In The News

Tributes are paid to novelist Colin Wilson

Tributes are paid to novelist Colin Wilson

TRIBUTES have been paid to the author and philosopher Colin Wilson who has passed away at the age of 82.

During his long career, Mr. Wilson wrote more than 150 books, both fiction and non-fiction, covering topics including mysticism, true crime and the occult.

He shot to prominence in 1956 with the publication of The Outsider. The book examines the role of the social outsider in seminal works by literary and cultural figures, including Jean-Paul Sartre, William James and Vincent van Gogh.

At the time of the book’s publication, Mr. Wilson, then 24, had been so short of money he had apparently been living rough on Hampstead Heath and had written the work in the Reading Room at the British Museum in London. But within two months of coming out the book had sold 20,000 copies.

While none of his other books would ever reach the sales levels achieved by The Outsider, the sheer breadth of subjects he wrote about succeeded in winning him a cult following in some fields, especially with his science fiction novels such as The Spider World trilogy and The Space Vampires.

His great interest in serial killing (see below) lead to him writing both works of fiction and non-fiction on the subject.

Mr. Wilson had suffered a stroke in 2012 from which he never fully recovered. He passed away at a hospital in Cornwall where he had been admitted suffering from pneumonia.

To view part of a TV interview in which Mr. Wilson talks about serial killers, click here.

To see an excerpt from another interview with Mr. Wilson, click here.

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