Nostalgia For Ys

Nostalgia can be vicarious. We can feel it when reading the early chapters of an autobiography or even about a fictitious place like Susan Howatch's Starbridge with its Eternity Street, quiet Cathedral close, chapel in the wood and Bishop's lawn sloping down to the river.

Incredibly, in The Dog And The Wolf (London, 1989), Poul and Karen Anderson convey not only nostalgia but also even vicarious nostalgia for the destroyed city of Ys. Verania had never visited Ys but its King, Gratillonius, had become a familiar guest at her father's house. Verania's contact with Gratillonius enabled her to compose and sing a song beginning:

" 'I remember Ys, though I have never seen her...' " (p. 162)

("I remember (fill in the blank)" is a powerful opening. The evocative "I Remember Babylon," both title and concluding phrase of a short story by Arthur C Clarke, sounds as if it refers to reincarnation but then means something else.)

Verania:

imagines that she had walked through Ysan streets as a ghost;
has dreamed of living there;
mourns for Ys although she was not there;
addresses " '...you...,' " Gratillonius, who does remember Ys;
had heard " '...many ancient tales of splendid Ys...' " (p. 162);
refers to the city's Tyrian and Punic heritage;
describes Ys as " '...hundred-towered...legend-haunting...Ys the golden...the wondrous place where all once yearned to be' " (p. 163);
says that she will continue to remember Ys and wonders if " '...our ghosts...' " will return there " '...and never leave?' " (p. 163)

Thus, she speaks for the readers who remember Ys from three previous volumes.