#009: nostalgia/懷舊(huáijiù)
That Totoro bun! / 龍貓造型的麵包！
Nostalgia/homesickness
Feeling nostalgia is a funny pursuit or recollection. “Nostalgia” is often used to describe the pains of not being able to return home. As it’s depicted by the poet, Yu Kwang-chung (余光中), that one’s physical entity is here, whereas the mind lingers in or long for the other side. Nostagia is composed of Ancient Greek “nóstos "returning home” and “álgos”, meaning "ache" or “pain”. The word, nostalgia, illustrates the painful emotions,, with a hint of sadness, which was brought about when one cannot return home Here are some selected part of Yu’s poem about nostalgia/homesickness.
懷舊/鄉愁
懷舊是一種奇妙的追尋或是追憶，通常用來形容人無法回家或是返鄉的痛苦心情。如同在詩中余光在《鄉愁》中所描的人在這一頭，心在另一頭，中間有段未知的距離。英文「nostalgia」構詞出自古希臘文，nóstos，意思是「回家／返鄉」，álgos是「痛苦」或「痛楚」的意思，合起來就成了「鄉愁」了，形容人想家思鄉的時卻無法回家的痛苦情緒，充滿著些許哀傷的色彩。以下節錄部分余光中《鄉愁》中的詩句：
小時候，/When I was young,
鄉愁是一枚小小的郵票，/Nostalgia was a tiny, tiny stamp,
我在這頭，/Me on this side,
母親在那頭。/Mother on the other side.
長大後，/When I grew up,
鄉愁是一張窄窄的船票，/Nostalgia was a narrow boat ticket,
我在這頭，/Me on this side,
新娘在那頭。/My bride on the other side.
後來啊，/But later on,
鄉愁是一方矮矮的墳墓，/Nostalgia was a lowly grave,
我在外頭，/Me on the outside,
母親在裡頭。/Mother on the inside.《鄉愁》by 余光中 (Yu Kwang-chung)
To miss (someone or something)
Does feeling great nostalgia imply feeling at loss or discontent for the “here and now”? I am particularly fond of how “to miss” was described in Lover’s Discourse by the French philosopher, Roland Barthes. When we miss someone, doesn’t it mean that we keeping forgetting that person so that we need to recall this person in our head? When I am writing about this article, one of the scenes in Andrei Tarkolvsky’s Solaris (1972) came to mind. In the space station on the oceanic planet Solaris, many strange and mysterious phenomena happened to scientists because of the waves on this planet. A psychologist, Kelvin, was sent to investigate and evaluate the situation. He ended up undergoing the same mysterious phenomena like others. He woke up, to his shock, he saw his late wife, who died a decade ago, was sitting next to him and alive. An intriguing dialogue between them left me wondering.
Hari: Did you ever think of me?
Kelvan: Yes. But not all the times. Only when I felt unhappy.
—Solaris (1972)
When we start missing a certain period of time, some one of an era, does it mean you miss or want to run away from something in your current life, then?
想念
「懷舊」其實是否意味著對於現狀的一些茫然或是不滿意才會去緬懷過去呢？我特別喜歡法國哲學家羅蘭巴特在他的《戀人絮語》書中提及關於「想念」這一個詞所代表的含義，當我們說我們在想念一個人的時候，是不是也代表著我們一直在忘記這個人，因此必須不斷想起呢？必須不停地讓我們思念的人重新浮現在我們的腦海中呢？動手寫這篇文章時，讓我聯想到俄羅斯電影導演安德烈·塔爾科夫斯基( Andrei Tarkolvsky)1972年的電影《索拉里斯星(Solaris)》其中的一個場景。在這個索拉禮斯星球上，因為星球上的無法解釋的怪起事件的現象頻生。心理學家，男主角凱爾文，被派至索拉里斯星球上的航空站評估情況，結果他自己也遭遇了跟其他人一樣的異象。他一覺醒來時，嚇了一跳，死去多年的妻子哈莉竟在太空站裡活生生地坐在身邊，並一起生活了一段時間，最後男主角凱爾文想起了哈里死了很久了。電影當中兩人有一段耐人尋味的對話。
哈莉：「你有沒有想過我？」
凱爾文：「有，但不是總是想念妳，只有在我感到不幸的時候。
—《索拉里斯星》 (1972)
這麼說來，是不是當我們開始懷念起某一段時光，某一個人，某一個時代，是否也代表目前的生活中有缺失的或想逃離的部分呢？
A lovely adventure for the journey toward nostalgia! /來一場懷舊的冒險吧！
Just go along with it
“Buy a toy from your childhood on eBay” is one of the many enjoyable Everyday Adventures from the cards which were made by The School of Life. Why not give it a try when you have time, feeling of nostalgic and amusement are guaranteed!
懷舊一下也無妨
The School of Life的《日常探險》卡片眾多有趣的任務之一是「上eBay買一個你童年時的玩具！」有時間不妨試試看，保證讓你感到既懷舊又開心!
If you are interested in this topic, here are some articles to read.要是你對這個話題有興趣，這裡有些文章可閱讀。https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/鄉愁
The cards of Everyday Adventures can be purchased at https://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/everyday-adventures/