The Outsider
by
4.04 · Rating details · 3,914 ratings · 450 reviews
Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found here.
The Outsider is the seminal work on alienation, creativity & the modern mind-set. First published over forty years ago, it made its youthful author England's most controversial intellectual. The Outsider is an individual engaged in an intense self-exploration-a person who lives at the edge, challenges cultural values & "stands for Truth." Born into a world without perspective, where others simply drift thru life, the Outsider creates his own set of rules & lives them in an unsympathetic environment. The relative handful of people who fulfilled Wilson's definition of the Outsider in the 1950s have now become a significant social force, making Wilson's vision more relevant today than ever. Thru the works & lives of various artists--including Kafka, Camus, Eliot, Hemingway, Hesse, Lawrence, Van Gogh, Nijinsky, Shaw, Blake, Nietzsche & Dostoyevski--Wilson explores the psyche of the Outsider, his effect on society & society's effect on him. Wilson illuminates the struggle of those who seek not only the transformation of Self but also the transformation of society as a whole. The book is essential for everyone who shares his conviction that "a new religion is needed". (less)
The Outsider is the seminal work on alienation, creativity & the modern mind-set. First published over forty years ago, it made its youthful author England's most controversial intellectual. The Outsider is an individual engaged in an intense self-exploration-a person who lives at the edge, challenges cultural values & "stands for Truth." Born into a world without perspective, where others simply drift thru life, the Outsider creates his own set of rules & lives them in an unsympathetic environment. The relative handful of people who fulfilled Wilson's definition of the Outsider in the 1950s have now become a significant social force, making Wilson's vision more relevant today than ever. Thru the works & lives of various artists--including Kafka, Camus, Eliot, Hemingway, Hesse, Lawrence, Van Gogh, Nijinsky, Shaw, Blake, Nietzsche & Dostoyevski--Wilson explores the psyche of the Outsider, his effect on society & society's effect on him. Wilson illuminates the struggle of those who seek not only the transformation of Self but also the transformation of society as a whole. The book is essential for everyone who shares his conviction that "a new religion is needed". (less)
Paperback, 322 pages
Published December 1st 2001 by Phoenix (first published 1956)
| Review of | ISBN 9780753814321 | |
| Rating | ||
| Shelves | to-read ( 1523rd ) | |
| Format | Paperback edit | |
| Status | May 19, 2022 – Shelved as: to-read May 19, 2022 – Shelved | |
| Review | Write a review | |
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Aug 20, 2020Fergus rated it it was amazing
Burnout!
There’s a dark side of the moon.
And there’s a dark side of Society; a dark side of our friends; and a dark side of the Deep State.
Societal interaction, of course, tells us it’s only one little blip on the screen and it’ll all come out in the wash. Will it really?
When I retired 16 years ago, burnt out, I thought not.
While I worked, I exuded positive feelings - but at home I often exuded Black Night.
In early retirement I became a confirmed Outsider, mainly through my total lack of success in trying to cut my life’s losses.
Carl Jung calls that dark spot the Shadow Self, and we all have one.
Hard to believe? Look at all the bad habits among friends, family... and yourself.
We all, left untethered, will eventually irk our best friends. That’s life! And that’s our Shadow.
We can’t tolerate 24/7 Sunshine. Our moods will show themselves in spite of our best intentions. And if life bites us once, we’re twice shy. We couldn’t make it through a life without rainy days!
Life’s no picnic, but by refusing to rail at the rain that SPOILS it... we MUST learn to smile away the pain. The people who were always there for us in the past are a very good reason to smile.
Do we have a choice?
Wilson uses an excellent metaphor to get us out of our pit. He says to just imagine one of our feared primary school teachers telling us to get our act together - PRONTO! Worked for me.
Life will always gall us, but we have to STAND TALL to make it to the finish line in One Piece - something we ALL pray for.
For we’ve all heard of Alzheimer’s.
By 2010, I was mired in the apathy of my burnout.
Life had bitten away my good intentions without ceasing, so started to SERIOUSLY look at my life objectively. There must be a literary soulmate out there...
I read this, expecting sympathy.
But Colin Wilson WOKE ME UP.
By SHAKING me.
He showed me my self-serving misery as if I clearly saw it peering back at me from my bathroom mirror.
It was monstrous.
Sure, I know it hurts, he seemed to say, but what of Dostoevsky and all the Other Outsiders who TURNED THEMSELVES AROUND AND MADE A MAN OF THEMSELVES?
The road to recovery is not easy.
In fact, it HURTS LIKE ALL GET-OUT!
But it’s the Only road out of the Slough.
And it’ll get us Right Back into the SUNLIGHT:
Guaranteed.
It healed me from my burnout.
Cause if you can’t take the heat, get out of the hot kitchen of your self-pity.
Just walk away... one small, decisive step at a time. (less)
There’s a dark side of the moon.
And there’s a dark side of Society; a dark side of our friends; and a dark side of the Deep State.
Societal interaction, of course, tells us it’s only one little blip on the screen and it’ll all come out in the wash. Will it really?
When I retired 16 years ago, burnt out, I thought not.
While I worked, I exuded positive feelings - but at home I often exuded Black Night.
In early retirement I became a confirmed Outsider, mainly through my total lack of success in trying to cut my life’s losses.
