View source for The Mailer Review/Volume 4, 2010/Looking at the Past: Nostalgia as Technique in The Naked and the Dead and For Whom the Bell Tolls

{{DISPLAYTITLE:<span style="font-size:22px;">{{BASEPAGENAME}}/</span>{{SUBPAGENAME}}}}
{{MR04}}
{{Working}} <!-- EDIT BELOW THIS LINE -->
{{byline|last=Batchelor|first=Bob|abstract=An examination of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia nostalgia] as technique in ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_and_the_Dead The Naked and the Dead]'' and ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Whom_the_Bell_Tolls For Whom the Bell Tolls]''. |url=https://projectmailer.net/pm/User:DBond007}}
{{dc|dc=B|reit quotes Mailer in ''The New York Times'' in 1951:}} "A great writer always goes to the root, he is always coming up
with the contradictions, the impasses, the insoluble dilemmas of
the particular time he lives in. The result is not to cement society but to question it and destroy it."{{sfn|Breit|1951|p=20}}

Nostalgia is a contested word that evokes numerous, often conflicting,
definitions depending on its context. In contemporary usage, however, the
term most often implies a romantic look at the past, as if history’s difficulties have been bleached out of existence. Through nostalgia, people can make
sense of the past in a highly personal way, essentially crafting or re-creating
narratives that fit into their broader ideas about self and society. The tendency, however, is to consider this use simpleminded.

What I call the “nostalgic attraction” or the desire to examine the past
through rose-colored lenses has become a vital component of popular culture. The general craving for nostalgia has transformed the idea into a commodity, used to advertise, market, and sell products by invoking a return to
“the good ole’ days.” The nostalgic idea also drives mass culture. There are
numerous examples of nostalgia assuming a kind of starring role across
mediums, from blockbuster films, such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump ''Forrest Gump''] or ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film) Titanic]'' to popular television shows, music, books, and fashion. Nostalgia is also closely associated with certain presidents, such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan Ronald Reagan], or with presidential eras, like John F. Kennedy’s [https://politicaldictionary.com/words/camelot/ Camelot].






==Citations==
{{reflist|20em}}
==Works Cited==
{{refbegin|40em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |last=Breit |first=Harvey |date=1951 |chapter=Talk with Norman Mailer |title=The New York Times ''3 June 1951'', ''late ed., sec 7:20''  |location=Print }}

{{Review|state=expanded}}
[[Category:Articles (MR)]]