We have another “From the Archives” post from issue 2 for you today! “The Role of Nostalgia in the Lives of Readers” is a brilliant feature article by Niamh O’Donnell. Enjoy!
The Role of Nostalgia in the Lives of Readers
Niamh O’Donnell
For better or worse, nostalgia is an inevitable by-product of age. Nostalgia is defined by the OED as a “sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.” Nostalgic reads are books that we link to certain times in our lives, including our childhoods. Not every book we read can evoke a sense of nostalgia, and it can take years to discover if a book has made the cut. Nostalgia often looks upon past experiences favourably, arguably with rose-tinted glasses, and in doing so, can overlook some negative aspects. Regardless, nostalgic reads can wield a certain power: the ability to transport you to a different time in your life, unlock memories, and evoke emotions that cannot be found elsewhere.
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer was published in 2005, followed by Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games in 2008. These titles had a significant impact on young-adult literature. Twilight became the catalyst for the publication of a multitude of vampire stories, and an onslaught of dystopian fiction followed The Hunger Games. This is because these two titles achieved something rare: they gained unimaginable popularity, having sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. Now, many reflect fondly on these series crediting them as the books of their adolescence.
The Hunger Games was the first YA book I ever read, making it impossible to reminisce without nostalgia. A survey I conducted with Paper Lanterns revealed that many people share a similar experience, with a reader suggesting that “nostalgia may as well BE the whole reading experience.”
Nostalgic reads are incredibly appealing due to the nature of memory being personal to the individual reader. However, an author cannot intentionally write a nostalgic read. They can only write the best book they can and hope it resonates with people. Twilight and The Hunger Games have succeeded in this, and so it is arguable that they have earned their nostalgic reputation, partly due to the volume of people who have read and enjoyed them. Whether a book becomes nostalgic is not a conscious decision.
I was eleven when I first read The Hunger Games. In primary school, we used to have silent reading every morning and during my final, year I noticed that most of my classmates were reading the series. One Saturday morning on my weekly trip to the library, I discovered a copy of the first book and decided to read it for myself. My classmates were still only half way through the first book by the time I had finished it. We would gather together at break time to talk about the books, have WhatsApp wars over whether Peeta or Gale was better, and watch the films together in each other’s houses. I was always someone who enjoyed reading, but to see others enjoying it too meant so much. Even a book club wouldn’t be able to replicate an experience like this. When you join a book club, it is a conscious decision. This was unplanned, and that spontaneity contributed to the eventual nostalgia. These books linked my class together in a way that no other book had, and I know that I may never again experience something quite like it. When I hold my battered, but well-loved copies, I am transported back to age eleven. It is for these reasons that my nostalgic reading experience is so overwhelmingly positive.
You will notice that very few of my reasons for writing about nostalgia have to do with the actual content of the stories. American novelist Louis L’Amour said that, “Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.” Whilst I originally adored The Hunger Games for the story, they stayed with me because they reminded me of a specific time in my life. I believe that books find you at the time you are supposed to read them. In 2011, Suzanne Collins said, “Right now The Hunger Games is getting a lot of focus… It’ll pass… It always does.” Though Collins may have believed this to be the case at the time, readers’ commitment to the books has proved otherwise. While the hype for the original Hunger Games trilogy is over, the nostalgia experienced by its initial readers has kept the books alive and visible to today’s young readers.
There is no guarantee that The Hunger Games would be nostalgic for me if I had read it even a year later. My experience with Twilight demonstrates this. I was too young when the series was at the height of its popularity. When I eventually read it, I didn’t connect with it like I did The Hunger Games. I read Twilight it at the same age as most of those who are nostalgic for the series, around thirteen years old. The only difference was I simply read it a few years later, when the momentum had subsided. Ultimately, I felt like I’d missed out. The circumstances under which we read a book are key to whether it will become nostalgic. You must have memories to connect it to, a link to one’s own reality.”
One such circumstance, which can inspire later nostalgia, is when a young reader voluntarily chooses to read a book for the first time. Books like Twilight and The Hunger Games got many people reading and kept them reading. These books have brought people together and allowed them to form real friendships, from attending midnight releases and book events. Some would credit these books with something greater, believing that they have, in some way, influenced their identities and shaped aspects of their lives. Perhaps it gave us a sense of belonging, confidence, or the hope we needed to get through a tough time. These books have inspired many to write their own stories, launch BookTube channels, and become enthusiasts for YA literature.