Carl Jung calls that dark spot the Shadow Self, and we all have one.
Hard to believe? Look at all the bad habits among friends, family... and yourself.
We all, left untethered, will eventually irk our best friends. That’s life! And that’s our Shadow.
We can’t tolerate 24/7 Sunshine. Our moods will show themselves in spite of our best intentions. And if life bites us once, we’re twice shy. We couldn’t make it through a life without rainy days!
Life’s no picnic, but by refusing to rail at the rain that SPOILS it... we MUST learn to smile away the pain. The people who were always there for us in the past are a very good reason to smile.
Do we have a choice?
Wilson uses an excellent metaphor to get us out of our pit. He says to just imagine one of our feared primary school teachers telling us to get our act together - PRONTO! Worked for me.
Life will always gall us, but we have to STAND TALL to make it to the finish line in One Piece - something we ALL pray for.
For we’ve all heard of Alzheimer’s.
By 2010, I was mired in the apathy of my burnout.
Life had bitten away my good intentions without ceasing, so started to SERIOUSLY look at my life objectively. There must be a literary soulmate out there...
I read this, expecting sympathy.
But Colin Wilson WOKE ME UP.
By SHAKING me.
He showed me my self-serving misery as if I clearly saw it peering back at me from my bathroom mirror.
It was monstrous.
Sure, I know it hurts, he seemed to say, but what of Dostoevsky and all the Other Outsiders who TURNED THEMSELVES AROUND AND MADE A MAN OF THEMSELVES?
The road to recovery is not easy.
In fact, it HURTS LIKE ALL GET-OUT!
But it’s the Only road out of the Slough.
And it’ll get us Right Back into the SUNLIGHT:
Guaranteed.
It healed me from my burnout.
Cause if you can’t take the heat, get out of the hot kitchen of your self-pity.
Just walk away... one small, decisive step at a time. (less)
I read this book twice before I was 20 years old, and I think that might be the best time to read it. It turned me on to a lot of other writers and historical figures I might never have sought out on my own, and the experience he talks about throughout the book is something that probably freaks out a lot of people, usually young adults, when it happens to them, which isn't often at all, but when it does, it is such a relief to know you're not alone, and a lot of people much more intelligent, insightful, and creative than we'll ever be wrote some really great things about it, including Colin Wilson himself, who never seemed able to come up with another book as good as this one. Though the space vampires movie was awesome!
Update 12 August 2013: I just finished this book for the fourth time, I think, I read it a couple times when I was a teenager, once again in my twenties, and now once again in my mid thirties, and I still think it's a super amazing book. I actually don't agree with it now nearly as much as I did when I was younger, and I can sense more of Colin Wilson's personality seeping through the text than I did in the past, but it's still one of the best books ever written for what it's trying to do, and I'd still recommend it to everyone who ever just, you know, sometimes looks at a tree and suddenly gets terrified by the tree's existence. Man, you are not alone. (less)
Update 12 August 2013: I just finished this book for the fourth time, I think, I read it a couple times when I was a teenager, once again in my twenties, and now once again in my mid thirties, and I still think it's a super amazing book. I actually don't agree with it now nearly as much as I did when I was younger, and I can sense more of Colin Wilson's personality seeping through the text than I did in the past, but it's still one of the best books ever written for what it's trying to do, and I'd still recommend it to everyone who ever just, you know, sometimes looks at a tree and suddenly gets terrified by the tree's existence. Man, you are not alone. (less)
Jun 18, 2008Erik Graff rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Recommends it for: young persons
Recommended to Erik by: no one
Shelves: philosophy
Wilson's first book, The Outsider, prefiguring much of his later serious work, was a best-seller, making him a celebrity in his twenties, a status quickly lost and never regained. It is not, in my opinion, one of his best books, but then none of his books are really very good by any ordinary standards. Wilson is no great scholar, no masterful prose stylist. He has made his living as a popularist in scores of sellable books about hot topics like sex, murder, scandal, aliens and the occult. On the side, he has occasionally written serious books in a serious manner, but few or none have likely obtained many sales much after the success of The Outsider.
Yet I keep coming back to Wilson like a cocaine user chases the dragon, seeking again the first high or even something more.
Wilson has the spirit and conviction of a person who has had a profound mystical experience which transcends expression. To his credit, he sticks to it, working it like a dog a bone. He is never successful, but to others who have had a similar glimpse he is evocative, suggestive and the reading of his more serious works is to their credit as well. (less)
Yet I keep coming back to Wilson like a cocaine user chases the dragon, seeking again the first high or even something more.
Wilson has the spirit and conviction of a person who has had a profound mystical experience which transcends expression. To his credit, he sticks to it, working it like a dog a bone. He is never successful, but to others who have had a similar glimpse he is evocative, suggestive and the reading of his more serious works is to their credit as well. (less)
Apr 10, 2013Alan Smith rated it it was amazing
There aren't too many books that can change your life. This is one of the few that can.
Coin Wilson wrote this work while sleeping rough in London, and upon its publication it became a major best seller, giving the author overnight fame. Wilson (for some unfathomed reason) became linked with the literary movement called "The Angry Young Men", and though the critics' love-affair with him soon cooled, he went on to develop his philosophy of "New Existentialism", with its core premise that the next stage of human evolution must consist of the development of the mind through "peak experiences" when one gains a "birds eye view" of life, and can overcome the nagging trivialities of everyday life enough to perceive the greater truth of existence.
