Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...

and the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his philosophy "new

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...

" or " phenomenological existentialism", and maintained his life work was "that of a philosopher, and (his) purpose to create a new and optimistic existentialism".

Early life

Wilson was born on 26 June 1931 in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, the first child of Arthur and Annetta Wilson. His father worked in a shoe factory.Colin Wilson, ''Dreaming to Some Purpose'' (Arrow, 2005) At the age of eleven he attended Gateway Secondary Technical School, where his interest in science began to blossom. By the age of 14 he had compiled a multi-volume work of essays covering many aspects of science entitled ''A Manual of General Science''. But by the time he left school at sixteen, his interests were already switching to literature. His discovery of

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's work, particularly '' Man and Superman'', was a landmark. He started to write stories, plays, and essays in earnest – a long "sequel" to ''Man and Superman'' made him consider himself to be 'Shaw's natural successor.' After two unfulfilling jobs – one as a laboratory assistant at his old school – he drifted into the Civil Service, but found little to occupy his time. In the autumn of 1949, he was conscripted into the Royal Air Force but soon found himself clashing with authority, eventually feigning homosexuality in order to be dismissed. Upon leaving he took up a succession of menial jobs, spent some time wandering around Europe, and finally returned to Leicester in 1951. There he married his first wife, (Dorothy) Betty Troop, and moved to London, where a son, Roderick Gerard, was born. He later wrote a semi-autobiograpical novel Adrift in Soho that was based on his time in London. But the marriage rapidly disintegrated as he drifted in and out of several jobs. During this traumatic period, Wilson was continually working and reworking the novel that was eventually published as ''Ritual in the Dark'' (1960). He also met three young writers who became close friends – Bill Hopkins, Stuart Holroyd and Laura Del-Rivo. Another trip to Europe followed, and he spent some time in Paris attempting to sell magazine subscriptions. Returning to Leicester again, he met Joy Stewart – later to become his second wife and mother of their three children – who accompanied him to London. There he continued to work on ''Ritual in the Dark'', receiving some advice from

Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson, CBE (11 August 191331 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for '' The Middle Age o ...

(no relation) – then deputy superintendent of the British Museum's Reading Room – and slept rough (in a sleeping bag) on

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band ...

to save money. On Christmas Day, 1954, alone in his room, he sat down on his bed and began to write in his journal. He described his feelings as follows:

''The Outsider''

Gollancz published the 24-year-old Wilson's '' The Outsider'' in 1956. The work examines the role of the social "outsider" in seminal works by various key literary and cultural figuressuch as

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include '' Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and '' The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual ...

, Fyodor Dostoyevsky,

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

and discusses Wilson's perception of

social alienation Social alienation is a person's feeling of disconnection from a group whether friends, family, or wider society to which the individual has an affinity. Such alienation has been described as "a condition in social relationships reflected by (1) ...

in their work. The book became a best-seller and helped popularise

in Britain. It has never been out of print and has been translated into more than thirty languages.

Career

Non-fiction writing

Wilson became associated with the "

angry young men The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working- and middle-class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading figures included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis; other popular figures included Jo ...

" of British literature. He contributed to '' Declaration'', an anthology of manifestos by writers associated with the movement, and was also anthologised in a popular paperback sampler, ''Protest: The

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...

and the Angry Young Men''. Some viewed Wilson and his friends Bill Hopkins and Stuart Holroyd as a sub-group of the "Angries", more concerned with "religious values" than with liberal or socialist politics. Critics on the left swiftly labelled them as fascist; commentator

Kenneth Allsop Kenneth Allsop (29 January 1920 – 23 May 1973) was a British broadcaster, author and naturalist. Early life Allsop was born on 29 January 1920 in Holbeck, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. He was married in St Peter's Church, Ealing, i ...

called them "the law givers". Controversially, during the 1950s Wilson expressed critical support for some of the ideas of Oswald Mosley the leader of Union Movement and after Mosley's death in December 1980, Wilson contributed articles to Mosley's former secretary

Jeffrey Hamm Edward Jeffrey Hamm (15 September 1915 – 4 May 1992) was a leading British fascist and supporter of Oswald Mosley. Although a minor figure in Mosley's prewar British Union of Fascists, Hamm became a leading figure after the Second World War and ...

