Abstract

Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt and the novel upon which it is based, Alberto Moravia's Il Disprezzo, depict the process of making a film adaptation of the Odyssey. While the Odyssey considers the difficulties of returning to a physical home, Moravia and Godard expand the bounds of nostalgia to the temporal and textual realms: the "homes" that are sought are the past and the Odyssey. Moravia depicts these objects of nostalgia as irretrievably lost, while Godard depicts them as never having existed at all. For Godard, the "home" and other origins become idealized when viewed through the lens of nostalgia.

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