Colin Wilson: a short biography, books

Colin Wilson is an iconic English science fiction writer of the late 20th and early 21st century. The most famous is the cycle "World of Spiders", which is still one of the best works of the genre. In this article we will talk about the biography of the writer and his books.

Biography

Born Colin Wilson June 26, 1931 in a town called Leicester (Great Britain, Leicestershire). At the age of 16, a difficult marital status forced him to quit school and go to work in the factory. Then he had to change several places of service, he managed to be a clerk in the tax department, serve in the Royal Air Force, as well as a magazine trader in Paris. At the same time, everything was free for creativity.

Since 1954, Wilson began to make a living by writing. The first book was published in 1956, it was called "Stranger" and brought the author a real success. This inspired the writer to continue his literary career. However, Wilson did not limit himself to this.

In the sixties the writer begins to teach at universities. So, he lectured at Hollins College (USA), Washington University (Seattle), the Mediterranean Institute in Mallorca, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey).

In the last years of his life he lived in seclusion in his cottage in the county of Cornwall. The writer died on December 5, 2013.

Creation

In 1967, Colin Wilson published one of his most popular books - it was a fantastic novel called "Parasites of Consciousness." However, the most popular was, of course, the cycle "The World of Spiders", the first part of which was published in 1987. The series quickly became a cult. Later, other science fiction writers began to add it, as is often the case with popular art sagas.

In different periods of his life he was fond of music, sociology, criminology, occultism, philosophy, literary criticism, sexology. A lot of books have also been written on all these topics. However, most of them were never translated into Russian.

Colin Wilson, "The World of Spiders"

Let's talk about the most famous saga of the writer. As we have already said, the series received a sequel written by other science fiction writers, but here we will only consider original books written by Wilson himself.

So, the world of the cycle is the future after the global cataclysm, which not only changed the climate on the planet, but also led to the evolutionary leap of the arachnids. Now the planet Earth is dominated by spiders. People are forced to hide from them, but every year they become less, as the arachnids constantly need slaves and food. In addition, spiders are endowed with telepathic abilities and are able to penetrate the minds of people. As you can see, Kolin Wilson came up with a rather original approach to the creation of the plot.

"World of spiders" includes 4 parts:

• "Tower";
• "Delta";
• "The Magician";
• "The land of ghosts."

The protagonist of the cycle is Niall, one of those who hide from the pursuit of spiders. Suddenly, he has telepathic abilities, and now he is able to penetrate the head of the arachnids, and not vice versa. About what will lead to the confrontation between people and spiders, you can find out by reading the series.

Let's notice, that rather recently translations of products which Colin Wilson has written have begun. Books ("The World of Spiders" in particular) the writer, however, quickly received high marks from Russian readers and gained popularity among fans of fiction.

Cycle "Space Vampires"

This is the last saga of the writer, translated into Russian. Colin Wilson started writing it in 1976. In total, it includes two novels: "Space Vampires" and "Vampire Metamorphosis."

This time the author chose for himself a space fiction space, including there are atypical for this genre of characters - vampires. True, this time the origin of bloodsucking monsters is alien.

Other works

Wrote a lot of other works in the genre of fiction Colin Wilson. The books of the author have always enjoyed great popularity, but here we give only the two most famous cycles.

So, the series "Stranger" was Colin's first literary experience, which immediately brought him the fame of an excellent writer. In all, it includes 7 novels, the first was written in 1956, and the last - in 1966.

And the second cycle, which is worth mentioning, "Gerard Sorm", includes only three novels. Years of writing - from 1960 to 1970. Refers to the genre of the erotic-philosophical novel, includes elements of mysticism and detective.