The Outsider

I like this book. I've enjoyed Colin Wilson, who MUST be the most prodigious researcher ever in the history of the human race, for years. I never read this book. I'm glad I did, as it gave a name to things I've felt all my life, even as a kid. The question is, does one have to be an existentialist to also be an outsider? I think there are persons damaged by family alcoholism, drugs, poverty, and other conditions of humanity who are outsiders but not necessarily existentialists. It seems improbable that the loner must also be a thinker, an examiner of the soul. So it would bear thinking about that there are intrinsic factors that lead one to existentialism, other than just being an outsider. Nevertheless, this book is an excellent study, and broadened my perspectives about existentialism while reviewing some of the finest writers and thinkers in my experience. Would definitely recommend. In fact it ought to be on school curricula. It could prevent a few crimes, by showing those who are loners that they are not really alone, that they do have a purpose and a way.

for anyone who has an interest in philosophy, religion, poetry, art, books or in general, the "meaning " of life. As someone who's struggled for decades to find a " path" in life that wasn't just based on some mundane, menial job or work schedule I found a lot of kindred spirits in this book. I wish I had read it years ago. I doubt I'm destined for anything great in the world but for some reason this book has sparked a sense of hope for me…

I have felt very different from everyone else I've ever encountered my entire life. The word that came to my mine was "anomaly" because I felt like the one red dot in an ocean of white dots, or something of that nature. When I first started reading "The Outsider," all I could think was, "THIS SOUNDS JUST LIKE ME!" I couldn't believe it. It was both thrilling and tremendously reassuring to know there have been many others throughout history like myself, and many of them were quite successful and noteworthy. It helped me realize there's nothing wrong with me, despite what society (and even my family) might think. I am simply an "Outsider," and that is actually something extraordinary to be. For that I truly thank Wilson for writing the book. It was a great way to deeply analyze myself and figure out my mission in life through the study of other outsiders. My one complaint is that Wilson often goes off on tangents writing WAY too much about various books and writers. These bits are difficult to get through and largely irrelevant to the greater topic, in my opinion. Still a great read though.I haven't read any other of Wilson's books besides "Super Consciousness," which I greatly enjoyed also and would recommend to anyone who found this book useful.

Wilson's first book, written as a young man in 1956, was a survey of the New Existentialism. Written just ahead of the revolutionary period of the 1960s, it perfectly sums up how sensitive and intelligent people often feel trying to cope with the modern world. Some quotes:"This is the sense of unreality, that can strike out a perfectly clear day. Good health and strong nerves can make it unlikely; but that may be only because the man in good health is thinking about other things and doesn't look in the direction where the uncertainty lies. And once a man has seen it, the world can never afterwards be quite the same straightforward place. Barbusse has shown us that the Outsider is a man who cannot live in the comfortable, insulated world of the bourgeois, accepting what he sees and touches as reality. `He sees too deep and too much,' and what he sees is essentially chaos.""His case, in fact, is that he is the one man who knows he is sick in a civilization that doesn't know it is sick. Certain Outsiders we shall consider later would go even further and declare that it is human nature that is sick, and the Outsider is the man who faces that unpleasant fact."

I can be pompous and tiresome in some parts but has some interest. He finds people to be outsiders without much explanation such as Henry James. He spends much time on Hemmingway as an outsider but I disagree. There is food for thought in this book but remember it was written a long time ago by a young man..james e vigiletti

This book is a handbook to the gifted mind gone sour. If you are of average intelligence and ability, you will not understand this book. If you are of exceptional quality and suffer from living in the unexceptional world, this book will read like a long lost diary written by your soul. The one star reviews are simply 90%'ers that happened upon this book by accident. Pay them no mind. They are the source of your angst after all, why allow them to destroy another beautiful thing with their banality?I especially recommend this book for parents of gifted teenagers. Unfortunately the content is not suitable for younger children, but for older teenagers that can handle mature subjects (sexuality and murder) this book may be perfect. If your teenager is already jaded by the prison planet this may open their eyes to the path out of depression.

A powerful thinker who wrote "Self-expression is impossible in relation with other men; their self-expression interferes with it. The greatest heights of self-expression in poetry, music, painting – are achieved by men who are supremely alone." Great piece of work!

To read

An elaboration of existential angst. There is a part in all of us that will forever be on the 'Outside'.

Der Untertitel dieses Buches lautet: Die klassische Studie von Entfremdung, Kreativität und dem modernen Geist.Der Inhalt dieses Buches ist sehr inspirierend und appelliert an den kreativen, schöpferischen Geist in uns. Der Begriff "Outsider" wird als roter Faden in dem Buch genutzt, weil die vorgestellten literarischen, fiktiven sowie auch die realen Persönlichkeiten alle nach Idealen streben und das Leben nicht einfach nur als banal hinnehmen wollen.Interessant ist auch die Unterteilung der Persönlichkeiten in kreative Köpfe, emotionale Persönlichkeiten und Menschen die ihre Kreativität physisch ausdrücken. (Bsp: Nijinski)Die bedeutendsten Begriffe in diesem Buch sind einmal self-realization und dann noch peak-experience, weil in den Augen von Colin Wilson das die Erfahrungen im Leben sind nach denen wir suchen. (Selbstverwirklichung und Gipfelerfahrungen)

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.

good