Nostalgia

God's heart is broken as His people look to other things for satisfaction, joy and peace. He is not willing to let them go. He relays His anguish through Hosea, the broken hearted prophet. In this prophetic book lies the core speaking of God to the Western world. Wrought with divine nostalgia, God calls His people to solitude with Him that He may whisper into their ears and be their deliverance and all satisfying lover. Though others cried, "injustice" Hosea cries, "You don't love me anymore."

'Cartarescu is one of the great literary voices of Central Europe' Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize winner and author of Flights 'A Danubian Narnia. . . his writing delivers a rainbow-hued riot of fantasy, imagination and invention' Boyd Tonkin, Spectator A dreamlike novel of memory and magic, Nostalgia turns the dark world of Communist Bucharest into a place of strange enchantments. Here a man plays increasingly death-defying games of Russian Roulette, a child messiah works his magic in the tenements, a young man explores gender boundaries, a woman relives her youth and an architect becomes obsessed with the sound of his new car horn - with unexpected consequences. Blending reality and symbolism, time and myth, this is a cult masterwork from Romania's most celebrated writer.

A dazzling history of a dangerous emotion, by acclaimed historian Agnes Arnold-Forster. 'Absorbing' - The Guardian 'Illuminating' - Vogue ' Fascinating' - Pandora Sykes 'Juicy' - nb. In Nostalgia , historian Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from seventeenth-century Switzerland (when it was held to be an illness that could, quite literally, kill you) to the present day (when it is co-opted by advertising agencies and politicians alike to sell us goods and policies). It is a fascinating, compelling story of a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. It is also a clear-eyed analysis of what we are doing now, how we feel about it and what we might want to change about the world we live in. ‘Beautifully compact, wide-ranging and enjoyable’ - TLS

A dazzling history of a dangerous emotion, by acclaimed historian Agnes Arnold-Forster. 'Absorbing' - The Guardian 'Illuminating' - Vogue ' Fascinating' - Pandora Sykes 'Juicy' - nb. In Nostalgia , historian Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from seventeenth-century Switzerland (when it was held to be an illness that could, quite literally, kill you) to the present day (when it is co-opted by advertising agencies and politicians alike to sell us goods and policies). It is a fascinating, compelling story of a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. It is also a clear-eyed analysis of what we are doing now, how we feel about it and what we might want to change about the world we live in. ‘Beautifully compact, wide-ranging and enjoyable’ - TLS

'Cartarescu is one of the great literary voices of Central Europe' Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize winner and author of Flights 'A Danubian Narnia. . . his writing delivers a rainbow-hued riot of fantasy, imagination and invention' Boyd Tonkin, Spectator A dreamlike novel of memory and magic, Nostalgia turns the dark world of Communist Bucharest into a place of strange enchantments. Here a man plays increasingly death-defying games of Russian Roulette, a child messiah works his magic in the tenements, a young man explores gender boundaries, a woman relives her youth and an architect becomes obsessed with the sound of his new car horn - with unexpected consequences. Blending reality and symbolism, time and myth, this is a cult masterwork from Romania's most celebrated writer.

'A fascinating and rigorous debunking of everything I thought I knew about nostalgia' - Pandora Sykes 'Absorbing' - Guardian 'Arnold-Forster is a shrewd critic and delightful guide . . . She carries weighty learning lightly – embracing everything relevant, from dubious neuroscience to cod sociology.' - The Telegraph In Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion , Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from its first identification in seventeenth-century Switzerland (when it was held to be an illness that could, quite literally, kill you) to the present day (when it is co-opted by advertising agencies and politicians alike to sell us goods and policies). Nostalgia is a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. It is one of the many ways we communicate a desire for the past, dissatisfaction with the present and our visions for the future. Arnold-Forster’s fascinating history of this complex, slippery emotion is a lens through which to consider the changing pace of society, our collective feelings of regret, dislocation and belonging, the conditions of modern and contemporary work, and the politics of fear and anxiety. It is also a clear-eyed analysis of what we are doing now, how we feel about it and what we might want to change about the world we live in. ‘Arnold-Forster belongs to that valuable non-jargon-spouting breed of academic who is capable of explaining complex ideas in simple language.’ - The Times

'A fascinating and rigorous debunking of everything I thought I knew about nostalgia' - Pandora Sykes 'Absorbing' - Guardian 'Arnold-Forster is a shrewd critic and delightful guide . . . She carries weighty learning lightly – embracing everything relevant, from dubious neuroscience to cod sociology.' - The Telegraph In Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion , Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from its first identification in seventeenth-century Switzerland (when it was held to be an illness that could, quite literally, kill you) to the present day (when it is co-opted by advertising agencies and politicians alike to sell us goods and policies). Nostalgia is a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. It is one of the many ways we communicate a desire for the past, dissatisfaction with the present and our visions for the future. Arnold-Forster’s fascinating history of this complex, slippery emotion is a lens through which to consider the changing pace of society, our collective feelings of regret, dislocation and belonging, the conditions of modern and contemporary work, and the politics of fear and anxiety. It is also a clear-eyed analysis of what we are doing now, how we feel about it and what we might want to change about the world we live in. ‘Arnold-Forster belongs to that valuable non-jargon-spouting breed of academic who is capable of explaining complex ideas in simple language.’ - The Times

1968: Teo, eine junge Laotin, kommt am Berliner Ostbahnhof an. Es ist die Liebe, die sie in die DDR führt, weit weg von ihrer Familie. Doch ihr neues Leben in Potsdam, scheinbar ein sozialistisches Idyll, ist schwer, und auch perfektes Deutsch kommt gegen die Fremdheit, die man sie als Asiatin jeden Tag spüren lässt, nicht an. Weihnachten 1982: André, Teos Sohn, ist zwölf und wünscht sich nur eines: denSchikanen seiner Lehrerin entgehen und möglichst nicht auffallen, was nicht so einfach ist als halblaotischer DDR-Bürger mit einem behinderten jüngeren Bruder.Trotzdem ist eigentlich alles ganz schön, solange seine Mutter nicht wieder krank wird, solange sein Bruder nicht ausrastet, solange die Mutter und die Großmutter sich vertragen. Doch dann erschüttern mehrere Schicksalsschläge die Familie. «Nostalgia», André Kubiczeks vielleicht persönlichstes Buch, handelt von seiner Beziehung zur Mutter, die versuchte, in der Fremde eine Heimat zu finden. Dabei entsteht ein etwas anderes Bild vom Leben in der DDR - aus der Perspektive einer binationalen Familie, die im Alltag anzukommen versucht. Ein Roman, der einfühlsam und voller Wärme von Vertrautheit, Fremdsein und Liebe über Kulturen und Vorurteile hinweg erzählt.