ABSTRACT
If Chapter 4 focused on the importance of cultural space for the generational experience, then Chapter 5, as the next to last chapter, deals with temporal features, exemplified by the notion of nostalgia and its role in the process of generationing. It will be argued, using interview material, that nostalgia comes in different shapes, some of which have to do with early childhood memories, where media often play a significant role (children’s stories, radio programmes, etc.), frequently combined with significant personal experiences such as being hospitalised, or connected to everyday family life. Other types of nostalgia are more related to the formative years of youth (the late teens and early twenties), where popular culture and music plays a significant role. This second type of nostalgia is also at the root of what could be called generational gaps, as it often appears among parents when their children move towards the end of their formative years. Here the impossibility of generational knowledge transfer becomes obvious, as well as the impossibility of sharing the sentiments from youth with one’s own children. In this latter nostalgia, revealed in collective modes (such as the focus group interview), the childhood nostalgia is highly individualised and related to a more general loss of childhood and ageing.
