Melancholy and nostalgia: The concept of Spatzeit in postmodern fiction

Rather than celebrating our own historical condition as an Endzeit (the apo calyptic end of all times), it is proposed here to think of it as a Spatzei t (a late period), thus reactivating a concept already used by various thin kers such as A. Riegl, W. Benjamin, H. Bloom. This essay explores nostalgia and melancholy, two of the "affects" specifically related to such a histor ical condition. Their common ground is a subject affected by the loss of a desired object. While the nostalgic subject denies the condition of Spatzei t and endeavors to restore the lost object, the melancholic subject know th at the loss is irreversible and therefore devotes its artistic as well as i ntellectual energies to coming to terms with its own historical condition. Today, the manifestations of both "affects" are manifold. What is special a bout nostalgia is the fact that it is not openly accepted and has to deceiv e in its expressions. This essay proposes the analysis of some of these rus es of nostalgia - aesthetic as well as intellectual - and outlines the expr essions of melancholy specific to our times.