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Robert Wuerdeman

Professor Taran Drummond

RHET 1000, sec. 29

5 May 2023

Understanding the Wistful Longing in History

In the 16th century, a mysterious disease struck Swiss mercenaries fighting abroad. The

physical effects were broad: irregular heartbeat, fever, and stomach aches, among others effects

(Rechstiener). Emotionally, the men reported feeling a debilitating melancholy and longing for

home, in this case the rolling hills of the Swiss Alps. The affliction could be triggered in a

myriad of ways for the soldiers, but most devastating of which was when they recalled an old

Swiss milking song called “Khue-Reyen.” This song generated such a tragic feeling of longing

that the playing of the song was deemed punishable by death by commanding officers (Beck).

Swiss doctor Johannes Hofer was the first to label the affliction with the name that it is still given

today: nostalgia. More specifically, Hofer defined it as “the sad mood originating from the desire

to return to one’s native land” (Anspach). By having a strong urge to unite with a fond

recollection of the past, it can motivate humans to strive toward replicating similar levels of

comfort in the future. When one feels nostalgic toward something or somewhere, it is a powerful

attachment. So powerful, in fact, that there is a type of nostalgia, called anemoia, that involves

feeling nostalgic for events that either did not happen or that one did not experience. Humans

simply long for comfort. This longing, now considered to be a benign warm feeling, has been

condemned, manipulated, and taken advantage of throughout history.

The term nostalgia that Johannes Hofer devised in his 1688 dissertation on the condition

is derived from the Greek words nostos, meaning homecoming and algos, meaning pain or
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suffering. The emotion can be brought about through music, as in the case of the Swiss soldiers,

as well as any other form of media or natural surroundings. For example, the cold, brisk air of

December can summon fond memories of opening presents from Santa Claus on Christmas Day

as a child. The specificity of the nostalgia can vary wildly as well, and to ascribe the experience

to any single description would vastly underestimate the subjectivity of the experience. Some of

the soldiers would risk death to assuage the pain that they were feeling, whereas many

experience just a fond recollection. Perhaps it was the lack of understanding that was given to the

emotion that increased severity in centuries past. Nostalgia outbreaks were an occasional

affliction that hit troops at war. During the US Civil War in the 19th century, it was suggested to

treat the unmanly disease by dispatching unto the afflicted “a healthy dose of public ridicule and

bullying” (Beck). Ostensibly, all that achieved was a failure for that afflicted soldier to generate a

feeling of nostalgia about his time in the service in the future.

Eventually, more understanding was offered to the feeling of nostalgia, and it gradually

became seen as more of a common feeling rather than a disease. French doctor Hippolyte Petit of

the 18th century (Roth) wrote regarding treatment for nostalgia that the afflicted should “create

new loves for the person suffering from love sickness, find new joys to erase the domination of

the old” (qtd. in Beck). Moving on from the past while not completely forgetting it is key to

overcoming the pain of nostalgia. Joy is not trapped in one form, that being as it was in the past.

New experiences can not so much overcome or replace but rather act as a continuation of the joy.

That is part of the beauty of the human experience, that humans have the ability to move on and

find joy in many different ways.

Anemoia describes the feeling of nostalgia for something that either does not exist or

never happened to that person; essentially feeling nostalgic vicariously. The existence of this
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emotion is a testament to the power of nostalgia, that humans find comfort in things that they

never experienced. This form of nostalgia is perhaps what is exploited the most by everything

from filmmakers to marketers to governments. A prime example of this appeal to anemoia in the

present day is the TV series Stranger Things. Produced by Netflix, the series involves teenagers

in the 1980s. Stranger Things has skyrocketed in popularity mainly among Generation Z, that is,

people who were born between approximately 1996-2012 (Dimock): a group of people who were

not born until long after the 1980s. Nevertheless, part of the large appeal that Stranger Things

has found in its predominantly Generation Z audience is in its nostalgic 1980s cultural

references. “As young consumers become pseudo-nostalgic for the 1980s, they look to evoke

that decade through “compensatory reconsumption”: They immerse themselves in ’80s pop

culture to cope with their wistful affection and sentimental longing for this period of the past”

(Orazi). One of the most popular songs of the past year of 2022 was “Running Up That Hill” by

Kate Bush, which was featured in Stranger Things and originally released in 1985, nearly forty

years ago. This pseudo-nostalgia that Generation Z is experiencing with Stranger Things and

which the writers and marketers of the show intentionally try to appeal to is anemoia.

Anemoia is far from a recently understood phenomenon, however. Various forms of

media have exploited the feeling, often by over-romanticizing the distant past and occasionally it

has been a dangerously-used tactic. In the Victorian era (mid-late 19th century), Europe

experienced a newfound fascination with the Middle Ages. Specifically, there was a popular

infatuation with the romantic idea of medieval chivalry, order under feudalism, and graceful

knights in shining armor. The fascination went beyond simply studying the era, but truly became

infused into the culture of the era. “The medieval revival affected all aspects of Victorian life,

including art and architecture, literature, philosophy, politics and religion. This infusion of
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medievalism in the decorative arts and the world of design became known as the Gothic

Revival” (Kim). Depictions of the Crusades, for example, romanticized the achievements of the

Crusaders, when in reality the soldiers during said Crusades committed sickeningly atrocious and

grotesque actions during their glorious march to the Holy Land. The historical inaccuracies failed

to dissuade the greater population from indulging their fascination. The anemoia felt by the

population in Europe for the Middle Ages also helped add fuel to the nationalist fire that was

burning throughout the continent in the same era. “The rediscovery of medieval culture also

coincided with a period of intense European nationalism in the 19th century” (Kiely). By tapping

into what was perceived as a glorious past, the anemoia helped fuel a passion for one’s country

and helped unite the population under a common history.

