Past Perfect

Many cities or countries have a distinct malaise. They could be like Portugal, so sunk in a painful longing for the past, a place where each tension of the present is only the tip of an iceberg that is explained in successive retreats that go straight to the origin of the species. This feeling, which is common to many latitudes, is often presented as a diagnosis, a denial of a painful present as opposed to the desire to return to a glorious past.