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Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy Paperback – January 20, 2009

by Eric G. Wilson (Author)

40 customer reviews

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We are addicted to happiness. More than any other generation, Americans today believe in the power of positive thinking. But who says we’re supposed to be happy? In Against Happiness, the scholar Eric G. Wilson argues that melancholia is necessary to any thriving culture, that it is the muse of great literature, painting, music, and innovation—and that it is the force underlying original insights.

So enough Prozac-ing of our brains. Let’s embrace our depressive side as the wellspring of creativity. It’s time to throw off the shackles of positivity and relish the blues thatmake us human.

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Product Details

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books; First Edition edition (January 20, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374531668
ISBN-13: 978-0374531669
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 7.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #407 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Emotions
- #489 in Books > Self-Help > Creativity
- #599 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Anthropology > Cultural

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Customer Reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars

5 star		30%
4 star		28%
3 star		10%
2 star		17%
1 star		15%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 77 people found the following review helpful

Brilliant in Parts, but Seriously Flawed

By B. Case TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on February 23, 2008

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

This is a small book with a simple thesis: the experience of melancholy is an essential part of the human condition--when it occurs, we should embrace it, not repress it. Wilson claims that if you eliminate melancholia either through medications (like Prozac), or through a forceful cultural bias toward perpetual happiness such as currently exists in America, then life ceases to be authentic, and society fails.

Much of the book is one long rant against a contemporary American culture that requires artificial happiness at all times. Wilson shows that our melancholic side is absolutely essential. He insists that melancholy is necessary to connect us to our fundamental self. He claims that to reject melancholy is to reject life.

Wilson writes: "A person seeking sleek comfort in this mysteriously mottled world--where love is always edged with resentment and baseness beds with grace--is necessarily required to perceive only small parts of the planet, those parts that fit into his preconceived mental grids... But some people strain all the time to break through their mental manacles, to cleanse the portals of their perceptions, and to see the universe as an ungraspable riddle, gorgeous and gross. Happy types, those Americans bent only on happiness and afraid of sadness, tend to forgo this labor. They sit safe in their cages. The sad ones, dissatisfied with the status quo, are more likely to beat against the bars" (p. 24). [Note: If you found this quote somewhat dense and difficult, be forewarned: this type of prose is typical of the entire volume. Although some of Wilson's writing is dynamic, rich, and lyrical, I often found it also turgid and unnecessarily arcane.Read more ›

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44 of 48 people found the following review helpful

Resisting our craving for certainty

By Kerry Walters VINE VOICE on February 18, 2008

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

In this wise (and at times irritating) little book, Eric Wilson asks readers to reflect on three things: first, that all of us read our experiences through a filter of abstractions and preconceptions that mold reality into what we want it to be; second, that the American consumerist, instant-gratification culture encourages us to fashion filters that breed a bovine contentment by devaluing anything that smacks of sadness and ignoring the darker, untamed aspects of human existence; and third, that our cultural obsession with certainty, clear classifications, and airtight definitions may be a sign of repressed anxiety.

Wilson argues that "melancholy," or a restless dissatisfaction with the status quo, serves as a check on our tendency to personal and social self-deception. Moreover, it weans us of our need for certainty by encouraging us to explore the "dark boundaries between opposites" (p. 73), thereby inviting "a vision of a healing third term" (p. 76) which embraces rather than denies ambiguity and discordance. The melancholic mood accommodates insight into the fact that the world isn't fixed, that beauty and all good things in life are possible only because they and we are transient, and that a human being is homo viator, a pilgrim open to possibilities because refusing to embrace false certainties. This "ironic" orientation to the world acknowledges the anxiety that impermanence and uncertainty bring, but also recognizes that the anxiety can go hand in hand with a sense of imaginative playfulness and profound gratitude.

Wilson insists that he's not trying to trivialize clinical depression or genuine joy.Read more ›

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Five Stars

By Jae yu on May 6, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

good

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Wisdom in the dark places

By William Timothy Lukeman TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on December 2, 2010

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

"The pursuit of happiness" ... we grow up with that phrase, but seldom stop to examine or question it. What exactly do we mean by happiness? Do we ever really find it? And in pursuing it so desperately, do we completely miss a deeper experience of life & self-knowledge?

Those are some of the questions Eric Wilson asks in this slim, poetic book. As he points out, for so many today, happiness is generally to be found in money, in things, in status -- in short, the most superficial aspects of life. It's the creed of a consumerist culture: more, more, more, and happiness is yours! Yet More never does seem to become Enough, does it?

But Wilson isn't simply offering another critique of consumerism, however necessary. He delves into the sources of great art & great thought, of life rooted in reflection & meaning, rather than in possession of material things. To be sure, everyone needs food, shelter, clothing! But he accurately pinpoints the ways in which the frantic pursuit of happiness as an end in itself distracts us from our own painful, troubling, soul-wracking depths.

Using examples from literature & art, Wilson demonstrates how much melancholy (as distinguished from clinical depression) has served as a dark but powerful wellspring for creativity, and a richer understanding of life. These days, melancholy is viewed as an illness, something to be treated or numbed with medication & optimism, rather than as a natural human state. How often are we told to "find closure" by a specified deadline, or to "move forward" instead of reflecting on our questions & sorrows?

This is a truth long known to creative souls & many psychologists: Life is made richer, deeper, and more endurable by Meaning, rather than by chasing the illusory & ephemeral promises of Happiness.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Book presents very interesting ideas, but not really worth the time to...

The entire book is summed up in the first chapter, which is really the only chapter worth the time to read. Read more

Published 17 days ago by Thomas

An excellent inquisition into a much maligned though essential state...

An excellent inquisition into a much maligned though essential state of mind. My one little quibble would be how is it possible for Wilson, the head of a Literature department, to... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Scott Lidak

Five Stars

Beautifully written. Nice prose.

Published 8 months ago by Amazon Customer

Looking for light!

Some truly pithy and convincing sections in this book; I just wish the total impact were a little lighter or inviting.
A pretty gloomy, but perhaps realistic outlook.

Published 10 months ago by William E. Biebel

Is this the first draft?

This book could be better if shortened by at least 50%. It looks to me like a rant in someone's private journal, a place where this sort of writing can be useful as an idea dump. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Amazon Customer

DEFINITELY WORTH IT!

Another phenomenal read.

I read more or less for my own work. I related to a lot of the contents within. Read more

Published on June 17, 2013 by Paige

Clarity and good editing are clearly underrated.

I didn't pay too much attention to the negative reviews here on Amazon before purchasing this book. The subject -- well, what I thought was the thesis of this book -- is endlessly... Read more

Published on January 8, 2013 by Dustin G. Rhodes

Food for heart and mind

An important book for people who see the limits of life as well as the possibilities. There is fertile soil in us all for melancholy. Read more

Published on March 13, 2012 by Christian R

Against "Against Happiness"

I am so sorry I didn't sample this book before purchasing it. From what I could glean, the author has padded a two-page essay with 161 pages of excess verbiage, thus milking a... Read more

Published on September 16, 2011 by Sue W Kirkham

Eh+

I am Eric Wilson. He and I would get along well, or not well, since we both seem to have an aversion to most people. Read more

Published on July 30, 2011 by Bob