Colin Wilson is not an academic. Not tied to a specific discipline, he concerns himself with the entire spectrum of the humanities. His case-book studies of the human condition are written with a sense of urgency, often ignoring the formal guidelines of academic writing. As a result, he has been criticized as self-righteous in expression, and unsound in analysis. In some respects, the critics are right. When subjected to analysis, his arguments often fall short. Isolated from the whole, individual works may appear to be hasty generalizations. But logical analysis and isolated dissection, while valid for criticism, do not justify a complete rejection of Wilson's ideas. These are not the only criteria available.

Wilson is concerned with the truth of the world "out there," not with formal logic. His writings are the response of an individual to the problems of existence. When he says that his beliefs are...