An "Outsider" in Wilson's definition is a person who lives on the mental edge of existence, more concerned with truth than trivialities, seeking the existential vision that pushes creative boundaries. Wilson develops his premise by case studies of famous individuals who meet this definition, including Frederick Nietzsche, Bernard Shaw, Franz Kafka, Vincent Van Gogh, Albert Camus and William Blake.
Now, this might not sound precisely like enjoyable holiday reading, but once you open this book and begin to grasp its central idea, I defy you not to be hooked! Wilson takes your mind to new limits, demolishing mental walls as if they did not exist, in such a way that you can never look at mundane existence in quite the same way again.
Wilson went on to write a number of other books in what has since been called "The Outsider" cycle, each of which deals in detail of one aspect of what it means to be an "outsider". This is where it all began. It certainly should be compulsory reading in schools - and might even be the work that brings mankind back from the brink.
Please, Mr "Goodreads" moderator - is it possible to give this one another half-star to add to the five I already gave it?
(less)
Coin Wilson wrote this work while sleeping rough in London, and upon its publication it became a major best seller, giving the author overnight fame. Wilson (for some unfathomed reason) became linked with the literary movement called "The Angry Young Men", and though the critics' love-affair with him soon cooled, he went on to develop his philosophy of "New Existentialism", with its core premise that the next stage of human evolution must consist of the development of the mind through "peak experiences" when one gains a "birds eye view" of life, and can overcome the nagging trivialities of everyday life enough to perceive the greater truth of existence.
An "Outsider" in Wilson's definition is a person who lives on the mental edge of existence, more concerned with truth than trivialities, seeking the existential vision that pushes creative boundaries. Wilson develops his premise by case studies of famous individuals who meet this definition, including Frederick Nietzsche, Bernard Shaw, Franz Kafka, Vincent Van Gogh, Albert Camus and William Blake.
Now, this might not sound precisely like enjoyable holiday reading, but once you open this book and begin to grasp its central idea, I defy you not to be hooked! Wilson takes your mind to new limits, demolishing mental walls as if they did not exist, in such a way that you can never look at mundane existence in quite the same way again.
Wilson went on to write a number of other books in what has since been called "The Outsider" cycle, each of which deals in detail of one aspect of what it means to be an "outsider". This is where it all began. It certainly should be compulsory reading in schools - and might even be the work that brings mankind back from the brink.
Please, Mr "Goodreads" moderator - is it possible to give this one another half-star to add to the five I already gave it?
(less)
Dec 08, 2010Zaki rated it it was ok
This was my third attempt at trying to read this. Wilson's ideas seem to be all over the place and I can't keep up. Every now and again he says something really interesting and poignant but then dwindles into incoherence. So I'm giving up as i aint the type of dick to rummage through heaps of shit in order to find a gem that is the size of my ballz. (less)
May 31, 2013عماد العتيلي rated it it was amazing
Shelves: قائمة-الكتب-المفضلة, قراءات-2013, مفضلات-2013
“The Outsider wants to cease to be an Outsider.”
It's like the most touching words (regarding the outsider subject) I've ever read.
Yes. This book touches my heart really deep.
It describes my very soul, my emotions, and my life perception. It talks about everything one should know and deal with in a life that's really horrible and strange in his eyes.
“The problem of the Outsiders is the unreality of their lives. They suddenly realize they are in a cinema. They ask: Who are we? What are we doing here? ... They are confronted with a terrifying freedom”
It's a very important book that everyone should read. It's on my top list.
And I feel now that I finished it, I MUST read it again a couple of times - at least!
It's one of the books that can change your life entirely.
When I finished it I thought: " It's really cool to be an outsider!"
I'm glad I read it. And I highly recommend it. Please please please read it soon!!! (less)
Jan 01, 2008Greg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: philosophy-theory-and-other-their-i
The Outsider is great. Much of the book are things that any serious reader will say the very not so serious comment of 'duh' to, and there is the sense of 'preaching to the converted' (although there is no preaching here), but that's ok with me since a good portion of my life has been being submersed in subcultures that preach to the converted believing that their words just might be able to transcend the actual audience to an audience that needs to hear the message (for the record I just thought this now at 11:22 AM on Sunday January 20th, 2008, and I wish I had thought it sometime ten years ago to counter a lukewarm review I had received from MRR for the eighth issue of my zine. A review that had accused me of preaching to the converted.). But anyway, this book could only have been produced by an 'outsider' himself. Someone standing on the edges of popular and academic writing, but not entrenched in either camp at all.
The basis for this book is that historically there are people who feel like they don't belong to the world around them. They feel like there should be something more to life. But not just a disdain for 'commoners', but more acutely a problem in themselves in relation to the world around them and how to live in that world. To get at what exactly this problem is Wilson looks at many examples, both literary and biographically to try to pinpoint what exactly the mindset of the outsider is and to discover a common thread between them. He gives a wide array of examples, actually it's an amazing amount of examples he goes into with a fair amount of exposition, especially for a book that runs only 288 pages. He looks at real people like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Van Gogh, William Blake, and T.E. Lawrence (to name a few), and sets them alongside literary creations like Dostoesky's major characters, Sartre's man who almost loses his lunch looking at a beer glass, Camus' Arab shooting vessel of emptiness, among other lesser well known (to me at least) examples of fictional outsiders.
