LES FORMES DE LA NOSTALGIE DANS LA POÉSIE D’OSCAR MILOSZ ET D’ALFONSAS NYKA-NILIŪNAS
FORMS OF NOSTALGIA IN OSCAR MILOSZ AND ALFONSAS NYKA-NILIŪNAS’S POETRY

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses two forms of nostalgia in poetry by two prominent authors of the twentieth century: the French-Lithuanian poet, Oscar Milosz, and Lithuanian poet, Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas. Both can be seen as exile poets. In Milosz case, it was a voluntary exile; whereas Nyka-Niliūnas was forced to leave his homeland. Poetic language is also different: only Nyka-Niliūnas displaces nostalgia for his native language, the „real place“ on earth. However, there are more similarities than differences between the two poets. Comparative analysis of poetry shows that the theme of loss and a motif of the return constitute an axis of their creative model. Various modulations of loss introduce a whole range of nuances of nostalgia, foremost related to childhood archetypes. Nostalgia is far from monotonous, dark or misty. On the contrary, it gradually acquires more creative power. Its dynamism asserts itself as the search for a utopian space in the infinity, resisting the environment rooted in specific space and time. Namely nostalgia shifts poetic dream toward metaphysical reality. This reality, unlike the perception by both authors, depends on the historical and social environment (external causes) and on the approach to the faith (the most important internal cause). By inspiring to take not only a physical trip toa concrete country, but also a metaphysical journey in space and time, nostalgia becomes increasingly independent of the situation of exile. The analysis confirms the thesis that „nostalgia has two sides: that of rootedness and uprootedness“ (Barbara Cassin).

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