Editing Colin Wilson (section)

=== Non-fiction writing ===
Wilson became associated with the "[[angry young men]]" of British literature. He contributed to ''[[Declaration (anthology)|Declaration]]'', an anthology of manifestos by writers associated with the movement, and was also anthologised in a popular paperback sampler, ''Protest: The [[Beat Generation]] and the Angry Young Men''.<ref name="Maschler">{{cite book|title=''Declaration''|editor=Maschler, Tom|year=1957|location=London|publisher=MacGibbon and Kee}}</ref><ref name="Feldman and Gartenberg">{{cite book|title=''Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men''|editor-last1=Feldman|editor-first1=Gene|editor-last2=Gartneberg|editor-first2=Max|year=1958|location=New York|publisher=Citadel Press}}</ref> Some viewed Wilson and his friends [[Bill Hopkins (novelist)|Bill Hopkins]] and [[Stuart Holroyd]] as a sub-group of the "Angries", more concerned with "religious values" than with liberal or socialist politics.<ref name="Allsop">{{cite book|title=''The Angry Decade; A Survey of the Cultural Revolt of the Nineteen Fifties''|author=Allsop, Kenneth|year=1958|location=London|publisher=Peter Owen Ltd}}</ref> Critics on the left swiftly labelled them as fascist; commentator [[Kenneth Allsop]] called them "the law givers".<ref name="Allsop"/><ref name="Holroyd">
{{cite book|title=''Contraries: A Personal Progression''|author=Holroyd, Stuart|year=1975|location=London|publisher=The Bodley Head Ltd}}
</ref> Controversially, during the 1950s Wilson expressed critical support for some of the ideas of [[Oswald Mosley]] the leader of [[Union Movement]] and after Mosley's death in December 1980, Wilson contributed articles to Mosley's former secretary [[Jeffrey Hamm]]'s ''Lodestar'' magazine.<ref>Skidelsky, Robert ''Oswald Mosley'' p.503, p.511, ''Lodestar'' No.1-Winter 1985/86, No.4-Autumn/Winter 1986, No.7-Winter 1987/88, No.8-Spring 1988, No.9-Summer 1988, No.11-Spring 1989,
 No.12-Summer 1989</ref>

Wilson's second book, ''[[Religion and the Rebel]]'' (1957), was universally panned by critics although Wilson himself claimed it was a more comprehensive book than the first one. While ''The Outsider'' was focused on documenting the subject of mental strain and near-insanity, ''Religion and the Rebel'' was focused on how to expand our consciousness and transform us into visionaries. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine published a review, headlined "Scrambled Egghead", that pilloried the book.<ref>Colin Wilson, ''The Angry Years'' Robson Books, 2007</ref> Undaunted, Wilson continued to expound his positive "new" existentialism in the six philosophical books known as "The Outsider Cycle", all written within the first ten years of his literary career. These books were summarised by ''Introduction to the New Existentialism'' (1966). When the book was re-printed in 1980 as ''The New Existentialism'', Wilson wrote: "If I have contributed anything to [[existentialism]] – or, for that matter, to twentieth century thought in general, here it is. I am willing to stand or fall by it."

In ''The Age of Defeat'' (1959) – book 3 of "The Outsider Cycle" – he bemoaned the loss of the hero in twentieth century life and literature, convinced that we were becoming embroiled in what he termed "the fallacy of insignificance". It was this theory that encouraged celebrated American psychologist [[Abraham Maslow]] to contact him in 1963. The two corresponded regularly and met on several occasions before Maslow's death in 1970. Wilson wrote a biography and assessment of Maslow's work, ''New Pathways in Psychology: Maslow and the Post-Freudian Revolution'', based on audiotapes that Maslow had provided, which was published in 1972. Maslow's observation of "peak experiences" in his students – those sudden moments of overwhelming happiness that we all experience from time to time – provided Wilson with an important clue in his search for the mechanism that might control the Outsider's "moments of vision". Maslow, however, was convinced that peak experiences could not be induced; Colin Wilson thought otherwise and, indeed, in later books like ''Access to Inner Worlds'' (1983) and ''Super Consciousness'' (2009), suggested how they could be induced at will.

Wilson was also known for what he termed "Existential Criticism", which suggested that a work of art should not just be judged by the principles of literary criticism or theory alone but also by what it has to say, in particular about the meaning and purpose of existence. In his pioneering essay for ''[[Chicago Review]]'' (Volume 13, no. 2, 1959, pp.&nbsp;152–181) he wrote:

<blockquote>No art can be judged by purely aesthetic standards, although a painting or a piece of music may appear to give a purely aesthetic pleasure. Aesthetic enjoyment is an intensification of the vital response, and this response forms the basis of all value judgements. The existentialist contends that all values are connected with the problems of human existence, the stature of man, the purpose of life. These values are inherent in all works of art, in addition to their aesthetic values, and are closely connected with them.</blockquote>

He went on to write several more essays and books on the subject. Among the latter were ''The Strength to Dream'' (1962), ''Eagle and Earwig'' (1965), ''Poetry and Mysticism'' (1970) ''The Craft of the Novel'' (1975), ''The Bicameral Critic'' (1985) and ''The Books in My Life'' (1998). He also applied existential criticism to many of the hundreds of book reviews he wrote for journals including  ''Books & Bookmen'', ''[[The Literary Review]]'', ''[[The London Magazine]]'', ''John O'London's'', ''[[The Spectator]]'' and ''The Aylesford Review'' throughout his career. Some of these were gathered together in a book entitled ''Existential Criticism: Selected Book Reviews'', published in 2009.

Meanwhile, the prolific Wilson found time to write about other subjects that interested him, even on occasion when his level of expertise might be questionable. The title of his opinionated 1964 volume on music appreciation, ''Brandy of the Damned'', inspired by his enthusiasm for record collecting,<ref>[http://ericsams.org/index.php/music-reviews/history-and-aesthetics-of-music/757-colin-wilson-on-music Eric Sams. 'Colin Wilson on Music' in ''The Musical Times'', April 1967, p 329-330]</ref>  used for its title a self-deprecating reference from the onetime music critic Bernard Shaw. The full quote (from ''Man and Superman'') is: "Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned. May not one lost soul be permitted to abstain?”

By the late 1960s Wilson had become increasingly interested in [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] and [[occult]] themes. In 1971, he published ''[[The Occult: A History]]'', featuring [[exegesis|interpretations]] on [[Aleister Crowley]], [[George Gurdjieff]], [[Helena Blavatsky]], [[Kabbalah]], primitive [[magic (paranormal)|magic]], [[Franz Mesmer]], [[Grigori Rasputin]], [[Daniel Dunglas Home]] and [[Paracelsus]], among others. He also wrote a markedly unsympathetic biography of Crowley, ''Aleister Crowley: The Nature of the Beast'', and has written biographies on other spiritual and psychological [[visionary|visionaries]], including Gurdjieff, [[Carl Jung]], [[Wilhelm Reich]], [[Rudolf Steiner]], and [[P. D. Ouspensky]].

Originally, Wilson focused on the cultivation of what he called "Faculty X", which he saw as leading to an increased sense of [[Meaning (existential)|meaning]], and on abilities such as [[telepathy]] and the awareness of other [[Energy (psychological)|energies]]. In his later work he suggests the possibility of [[Afterlife|life after death]] and the existence of spirits, which he personally analyses as an active member of [[the Ghost Club]].

He also wrote non-fiction books on crime, ranging from encyclopedias to studies of [[serial killing]]. He had an ongoing interest in the life and times of [[Jack the Ripper]] and in [[sex crime]] in general.