ZUKUNFTSORIENTIERTE NOSTALGIE? EVIDENZEN AUS DER ESCHATOLOGISCHEN LITERATUR DES MITTELALTERS
IN SEARCH OF FUTURE-ORIENTED NOSTALGIA OR ESCHATOLOGICAL LONGING IN MEDIEVAL GERMAN LITERATURE

Summary/Abstract: The present study focuses on the phenomenon of nostalgia in medieval eschatological literature by drawing on the Muspilli, an Old High German poem dating to 870, which relates the events of the Final days. It is argued that nostalgia may not necessarily be viewed as a nostalgic memory of the past but it may also be evoked by future events. It should be noted that future-oriented longing differs essentially from the common expectation of the future. The latter entails doubt, uncertainty, whereas the former suggests strong belief. The Muspilli does not illustrate one of the possible scenarios of the end of the World but the only possible scenario, unveiled only to the wise (uueroltrehuuison, line 37). Belief in the latter scenario is so strong in the eschatological literature that it becomes transformed into personal experience. Since this experience is related to an event set in the indefinite future, eschatological nostalgia carries implications of future-oriented longing.

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