In this, his fourth Outsider Cycle book, published by Victor Gollancz in April 1962, Wilson, by studying various writers of imagination, attempts a definition of creative imagination and assesses its influence on literature. He states in his Introduction on “The Crisis in Modern Literature”:
As a practising writer, I am personally concerned to discover how literature can become again purposeful and exuberant. That is why it seems to me worthwhile to keep holding post-mortems on the literary and philosophical failures of the past hundred years. There is no point in accepting pessimistic conclusions until you are convinced that they are inevitable. There are times when a slightly different approach to the facts produces completely different results” (20) [my italics]
Employing his “different approach” Wilson aims to “...establish certain standards of value for art and literature—standards...
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Citation: Stanley, Colin. "The Strength to Dream: literature and the imagination". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23917, accessed 09 June 2026.]
