Editing Colin Wilson (section)

== Early life ==
Wilson was born on 26 June 1931 in [[Leicester]],<ref name="IndepObit" /> the first child of Arthur and Annetta Wilson. His father worked in a shoe factory.<ref name="somepurpose">Colin Wilson, ''[[Dreaming to Some Purpose]]'' (Arrow, 2005)</ref> At the age of eleven he attended [[Gateway_College|Gateway Secondary Technical School]], where his interest in science began to blossom. By the age of 14 he had compiled a multi-volume work of essays covering many aspects of science entitled ''A Manual of General Science''. But by the time he left school at sixteen, his interests were already switching to literature. His discovery of [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s work, particularly ''[[Man and Superman]]'', was a landmark. He started to write stories, plays, and essays in earnest – a long "sequel" to ''Man and Superman'' made him consider himself to be 'Shaw's natural successor.' After two unfulfilling jobs – one as a laboratory assistant at his old school – he drifted into the Civil Service, but found little to occupy his time.

In the autumn of 1949, he was conscripted into the Royal Air Force but soon found himself clashing with authority, eventually feigning homosexuality in order to be dismissed. Upon leaving he took up a succession of menial jobs, spent some time wandering around Europe, and finally returned to Leicester in 1951. There he married his first wife, (Dorothy) Betty Troop, and moved to London, where a son, Roderick Gerard, was born. He later wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, ''[[Adrift in Soho]]'', that was based on his time in London.  But the marriage rapidly disintegrated as he drifted in and out of several jobs. During this traumatic period, Wilson was continually working and reworking the novel that was eventually published as ''[[Ritual in the Dark]]'' (1960).<ref>Colin Wilson's 'Ritual in the Dark' {{cite web|url=http://www.londonfictions.com/colin-wilson-ritual-in-the-dark.html |title=Colin Wilson: Ritual in the Dark |access-date=24 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304184711/http://www.londonfictions.com/colin-wilson-ritual-in-the-dark.html |archive-date=4 March 2016  }}</ref> He also met three young writers who became close friends – [[Bill Hopkins (novelist)|Bill Hopkins]], [[Stuart Holroyd]] and [[Laura Del-Rivo]].<ref>Laura Del Rivo 'The Furnished Room' {{cite web |url=http://www.londonfictions.com/laura-del-rivo-the-furnished-room.html |title=Laura Del-Rivo: The Furnished Room |access-date=2 June 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329151312/http://www.londonfictions.com/laura-del-rivo-the-furnished-room.html |archive-date=29 March 2016  }}</ref> Another trip to Europe followed, and he spent some time in Paris attempting to sell magazine subscriptions. Returning to Leicester again, he met Joy Stewart – later to become his second wife and mother of their three children – who accompanied him to London. There he continued to work on ''Ritual in the Dark'', receiving some advice from [[Angus Wilson]] (no relation) – then deputy superintendent of the [[British Museum Reading Room|British Museum's Reading Room]] – and slept rough (in a sleeping bag) on [[Hampstead Heath]] to save money.<ref>Desert Island Discs Archive: 1976–1980</ref>

On Christmas Day, 1954, alone in his room, he sat down on his bed and began to write in his journal. He described his feelings as follows:

{{bquote|It struck me that I was in the position of so many of my favourite characters in fiction: [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky|Dostoyevsky's]] Raskolnikov, [[Rainer Maria Rilke|Rilke's]] Malte Laurids Brigge, the young writer in [[Knut Hamsun|Hamsun's]] ''Hunger'': alone in my room, feeling totally cut off from the rest of society. It was not a position I relished . . . Yet an inner compulsion had forced me into this position of isolation. I began writing about it in my journal, trying to pin it down. And then, quite suddenly, I saw that I had the makings of a book. I turned to the back of my journal and wrote at the head of the page: 'Notes for a book The Outsider in Literature'}}