Colin Wilson, Origins of the Sexual Impulse

Colin Stanley (University of Nottingham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Domains

Human Sexuality
Psychology

Dates

First circulation or publication 1963

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

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This fifth volume in Colin Wilson’s

Outsider Cycle

was published in Britain by Arthur Barker on May 10, 1963 and in the US by G.P. Putnam’s Sons the following month. The book is “...concerned mainly with the post-Freudian revolt against a totally analytical approach, and with raising the question of whether the methods of Gestalt psychology and of Husserl’s phenomenology can be applied to the psychology of sex” (14).

In an “Introductory Note”, Wilson explains that he is planning a “new existentialism” arguing that the “old existentialism” has recently died (around 1950, he estimates): “Before the end of this volume, I shall try to explain why I consider sex to be a valid approach to a new existentialism.” (14). He reveals that he is simultaneously writing a book

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2992 words

Citation: Stanley, Colin. "Origins of the Sexual Impulse". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 October 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23919, accessed 26 November 2024.]