's ''Lodestar'' magazine. The success of ''The Outsider'' notwithstanding, Wilson's second book, ''Religion and the Rebel'' (1957), was universally panned by critics although Wilson himself claimed it was a more comprehensive book than the first one. While ''The Outsider'' was focused on documenting the subject of mental strain and near-insanity, ''Religion and the Rebel'' was focused on how to expand our consciousness and transform us into visionaries. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine published a review, headlined "Scrambled Egghead", that pilloried the book. Undaunted, Wilson continued to expound his positive "new" existentialism in the six philosophical books known as "The Outsider Cycle", all written within the first ten years of his literary career. These books were summarised by ''Introduction to the New Existentialism'' (1966). When the book was re-printed in 1980 as ''The New Existentialism'', Wilson wrote: "If I have contributed anything to

– or, for that matter, to twentieth century thought in general, here it is. I am willing to stand or fall by it." In ''The Age of Defeat'' (1959) – book 3 of "The Outsider Cycle" – he bemoaned the loss of the hero in twentieth century life and literature, convinced that we were becoming embroiled in what he termed "the fallacy of insignificance". It was this theory that encouraged celebrated American psychologist

Abraham Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow (; April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, cul ...

to contact him in 1963. The two corresponded regularly and met on several occasions before Maslow's death in 1970. Wilson wrote a biography and assessment of Maslow's work, ''New Pathways in Psychology: Maslow and the Post-Freudian Revolution'', based on audiotapes that Maslow had provided, which was published in 1972. Maslow's observation of "peak experiences" in his students – those sudden moments of overwhelming happiness that we all experience from time to time – provided Wilson with an important clue in his search for the mechanism that might control the Outsider's "moments of vision". Maslow, however, was convinced that peak experiences could not be induced; Colin Wilson thought otherwise and, indeed, in later books like ''Access to Inner Worlds'' (1983) and ''Super Consciousness'' (2009), suggested how they could be induced at will. Wilson was also known for what he termed "Existential Criticism", which suggested that a work of art should not just be judged by the principles of literary criticism or theory alone but also by what it has to say, in particular about the meaning and purpose of existence. In his pioneering essay for ''

Chicago Review ''Chicago Review'' is a literary magazine founded in 1946 and published quarterly in the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago. The magazine features contemporary poetry, fiction, and criticism, often publishing works in translation and ...

'' (Volume 13, no. 2, 1959, pp. 152–181) he wrote:

No art can be judged by purely aesthetic standards, although a painting or a piece of music may appear to give a purely aesthetic pleasure. Aesthetic enjoyment is an intensification of the vital response, and this response forms the basis of all value judgements. The existentialist contends that all values are connected with the problems of human existence, the stature of man, the purpose of life. These values are inherent in all works of art, in addition to their aesthetic values, and are closely connected with them.

He went on to write several more essays and books on the subject. Among the latter were ''The Strength to Dream'' (1962), ''Eagle and Earwig'' (1965), ''Poetry and Mysticism'' (1970) ''The Craft of the Novel'' (1975), ''The Bicameral Critic'' (1985) and ''The Books in My Life'' (1998). He also applied existential criticism to many of the hundreds of book reviews he wrote for journals including ''Books & Bookmen'', ''

The Literary Review ''The Literary Review'' is an American literary magazine founded in 1957. The biannual magazine is published internationally by Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey. In addition to the publication of short stories, poems, an ...

'', ''

The London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and miscellaneous topics. 1732–1785 ''The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly I ...

