Word: boym
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...don’t know what the object of nostalgia is,” Boym says. “Is it of a lost Russia or is it just of my forgotten friends...
...theme of remembrance and reflection, the author and critics alike have linked Ninochka to Boym’s recent book The Future of Nostalgia. In both works, Boym is critical of the common tropes of nostalgia. She is troubled by the idea that immigrants are supposed to be nostalgic and draws a distinction between two different types of nostalgia: restorative and reflective...
...Boym explains the difference using the image of Russian nesting dolls on immigrants’ fireplace mantles. In a regressive way, she says, those who suffer from restorative nostalgia separate themselves from both worlds in an attempt to recreate home. Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, serves as a hopeless vehicle to return to a lost experience. Realizing that she can never truly return to the Russia of her childhood, Boym struggles most with this type...
...this way, Boym claims that all biographies are mysteries. Ninochka, with its fragments of memory and bits of detail, successfully reconstructs the dizzying and fascinating path that is history...
Eventually, Boym says, remembrance and nostalgia become experiences in themselves. Like conspiracies, they construct a self-inflicted reality and give biography a context. “The individual connection to history is the most important...