For me reading these examples and Wilson's insight's made the book. They also made me hate Wilson at times, since at 22 years old is better read then I am at 33, and that he was able to come up with all of this while I was writing silly rants in punk zines. I'm very envious.
But anyway I'm going all over the place with this review. This book is very interesting material for people who do find themselves in the precious position of 'outsiders' to society. Along with studying examples of different types of these people, Wilson is more interested in seeing what kind of solution there is for the outsider to 'win'. Winning in a situation like this is a tricky concept though, because as the reader soon learns most of the people studied don't win, they don't find a way out of the conflict between the world and themselves. Even literary characters don't find a way out of this problem in successful manners. And why is this? Why can't great novelists who know of the problem, and probably feel like outsiders themselves write their characters to be 'winners'?
This is the basis of the book. And Wilson finds at least the semblance of a solution towards the end of his book, but along the way shows the disaster of living that awaits people with this particular mindset. Nietzsche's insanity. Siddhartha's bad faith escapism. T.E. Lawrence's mental suicide. I'm noticing my character count running out quickly, so I can't go into the solution, but for me at least it was a very interesting one.
This is one of those books that personally I felt was written for me, and then placed out there to be found at the right time. If I had read this book ten years ago it wouldn't have meant as much to me as it does now. I don't think it's for everyone though, and I'm not sure what someone would think of this book who the book isn't for, they would probably find it tedious and maybe vaguely interesting, but see nothing special.
(less)
The basis for this book is that historically there are people who feel like they don't belong to the world around them. They feel like there should be something more to life. But not just a disdain for 'commoners', but more acutely a problem in themselves in relation to the world around them and how to live in that world. To get at what exactly this problem is Wilson looks at many examples, both literary and biographically to try to pinpoint what exactly the mindset of the outsider is and to discover a common thread between them. He gives a wide array of examples, actually it's an amazing amount of examples he goes into with a fair amount of exposition, especially for a book that runs only 288 pages. He looks at real people like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Van Gogh, William Blake, and T.E. Lawrence (to name a few), and sets them alongside literary creations like Dostoesky's major characters, Sartre's man who almost loses his lunch looking at a beer glass, Camus' Arab shooting vessel of emptiness, among other lesser well known (to me at least) examples of fictional outsiders.
For me reading these examples and Wilson's insight's made the book. They also made me hate Wilson at times, since at 22 years old is better read then I am at 33, and that he was able to come up with all of this while I was writing silly rants in punk zines. I'm very envious.
But anyway I'm going all over the place with this review. This book is very interesting material for people who do find themselves in the precious position of 'outsiders' to society. Along with studying examples of different types of these people, Wilson is more interested in seeing what kind of solution there is for the outsider to 'win'. Winning in a situation like this is a tricky concept though, because as the reader soon learns most of the people studied don't win, they don't find a way out of the conflict between the world and themselves. Even literary characters don't find a way out of this problem in successful manners. And why is this? Why can't great novelists who know of the problem, and probably feel like outsiders themselves write their characters to be 'winners'?
This is the basis of the book. And Wilson finds at least the semblance of a solution towards the end of his book, but along the way shows the disaster of living that awaits people with this particular mindset. Nietzsche's insanity. Siddhartha's bad faith escapism. T.E. Lawrence's mental suicide. I'm noticing my character count running out quickly, so I can't go into the solution, but for me at least it was a very interesting one.
This is one of those books that personally I felt was written for me, and then placed out there to be found at the right time. If I had read this book ten years ago it wouldn't have meant as much to me as it does now. I don't think it's for everyone though, and I'm not sure what someone would think of this book who the book isn't for, they would probably find it tedious and maybe vaguely interesting, but see nothing special.
(less)
It is impossible for me to be objective about this book as it had such an influence on my life! I read it when I was 21 and identified with the outsider theme. It had me reading most of the books this precocious autodidact quoted in his rambling thesis. I was particularly fascinated by his outline of Gurdjieff and this led me to join a Gurdjieff Group, convinced I had found the solution to my problems. I hadn't but that's another story!
Now, in my 60s, how do I explain it; what was it about The Outsider? Firstly, the naivety, earnestness and honesty of the young Colin Wilson appealed. I was pretty confused about life and I suppose a good deal of projection was involved; I took on the mantle of outsider as I felt I didn't 'fit in' - I suspect this was true of other fans. I've since read accounts of people regarding the book as somehow 'unhealthy' (almost demonic) - but perhaps this is because it encourages questioning accepted mores!
Even if you read it with reservations you must admit it provides a reading list of seminal works, mainly of the 20th century: Hermann Hesse, Mann, Tolstoy, T.E. Lawrence, Blake, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Eliot and Yeats ( I only began to read Dostoevsky, Mann and Hesse in my 20s). Even his detractors admit his talent for writing readable summaries of books and riveting biographical outlines.
However, above all it set the ball rolling for me to look for deeper truths than the ones conventionally provided by society. So, it had extra-literary consequences, and it is not many books that do that. (This is why I can't be objective and can't simply consider the book as a literary creation.)