'', ''John O'London's'', ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' and ''The Aylesford Review'' throughout his career. Some of these were gathered together in a book entitled ''Existential Criticism: Selected Book Reviews'', published in 2009. Meanwhile, the prolific Wilson found time to write about other subjects that interested him, even on occasion when his level of expertise might be questionable. The title of his opinionated 1964 volume on music appreciation, ''Brandy of the Damned'', inspired by his enthusiasm for record collecting, used for its title a self-deprecating reference from the onetime music critic Bernard Shaw. The full quote (from ''Man and Superman'') is: "Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned. May not one lost soul be permitted to abstain?” By the late 1960s Wilson had become increasingly interested in

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

themes. In 1971, he published '' The Occult: A History'', featuring interpretations on

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

, George Gurdjieff, Helena Blavatsky,

Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

, primitive magic,

Franz Mesmer Franz Anton Mesmer (; ; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorised the existence of a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called " ani ...

Grigori Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian Mysticism, mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II, the ...

, Daniel Dunglas Home and

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He ...

, among others. He also wrote a markedly unsympathetic biography of Crowley, ''Aleister Crowley: The Nature of the Beast'', and has written biographies on other spiritual and psychological visionaries, including Gurdjieff,

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, ph ...

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, most ...

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as ...

, and

P. D. Ouspensky Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii (known in English as Peter D. Ouspensky; rus, Пётр Демья́нович Успе́нский, Pyotr Demyánovich Uspénskiy; 5 March 1878 – 2 October 1947) was a Russian esotericist known for his expositions ...

. Originally, Wilson focused on the cultivation of what he called "Faculty X", which he saw as leading to an increased sense of meaning, and on abilities such as

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

and the awareness of other energies. In his later work he suggests the possibility of life after death and the existence of spirits, which he personally analyses as an active member of

the Ghost Club The Ghost Club is a paranormal investigation and research organization, founded in London in 1862. It is believed to be the oldest such organization in the world, though its history has not been continuous. The club still investigates mainly gho ...

. He also wrote non-fiction books on crime, ranging from encyclopedias to studies of serial killing. He had an ongoing interest in the life and times of

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...

and in sex crime in general.

Fiction

Wilson explored his ideas on

human potential Human potential is the capacity for humans to improve themselves through studying, training, and practice, to reach the limit of their ability to develop aptitudes and skills. "Inherent within the notion of human potential is the belief that in re ...

and consciousness in fiction, mostly

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as sp ...

or science fiction, including several

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify ...

pieces; often writing a non-fiction work and a novel concurrently – as a way of putting his ideas into action. He wrote: Like some of his non-fiction work, many of Wilson's novels from ''Ritual in the Dark'' (1960) onwards have been concerned with the psychology of murder—especially that of serial killing. However, he has also written science fiction of a philosophical bent, including ''

The Mind Parasites ''The Mind Parasites'' is a science fiction horror novel by English author Colin Wilson. It was published by Arkham House in 1967 in an edition of 3,045 copies. It was Wilson's first and only book published by Arkham House. The book is based ...

'' (1967), '' The Philosopher's Stone'' (1969), '' The Space Vampires'' (1976) and the four-volume ''Spider-World'' series: '' Spider World: The Tower'' (1987), '' Spider World: the Delta'' (1987), ''Spider World: The Magician'' (1992) and ''Spider World: Shadowland'' (2003); novels described by one critic as "an artistic achievement of the highest order... destined to be regarded to be one of the central products of the twentieth century imagination." Wilson wrote the ''Spider World'' series in response to a suggestion made to him by Roald Dahl to 'write a novel for children.' He also said he'd 'like to be remembered as the man who wrote ''Spider World.’'' In ''The Strength to Dream'' (1961) Wilson attacked H. P. Lovecraft as "sick" and as "a bad writer" who had "rejected reality"—but he grudgingly praised Lovecraft's story "

The Shadow Out of Time ''The Shadow Out of Time'' is a novella by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of ''Astounding Stories''. The story describes time and ...

