Colin Wilson, Mysteries: an investigation into the occult, the paranormal and the supernatural

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

Parapsychology/ Occult

Dates

First circulation or publication Sep 1978

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-fictional prose

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Mysteries

, with its long sub-title, the second book in Wilson’s “Occult Trilogy” (commencing with

The Occult

(1971) and concluding with

Beyond the Occult

(1988)), was published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton in September 1978 and by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in the US shortly afterwards.

The Occult

, a book of over 600 pages, was Wilson’s first commissioned work and was so successful that the publishers requested a sequel. Wilson responded with a book of even greater length which, like its predecessor, was divided into three parts preceded by an Introduction.

This Introduction, “The Ladder of Selves”, contains some important insights and, indeed, was included by Wilson in The Essential Colin Wilson (London: Harrap, 1985) and also re-issued as an e-book, The Ladder of Selves and The

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3979 words

Citation: Stanley, Colin. "Mysteries: an investigation into the occult, the paranormal and the supernatural". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 July 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23958, accessed 26 November 2024.]