TY  - BOOK
AU  - Sylwia Wojciechowska
PY  - 2023
CY  - Berlin, Germany
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 2193-4207
SN  - 9783631902172
TI  - Nost/algia as a Mode of Reflection in the Autobiographical Narratives of Joseph Conrad and Henry James
DO  - 10.3726/b20828
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1355454
N2  - Within the past decades, nostalgia has become a misleadingly familiar concept. Whereas popular nostalgia connotes an idealised memory of the past, nost/algia implies a novelty of approach by focusing on the distinction between ‘nostos’ (the return) and ‘algos’ (the pain). Discussed with a reference to the pastoral and the Odyssey, the present study examines certain ‘complex’ deployments of the mode as applied in several autobiographical narratives of two ex-patriate writers, Joseph Conrad and Henry James. The book first traces the history and theory of autobiography and nostalgia. Second, it interprets the nostalgic tensions as complex structures of thought which prompt certain inferences about the writers’ respective attitudes towards the world and their inner selves.
KW  - History and theory of autobiography and nostalgia, Autobiographical narratives, Joseph Conrad and Henry James
LA  - English
ER  -