author
John Wilson
1785–1854
Best known as "Christopher North," this larger-than-life Scottish writer mixed literary criticism, poetry, fiction, and personality in a way that helped shape early 19th-century magazine culture. He was also a long-serving professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, bringing his forceful voice into both literature and academic life.
4 Audiobooks
Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 1
by John Wilson
Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2
by John Wilson
Stories of Romance
by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, Allan Cunningham, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford, John Wilson
The Isle of Palms, and Other Poems
by John Wilson
About the author
Born in Paisley, Scotland, on May 18, 1785, John Wilson grew into one of the most recognizable literary personalities of his time. He studied at the University of Glasgow and at Magdalen College, Oxford, and later became known not only as an author and critic but also as an energetic public figure with wide interests beyond the page.
Wilson is most closely associated with the pen name Christopher North, under which he became a leading voice in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. His essays, criticism, and imaginative prose made him influential in the literary world of the early 1800s, and his style was known for its vigor, confidence, and strong opinions.
Alongside his writing career, he served as professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh for many years. That blend of literary fame and academic authority helped secure his reputation in Scottish cultural life, and he remained a notable presence until his death on April 3, 1854.