With hindsight I can see the flaws; his subsequent output has been marred by too many pot-boilers but there is much to admire also (see my other CW reviews)in his lifelong opus.
Colin Wilson died, aged 82, in hospital on 5 Dec 2013 the same day as Nelson Mandela. (less)
Now, in my 60s, how do I explain it; what was it about The Outsider? Firstly, the naivety, earnestness and honesty of the young Colin Wilson appealed. I was pretty confused about life and I suppose a good deal of projection was involved; I took on the mantle of outsider as I felt I didn't 'fit in' - I suspect this was true of other fans. I've since read accounts of people regarding the book as somehow 'unhealthy' (almost demonic) - but perhaps this is because it encourages questioning accepted mores!
Even if you read it with reservations you must admit it provides a reading list of seminal works, mainly of the 20th century: Hermann Hesse, Mann, Tolstoy, T.E. Lawrence, Blake, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Eliot and Yeats ( I only began to read Dostoevsky, Mann and Hesse in my 20s). Even his detractors admit his talent for writing readable summaries of books and riveting biographical outlines.
However, above all it set the ball rolling for me to look for deeper truths than the ones conventionally provided by society. So, it had extra-literary consequences, and it is not many books that do that. (This is why I can't be objective and can't simply consider the book as a literary creation.)
With hindsight I can see the flaws; his subsequent output has been marred by too many pot-boilers but there is much to admire also (see my other CW reviews)in his lifelong opus.
Colin Wilson died, aged 82, in hospital on 5 Dec 2013 the same day as Nelson Mandela. (less)
Shockingly insightful prophetic work by Colin Wilson (at the age of 24) that tracks and analyzes “The Outsider” figure in existential philosophy works including those of Sartre, Camus, Kafka, Hesse, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky among others.
Who is the Outsider? A person who sees too much and too deep, has a vivid sense of perception, wants to get beyond the trivial, and to understand the soul and its working. The Outsider wants to integrate and to cease to be an outsider, but often disconnects from life, watches his life as a movie and questions the reason for his being. The Outsider has glimpsed a deeper dimension of life that leaves him on constant attempt to reconcile the mind & body, conscious & unconscious, intellect & intuition, and self & society.
The outsider prefers the red pill of The Matrix, the one that shows him how deep the rabbit hole goes, over the blue pill that keeps him in the blissful ignorance of illusion. The Outsider stands for Truth.
So, if The Outsider wants to cease to be an Outsider, then towards what? What does he want to become? the answer is freedom, he wants to be free; yet this is hindered by the sense of “the unreality”. What is reality then?
- Barbusse: “knowledge of the depth of human nature”
- Sartre (Roquentin): “naked existence that paralyses and negated human mind”
- Camus (Meursault): “The universe’s magnificent indifference”
- Wells: “ the cinema sheet, man’s utter nothingness”
This is just the start… have your pen and notepad ready, then savor this intellectual journey.
TIP: ensure you have read at least half of the mentioned books/ philosophers so that you get the best out of it. (less)
Who is the Outsider? A person who sees too much and too deep, has a vivid sense of perception, wants to get beyond the trivial, and to understand the soul and its working. The Outsider wants to integrate and to cease to be an outsider, but often disconnects from life, watches his life as a movie and questions the reason for his being. The Outsider has glimpsed a deeper dimension of life that leaves him on constant attempt to reconcile the mind & body, conscious & unconscious, intellect & intuition, and self & society.
The outsider prefers the red pill of The Matrix, the one that shows him how deep the rabbit hole goes, over the blue pill that keeps him in the blissful ignorance of illusion. The Outsider stands for Truth.
So, if The Outsider wants to cease to be an Outsider, then towards what? What does he want to become? the answer is freedom, he wants to be free; yet this is hindered by the sense of “the unreality”. What is reality then?
- Barbusse: “knowledge of the depth of human nature”
- Sartre (Roquentin): “naked existence that paralyses and negated human mind”
- Camus (Meursault): “The universe’s magnificent indifference”
- Wells: “ the cinema sheet, man’s utter nothingness”
This is just the start… have your pen and notepad ready, then savor this intellectual journey.
TIP: ensure you have read at least half of the mentioned books/ philosophers so that you get the best out of it. (less)
Dec 03, 2014Vit Babenco rated it liked it · review of another edition
“The idea of Zarathustra began as a reaction against Nietzsche’s own soul-sickness; it was his attempt to give body to the idea of great health. Zarathustra was not a Superman; he was only a man who had succeeded in throwing off the sickness that poisons all other men.”
It sounds somewhat as though while reading the comic strips Colin Wilson keeps wondering if Batman really was a superhero or just a fiction…
In my opinion any great literary hero is an outsider because conformists and philistines aren’t interesting to anyone except to themselves.
Any great writer is also an outsider otherwise he would be lost in a crowd and couldn’t observe anything deserving any attention.
And of course any true reader is an outsider as well, all the other are too busy conforming.
An outsider reads books to compare oneself to the other outsiders and to commiserate or envy or hate…
The Outsider is no more than just an illustrative book. (less)
It sounds somewhat as though while reading the comic strips Colin Wilson keeps wondering if Batman really was a superhero or just a fiction…
In my opinion any great literary hero is an outsider because conformists and philistines aren’t interesting to anyone except to themselves.
