Eric G. Wilson is an English professor at Wake Forest University and the author of “Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy.” In a brief interview with the Chicago Tribune, he explained his key concept:
“I really feel strongly that Americans’ addiction to happiness is dangerous. In some ways, it’s leading to a kind of superficiality and vapidity that cuts away a lot of contemplation, that cuts away a lot of creativity.
Ultimately, I feel the book says (that) to stand against happiness, to push against happiness, is to open up the possibility for what I call joy, which I distinguish from happiness. To me, joy grows out of melancholy, the idea being that a fully lived, fully human life is a complex mixture between joy and sorrow, and that’s ultimately what makes us human. So my book is really a call to live a deeper, possibly more ecstatic, energized, vital life by sitting with and by exploring melancholy.”
Hmm, maybe I should turn off my SAD light and stop taking the St. John’s Wort. What do you think of Wilson’s premise?