We are currently witnessing the revival of much-loved franchises. It is strange to await the publication of a new Twilight novel – Midnight Sun due out in August 2020 – twelve years after the original series ended. Now it feels like travelling back in time. We are also experiencing this with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a new Hunger Games prequel, released ten years after Mockingjay. These releases have been made possible, at least in part, thanks to the nostalgia the original books evoked. Some readers will be wary, skeptical, or even afraid, as they do not want these new installments to diminish their nostalgia for the original series. Others will be full of excitement and curiosity because they’re returning to a world they love. In the Paper Lanterns’ survey about The Hunger Games prequel, a reader described a variety of these emotions, feeling, “excited at first, [then] wary … [and now] excited for it all over again.”
Although I missed out on being a part of the Twilight era, it is a prominent series that has created a sense of nostalgia for many. This has been proved recently when Meyer’s website crashed with the announcement of Midnight Sun, due to the amount of people who were eager to hear the news. In 2008, the manuscript for Midnight Sun was leaked online, resulting in Meyer temporarily abandoning the project. We are finally getting to see it published now in 2020. This is significant for readers of the series, as many thought that Midnight Sun would never see the light of day. This has the potential to strengthen their nostalgic relationship with the series, but also offers the opportunity for teens who missed out on the original hype to be part of the excitement for the new book. Perhaps in the future, new readers of the Twilight series will become nostalgic about Midnight Sun.
On the release day for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes people flocked to social media to show their love for the franchise. They uploaded pictures of them as children dressed in The Hunger Games merchandise and comparison pictures of them with the new book as adults. These readers have remained loyal to this franchise for ten years and are desperate to celebrate that fact. While it’s easy to remain loyal to a franchise that releases content regularly. it can be difficult once the franchise comes to an end. There has not been a new installment in the franchise since 2015, when Mockingjay Part 2 was released in cinemas. Why have people remained so loyal? The answer is, in part, nostalgia.
Will either Midnight Sun or The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ever be able to compare to the original series? In the survey with Paper Lanterns, I noticed that when readers were asked their opinion on the new Hunger Games prequel, most substantiated their thoughts by comparing it to the original trilogy. By using the terms “revival” and “original series” we are considering these books to be separate and independent, despite belonging to the same franchise. Revivals won’t be judged solely on their own merits because readers will inevitably link them to the originals, as the survey indicated. Perhaps this is only natural, as these books not only have to compete with the quality of its predecessors, but also with the legacy of the original books. Our nostalgia for the original books can give us heightened expectations and preconceived notions for the new installments. If those expectations aren’t met, then it could make us more critical of the book than we may be normally.
It should be questioned whether nostalgia causes us to reflect upon the original series with rose-tinted glasses. People can be nostalgic for content that may not age well with time. This raises the question: are we more accepting of problematic elements in our nostalgic favourites than we would be of books we have no sentimental attachment to?
In Twilight, criticisms of Edward’s possessiveness over Bella arose during the initial publication and stand against the rest of time. However, the books are still bestsellers and Midnight Sun will no doubt be supported. Acknowledging the flaws of a text further develops our understanding of them, presenting them in a new context to engage with. Readers of The Hunger Games expressed concerns when the prequel’s protagonist was announced to be the tyrannical president from the original trilogy. The survey showed that some readers wanted stories about their favourite characters from the original series, while others worried that this prequel would present President Snow as a “character we should sympathise with and relate to.” Nostalgia can distort our objective view and so critically engaging with concerns regarding upcoming texts presents an opportunity for a new, contextually based assessment of both the original series and the new installment. While we may not want our opinion of the beloved Hunger Games series to be lessened, we can decide to trust Collins with this story. It could be that rose-tinted glasses force us to ignore our concerns in order to keep these beloved series on the pedestal our nostalgia has placed them.
In my experience, nostalgia is positive because it can make you feel part of something, like you belong. Many survey responses highlighted that the “uniqueness” of The Hunger Games is what led to its popularity. It’s the memories associated with it that make me wish I could experience it again for the first time. If I had known, at eleven, that the memories would become so special, then the series wouldn’t likely be nostalgic for me today. It’s impossible to predict which books will become nostalgic. That is what makes reading so wonderful.
Find your copy of issue 2 here.
