Recluse

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For other uses, see Recluse (disambiguation).
Symeon of Trier

A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester". Historically, the word referred to a hermit's total isolation from the world. Examples are Symeon of Trier, who lived within the great Roman gate Porta Nigra with permission from the Archbishop of Trier, or Theophan the Recluse, the 19th-century Orthodox monk who was later glorified as a saint. Many celebrated figures of human history have spent significant portions of their lives as recluses.

Causes[]

There are many potential reasons for becoming a recluse, including but not limited to: a personal philosophy may reject consumer society; a mystical religious outlook may involve becoming a hermit or an anchorite; a survivalist may be practicing self-sufficiency; a criminal might hide away from people to avoid detection by police; or a misanthrope may lack tolerance for society. In the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Church tradition, a Poustinik is a temporary hermit who has been called to pray and fast alone in a cabin for at least 24 hours. In ancient Chinese culture, scholars are encouraged to be a public servant in a scrupulous and well-run government but expected to go into reclusion as a yinshi (隱士, 'gentleman-in-hiding') when the government is rife with corruption.[1] Others, like Dongfang Shuo, became hermits to practice Taoism, or in later centuries, Chan Buddhism.

It can also be due to psychological reasons, for example due to disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, apathy, depression, obsessive–compulsive disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder or avoidant personality disorder. Conditions like autism or intellectual disability can also lead people to become reclusive. In Japan, an estimated 1.2 million people are part of the phenomenon of "Hikikomori" or "social withdrawal", a problem often blamed on Japan's education system and social pressure to succeed.

Commentary[]

Entrepreneur Kim Smiley wrote, "We live in a society that stigmatizes seclusion, yet has an almost rabid fascination with it at the same time. A survey of history shows that some of the most brilliant thinkers, writers and artists turned their backs on society to embrace a life of voluntary seclusion."[2] Melanie Tannenbaum also noted in Pacific Standard that socially isolated children are "significantly less likely than their more social counterparts to engage in delinquent behavior during middle and high school".[3] In Psychology Today, career coach Marty Nemko argued that the reclusive lifestyle is worthy of more consideration, stating that people who live alone are more likely to find satisfying work due to a lack of responsibility to support a family.[4]

Notable recluses[]

Inventors
  • Nikola Tesla[5]
  • Paul Allen
Scientists
  • Marie Curie[6]
  • Isaac Newton[7][8]
  • Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Writers
  • Emily Brontë
  • Caryl Churchill[9]
  • Emily Dickinson
  • Gustave Flaubert[10]
  • Meng Haoran
  • H. P. Lovecraft
  • Thomas Ligotti
  • Marcel Proust[11]
  • Thomas Pynchon
  • J. D. Salinger
  • John Swartzwelder
  • Henry David Thoreau
  • Virgil[12]
Painters
Musical figures
  • Syd Barrett
  • Glenn Gould
  • Mark Hollis[15]
  • Michael Jackson[16]
  • Georges Lentz[17]
  • Lee Mavers
  • Mina Mazzini
  • Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli[18]
  • Layne Staley
  • Brian Wilson
Filmmakers
  • Jean-Luc Godard
  • Stanley Kubrick
  • Terrence Malick
Others
  • Bobby Fischer
  • Greta Garbo
  • Howard Hughes
  • Pete Maravich
  • Richard Proenneke
  • Mohammed Omar
  • Peter Zumthor
  • King George III[19]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Analects 8:13 《論語 · 泰伯》：天下有道則見，無道則隱。Show you talents [through public service] in a well-governed world; go into hiding in dark times.
  2. ^ Smiley, Kim (January 27, 2014). "How Famous Recluses Teach Us Important Lessons". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  3. ^ Tannenbaum, Melanie (October 5, 2015). "The Mental Illness Stigma". Pacific Standard. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  4. ^ Nemko, Marty (October 24, 2014). "The Recluse Option". Psychology Today. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  5. ^ Barksdale, Nate (September 9, 2014). "9 Things You May Not Know About Nikola Tesla". A&£ Television Networks, LLC. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  6. ^ "Mme. Curie Is Dead; Martyr to Science". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  7. ^ "Isaac Newton: The Last Magician". BBC. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  8. ^ Ball, Robert Stawell (2015). Great Astronomers: Isaac Newton. Booklassic. ISBN 9635266537. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  9. ^ Dalton, Stephen (January 29, 2016). "'Escaped Alone': Theater Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  10. ^ Gauss, Christian (June 21, 1907). "Review: Flaubert's Letters: Lettres A Sa Nièce Caroline By Gustave Flaubert". The North American Review. 185 (617): 438. JSTOR 25105914.
  11. ^ "Top 10 Most Reclusive Celebrities: Marcel Proust". Time. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
  12. ^ The Æneid of Virgil. Scott, Foresman. 1916. p. 15. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  13. ^ Wullschlager, Jackie (September 27, 2013). "The Letters of Paul Cézanne, edited and translated by Alex Danchev". Financial Times. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2017. No artist perfected the persona of the brusque, reclusive genius better than Paul Cézanne.
  14. ^ Shoham, Shlomo Giora (2008). Art, Myth and Deviance. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 211. ISBN 1443802972. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  15. ^ "Mark Hollis And Talk Talk's Brilliant, Nuanced, Stubborn Visions". NPR.org. Archived from the original on July 9, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  16. ^ "Michael Jackson: child prodigy, genius and recluse". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. June 25, 2009. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  17. ^ Galvin, Nick (February 17, 2015). "Georges Lentz's sad elegy for MH370 victims". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  18. ^ "Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Reclusive Pianist, Is Dead at 75," Archived December 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine The New York Times, June 13, 1995
  19. ^ Fraser, p. 285; Hibbert, pp. 399–402

References[]

  • Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Porter, Noah, ed. (1913). "Recluse". Webster's Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: C. & G. Merriam Co.
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