 41

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