On Nostalgia
Symposium #2- July 2022
Letter From The Founder
We’re back again with the second Symposium, a monthly project where we all create around a set theme. This month we are talking (and writing and recording and filming) about nostalgia.
I am incredibly proud of the work everyone has put out for this one and so (ironically enough) I’m sure I’ll look back on this with fond nostalgia in the years to come. Life, as Kierkegaard said, can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards. I think this is at the crux of the nostalgia issue.
Looking back can bring understanding but doing so can also stop you from moving forwards. We in the STSC (if I may be permitted to speak for the group) are drawn to the rich history of art and music and creativity. Perhaps in some way we pine for those pre internet conditions where writers met in salons and cafes and pursued their creative vision without the distractions of our information-drenched hyper-mediated present. Perhaps. But you have to live forwards.
And so even as we look back today, that is what we are trying to do. To make new things that speak to our present world. How much we succeed in this is up to you. But we hope you are entertained by our attempts.
Until next time,
Live well,
Tom.
Essays
Thomas J. Bevan- The Meaning of Nostalgia
I wrote this back in 2020, which in some ways seems like a different time. I had only published a handful of essays prior and this- in retrospect- represents a Lockdown induced streak of urgent creativity. I built my audience (our audience) at this time and so it is the foundation of what I have. So I could look back on this fondly, and I do. But I am still wary not to fall into the trap that the essay itself discusses.
Ivan/Ioann/Vanya- It's All Just An Old Videogame
Toska and Tarkovsky. Dendy and Dostoevsky. Playing in the forest and The Sense of an Ending. Now we all know how good a storyteller Ivan is (further evidence if this can be found in the fiction section below) but it’s easy to forget just how good an essayist he can be too. This piece is absolutely remarkable. Hats off.
Trilety- Maps of Nostalgia
‘Home is where the umbilical cord is buried.’
Every Trilety piece has a little surprise, an unexpected detail or image that just blindsides you. The beauty of her writing is how much can be said with so few words and this piece is another example of that.
Lyle- A town, two buildings, and a particular time
One thing that makes me feel deep nostalgia is reminiscing on playing music as a young man in a scene and cultural climate/ecosystem that no longer exists. Lyle has evoked this brilliantly with this account of his band days. He was on MTV, you know, played Ozzfest.
And then Napster came along…
James- Hindsight is empty, empty
‘My wife and I were linked with the solid and settled fire of old love, instead of the fresh flush of the new. Less flashy perhaps, but a lot more true. It was all wrong for my nostalgic dream. It was all right for where I was right now.’
A beautiful, beautiful piece from James. Extremely lyrical and moving. Which is what we have come to expect.
Pr0ph3t- How to Use the Past
When we collectively decided on the nostalgia theme for this month, I instantly knew that Pr0ph3t would knock it out of the park and bring a fascinating perspective to the preceding, given his body of work to date. And so it has proven.
Victor- Why are we so nostalgic?
As soon as I glanced across some of the section titles- Nostalgia as a Symptom of the Artistic Dark Age, Nostalgia as a Symptom of Risk Aversion- I knew this was going to be special. And it is. This is vital reading. Clear-eyed, intense but with glimmers of hope.
And of course, the diagrams are top notch.
Adam K.- The Pain of Returning Home
‘Nostalgically-motivated remembering functions as a kind of procrastination, a way to avoid the challenges of the present in favor of a hallucinated past because the future is unknown and unknowable.’
A poets eye for imagery combine with the sense that comes from hard won experience in this one. Wonderful.
Jeanne- My first Dick joke
Let’s write about nostalgia, we all decided. I knew some would refer to the definition of the original Greek word, I knew some would create art that tried to capture the feeling of nostalgia. What I didn’t expect however, was a piece from Jeanne entitled ‘my first dick joke.’
And it’s great too! Both the central titular joke and the whole conceit of the piece in fact.
Felix- Naively Neglecting Nostalgia
I love the multiplicity of thought in the STSC, the fact that we are not all in lockstep in our opinions. This is how it should be. And it is sadly rare. So while some have argued about the dangers of nostalgia, how it can be a trap, Felix argues that the past does not take away from the now, it only adds to it.
The earworm analogy really got me thinking too.
Huw- θr
‘Nostalgia’s primary function seems to be to console and comfort. When this is our need, we look at the past from an angle that will return the imagery and emotion that reflects and satisfies this need. Relationships that felt good, summers that were warmer, childhood chocolate bars before the advent of shrinkflation.’
