Colin Wilson

[mark]

another obscure Colin. Lifeforce, an incredibly goofy 80s scifi-horror movie adaptation of one of his novels probably hasn't helped his rep much.

i've read:
The Outsider
The Mind Parasites
The Tower + the rest of the series
The Space Vampires (source of Lifeforce, sigh)
Rogue Messiahs: Tales of Self-Proclaimed Saviors

[Antonomasia]

Caveat: not a completist. But I don't think I've spoken to anyone else who's read The Outsider apart from the ex who recommended it to me years ago. (It's one of his favourite books ever.)

Would be interested to hear what you think about it.

Whilst I can absolutely see Wilson's point about the outsider artist as a figure in - and outwith - society, the book felt very much like a personal obsessive rant that didn't always make sense in the detail. The sort of content that these days you would expect to find on blogs and forums rather than books and newspapers.

[Dan's]

HEy there Antonia.. Same here ) it took me like 8 yrs to get back to it^s pages again= but noe it sits proudly on my shelves ,.It's my favourite book, if not an eye opener ~qiute a unique essay/researchon Existenialism

Now what can I say 'bout the rant U mention apart from the fact that I took 2 choices frmo there to read further on: -Nietzche
-Berneard Shaw

Well the first one, has a vitriolic tongue & his rant could easily fill more than half of the book. So compared to him Mr. Wilson is ok to my "book"

Also in my proposal the contents of this book should be given as seperate assignments on kids that graduate form Elementary schooling, a perfect =fast paced= intro to famous works byprominent writers of a not so distant past. A unification work that does bring the luminoscity of a completist.. He is indeed putting his own gears in motion in there fmo his deep understanding of their works.

[mark]

not sure i can add much to what Dan('s) said. an interesting defense of Wilson. Like!

[Dan's]

Yeah thnks Mark.. Actually he is the primary reason I joined GR's.
Also if U can "get by" with my freq typo's I'ld like to have U on my list of buddies in here, I just read both yr posts
( and even if I dunno what that other writer U posted is about) U seem like a well read guy -- Providding yr metalic body doesn't wear out first!! But heey we cuold alwayzuse yr C.N.S preserved in a some sort of solution to preserve yr consciousness!! Lol... Liked yr answer there also :D
Have to go now.. Only a couple of hrs to sleep. I am over-stretching my time limit as it is!

[Dan's]

BTw I hate it when ppl call me that.. Full name doesn't appear --> Dan's Obsessions or simply cal me Dannie or how a Hawaiian gal re-invenetd my name Daneeh

[Antonomasia]

Hi Dan,

The Outsider as gateway drug to a lot of other writers and artists, especially the existentialists - I'd forgotten about that idea! I'm sure you're right, especially for those who like Wilson's style in the first place.

And there is something very teenage about it, so it is probably best read in sixth form or thereabouts. By my late twenties I was a little too cynical to take it all on board.

Incidentally, the thing that has stayed with me most from The Outsider is the story of George Fox, wandering the countryside intent upon his mystical mission.

Another book (a favourite of someone I fell for years later - I do rather have a Type) which has a very similar theme, of art at any cost, in novel form: The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham. Though I've only seen the film and I understand that there is much more to be found in the writing style.

On usernames: what about trying it without a space: "Dan'sObsessions" / "DansObsessions"? Then that would appear above your posts in threads like this one.

[Eddie]

Colin Wilson almost always turns me on, and I love how he continues to explore the realms of the occult, but good luck being a CW completist! I've probably read 20 of his books, or maybe more, but I'd never aspire to reading them all, and in some ways there's no need to as he repeats himself so much. His early novel Ritual in the Dark is pretty damn good. The only novel I thought was pretty bad was The Personality Surgeon. I mean the writing was as solid and competent as ever, but the ideas were spread too thin.