WHITHER NOSTALGIA
Sia,—May I lodge a protest against the increasing misuse by modern writers of the word " nostalgia"? Used in its proper sense it means a
yearning for home, but nowadays it seems to be used to denote any mood partaking of whimsy or depression. Thus among the book reviews of this week's Spectator Gwendolen Freeman quotes approvingly the follow- ing passage 'from Mr. Dobie's book, A Texan in England : " I don't
knoW why . . . I am just walking. I am looking, I guess. . . . wonder if all the people who are thumping their feet on the cement sidewalks ... know where they are going, know why they are going, know what they want." This extract the reviewer describes as " a moment of unadorned nostalgia." Why?—Yours faithfully, LESLIE WILSON. Bradfield College, Berks.
Previous page
