The 'Vision of Home'. Nostalgia in Anna Mitgutsch's Haus der Kindheit (2000)

The article examines the role that photographs play in Anna Mitgutsch's Haus der Kindheit [House of Childhood, 2000] as co-ordinates of time and space. A 'narrative of return', the novel describes how a former child refugee comes back to the place of his birth and traces his efforts to reclaim his family home. With the help of theoretical works on photography and nostalgia, I seek to show how family photographs that call forth nostalgic desire lead in the final instance to disappointment and resignation, as their ultimate, impossible aim is to reclaim time rather than a particular place.