In my junior year at Wabash, I chose to major in English when all test scores and personality inventories suggested I should pursue some form of mathematics. I didn't know it then, but at that moment I began following W.B. Yeats' axiom that in a state of nature, that which we are seeks to become that which we are not.

 


Magazine
Fall/Winter 1999

Gerald Wood ’66
 Professor and Chair of the English Department
Carson-Newman College, TN

What is the most significant event that has occurred in your profession or field of study during the 20th century? What lesson do you take away from that event?

Either World War I, which demonstrated the impersonality of living and dying in the 20th century, or the failure of the Cubs to repeat in 1907, which revealed that the fall from Eden is eternal.

Personally, what is the most meaningful life lesson you have taken from your vocation or avocation?

In my junior year at Wabash, I chose to major in English when all test scores and personality inventories suggested I should pursue some form of mathematics. I didn't know it then, but at that moment I began following W.B. Yeats' axiom that in a state of nature, that which we are seeks to become that which we are not. In a half-conscious and fumbling way I have been using that paradigm of personal integration ever since.

What person(s) or mentor(s) have had the most significant impact on your life? Can you describe how that person affected your life?

Francois Truffaut and Horton Foote. Their work and lives have shown me how to become grateful for every breath.

In your experience, what is the greatest misconception the public has about your vocation (or field of study) or the people in that vocation?

That English is abstract and subjective. The details, emotions, and stories of literature and film are, I believe, the basis of all healthy and graceful living. See Conor McPherson's play The Weir.

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