Nostalgia and disjointed time : an affective response to temporal rupture

Abstract

In this thesis, I argue that nostalgia arises as an embodied response to disruptions in our temporal–affective field—ruptures that may concern the past, the present, or the future—rather than as a simple longing for an irretrievable past. Existing philosophical and psychological literature have focused overwhelmingly on nostalgia’s retrospective dimension, overlooking non-retrospective forms such as anticipatory nostalgia. I show that anticipatory nostalgia—longing for a present moment even as it unfolds—challenges the assumption that nostalgia must look backward. Both anticipatory and traditional nostalgia share a core structure: an affective rupture that casts absence into presence and hinges on a breakdown of seamless temporal continuity. To support these claims, I develop a phenomenological framework grounded in Merleau-Ponty’s analysis of time-consciousness and contemporary theories of affective intentionality. I demonstrate that nostalgia surfaces when our prereflective synthesis of past, present, and future falters. In such moments, we long not for the content of a scene but for the temporal coherence that scene discloses. Nostalgia thus functions as an affective buffer, helping to restore a sense of self-continuity after an affective-temporal disruption. This thesis unfolds in five parts. First, I map the traditional account of nostalgia as a retrospective longing and identify its limitations. Second, I introduce anticipatory nostalgia and show how it shares nostalgia’s defining structure. Third, I outline the auto-affective movement that constitutes subjectivity. Fourth, I argue for the co-constitution of temporality and affectivity, drawing on analyses of the lived and objectified body. Finally, I apply this framework to nostalgia, revealing its role as an affective response to temporal disruption. By reconceptualizing nostalgia as a response to a temporal-affective rupture, this thesis offers a unified account that bridges traditional and anticipatory forms, expanding our understanding of how we care for the continuity of our own unfolding experience.