Any great writer is also an outsider otherwise he would be lost in a crowd and couldn’t observe anything deserving any attention.
And of course any true reader is an outsider as well, all the other are too busy conforming.
An outsider reads books to compare oneself to the other outsiders and to commiserate or envy or hate…
The Outsider is no more than just an illustrative book. (less)
Colin Wilson explains why men of "genius" suffer angst. As such there are interesting portraits of Dostoyevsky, T.E Lawrence, Van Gogh, etc, etc. (less)
For anyone with an interest in philosophy, art, literature, psychology and religion, "The Outside" was considered at one time to be essential reading. Wilson's main theme is the sort of creative misfit that finds himself at odds with the world (for whatever reason). Each chapter is an analysis of different psychological types (philosophical, artistic, religious, etc.), and involves lots of interesting discussion of such figures as Sartre, Nietzsche, Gurdjieff, Van Gogh, Lawrence of Arabia, Blake, Dostoevsky, and others. But aside from the character portraits, Wilson is perhaps most interested in why Outsiders exist and what this means for society, and the book gradually draws together these various strands into conclusions that are presented in the final chapters.
This said, there are other aspects of the book that some will find annoying. For instance, there is a slight ostentatious erudition to some of Wilson's references, which can at times can give the impression that we are just following Wilson in his own private cultural crossword puzzle. This is underlined by some repetition and over-eager cross-referencing: quotes are repeated, parallels and similarities are repeatedly drawn. However, these are minor quibbles, and the book remains a ground-breaking and fascinating work.
Gareth Southwell is a philosopher, writer and illustrator. (less)
This said, there are other aspects of the book that some will find annoying. For instance, there is a slight ostentatious erudition to some of Wilson's references, which can at times can give the impression that we are just following Wilson in his own private cultural crossword puzzle. This is underlined by some repetition and over-eager cross-referencing: quotes are repeated, parallels and similarities are repeatedly drawn. However, these are minor quibbles, and the book remains a ground-breaking and fascinating work.
Gareth Southwell is a philosopher, writer and illustrator. (less)
Part biography, part philosophy, part literary criticism, and part psychology: Wilson's The Outsider is a study of the theme of alienation in the art and thought of the modern era. In addition to discussing the existentialist thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus (and the novelists that are sometimes associated with that philosophical position--Franz Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoevsky), Wilson also comments on the work of artists like William Blake, Vincent Van Gogh and Vaslav Nijinsky.
An extremely entertaining work of non-fiction. (less)
An extremely entertaining work of non-fiction. (less)
Sep 02, 2020John Anthony rated it really liked it · review of another edition
“The classic study of alienation, creativity and the modern mind”, as per the front cover of my 2011 copy. I can’t argue with any of that.
This is a compulsive read, though certainly not a light one. I found mornings the best time to read it when my brain was a little more awake (not that that says a great deal). Written almost 70 years ago when the author was in his early 20s. Wow!
The book has enormous depth, reflecting that of its subject: the 5% of the population which warrants the term. Colin Wilson’s focus is the Outsider of written and spoken word and visual and performing art. So, for example we have a chapter headed “The Attempt to Gain Control”, which binds together for our benefit T.E. Lawrence, Vincent van Gogh and Nijinsky. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, George Fox, William Blake and many more will feature elsewhere.
My brain now hurts but at least it is alive and will relish a re-read some time soon.
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This is a compulsive read, though certainly not a light one. I found mornings the best time to read it when my brain was a little more awake (not that that says a great deal). Written almost 70 years ago when the author was in his early 20s. Wow!
The book has enormous depth, reflecting that of its subject: the 5% of the population which warrants the term. Colin Wilson’s focus is the Outsider of written and spoken word and visual and performing art. So, for example we have a chapter headed “The Attempt to Gain Control”, which binds together for our benefit T.E. Lawrence, Vincent van Gogh and Nijinsky. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, George Fox, William Blake and many more will feature elsewhere.
My brain now hurts but at least it is alive and will relish a re-read some time soon.
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Aug 11, 2019Martin Klawitter rated it it was amazing
I first heard about Colin Wilsons, The Outsider, when I read Sarah Bakewell's The Existentialist Cafe, which tells the story of the existentialist movement in continental Europe during the 1900s. Colin Wilson is only mentioned briefly, but her description of him as a person, and his book the Outsider, was enough to intrigue me to read it.
According to Wilson the Outsider is a person that is plagued by despair and of alienation from the world around him. This stems not from a distaste of life, but rather from a deep yearning to live life to its fullest. The outsider is all too aware of death and the finitude of life, but is unable to find a proper path for one self. He feels alienated by contemporary society, sensing that there must be more to life than typical bourgeoise existence.
Through the works of various writers and philosophers, such as Hemingway, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, and several others, Wilson analyses how the main protagonists in these novels have tried to overcome the outsider problem and coming to terms with their existence. He also analyses the lives of Van Gogh, T.E Lawrence and Nijinsky, claiming that their common agony were due to the same "outsider" dilemma, in which they were unable to attain the necessary self-knowledge, in order to harness their uniqueness as individuals.
