Eric G. Wilson says so in his new book Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy (Sarah Crichton Books/FSG). He even goes as far to say that the pursuit of happiness is dangerous and boring.

 Wilson, an English professor at Wake Forest University, says that if you run away from your sorrow you’ll cut yourself off from a full life. By his own admission his book is meant to be a challenge to what he calls America’s addiction to happiness.

Wilson goes onto say that life is fuller when extreme opposites like joy and sorrow fight for your mind. On the surface he seems right on. For instance there would be no ying without the yang. Where would chocolate be without vanilla ice cream? Want more proof? Consider these: Sonny and Cher; Peaches and Cream; Democrats and Republicans; hot and cold; soft and hard; life and death.

For Wilson, true happiness can only come to those that suffer. In other words, if you don’t challenge your everyday thinking, if you don’t question the status quo, your life will stagnate. You’ll be stuck, going nowhere, mired in a sea of sameness. You’ll be happy on the outside but miserable on the inside knowing that your happiness isn’t true happiness, but merely a facade.

Put in these terms, you can’t help but want to live the fullest life possible.

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