The Outsider
Published on 6. December 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-0-7538-1432-1 (ISBN)
Description
The classic study of alienation, creativity and the modern mind
'Excitingly written, with a sense of revelation' GUARDIAN
THE OUTSIDER was an instant literary sensation when it was first published in 1956, thrusting its youthful author into the front rank of contemporary writers and thinkers. Wilson rationalised the psychological dislocation so characteristic of Western creative thinking into a coherent theory of alienation, and defined those affected by it as a type: the outsider. Through the works and lives of various artists, including Kafka, Camus, Hemingway, Hesse, Lawrence, Van Gogh, Shaw, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, Wilson explored the psyche of the outsider, his effect on society and society's on him.
Nothing that has happened in the decades since has made THE OUTSIDER any less relevant; it remains the seminal work on this most persistent of modern-day preoccupations.
'Excitingly written, with a sense of revelation' GUARDIAN
THE OUTSIDER was an instant literary sensation when it was first published in 1956, thrusting its youthful author into the front rank of contemporary writers and thinkers. Wilson rationalised the psychological dislocation so characteristic of Western creative thinking into a coherent theory of alienation, and defined those affected by it as a type: the outsider. Through the works and lives of various artists, including Kafka, Camus, Hemingway, Hesse, Lawrence, Van Gogh, Shaw, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, Wilson explored the psyche of the outsider, his effect on society and society's on him.
Nothing that has happened in the decades since has made THE OUTSIDER any less relevant; it remains the seminal work on this most persistent of modern-day preoccupations.
Reviews / Votes
Few first authors have burst upon the world of serious books with such stunning and immediate success * DAILY EXPRESS * Excitingly written, with a sense of revelation * GUARDIAN * The most remarkable book on which the reviewer has ever had to pass judgement * LISTENER * I am deeply grateful for this astonishing book -- Edith Sitwell [An] extraordinary book . . . one of the most remarkable I have read for a long time -- Cyril Connolly Exhaustive, luminously intelligent * OBSERVER * A major writer * LONDON EVENING NEWS *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 199 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
258 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7538-1432-1 (9780753814321)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Previous edition
Colin Wilson
The Outsider
Book
02/1997
Orion mass market paperback
€29.90
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Colin Wilson was a prominent philosopher and novelist. Wilson called his philosophy 'new existentialism'. He is perhaps best known for THE OUTSIDER. It has never been out of print and has been translated into over thirty languages.