It is not easy to understand Colins proposal of the solution to the outsider dilemma. In the end, Wilson never really delivers a clear cut answer, since the problem is basically the same as the meaning of life. However, what Colin does manage to achieve is to describe and diagnose the problem in a fashion that I have not seen any one else manage.
I may have misread Colins here, but he seems to suggest that a possible solution to the outsider dilemma must contain some sort of spiritual journey of self-discovery, in order to seize ones potential as an individual. It also requires that one takes a leap of faith, bordering on the realms of religion, which suggests to me that atheism cannot be part of the solution to the meaning of existence. In the end this raises even more questions to me than answers. Regardless, I give this book five stars. (less)
According to Wilson the Outsider is a person that is plagued by despair and of alienation from the world around him. This stems not from a distaste of life, but rather from a deep yearning to live life to its fullest. The outsider is all too aware of death and the finitude of life, but is unable to find a proper path for one self. He feels alienated by contemporary society, sensing that there must be more to life than typical bourgeoise existence.
Through the works of various writers and philosophers, such as Hemingway, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, and several others, Wilson analyses how the main protagonists in these novels have tried to overcome the outsider problem and coming to terms with their existence. He also analyses the lives of Van Gogh, T.E Lawrence and Nijinsky, claiming that their common agony were due to the same "outsider" dilemma, in which they were unable to attain the necessary self-knowledge, in order to harness their uniqueness as individuals.
It is not easy to understand Colins proposal of the solution to the outsider dilemma. In the end, Wilson never really delivers a clear cut answer, since the problem is basically the same as the meaning of life. However, what Colin does manage to achieve is to describe and diagnose the problem in a fashion that I have not seen any one else manage.
I may have misread Colins here, but he seems to suggest that a possible solution to the outsider dilemma must contain some sort of spiritual journey of self-discovery, in order to seize ones potential as an individual. It also requires that one takes a leap of faith, bordering on the realms of religion, which suggests to me that atheism cannot be part of the solution to the meaning of existence. In the end this raises even more questions to me than answers. Regardless, I give this book five stars. (less)
Aug 19, 2020Guido Colacci rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book was a crucial stepping stone to becoming the person I am with the convictions, courage, and integrity to always think for myself and to always speak my mind, without weighing how people will react or whether I am the only one that speaks up. I never feel like, I have to belong or be accepted.
May 23, 2021James Hartley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Excellent read - no doubt if you're reading these reviews and have got as far down as mine you know what to expect with the book. All's I'll say is that as well as Wilson's thesis - describing the Outsiders - the book is a nice study in comparative literature and contains some lovely, easy to read biographies of Van Gogh, Nietszche, Dostoevsky, Blake and the others. (less)
Mar 08, 2018Crippled_ships marked it as my-library
This book was brought to my attention by a cluster of synchronicities (and I try to make it a rule to follow up on what such occurences suggest to me). Colin Wilson was first brought to my awareness by the wonderful book "England's Hidden Reverse", then an interview with the man (+ reviews of some of his books) showed up in a journal I was reading at the time ("The Gnostic", although I forget which issue), and to top it off it turns out that this book was one of the touchstones for David Bowie's "Outside" album (one of my favourite albums of all time).
So yes, I obviously had to read him / it...
And how was it? Well, in some ways I found it a bit dated. It was far too verbose, and after waiting for such a long time, I found the "punchline" a bit lacking as well.
However, thinking back on the time I spent reading it, I have to admit that my mind was occupied with interesting questions and thoughts the whole time, and that there is a positive and constructive spirit that permeates the book, which I found both endearing and uplifting. So in spite of the prolix, and in spite of the weak conclusion, I have ended up liking the book (or, more likely, its author).
Wilson apparently turned the theme of the Outsider into a sort of leitmotif in his catalogue, and if this book is anything to judge by, his other books are likely to contain reiterations of his central ideas; so if you are curious about his work, you can most likely make any of his books an entry point, and you can pick the one whose theme appeals to you the most [right now I suspect that I might had been better off with reading some of his work on people like Boehme or Swedenborg, rather than this one, which deals far too much with people like Sartre and Camus, who are only at the periphery of my field of interests]. Or you could follow the advice of the man himself, and start with the volume called "Introduction to the New Existentialism", which tries to summarize his ideas from the Outsider series of books.
So, now that I have read his first published work, I'm soon going to give (what I believe to be) his last published work ("Super Consciousness" - tacky title, but the theme sounds intriguing) a shot, and then decide whether I am interested in exploring the ones that were published inbetween. (less)
So yes, I obviously had to read him / it...
And how was it? Well, in some ways I found it a bit dated. It was far too verbose, and after waiting for such a long time, I found the "punchline" a bit lacking as well.
However, thinking back on the time I spent reading it, I have to admit that my mind was occupied with interesting questions and thoughts the whole time, and that there is a positive and constructive spirit that permeates the book, which I found both endearing and uplifting. So in spite of the prolix, and in spite of the weak conclusion, I have ended up liking the book (or, more likely, its author).
Wilson apparently turned the theme of the Outsider into a sort of leitmotif in his catalogue, and if this book is anything to judge by, his other books are likely to contain reiterations of his central ideas; so if you are curious about his work, you can most likely make any of his books an entry point, and you can pick the one whose theme appeals to you the most [right now I suspect that I might had been better off with reading some of his work on people like Boehme or Swedenborg, rather than this one, which deals far too much with people like Sartre and Camus, who are only at the periphery of my field of interests]. Or you could follow the advice of the man himself, and start with the volume called "Introduction to the New Existentialism", which tries to summarize his ideas from the Outsider series of books.
