Donna Stonecipher
The Ruins of Nostalgia 34
The Ruins of Nostalgia 34
We found ourselves, to our astonishment, living on and on past the past. We wondered if it was, in the cosmic sense, accidental that “nostalgia” begins with “no.” Johannes Hofer, Swiss medical student, may not have had “no” in mind when coining the word “nostalgia,” but treasuries used to believe that coining new currency would beat back down engulfing debt. Nostalgia coins sentiment into durable objects that can be traded in markets of feeling jarred like honey. The exchequer clouds coin raindrops, which are absorbed by the dirt, which
coins the currencies of grain. Who felt nostalgic before there was nostalgia?
From his coign of vantage Cortez, it is said, was overwhelmed by nostalgia for
the beauty of Aztec cities just before he destroyed them. The profiles on gold coins, we could say, coined the obliquity of greed. It’s no wonder the Spaniards never found Eldorado, since it is always located behind us. * Does one destroy the past just by living past it? If that is true, then nostalgia may be the only currency we have with which to repay the debts we owe to what we have left behind. — To those whom we have left behind. * Even as nostalgia coins a “no” each time we fall, with a “yes,” into the defaulting splendor of the ruins of nostalgia.