Look back with pleasure

A lot has happened to me since Monica posed for these pics I took of her while on a kibbutz in Israel in 1971. She was my "girlfriend" at the time, and I recently dug out these photos. They helped me look back on some good times. Why did I do this?

Well, perhaps it is because the time of corona offers us the opportunity to reflect on good memories. After all, they can evoke feelings of contentment - something many of us probably need at this time. Apparently, I am not alone in this. I have read that nostalgia playlists are particularly popular at the moment along with a surge in hobbies such as knitting, baking bread and lots of community singing - albeit over the laptop.  In other words, in uncertain times, it seems the past is perceived as a safe place - certainly safer than the present! 

A lot has happened since Monica posed for these photos. I recall we both talked about our futures. I was going back to England and to university and she was soon to do her compulsory army service. I don't like the idea of "what would I tell my younger self now?" or "what would I say to her if I had the chance?"  Given the opportunity I would, uncharacteristically, shut my mouth. 

But when I took these pics,  the fun, the sadness, the warmth, the danger, the conversations, the loves, the losses, the travel, the friendships, the personal developments were ahead of us both and all these things have made us who we are today - assuming she is still alive!

Of course, nostalgia is a popular theme for writers. My own favourites include the following. 

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani - concerning the lives of Italian Jews in the northern Italian city of Ferrara during the Fascist period.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh - exploring themes connected to the age of English aristocracy, Catholicism, and homosexuality.

The Magus by John Fowles - inspired by Fowles' experiences on the Greek island of Spetse, where he taught English for two years.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - inspired, perhaps, by the author's disillusionment with the American dream.

Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier - dealing with the search for a lost love.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - concerning a man's recollections of a bygone era.

I love these books but there are many others that deal with nostalgia. Please share your own and use the commentary box! I would love to hear from you. 

 

Comments

[Christopher Anthony Goddard]

'The House at Pooh Corner' last chapter, which our father was unable to finish (he used to read us stories)... and I avoided altogether when reading to Nick... and more recently, at a breakfast meeting at the British Embassy, caused a catch in the voice of our defence attache... and brings a smile and a tear even as I write :)

[Robert Goddard]

Yes, the sentiments are similar - the feelings we have on looking back at the distant past. Having said that, I am very aware of the pitfalls and of falling into the trap that tells us "Those were the good old days."

[malcolm]

i wonder what thoughts Alastair would have about his liaisons
with Robin (the girl from Boston) and Toni ? (the girl from California) over 50 years ago
now ??
Trouble is time seems to go so much quicker than the halcyon days
of the early seventies !!