The Matter of Roots: Belief, Images, and Bodies

Abstract

Some of the oldest, most basic concerns of poetry and theology have to do with impermanence among things and nostalgia for beauty that endures. ‘Nostalgia’ itself derives from two Greek words, nostos (return home) and algos (pain); it indicates home-sickness, a kind of melancholia caused by prolonged absence from where one belongs. It is a central theme of the second Homeric epic, and although the staying-power of a work like the Odyssey resists simple explanation, one of the book’s most enduring effects is an extraordinary and powerful evocation of the hero’s separation from what he loves, and his longing to return home. Odysseus’ persistence towards a goal, even through his weaknesses and dallying, gives value to the strength of the intuition that draws him back.