Eric G. Wilson
Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English | Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC, UNITED STATES
Wilson is a leading expert in the relationships between literature and psychology.
Biography
As a leading expert in the relationships between literature and psychology, Eric G. Wilson embraces what many fear: melancholy, mental illness, and controversy. A distinguished Romantic scholar and best-selling author, Wilson chronicles his struggle and ultimate embrace of bipolar disorder in the wake of his daughter’s birth, challenges America’s obsessions with superficial happiness, and explores William Blake’s vision of creativity and the practices it implies.
Well-versed on subjects ranging from film and religion to humanism and technology, Wilson has appeared on NBC’s Today show, NPR and BBC, and his work has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Los Angeles Times. “Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck” – which explores the many forms of morbid curiosity and argues that macabre fascination is essential for a good life — was released in the spring of 2012. He is currently blogging on the topic for Psychology Today.
His most recent release, “Keeping it Fake,” Wilson draws on the science, philosophy and social pressures that shape our inauthentic lives arguing that people regularly create less-than-authentic identities, whether it is through Facebook profiles, plastic surgeries, or tuning into a news channel that simply verifies our opinions.
Areas of Expertise (7)
American Culture and Mental Health
Literature and Psychology
Film and Religion
Western Esoteric Traditions
Humanism and Technology
Transatlantic Romanticism
The Gothic
Media
Publications:
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Videos:
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Education (3)
City University of New York, Graduate Center: Ph.D., English Literature
Wake Forest University: M.A., English Literature
Appalachian State University: B.A., English Literature
Media Appearances (5)
When death is a fascination
The Atlantic
2015-08-13
Doctors handle the gore, morticians prettify bodies. Eric Wilson argues that death is not something we regularly encounter anymore, adding an extra layer of mystery and intrigue. In his book, Wilson quotes French historian Philippe Aries: “When death arrives, it is regarded as an accident, a sign of hopelessness and clumsiness that must be put out of mind.” Over the phone, Wilson explains that he was drawn to writing about why it’s so hard for us to look away from gore because he, himself, felt an attraction to it. “I’ve had an abiding interest in the melancholy,” he says. “I wanted to understand the complexity of that.”
Travel disasters bring out the best, the worst ...and the cannibalism
NPR
2015-07-17
Indeed you could think of Odysseus' long journey home in The Odyssey as just one travel disaster after another, says Eric Wilson, author of Everyone Loves a Train Wreck. Odysseus endures "just one test after another of his mettle," Wilson explains. "Is he wily enough, is he crafty enough, is he strong enough, is he brave enough ... and the answer in all cases is yes!"...
Q&A: Author Eric Wilson on how to create an authentic identity in an increasingly fake world
Deseret News National
2015-07-05
But how authentic the identities people project are — online or offline — is an increasingly slippery notion, says Wake Forest University English professor Eric G. Wilson. In his new book, “Keep It Fake: Inventing an Authentic Life,” Wilson argues a person’s individual identity is a work in progress, and it’s harder than ever to craft an individual sense of self with the rise of social media and a 24-hour news cycle...
‘Keep It Fake,’ by Eric G. Wilson
The New York Times
2015-06-19
Toward the end of his terrific new philosophical investigation, “Keep It Fake: Inventing an Authentic Life,” Eric G. Wilson admits that, as with many of us, learning how to be a good dad was something he had a tough time figuring out. On the cusp of fatherhood he was working too much, and drinking too much — sound familiar? — and battling depression. But he had the good sense and good luck to find an excellent psychiatrist...
Imagining an authentic life
The Huffington Post
2015-05-05
I am the boy whose first word was "ball." I am six and sitting at dinner with my parents and two-year-old brother. We are eating chicken-and-cream-of-mushroom casserole, Del Monte green beans, and Brown' n Serve dinner rolls. On the Zenith in the other room, Cronkite drones "And that's the way it was." The overhead bulbs glare on the pine-green plates and the charred candle-wicks we light only on steak nights...
Articles (5)
The Gift of Financial Insecurity.
Chronicle of Higher Education
In 1864, when Americans were enduring the daily miseries of the Civil War, Emily Dickinson, perhaps with the nationwide crisis in mind, wrote" A nearness to Tremendousness--/An Agony procures." The author suggests that perhaps Dickinson's poetry may be applied to ...
The Dark Art
The Georgia Review
When I was a young teenager, I longed most to spend my days, especially in summer, lolling about in my dark bedroom. My blinds dimming the morning sun to a gloomy beam, I would lie on my floor and stare for hours at the stains on my ceiling-a handprint that blurred into a ...
Matter and spirit in the age of animal magnetism
Philosoph and Literature
During the Romantic period, writers on both sides of the Atlantic explored the sleepwalker as a merger of holiness and horror. Emerging when scientific thinkers for the first time were connecting spirit to electricity and magnetism, the somnambulist became to certain ...
The Melancholy Android
On the Psychology of Sacred Machines
I would most like to thank Pranab Das, who suggested to me the primary distinction of this book: between the android as a realization of spiritual potential and as a violation of natural law. I must again offer my deepest appreciation for the intellectual presence of Phil ...
Moviegoing and Golem-Making: The Case of Blade Runner
Journal of Film and Video
To go to a film in a certain mood is to yearn for Eden, the world redeemed beyond decay and the self restored to a grace. Viewed in this light, the exquisite forms on the screen- a grant or joy- prove realizations of the potential for truth and beauty and goodness that most of us possess but fail to actualize...
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