Man, Huw can really write, huh?
Vita- Moving
‘at least for me, nostalgia wells up when things shift. Moving to a new place, ending a relationship, graduating,... The movement is what sends ripples through memory.’
As country-mouse Vita moves to the bright lights of the big city he reflects on how moving is moving.
Brady- No Escape
‘Seems to me that nostalgia has the contemporary meaning of engaging an activity or an artwork that causes us to think fondly over the past and simultaneously compare it with an inadequate present. It’s an exercise in envy of who we used to be or for a time lost to history. This is my critique in large part. It’s futile.’
And it’s a well argued, sensible, powerful critique that everyone should read. Brady is on top form here.
Tony- Nostalgia
As always with Tony I read and wonder ‘what category do I put this in?’ Is it an essay, fiction, autofiction, a prose poem, what?
Well, whatever it is it is outstanding (as we have come to expect) and uniquely Tony. Which is reason enough to dive right in with both feet.
Deepansh- bookmark #353
‘i feel a nostalgia i cannot explain. it’s sunday evening still. i have never felt happier. there is nothing else to tell anyone else.’
A nostalgic piece on nostalgia which makes me nostalgic for the first time I read it back in April.
Sam- Mario
What’s more nostalgic than writing with a typewriter. But beyond the aesthetic here, I think this is a very evocative and simple (in the best possible sense of that word- in a world of needless complexity simplicity is refreshing) work from Sam.
Fiction
Yuelian-we were teenagers (cause = time)
As featured in the Omnibus a few weeks back, this story holds up excellently to a re-read, which for me is the ultimate compliment that a work of fiction can be paid. Read it and see what I mean. Lovely.
Ivan/Ioann/Vanya- The Blue Pill Of Atlantis
The man of multiple name- and this month multiple Symposium entries- delivers a potent short piece with a powerful twist in the tale. Unforgettable, ironically enough.
Clint- Remembering Hope
Clint dips his toe into the fiction waters and proves that he absolutely had it. Hopefully this will be the first of many forays into fiction
Poetry
Zachary George- Liminal Lost
you were there, intuitive guide
embodied the tradition, thrived.
judgement the killer of awe, gifted before the fall
withdrawing from the moment
thinking man thinks somewhere stuck along the way.
move forward it fades, even you numb to it all
liminal lost
grieving the story gone.
*
welcome home beginnings and ends
and ends inevitable
weather from your mountain top or clutching dear holds.
finger fragments of connection just out of reach
it really was that beautiful,
hands returning now
and it still is with so much more to spare.
David- No Simple Terminator (Four Poems)
(David wrote four poems for this Symposium. Below is one of them. Click the link above to read them all)
The Unfolding Now
Those whom sicken at systems of late
Misplace sentiment should they back-step
Into the mire of time, ahead or behind
And try to escape the unfolding now
Memories rust, break in your hands
When you try to relive them outside your heart
Memory rusts, breaks at your hands
When you try to live outside of your heart
The metaverse will greet you but never meet you
The past you have met and said your goodbyes
Let ego lie fallow, longings and attractions pass
Now, may your brave soul grapple and thrive
Video
D.B.- Symposium 2: Nostalgia
A Symposium/Omnibus first- a short film! And what a beauty it is. Visual and audio poetry here, which captures the feel of nostalgic recollection.
The concept, the execution and the craft are all exquisite in this. Deceptively Brilliant.
Audio
Craig- Two Ecks at One Ecks (Nostalgia Special)
‘Nostalgia in’t it?’
Craig has recorded a special edition of the Wednesday Audio for us on the theme of nostalgia. Now cynical might argue that Craig clearly forgot about the monthly Symposium and simple recorded a standard Wednesday Audio episode and crowbarred in the word nostalgia several times. But they would be wrong. Possibly.
So that was the STSC Nostalgia symposium. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Thank you for your support with these projects we put together, thank you for reading them and thanks for all of your comments, feedback and notes. Thank you for taking the time to share them and pass on the word.
And of course above all thanks to all of the contributors and those who help support the STSC via my personal Substack, especially those who keep a low profile, I hope we will be able to coax more of you into taking the plunge and participating in future issues.
This is still just the beginning.
Cheers.
The talent in this group is unsurpassed, and I’m just talking about the podcasts section.
Excellent work everyone.