Such intense anemoia to the point of falsifying the past is a dangerous game to play. No

clearer was that apparent than in the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s. Both Nazi Germany

and Fascist Italy constantly attempted to rally their people behind an uber-nationalistic view of

their respective nations. Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini infamously called for a second

Italian Golden Age and a revival of Italian nationalism under their common Roman heritage.

“Mussolini certainly made use of Roman history in order to popularize his campaigns and his

regime, and his rhetorical invocation of history centered on ancient Rome and its mythical

history and manifested itself in the promotion of romanitá, or romanness” (Lewine). Mussolini

tried to then justify his rule by placing himself as the leader of this second coming of Rome and a

natural successor to Caesar and the legendary Roman leaders of long ago (Lewine). Italian

dissatisfaction with World War I led to Mussolini’s message to be more palatable to the

population, and they rallied to his message at first (Lewine). An era of Italian history that no one

ever experienced first hand was being exploited as a means of propulsion for an infamous fascist
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regime, all because of anemoia. Just like Hippolyte Petit’s suggested cure for nostalgia, humans

seek to treat their nostalgic pain by trying to create new memories as a continuation of the old,

and in that way it can feel less painful to think back. A romanticized view of Rome made people

feel nostalgic, leading many to believe a man who said that he was able to be a continuation of

that storied tradition of Italian pride. Such is the true power behind nostalgia and anemoia.

Tactics employed by Mussolini (along with Hitler) 90 years ago are still being employed

to this day, and not just in the case of Stranger Things. Groups in the Southern United States, for

example, try to revive the usage of the Confederate flag as a way of celebrating their history as

part of the antebellum South, despite the direct connection to slavery. Similarly, a renewed pride

in the glorious Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire called neo-Ottomanism has swept the nation

of Turkey. The world-famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, once a museum open to the public, has

recently been converted back to a mosque just as the great Sultan Mehmed II did centuries ago,

drawing clear parallels. Further, “Turkey celebrates the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in

1453 — complete with fake mustaches, costume parades, and flattering comparisons between

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the sultans” (Danforth). An exploitation of anemoia is

unlikely to ever dissipate in the future. Nostalgia, and by extension anemoia, is certainly

evidence of an innate human desire to return to comfort, just as the Swiss mercenaries wished to

return to their homeland upon the simple recollection of an old milking song.

Nostalgia is a feeling with more depth, however. Just as it grounds people strongly in the

past, it encourages forward movement and change. The wistful desire to return to a place or time

demands a continuation. A common way to induce nostalgia is, for example, listening to a song

that has not been listened to in a while. Immediately that person can be transported to that time,

and perhaps wish to return to that time. Once that song is listened to repeatedly, that nostalgia
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begins to fade until it simply becomes another song. New memories have become attached to

that song, and it will take time before those new memories will reappear in the form of nostalgia

when listening to the song. However, nostalgia or anemoia, although at times painful, is not a

feeling to avoid. In the previous example of music, if someone wanted to avoid the possibility of

pain from nostalgia they might exclusively listen to that one song. If someone does not want to

feel the pain of longing for their home, never leaving will surely cure that. However, in both

cases, there is so much more music that will be left unheard, and so many places in the world left

unseen. Life will be unfulfilled. Additionally, it will make the past less grounded. The past can

seem as one if everything in life happens in one spot or listening to just one song. When looking

back to something in life, that person cannot differentiate clearly between what happened ten

years ago and what happened twenty years ago. Although such a strong emotion can and has

been exploited throughout history, and especially in a dangerous way, nostalgia can provide more

than just a warm feeling. It can help define a sense of self, and in the case of anemoia it can be

used to create a sense of self as part of the collective. Nostalgia and anemoia are inherently good

feelings, but it is a human responsibility to understand it in such a way that it is not exploited.

Looking back into history proves the value and importance of such prudence, lest the true past be

disregarded.
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Works Cited

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of the Institute of the History of Medicine, vol. 2, no. 6, 1934, pp. 376–91. JSTOR,

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Beck, Julie. “When Nostalgia Was a Disease.” The Atlantic, 14 Aug 2013,

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warontherocks.com/2020/05/the-nonsense-of-neo-ottomanism/.

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Kiely, Alexandra. “The Gothic Revival: How Gothic Got Its Groove Back.” The Collector, 28

Jun. 2022, www.thecollector.com/how-gothic-revival-got-its-groove-back/.

Kim, Angela Y. “The Medieval Revival: An Influential Movement that First Met Opposition.”

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Lewine, Annie Esmé. “Ancient Rome in Modern Italy: Mussolini’s Manipulation of Roman

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Orazi, Davide Christan, and Tom Van Laer. “How ‘Stranger Things’ is Fueling an Obsession

with the 1980s - and Why This Nostalgia is Unique.” Fast Company, 18 July 2022,

www.fastcompany.com/90768747/how-stranger-things-is-fueling-an-obsession-with-the-

1980s-and-why-this-nostalgia-is-so-unique.

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www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/swiss-national-museum_homesick-for-the-mountains/4528

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France.” History and Memory, vol. 3, no. 1, 1991, pp. 5–29. JSTOR,

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