Campus Class-Act: Professor Jonathan Wilson

The first time I met Professor Wilson, I was asking him to be my advisor. Witty, charming, and interesting, I was put at ease immediately. As Director of Center for the Humanities At Tufts (48 Professors Row, the white house near the Campus Center), he’s always got an intriguing event to check out. (http://ase.tufts.edu/chat/events/)  For example, this Thursday November 3^rd at 5:30 in Cohen, there will be a talk with Kenzaburo Oe, the Japanese novelist, essayist, and winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize for literature. And as my current Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction professor, I can attest that he’s got a lot of knowledge to pass on, too. 

                                                                             Professor Jonathan Wilson

Department:  English, Director of Center for the Humanities at Tufts
 
Hometown:  London, England

What do you teach?  Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction, Contemporary Memoir
 
How many years have you taught at Tufts?  Since 1982
 
What’s your favorite aspect of Tufts?  It’s tough to narrow it down to one thing. I guess my favorite aspect of Tufts has been my interaction with students over the years. And, I like the size of Tufts that lends itself well to develop a real friendship with students. One of the nicest things with me is I’ve been here for more than 30 years and there are students I’ve had that I’m still in touch with. That is delightful.  

Why are you passionate about what you teach?  Growing up, I loved two things, reading and soccer or football as I call it. It came quite clear to me pretty early on that I wasn’t going to be a professional soccer player so I followed my passion for reading, writing, literature, art, and music.
 
What’s your favorite aspect of teaching?  (Laughs) All these favorite questions are difficult to answer! I think what I like best are those moments when a class is going really well. When somebody says something really insightful or grasped something I hadn’t thought of at all. When somebody writes a story that blows me away completely, and I had no influence on it at all. Some moment where I learned something from the students. (Laughs) Much as I enjoy imparting the wisdom of the ages…when somebody gets very excited by a piece of writing or book that I’m really excited by.

What were you like in college? The first time I was in college it was 1968…and I left at the end of the first year, like a lot of people in 1968, which was a year of great upheaval…I worked for a year and went back to a different college, the University of Essex which was wonderful, intellectually stimulating. After a year of working on the outside, I never wanted to leave college. So, I loved what I was studying but I also had a fairly wild life in college like many of my contemporaries who went during that time.

What made you want to go back to college after leaving?  I worked for a year as a surveyor’s assistant, holding the other end of the tape measurer, measuring garbage dumps in England, and I figured I better go back to college and stay there.

What advice would you give to college students?  I would say…don’t stop reading and don’t run away from the Arts and the Humanities just because we live in a culture in which the economy has terrified everyone so much that they think they have to scamper to the world of business or medicine.
 
What do you think of Boston?  I’ve lived here a long time…I’m not a huge fan of Boston… but I am a fan of Boston’s sports team. I’m the lifelong fan of Tottenhan Hotspur soccer team, they’re my number one team but I like all the Boston sports team, too. I love New York, so I don’t spend that much time in Boston. (Laughs) One of the problems is that Boston gets presented as an English town in America but if you’re from England, it’s not such a big deal. I like my American cities to be how I imagined when I was living in England and New York fits the bill.
 
Who inspires you?  My sons. I have one son who is a filmmaker and one who is a novelist.
 
If you have had any wonderful, awesome, inspirational professors, please feel free to e-mail me their names so I can interview them in “Campus Class-Acts!” (Alexandria.chu@tufts.edu)