How do you evoke nostalgia?

Question

I want to bring on a "flashback". By this, I mean I want to attempt to remember as much about a certain time as I possibly can. I know that the sense of smell is supposedly the best at drawing on memory, but does anyone have any tips on how I can uncover some precise details about an old memory?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hi, I guess you're thinking of Marcel Proust's "A la recherche du Temps perdu".
Memory is based on association between sensations and informations.
When you read a book, you remember not only what was inside the book, but also the time you felt at this moment. So try to find a book you were reading at this certain time, and try to read some pages.
Do some research about what was in the newspapers at this time, and go back to the place you lived at this time, try to remember the rhythm of your days, etc...
Good luck. Don't loose your time, traces of the past are not forever, they die, like everything.

Answer 2

Recently, I heard about research that said that the more we bring a memory back, the less accurate it becomes and the more we change it. So I guess what you are tryng to do is counterproductive. Still, nostalgia is remembering a time as being good even when it was not. Gunter Grasse's novel, The Tin Drum, showed a good example of that.
Besides these comments, try to find old photographs from that time and see if they jar your memory, but remember, you can never be sure if what you remember was accurate.