Man Without a Shadow: The Diary of an Existentialist

Gerard Sorme #2

by Colin Wilson

Also Man without a Shadow & The Sex Diary of Gerard Sorme

Genres: Fiction, Horror, British Literature

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.

Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.

Reviews

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times as salacious as one would expect, but at other times it becomes a droning in your ear that once attended to reveals itself as dull intellectual spouting. It has its moments, but the diary format allows Wilson to indulge his pet theories too readily and too often.

Memorable moments - Aleister Crowley character using sex magic to seduce a library employee in the library basement

guess I forgot the others

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you were hoping for a dirty book by a filthy writer, this is not the book. Colin Wilson, who wrote 'The Outsider" is an excellent observant writer on the world around him. Or I should say, this work of fiction. Yet, it reads like a writer's journal of a place and time. Sex is the common landscape between him and various other bohemian characters that run through London during the 1950s. There is a character who resembles Alistar Crowley, who is a friend of the Beast but seems to have an interest in sex magic. Still, this is not a diary of one's sex life, but more of a portrait of 'creative folks' doing what they do best - making love, and thinking about it.

[Ellis ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prosegue la mia esplorazione delle opere di Colin Wilson e, stavolta, tocca al secondo volume della trilogia avente come protagonista Gerard Sorme.
Un personaggio peculiare che abbiamo imparato a conoscere in Riti notturni, ma è qui che lo approfondiremo ulteriormente leggendo il suo diario personale o, come lo definisce lui stesso, il suo “diario sessuale”. Lì metterà nero su bianco riflessioni suscitate dai suoi incontri amorosi componendo – mi vengono in aiuto le parole della sinossi che ne danno una chiara definizione – una vera e propria fenomenologia del sesso.
La scelta di Wilson di presentare ai lettori un diario non è casuale, è un espediente che permette una full immersion intima nei pensieri del protagonista, accentuando ulteriormente non solo l’atmosfera contemplativa, ma anche l’elemento introspettivo.
Inizialmente, non lo nego, la prima impressione è stata di trovarmi davanti a una specie di Melissa P. in versione intellettuale e più edulcorata. Fortunatamente, i momenti da pensatore profondo compensano ampiamente quelli da novello Casanova.

  
     Mi sento come un detective che esamina il mondo, cercando di intrappolarlo e fargli confessare il suo scopo. So benissimo che esistono un potere e uno scopo immensi. Allora perché quasi sempre ne sono escluso? Questo dannato imbroglione bugiardo di un mondo.
  

Come nel volume precedente, a dare una svolta significativa alla trama, sarà risolutivo l’incontro con un nuovo personaggio: Caradoc Cunningham.
Sarà lui a iniziarlo ai misteri dell’occultismo e a invogliarlo, ancora una volta, alla forsennata ricerca di senso della vita attraverso un nuovo “strumento”: il sesso.

In “L’uomo senza ombra” manca del tutto l’aspetto crime\mistery presente nel libro precedente, che speravo sarebbe stato controbilanciato dal lato “occultista”. Eppure, l’obiettivo è stato raggiunto solo in parte.
Pertanto una scrittura densissima, combinata alla mole considerevole di intuizioni del protagonista e alla frammentarietà della forma diaristica, sono fattori che fanno venir meno la dinamicità dell’esposto.
Seguendo il corso degli eventi, il profilo psicologico che viene fuori di Gerard è di un perspicace osservatore della società e dei suoi meccanismi, outsider che sfugge dalla strada dal perbenismo in senso stretto, per rincorrere una lucida, logica guidato talvolta da pulsioni carnali.

Anche se il linguaggio resta comunque accessibile, questo è un libro cerebrale che esige una lettura attenta per poter essere apprezzato in toto.

[Nik Maack · Rating 3 out of 5]

1963, when this book was published, must have been a very different time. For starters, this book is incredibly sexist. Women are used sexually like tissue, traded back and forth, and the main character at one point casually says there are no female philosophers for a good reason. A grown man has a sexual interest in a 13 year old girl, but won't consummate it and is waiting for her to turn 18. All his friends are very supportive of this relationship! And at one point (maybe more than one?) a man rapes an unconscious woman and it's written off as no big deal. I mean, no one was hurt by it, right? (Or so suggests our narrator.) Uh... What?

If you can look past all of THAT... This is a book about sex philosophy and black magic. Strangely, our narrator Gerard is skeptical of the whole magic thing, but keeps participating willingly in rituals, while mocking them.

Hey, you know what would bring about the next great leap in human evolution? A man having an orgasm that lasts ten minutes. Such an experience would change him as a being and waves of energy would pour out of him and his neighbours would be astounded. So says Gerard the skeptic.

Colin Wilson is a weird writer. He's fond of speculating that a great leap in human evolution is coming soon. Probably we'll all be telepathic or clairvoyant or be able to see around corners. This has something to do with sex energy and sex murderers. Nostradamus predicted the French Revolution. Might he be right about the world ending in 1999?

It's 2022. I'm going to say he was wrong.

So you read all of the above and you think, quite rightly, this book must be terrible. And yet, somehow, it isn't! Only Colin Wilson can write drivel like this and have you nodding and stroking your chin and thinking that he's on to something. I don't know how he does it

I've read several books by Wilson at this point and this seems to be his super power. He writes the most ridiculous stuff and makes it sound vaguely plausible.

I cannot recommend this book, unless you're a Colin Wilson fan. Or you like occult books. (The black magician in here is NOT Crowley, but strangely has do much in common with Crowley that he's Crowley .) Or you just want something weird to read.

This book is out of print. I'm not surprised. And I have no memory of where I picked it up. It has been sitting on my shelves waiting to get read for years and years. Done. Phew. Let's get this book out of the house.

[Diletta · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mi dispiace Gerard, il tuo picco di coscienza si trova in un altro castello."

https://onlyapapermoonweb.wordpress.c...

[Eugene Pustoshkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

That’s a realistic exploration of eccentric people mixed with the protagonist’s existential search. One would be amused and warned against various charismatic charlatans. Is it possible that people would avoid making some of the archetypal mistakes described there?

[Angus McKeogh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Wilson novel. Seems very mundane in the plot and action at times but is incredibly insightful and philosophical. Part two in this series and perhaps just the tiniest drop in perfection.

[Victoria Haugen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um, whoa! It was a little too much for me, but all in all a very interesting and compelling book. Definitely something I wasn't expecting, but I thought it was decently written and I do love Paul Jenkins as narrator.

It's pretty dark, so be ready. But, if you like that sort of thing, this will take you on a very wild ride. I'm still whoa-ing.

Definitely interesting! :)
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Sean Hopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly funny account of what it might be like to hang around with Aleister Crowley...

[Aliaksei Mukhachou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was snoozing the first half. Even though I do appreciate the Nietzchean-adjacent musings on sex this book is filled with, one does get tired with the women-mindgame grandstrategy that occupies so much space. The second half does get interesting. Overall, a recommendation if you need some sex philosophy exploration.