- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; 1st Edition edition (Dec 1956)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575006803
- ISBN-13: 978-0575006805
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,024,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
The classic study of alienation, creativity and the modern mind
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
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 rationalized 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 past four decades years has made The Outsider any less relevant; it remains the seminal work on this most persistent of modern-day preoccupations.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'The Outsider' is an electrifying account of what man is, what he should be and what he should do in the modern world. Wilson does not engage in abstract and theoretical debate (like Heidegger or Sartre), but supports every philosophical assertion with an example of a human being. He draws on a range of factual and fictional figures, from Hesse's Steppenwolf and Sartre's Roquentin to Vaclav Nijinksy (the ballet dancer) and Blake (the poet). What is brilliant about this book is its sharp focus on the central question - who is the Outsider, and what is his significance in the modern world? If you read and fully understand the ideas in this book your perception of life will never be the same again. Read it...it is a 20th Century classic.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Even after almost four decades Colin Wilson's work still has a refreshing quality to it. In it he presents his readers with a novel approach to alienation and creativity. Beware though, this is not just another book on people who feel alienated or suffer pangs of Weltschmerz, it is about genuine 'outsiders', in Wilson's phrase someone who sees 'too much and too deep'. This distinction should be borne in mind.
The work presents several examples of classical outsiders, most of them failures according to the author, but there is also the occasional success story.
The book can be a bit long-winded at times, and Wilson does have a certain rhetoric tendency. Another fact that strikes me is that women are very thin on the ground in this study. This would perhaps have been less surprising had it been written, say, half a century earlier, but it should have been possible to find female outsiders too.
Nevertheless, this is a highly original and though-provoking work, which everyone with an interest in philsophy would do well to read.
The work presents several examples of classical outsiders, most of them failures according to the author, but there is also the occasional success story.
The book can be a bit long-winded at times, and Wilson does have a certain rhetoric tendency. Another fact that strikes me is that women are very thin on the ground in this study. This would perhaps have been less surprising had it been written, say, half a century earlier, but it should have been possible to find female outsiders too.
Nevertheless, this is a highly original and though-provoking work, which everyone with an interest in philsophy would do well to read.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book stands as a monument to 20th century thought, and though it was written many years ago, is still just as relevant today. Everything which Wilson covers is presented with the utmost passion, and yet still is done so with a very discerning critical eye. When you read the pages of this book, you slowly realise that what is in front of you has been created by a person of formidable intelligence. I bought it on the recommendation of a friend, and it is something i will always be glad of. At present I am still reading some of the books which he covers in his broad sweep of modern literature and art, and I am likely to be influenced by it for years to come. Of this I am very glad. One of my favourite books, and as it turns out, one of my wisest purchases. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
the outsider
An excellent read which was in the condition as discribed and arrived well within the time stated. would use the dealer again.
Published 7 months ago by the critic
Despite the research, the book achieves very little
At page 186 I slammed the book down. There's no doubt that Mr Wilson has done his homework on those 'outsiders' he researched, yet he seems to have a blatant obsession with... Read more
Published 8 months ago by TheTruth
Tought Changing ... just great.
I wasn't aware of the existence of a writer like Colin Wilson until I was asked to read his book superconciousness by a friend. Read more
Published 11 months ago by E. Blonde
Tools for personal and social development
Abraham Maslow, in a letter to Wilson, suggested that he stopped studying ill people and instead focused on healthy people, which lead him to the discovery of `Peak-experiences'... Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2008 by Gil Dekel
At the Edge of Things
For some readers, this book is psychological poison, destroying the foundations of rational thought and plunging them headlong into a nightmare of fear and self-loathing. Read more
Published on 17 July 2008 by A. Grewcock
life-changing
This book changed my life - even 20 years later, I consider myself a different person after reading it. Read more
Published on 7 July 2008 by Janie
This book will stop the competiton dead in their tracks.
This is a very serious book for serious minds. Colin Wilson is a genius on a whole new level from mankind. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2008 by E. Williams
A stimulating journey; time spent but certainly not wasted
Should you buy this book?
Do you find existence unsatisfying because it is meaningless? Do you find life boring because you long for a more meaningful kind of existence? Read more
Do you find existence unsatisfying because it is meaningless? Do you find life boring because you long for a more meaningful kind of existence? Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2008 by Nicholas Casley
Don't touch!
'The day must come when I am hailed as a major prophet...
I must live on, longer than anyone else has lived...to be eventually Plato's ideal sage and king... Read more
I must live on, longer than anyone else has lived...to be eventually Plato's ideal sage and king... Read more
Published on 24 July 2007 by J. G. Jones
Fascinating more because he was 25
In 1956 once critics had woken up and read their own reviews they must have been scratching their heads. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2005 by Jay Raspin
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