The Heathnik and the Hero

Few readers—or let’s say devotees—of Life and Look magazines can have forgotten Britain’s bright young Heathnik, Colin Wilson. Well, right out of his sleeping bag on Hampstead Heath, he’s back. In The Stature of Man (Houghton Mifflin, $3.00), anyone can recognize the Wilson of The Outsider who delights to astonish with the great range (if not depth) of his knowledge of modern letters, criticism and sociology. This time, however, the extravagant play of his own speculations has been reined in, for not even the contrariest of enfants terribles can play forever in a child’s garden of the perverse. There are signs that this one is beginning to settle down.

Two questions, at least, confront us in this book. First, is Colin Wilson going to repeat the dismal experience of Wilde’s silent old gentleman who had said everything he had had to say before he was thirty? And then, is Colin Wilson one of “them” or one of “us”? Leaving the event to answer the first, I shall make a start on the second point.

JF

About the Author

J. D. Futch

Featured Tags

Few readers—or let’s say devotees—of Life and Look magazines can have forgotten Britain’s bright young Heathnik, Colin Wilson. Well, right out of his sleeping bag on Hampstead Heath, he’s back. In The Stature of Man (Houghton Mifflin, $3.00), anyone can recognize the Wilson of The Outsider who delights to astonish with the great range (if not depth) of his knowledge of modern letters, criticism and sociology. This time, however, the extravagant play of his own speculations has been reined in, for not even the contrariest of enfants terribles can play forever in a child’s garden of the perverse. There are signs that this one is beginning to settle down.

Two questions, at least, confront us in this book. First, is Colin Wilson going to repeat the dismal experience of Wilde’s silent old gentleman who had said everything he had had to say before he was thirty? And then, is Colin Wilson one of “them” or one of “us”? Leaving the event to answer the first, I shall make a start on the second point.