NOSTALGIA OR THE DOUBLE SENSE OF THE EXPATRIATE’S “HOMESICKNESS” THROUGH THE GREEK LITERATURE OF MIGRANCY

Abstract

Nostalgia or “homesickness” - of the Greek nostos (the return) and algos (sadness, the pain, the suffering) - is a feeling often including a melancholy accompanied by a bewitchment compared to memories often related to the places of the homeland which is evoked through painful pleasure. Haunted by the memories of the homeland, the characters of the texts studied return one day, in order to regain their Eden; once arrived, they must face not only the demons of their past but also the fact that the power of their return was only an illusion, due to the feeling of having missed a certain period of time, believed pleasant a posteriori. This lack, often caused by the loss or recalled past experiences, is accentuated in isolated people who need to feel like members of a community and to take part in the social life. At the end of this painful journey, are the expatriated, repatriated or do they remain expelled, as modern Adam and Eve, of a paradise forever lost? We intend to follow this “adventure” through the “journal of exile” of the Greek francophone author, Mimica Cranaki