In defense of the value of nostalgia

To The Lighthouse, impressionism, homesickness, and the lure of the coastal beach town

I can’t remember who taught me that nostalgia is a form of sentimentality not worthy of artistic attention. I do know that it was someone I revered, an off-handed comment by an author in an interview somewhere regarding the self-indulgence and dullness of overt nostalgia. I also remember the sting of humiliation it provoked in me and the defensive desir…