So, now that I have read his first published work, I'm soon going to give (what I believe to be) his last published work ("Super Consciousness" - tacky title, but the theme sounds intriguing) a shot, and then decide whether I am interested in exploring the ones that were published inbetween. (less)
A strange mix of pop philosophy/psychology with a lot of literary criticism that was very popular when it first came out. The basic premise is that there are some people who are 'outsiders' and Wilson set out to examine the writings of people he saw as 'outsiders' or those who expressed such an outsider's dilemma and worldview - T.E. Lawrence, Nijinsky, Dostoyevsky, Van Gogh, etc. Wilson generally explores this on a philosophical and existential level. That is, things like what the outsider's problem is and what solutions the outsider can come to.
What came across to me is the strange, weird and sometimes unpleasant world of the outsider even though the examples Wilson uses compromise some people that the world admires. One problem I had was that I can not agree with or admire some of them - Gurdjieff and Nietzsche most significantly, for example - because I don't see discernible benefits from their teachings and have problems with some of their thinking.
So part of me is not that keen on this book for that since it's a bit 'special snowflake' and something seems dishonest about it for that reason. Wilson seems a bit of a hack - a little narrow and dogged in his examination of these writings rather than stepping back and thinking critically about it, having subtle and thoughtful engagement - , and while there was intellectual entanglement, there wasn't beauty either.
That probably makes me a snob and I admit that, although, to be fair, he may not have been aiming for either of those things. Either way, it's quite interesting and he's certainly very well-read, which I admired. Also I did find very interesting his conclusion which seemed to be that the outsider is moving towards a religious solution - not literal religion as we know it, but more in terms of spiritual movement, I think - and it struck some chord.
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What came across to me is the strange, weird and sometimes unpleasant world of the outsider even though the examples Wilson uses compromise some people that the world admires. One problem I had was that I can not agree with or admire some of them - Gurdjieff and Nietzsche most significantly, for example - because I don't see discernible benefits from their teachings and have problems with some of their thinking.
So part of me is not that keen on this book for that since it's a bit 'special snowflake' and something seems dishonest about it for that reason. Wilson seems a bit of a hack - a little narrow and dogged in his examination of these writings rather than stepping back and thinking critically about it, having subtle and thoughtful engagement - , and while there was intellectual entanglement, there wasn't beauty either.
That probably makes me a snob and I admit that, although, to be fair, he may not have been aiming for either of those things. Either way, it's quite interesting and he's certainly very well-read, which I admired. Also I did find very interesting his conclusion which seemed to be that the outsider is moving towards a religious solution - not literal religion as we know it, but more in terms of spiritual movement, I think - and it struck some chord.
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May 23, 2012Sara rated it it was amazing
The Outsider wants to cease to be an Outsider.
He wants to be integrated as a human being, achieving a fusion between mind and heart.
He seeks vivid sense perception.
He wants to understand the soul and its workings.
He wants to get beyond the trivial.
He wants to express himself so he can better understand himself. He sees a way out through intensity, extremes of experience.
Wilson utilizes a ravishing group of figures to illustrate his hypothesis: William Blake, T.E. Lawrence; Van Gogh; Hesse; Hemingway; Dostoevsky; Nietzsche. he finds through the lives and works of each of these men a desire to be "awake", a rejection of dullness and an embrace of genuineness, of being at one’s nerve-ends as a way of living. The trouble is, as i believe, the human mind is not mounted to endure this amount of intensity, which is why so many "bright stars" burn out.. As Nietzsche said, "I am one of those machines that sometimes explode." Almost all of his cast of outsiders go mad or lose their creativity.
Anyone who reads this book will surely draw different conclusions from it than the next person.
I would like to add, for those who do not know, the Outsider,, sprang out of a novel called Ritual in the Dark, which wilson started writing when he was 18, he didn’t finish it until after The Outsider came out when he was 24. Ofcourse, the novel is great as well. (less)
The Outsider addresses the untapped power of the mind and its constant battle with the world, to make sense of it, or be broken by it. But the book is also significant for me because at 23, reading this book, I wanted to write something as good as Wilson had done at that age. (For a wonderful story recapitulating Wilson's ideas, I also recommend his takeoff on H.P. Lovecraft, The Mind Parasites.) Wilson also shaped my relationship to books. So many critics write about literature and philosophy as a dead thing, an artifact. Wilson writes about it as a conversation with another mind about what is true. I have emulated that approach ever since. (less)
This book has influenced my generation when we read it in the fifties. It introduce the reader to a host of writers and artists who got characteristics that make them different. We read about Hemingway, Barbusse, Gurdjieff, ...
Wilson later wrote a huge number of books, but this first book stands alone as his best.
Wilson later wrote a huge number of books, but this first book stands alone as his best.
Colin Wilson
Born
in Leicester, Leicestershire, EnglandJune 26, 1931
Died
December 05, 2013
Website
Genre
Influences
· 33,594 ratings · 2,676 reviews · 349 distinct works • Similar authors
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