Colin Wilson, British author of existentialist classic ‘The Outsider,’ dies at 82

LONDON – British author Colin Wilson, who gained fame with his first book, “The Outsider,” has died. He was 82.

Colin Stanley, Wilson’s publisher and bibliographer, says the writer and philosopher never fully recovered from a stroke in 2011.

Stanley said Friday that Wilson was admitted to a hospital in Cornwall, southwest England, in October for pneumonia and died peacefully Dec. 5 with his wife Joy and daughter Sally by his side.

The 1956 publication of “The Outsider,” study of creative icons that espoused a brand of existentialist individualism, catapulted the writer to fame.

Orion Publishers described it as “a study of alienation, creativity and the modern mind.”

Wilson went on to write more than 150 books.

He is survived by Joy, their three children and a son from his first marriage.