“In books on sex, crime, psychology and the occult, and in more than a dozen novels, Colin Wilson has explored how pessimism can rob ordinary people of their powers. ‘If you asked me what is the basis of all my work, it’s the feeling there’s something basically wrong with human beings. Human beings are like grandfather clocks driven by watch springs. Our powers appear to be taken away from us by something.’ The critics, particularly in Britain, have alternately called him a genius and a fool.”