Reversed food chains : humanity, monstrosity and an evolutionary utopia in Colin Wilson's Spider world novels

Abstract

"Colin Wilson (1931-2013), philosopher, novelist and an "Angry Young Man" of British literature, is best known for his works on true crime, mystery and the paranormal. He is also the author of several science fiction novels, among them the cycle Spider World, written over the span of sixteen years (The Tower [1987], The Delta [1987], The Magician [1992], Shadowland [2003]. Set in a distant future, the cycle begins as a post-apocalyptic vision of Earth governed by giant spiders where surviving humans are hunted, eaten or forced into slavery, and those who are allowed to live are subject to selective breeding and all forms of social surveillance. The novels follow the vicissitudes of Niall, a young boy who sets out to defeat the spiders but turns into an advocate of an inter-species alliance, becoming in the end the ruler of both humans and spiders. (...)"