This essay elaborates on my presentation on nostalgia and postcolonial literature, as presented at the 8th symposium of the Ghent Africa Platform held in autumn 2014. During this presentation I made a short analysis of how Svetlana Boym’s ideas on nostalgia, as expressed in her book Nostalgia for the Future, can be used to analyse Erwin Mortier’s memories of traveling, as noted in his book Afscheid van Congo: met Jef Geeraerts terug naar de evenaar (Goodbye to Congo: back to the equator with Jef Geeraerts). During my presentation I also introduced the relation between nostalgia and (aesthetic) vitalism. In this paper I will elaborate on the relation between nostalgia and vitalism as a phenomenon within (post)colonial literature.

Key words: Svetlana Boym, Erwin Mortier, Jef Geeraerts, vitalism, nostalgia