NOT SPOKEN FOR – NOSTALGIA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF RESISTANCE IN GRAHAM SWIFT’S MOTHERING SUNDAY AND HERE WE ARE

Abstract

It is not an uncommon trope in literature that the past is associated with an unknown or unfathomable realm. L. P. Hartley famously wrote that “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” (2002: 11), while Salman Rushdie has argued “the past is a country from which we have all emigrated” (2010: 12). While the term “nostalgia” was at first used to denote an actual illness (Merriam-Webster), nowadays it is mainly associated with a kind of “homesickness” or a desire to return to one’s place of origin/belonging. In addition, nostalgia may be perceived as a tool for maintaining one’s identity (Davis, 1979: 31-51) and it does not have to relate to real events (Lasch, 1990: 18). So, what if this longing really is felt towards a non-existent past, in an attempt to reclaim a non-existent history? This paper proposes a reading of Graham Swift’s two most recent novels as presenting the female nostalgia towards a past that never existed as a form of resistance. While nostalgically recounting their respective pasts, both literally and metaphorically, Jane Fairchild (Mothering Sunday) and Evie White (Here We Are) will make an attempt at reclaiming their rightful place in history.