ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 presents an overview of existing theories of, and ideas about, nostalgia, as well as a history of the term’s use. It asks: How did nostalgia, originally a term for a specific medical condition, come to be understood as a symptom of the modern age? Why has nostalgia alternately been described as an anti-modern sentiment and a peculiarly modern phenomenon? And what is meant by the recent postmodern understanding of nostalgia as a consumer mode? The chapter also raises difficulties with, and outstanding questions for, existing theorisations of nostalgia culture. In particular, it explores the strengths and limitations of Fredric Jameson’s critique of the ‘nostalgia mode’, which is still the most oft-quoted theorisation of contemporary nostalgia, but one which the book as a whole will argue against.
