Wandering or Homecoming. Or, Luke Skywalker vs Odysseus

Like lots of Internet conversations nowadays, it all started with something Pope Francis said. If you use a Magnificat, you might have read it in the "Day by Day" for October 13.

"There is a phenomenology of nostalgia, nóstos algos, feeling called home, the experience of feeling attracted to what is most proper for us, most consonant with our being...." - Jorge Bergoglio

What a great description. Home is what's "most proper" for us. Home is where we make the most sense, where we fit in. We know the routine, the faces, the sounds, the smells. We belong, we have a role, we exist for a reason.

Let's check the English definition and the meaning of the Greek word.

The OED defines nostalgia as "acute longing for familiar surroundings; homesickness."

I don't think this reflects fully how we use the word; popular use treats nostalgia as a longing for the past. It's synonymous with a "trip down memory lane."

It's pretty fascinating that many of us equate home with the past--the way things used to be. That probably requires its own discussion another time.

Back to the OED.

Nostos is actually a literary term! "A homecoming or homeward journey as a literary subject or topos." The Odyssey is the prime example.

or

"the conclusion of a literary work."

The second definition is pretty interesting--it assumes that at the end of a story, everyone makes it home.

Anyway, I hadn't really thought about this kind of story as its own genre before. In fact, I'm probably most familiar with its opposite, in which a character is trying to get away from home. A lot of the coming-of-age stories ("Bildungsroman") have a character proving themselves by escaping, leaving, or being forced away from home. Huck Finn fakes his death in order to throw everyone from back home off his trail. Luke Skywalker talks about nothing but "getting off this rock," then gets his chance--but not in the way he expected. Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God is forced to marry and leave home, then leaves her husband's home, etc. etc.

Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM

 Despite these examples of great stories, "home" is important to all of us, whether it's a place, a person, or a situation. I've hinted before that there's something at the end of the path, and Maura has a beautiful discussion of home (and a nostos, The Wizard of Oz) in a post from this summer.


Let's mention some cases of a great nostos.

While the Odyssey is the "source and summit" of a nostos, that tale has lots of allusions. Ulysses by James Joyce, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? are all homecoming stories based on the Odyssey.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial? A nostos. Interesting because E.T. obviously loves living with Elliot, and we never really see why E.T.'s friends back on the spaceship are so great. While E.T. could have a great(?) life eating candy and drinking beer while living in a five-year-old's closet, his home is "most proper" to who E.T. is.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles? A great nostos. The call to home is so strong that Steve Martin brings John Candy along with him!

A lot of love stories and tales mentioning marriage could be in the nostos category. Jane Eyre is an orphan, looking for a home. Charles Ryder finds a home in Brideshead.

The Divine Comedy, the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are all about the ultimate home, and the long road one travels to get there.

So I ask, which kind of story do you like best? A hero leaving home, or the hero returning home? Do you tend towards a longing for home, or are you a hopeless wanderer? Did I leave out your favorite nostos?

Here's a ridiculously epic nostos from the 90s...enjoy!