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The Outsider
 
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The Outsider (Paperback)

by Colin Wilson (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Jeremy P Tarcher; Reissue edition (31 Dec 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0874772060
  • ISBN-13: 978-0874772067
  • Product Dimensions: 20.9 x 13.9 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,648,627 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #90 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors > Wilson, Colin

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Product Description

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

19 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "The Outsider is the key to the decline of the West", 28 April 2005
By R S Harper (Liverpool, United Kingdom.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Outsider (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.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wilson remains a giant of modern thinking, 1 May 2003
This review is from: The Outsider (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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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Still not dated after all these years!, 2 Oct 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Outsider (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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars 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 12 months ago by Gil Dekel

5.0 out of 5 stars 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 16 months ago by A. Grewcock

5.0 out of 5 stars life-changing
This book changed my life - even 20 years later, I consider myself a different person after reading it. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Janie

5.0 out of 5 stars 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 20 months ago by E. Williams

4.0 out of 5 stars A stimulating journey; time spent but certainly not wasted
Should you buy this book?

Do you find existence unsatisfying because it is meaningless? Read more
Published 22 months ago by Nicholas Casley

1.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published on 24 Jul 2007 by J. G. Jones

3.0 out of 5 stars 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

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best out there, Worthwhile to learn with, makes you think!,
I have just finished the book, it was so fascinating, that i bought: " Beyond the Outsider ", " Religion and the Rebel " and will buy " The age of defeat " in due course. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2004 by Avtar Disange

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece! Well worth reading!
This book is amazing, i am over half way through it, the ideas have such depth, "It is an I, not a real I " Well, we have all seen that somewhere. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2004 by Avtar Disange

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books i have read! Brilliant!
This book is amazing, i am over half way through it, the ideas have such depth, "It is an I, not a real I " Well, we have all seen that somewhere. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2004 by Avtar Disange

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