Earthly and Heavenly Nostalgia: The Meanings of Places and Times in Literature An Analysis of the Presence of Nostalgia in Gone with the Wind, The Leopard, and The Lord of the Rings
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Evangeline Lothian (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Anthony Cuda
Abstract: This paper intends to explore the conversations of these three modes of nostalgia, through three different texts. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is a book about historical nostalgia: about a longing for the Old South. It demonstrates the desire for a return to the past, the earthly nostalgia of what has been destroyed. In analysing Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler, and the Wilkes couple, one can clearly see how historical nostalgia influences the actions of both people and places; and through exploring the locations of the novel (Tara, Charleston, Atlanta), how this nostalgia is tied to specific locations. The Leopard represents the in-between, the mythological mode of nostalgia, as it explores the death of a family and the place they exist in, but also how this decay and destruction of their world is related to the death of faith and the “golden age” of noble Sicily. By looking at Don Fabrizio’s family story and the decay of their aristocratic Sicily, it becomes clear how historical nostalgia becomes mythological; and how this mythological nostalgia expands into spiritual nostalgia. Finally, The Lord of the Rings, while containing powerful scenes of mythological nostalgia, especially in Elven locations, is, at its heart, a story about spiritual nostalgia and why it is the condition of humanity to long for it. It represents the culmination of “nostalgic literature,” in this sense, and captures the concept of spiritual nostalgia. In exploring Lothlorien and the character’s reaction to “Elven Paradise,” we see the crux of Tolkien’s definition and belief about nostalgia, which pulls from all three modes. Nostalgia, in Tolkien’s world, is summed up by a longing for the beautiful on Earth, and the realization that this nostalgia points to the greater longing for the perfection of Heaven, that is, the ultimate beauty.
Earthly and Heavenly Nostalgia: The Meanings of Places and Times in Literature An Analysis of the Presence of Nostalgia in Gone with the Wind, The Leopard, and The Lord of the Rings
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Created on 12/4/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Honors Project
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- English , nostalgia , literature , Lord of the Rings , Gone with the Wind , The Leopard , nostalgia in literature