Wilson, Colin (Henry)

Wilson, Colin (Henry)
born June 26, 1931, Leicester, Leicestershire, Eng.

British writer.

Born into a working-class family, he initially thought of a career in science, then gravitated toward writing. At age 24 he published The Outsider (1957), a study of 20th-century alienation that had phenomenal success. His next book was dismissed as unoriginal or superficial, but Ritual in the Dark (1960) and Adrift in Soho (1961) helped repair his reputation. Many of his more than 70 books deal with the psychology of crime, the occult, human sexuality, and his own existential philosophy. Alien Dawn (1998) discusses the UFO phenomenon.

* * *

▪ English author
born June 26, 1931, Leicester, Leicestershire, Eng.

      English novelist and writer on philosophy, sociology, music, literature, and the occult.

      Wilson left school at age 16. He subsequently worked as a laboratory assistant, civil servant, labourer, dishwasher, and factory worker. For a short while, until discharged on medical grounds, he served in the Royal Air Force (1949–50). He lived in Paris and Strasbourg (1950–51) and was working in a coffee bar while he wrote his first book, The Outsider (1956). The book was a study of alienation as glimpsed through the lives and writings of some of the principal intellectual figures of the 20th century. It was at first acclaimed for its brilliance, and this initial critical response catapulted Wilson to fame at the age of 24, in the process making The Outsider a best-seller.

      By the time Wilson's Religion and the Rebel was published in 1957, however, the literary establishment had changed its opinion of his talent, and the new book was dismissed as unoriginal and superficial. This negative criticism dogged Wilson until his first novel, Ritual in the Dark (1960), was published. When his second novel, Adrift in Soho, appeared in 1961, Wilson was well on his way to repairing his tarnished reputation.

      Many of Wilson's books deal with the psychology of crime, the occult, human sexuality, or Wilson's own original form of Existential philosophy. An extremely prolific author, he wrote more than 50 books by the early 1980s. Among his works are Necessary Doubt (1964), The Mind Parasites (1967), A Casebook of Murder (1970), Starseekers (1980), The Quest for Wilhelm Reich (1981), and Poltergeist! (1981).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Wilson, Colin (Henry) — (26 jun. 1931, Leicester, cond. de Leicester, Inglaterra). Escritor británico. Nació en una familia de clase baja y Wilson pensó en un comienzo seguir una carrera científica, pero con el tiempo evolucionó hacia la escritura. A los 24 años publicó …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Colin Henry Wilson — Colin Wilson, 1984 Colin Wilson (Colin Henry Wilson; * 26. Juni 1931 in Leicester) ist ein englischer Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Colin Henry Wilson — Colin Wilson Pour les articles homonymes, voir Colin Wilson (homonymie). Colin Wilson Activité(s) romanc …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Colin Wilson — Colin Wilson, 1984 Colin Wilson (Colin Henry Wilson; * 26. Juni 1931 in Leicester) ist ein englischer Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wilson — Wilson, Angus Wilson, Charles Thompson Rees Wilson, Colin Wilson, Colin St. John Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, James Harold Wilson, John Wilson, Kenneth …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Colin Wilson — For other uses, see Colin Wilson (disambiguation). Colin Wilson Pictured in Cornwall, 1984 Born 26 June 1931 (1931 06 26) (age 80) Leicester, England, UK …   Wikipedia

  • Wilson — /wil seuhn/, n. 1. Sir Angus (Frank Johnstone) /jon steuhn, seuhn/, 1913 91, English writer. 2. August, born 1945, U.S. playwright. 3. Charles Thomson Rees /tom seuhn rees/, 1869 1959, Scottish physicist: Nobel prize 1927. 4. Edmund, 1895 1972, U …   Universalium

  • henry — /hen ree/, n., pl. henries, henrys. Elect. the SI unit of inductance, formally defined to be the inductance of a closed circuit in which an electromotive force of one volt is produced when the electric current in the circuit varies uniformly at a …   Universalium

  • Henry — /hen ree/, n. 1. Joseph, 1797 1878, U.S. physicist. 2. O., pen name of William Sydney Porter. 3. Patrick, 1736 99, American patriot, orator, and statesman. 4. Cape, a cape in SE Virginia at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. 5. Fort. See …   Universalium

  • Henry — ► sustantivo masculino ELECTRICIDAD Denominación del henrio en la nomenclatura internacional. IRREG. plural henrys * * * henrio o henry (de J. Henry, físico inglés) m. Fís. Unidad de inductancia eléctrica en el Sistema Internacional. * * * …   Enciclopedia Universal

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”