" as capable science fiction.

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and th ...

, incensed by Wilson's treatment of Lovecraft in ''The Strength to Dream'', then dared Wilson to write what became ''

''—to expound his philosophical ideas in the guise of fiction. In the preface to ''The Mind Parasites'', Wilson concedes that Lovecraft, "far more than Hemingway or

Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

, or even Kafka, is a symbol of the outsider-artist in the 20th century" and asks: "what would have happened if Lovecraft had possessed a private income—enough, say, to allow him to spend his winters in Italy and his summers in Greece or Switzerland?" answering that in his ilson'sopinion " would undoubtedly have produced less, but what he did produce would have been highly polished, without the pulp magazine cliches that disfigure so much of his work. And he would have given free rein to his love of curious and remote erudition, so that his work would have been, in some respect, closer to that of Anatole France or the contemporary Argentinian writer

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

". Wilson also discusses Lovecraft in ''Order of Assassins'' (1972) and in the prefatory note to ''The Philosopher's Stone'' (1969). His short novel ''The Return of the Lloigor'' (1969/1974) also has roots in the Cthulhu Mythos – its central character works on the real book the

Voynich manuscript The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an otherwise unknown writing system, referred to as 'Voynichese'. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and stylistic ana ...

, but discovers it to be a mediaeval Arabic version of the ''

Necronomicon The ', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first men ...

'' – as does his 2002 novel ''The Tomb of the Old Ones''.

Adaptations

Tobe Hooper Willard Tobe Hooper (; January 25, 1943 – August 26, 2017) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work in the horror genre. The British Film Institute cited Hooper as one of the most influential horror fi ...

directed the film '' Lifeforce'', based on Wilson's novel '' The Space Vampires''. After its release, Colin Wilson recalled that author

John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...

regarded the

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

of Fowles' own novel '' The Magus'' as the worst film adaptation of a novel ever. Wilson told Fowles there was now a worse one. A film of his 1961 novel '' Adrift in Soho'' by director Pablo Behrens was released by Burning Films in 2018.

Illness and death

After a major spinal operation in 2011, Wilson suffered a stroke and lost his ability to speak. He was admitted to hospital in October 2013 for pneumonia. He died on 5 December 2013 and was buried in the churchyard at

Gorran Churchtown Gorran Churchtown is a village in the parish of St Goran (where the 2011 census population was included ), Cornwall, England. Gorran Churchtown is situated approximately nine miles (14 km) south-southwest of St Austell; Gorran Haven, the la ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

. A memorial service for him was held at St James's Church, Piccadilly, London, on 14 October 2014.

Reception

Howard F. Dossor, author of a book about Wilson’s career, wrote appreciatively: "Wilson constitutes one of the most significant challenges to twentieth-century critics. It seems most likely that critics analysing his work in the middle of the twenty-first century, will be puzzled that his contemporaries paid such inadequate attention to him. But it is not merely for their sake that he should be examined. Critics who turn to him will find themselves involved in the central questions of our age and will be in touch with a mind that has disclosed an extraordinary resilience in addressing them." Critic Nicolas Tredell agreed: "The twenty-first century may look back on Colin Wilson as one of the novelists who foresaw the future of fiction, and something, perhaps, of the future of man." Science writer Martin Gardner saw Wilson as an intelligent writer who was duped by

claims. He once commented that "Colin bought it all. With unparalleled egotism and scientific ignorance he believed almost everything he read about the paranormal, no matter how outrageous." Gardner described Wilson's book ''The Geller Phenomenon'' as "the most gullible book ever written about the Israeli charlatan". Gardner concluded that Wilson had decayed into an "occult eccentric" writing books for the "lunatic fringe". The psychologist

