Impossible Talk

I just had a very rewarding interview with Jeff Kripal and Scott Jones on their show IMPOSSIBLE TALK. We talked about all sorts of compelling subjects, ranging from irony in cinema to the golden mean to paranormal experience. The podcast is now available on
iTunes. You can subscribe by going to iTunes and searching Impossible Talk. Tell your friends!

Cary Grant, Prince of Denmark

I just had an article published on Cary Grant, the greatest actor ever, and, yes, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. It's in the magazine Bright Lights. All you film lovers might find it interesting. The essay also examines the role of Grant's melancholy in his delightfully vexed acting style. Here's the link: http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/68/68carygrant.php

The Mercy of Eternity

Here's the cover for my new book, coming out in the fall with Northwestern University Press. The catalog copy goes like this:

The Mercy of Eternity
A Memoir of Depression and Grace
Eric G. Wilson


In his bestselling book Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy (2008) Eric G. Wilson challenged our culture's blindly insistent pursuit of happiness at all costs. In his harrowing yet ultimately hopeful memoir The Mercy of Eternity the author turns an unsparing eye on his continuing struggle with bipolar depression, and finds within the very illness that causes so much suffering the resources for hope, forgiveness, and love.

Although it is Wilson's illness that brings these virtues into sharper relief, The Mercy of Eternity charts events and challenges that any reflective person must consider in his or her lifetime. A bright student-athlete on his way to West Point, Eric Wilson seemed to be well on the way to a fulfilling life, yet from his teen years he was haunted by overwhelming feelings of deep insignificance. As he aged, the traditional means of fulfillment—marriage and professional success—did nothing to assuage the descents into to darkness and destructive behavior.

As a scholar of literature, Eric Wilson often encounters the biggest question of life: is this suffering meaningful? From the Book of Job to Oedipus Rex to Hamlet to the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and beyond, writers have wrestled with a similar question. For most of his life, Wilson has tried to eradicate either the imagined or real sources of suffering. Therapy and medication have offered some relief, but the birth of his daughter ultimately forces his hand. In some ways, the answer was in front of him the whole time, for Wilson finds in the literature of Coleridge, Blake, and others the lessons the depression might teach. When he comes upon “negative theology”--the school of thought that finds God in “dark night of the soul”—Wilson discovers the framework for a radical call to forgive depression. Only by forgiving this capricious, impersonal force is Wilson able to find the grace to move beyond the cycles of destructive self-absorption.

In a refreshingly honest coda, Wilson explains his title, based on this passage from Blake: “Time is the mercy of eternity...without Time's swiftness, which is the swiftest of all things, all were eternal torment.” Wilson admits that he still struggles, but in facing his depression instead of trying to escape it he finds wisdom and grace. Beautifully and accessibly written, The Mercy of Eternity is a brief yet profound meditation on largest question of life.

Eric G. Wilson is the Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest University. His previous book, Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy (2008) was a Los Angeles Times and Calgary Herald bestseller, and was featured on NBC’s “Today Show,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Talk of the Nation,” the BBC’s “Today Programme,” and CBC’s “The Current.” It was also featured or reviewed in Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, among many others.

The Rap on Happiness

Here's a piece from the New York Times Book Review that discusses a recent backlash against the self-help industry and positive psychology: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/books/review/Bloom-t.html?scp=1&sq=rap%20on%20happiness&st=cse. The article, by fiction writer Amy Bloom, mentions Against Happiness as well as another book worth checking out: Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright-Sided.

Gnostic Media

Last week I had a very interesting conversation with Jan Irvin, the host of a weekly podcast for Gnostic Media Research & Publishing. His show, as he describes it, "takes you far beyond the commonly understood concepts of religious practice, history, philosophy, the ancient mysteries, and politics, into the heart of cognizance itself." We talked about America's addiction to superficial happiness and the powers of melancholia, of course, but also about an array of other subjects, ranging from shopping malls to politics to Paradise Lost. Here's a link to the show: http://gnosticmedia.podomatic.com/

Gnosis and Melancholy

I just came across a very insightful lecture on Gnosticism by Erik Davis, an excellent writer on all sorts of subjects, including technology, the occult, and Led Zeppelin. (For more on Mr. Davis, see http://www.techgnosis.com/index.php.)

In the talk, Davis clearly describes the Gnostic tradition and then connects it to psychology and ultimately to melancholy. The talk is brief, too--well worth your time. Here's a link:
http://techgnosis.com/chunkshow-single.php?chunk=chunkfrom-2009-12-22-2155-0.txt.

I was pleased to hear that Mr. Davis in the lecture referenced an article I published a few years ago in The Georgia Review, called "The Dark Art": www.uga.edu/garev/spring07/wilson.pdf.

The Black Dog

I just enjoyed a very interesting conversation with Jon Hansen on his blogtalk radio show. We spent some time discussing the relationship between melancholy and economics, mainly focusing on how too much optimism can lead, perhaps ironically, to failure, financial or otherwise. Here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jon-hansen/2009/11/24/against-happiness-are-we-trying-to-hard-to-be-happ