Colin Wilson, Poetry & Mysticism

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: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1970

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Essays/ Lectures (any)

Resources

After spending six months as Visiting Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, Colin Wilson moved on to lecture in San Francisco in March 1968. There, sitting in a bar with the Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti [1919- ], discussing the use of psychedelic drugs to enhance consciousness, Wilson argued against the use of such drugs insisting that mystical experience is “a normal potentiality of everyday consciousness, and not something that has to be snatched by inducing states over which we have no control” (13*). Ferlinghetti suggested that Wilson write a short book about this which he offered to consider for publication under his famous City Lights imprint. Feeling that this would be a “good vehicle for an ‘interim …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2471 words

Citation: Stanley, Colin. "Poetry & Mysticism". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 September 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23936, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Save this article