Dorothy Rowe Dr. Dorothy Rowe (née Conn; 17 December 1930 – 25 March 2019) was an Australian psychologist and author, whose area of interest was depression. Born; Newcastle, NSW. Died Sydney, NSW. Biography Rowe came to England in her forties, working a ...

gave Wilson's book ''Men of Mystery'' a negative review and wrote that it "does nothing to advance research into the paranormal". Benjamin Radford has written that Wilson had a "bias toward mystery-mongering" and that he ignored scientific and skeptical arguments on some of the topics he wrote about. Radford described Wilson's book ''The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved'' as "riddled with errors and obfuscating omissions, betraying a bizarre disregard for accuracy". In 2016 the first full-length biography of Wilson, ''Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson'', by Gary Lachman, appeared. It received a positive endorsement from

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy '' His Dark Materials'' and '' The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''T ...

, who wrote that "Wilson was always far better and more interesting than fashionable opinion claimed, and in Lachman he has found a biographer who can respond to the whole range of his work with sympathy and understanding, in a style which, like Wilson's own, is always immensely readable."

Michael Dirda Michael Dirda (born 1948) is a book critic for the '' Washington Post''. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993. Career Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda took an M.A. in 1974 ...

in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' called Wilson a "controversial writer who explored the nature of human consciousness in dozens of books" and said that Lachman, a "leading student of the

western esoteric tradition Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

, writes with "exceptional grace, forcefulness, and clarity." Brett Taylor "enjoyed" the biography, but said that "a more critical author might have written a book that argued for the subject's worth in a broader and more convincing context. Lachman displays credulity on occult matters and an admiration for Wilson's sometimes dodgy philosophy." On 1 July 2016, the First International Colin Wilson Conference took place at the University of Nottingham. A second conference took place at the same venue on 6 July 2018. Colin Wilson's archive is held at the Manuscripts and Special Collections Department at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. It contains all his published work plus manuscripts, correspondence and journals.

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Colin Wilson Papers
(2 document boxes) housed at th
Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy
of the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban dist ...

Libraries. Includes correspondence by Wilson, galley proofs and manuscripts of Wilson's works in the science fiction genre, material regarding

Uri Geller Uri Geller ( ; he, אורי גלר; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other i ...

, press clippings, and interviews with Wilson.
The Colin Wilson Collection at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
– This is Wilson's bibliographer Colin Stanley's collection of books, articles, manuscripts, letters, photographs and assorted ephemera now at the University of Nottingham. Regularly updated by Stanley. Now contains, by arrangement with the Colin Wilson Estate, about 80 original manuscripts.
Colin Wilson Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

, University of Texas at Austin.
Colin Wilson World
– "an appreciation" with some Wilson contributions

996 to 2001at Internet Archive (archived 2008-09-14)
Abraxas
�� Wilson-related journal
The Phenomenology of Excess
– a multimedia Wilson site, approved by its subject

''The Guardian'' (reviews), 12 August 2006
Entry
in '' The Literary Encyclopedia'' by Colin Stanley
Paupers' Press
– including the Centre for Colin Wilson Studies

at London Fictions

at London Fictions *

Interviews

'Suddenly Awakened', interview for Poetic Mind.

Audio Interview
by William H. Kenned
Sphinx Radio
9/28/08

by Gary Lachman, Fortean Times, October 2004
Colin Wilson's August 2005 interview @ The New York Times

Creel Commission
Interview with Colin Wilson.

Colin Wilson interviewed by Lynn Barber 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Colin 1931 births 2013 deaths Continental philosophers People from Leicester English spiritual writers English autobiographers English horror writers English occult writers English science fiction writers 20th-century English philosophers English writers on paranormal topics Existentialists Mystics New Age writers Phenomenologists Ufologists Cthulhu Mythos writers Positive psychologists Psychologists of religion Parapsychologists Male biographers English biographers Pseudohistorians Pseudoarchaeologists UFO writers Fortean writers Atlantis proponents Dowsing English male novelists 20th-century English novelists Burials in Cornwall