Recluse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the town, see Recluse, Wyoming.

For the spider, see Brown Recluse.

A recluse is someone in isolation who hides away from the attention of the public, a person who lives in solitude, i.e. seclusion from intercourse with the world. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester".

A person may become a recluse for many reasons: a celebrity may seek to escape the attentions of his or her fans; a misanthrope may be unable to tolerate human society; a survivalist may be practicing self-sufficiency. It can also be due to psychological problems - such as apathy, a phobia, or other anxiety disorders^{[citation needed]}.

It should be noted that this practice may not be voluntarily as one may become a recluse due to illness. A person may also become a recluse for religious reasons, in which case he or she is usually referred to as a hermit or an anchorite.^{[citation needed]}

The following is a list of famous individuals who have had a lengthy fallow period from the public eye, or had continually upheld a cloistered lifestyle which was popularly considered unusual at the time.

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd guitarist (1946-2006). From his departure from Pink Floyd to his death, he kept a low profile, recording only two solo albums, granting no interviews and doing no live shows.
Harry Nilsson, musician, known at one point to be very reclusive.
Howard Hughes, movie producer and aircraft entrepreneur, who suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder
Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division
Greta Garbo, actress. Famously said "I want to be alone".
The Kills (band), scarcely grants interviews, and is also asocial
Thomas Pynchon, author. Pynchon has found an excellent way to preserve his privacy on top of granting no interviews and avoiding public appearances: no photographs of him have knowingly been taken since the early 1960s. Thus, no one is really sure what he looks like. However, he provided his voice to two Simpsons episodes.
John Hughes (film director), has not given an interview in years, has not directed a film since Curly Sue in 1991 and is distant to the Hollywood scene
Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion. His reclusiveness has been in later years due to his status as a fugitive from justice, due to violating economic sanctions against Serbia, then Yugoslavia, when he played a rematch there against Boris Spassky. Fischer has reportedly terminated friendships with people who gave out his contact information.
Thomas Ligotti, author
Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails frontman who recovered from social anxiety
Agnetha Fältskog, singer and former member of musical group ABBA
J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger has lived in rural New Hampshire since shortly after the novel's publication, has given no interviews and published no new writing since the short story "Hapworth 16, 1924" appeared in The New Yorker in 1965.
Emily Dickinson, poet
Phil Spector, record producer
Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Prior to his arrest and trial, Kaczynski lived alone in a remote cabin.
The Collyer brothers
Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes. He gave few interviews during the strip's run, refused to pose for promotional pictures after 1985 and even today maintains a low profile in the Cleveland suburb where he grew up.
Marlon Brando, famous method actor, described as very reclusive especially after his son murdered his daughter's boyfriend, and his daughter five years later committed suicide
Morrissey, former lead singer of The Smiths
Georges Lentz, composer
Terrence Malick, director
Bob Dylan, musician who went into a 20 month seclusion after a horrible motorcycle accident
Doris Duke, philanthropist
Jandek, musician
Stanley Kubrick, filmmaker. Was very secretive about his work and life, although close friends and family all regarded him as a normal person, contrary to the public myths surrounding him
John Lennon, songwriter who sequestered time away from public consciousness to raise his second child until 1980.
George Harrison, songwriter who went on hiatus several times during his life, particularly during the 90s till his death in 2001.
James Padgett, economist and philanthropist
Beverlee McKinsey, soap opera actress (Another World)
Eileen Derbyshire, soap opera actress (Coronation Street)
The band Kraftwerk. "Their legendary Düsseldorf studio, KlingKlang, has no telephone, no fax, no reception and returns all post unopened. They have not attended a photo shoot since 1978 (...)" [1]
Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, eletronic music artist.
The Residents
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird
Thomas Harris, author
Cormac McCarthy, author
Jack Chick, Christian fundamentalist comic book publisher
Axl Rose, singer of the band Guns N' Roses avoided the public in varying forms from 1994 to May of 2006
Jeff Mangum, singer of the band Neutral Milk Hotel
Sly Stone
Grigory Perelman, Russian mathematician, winner of the Fields Medal
Alexander Grothendieck, German mathematician, winner of the Fields Medal
Henry David Thoreau, American author, anarchist, and naturalist
Ray LaMontagne, folk singer-songwriter
Tod Browning, American film actor and director whose career spanned both the silent movie era and the "talkie" era.
Patrick Süskind, German author of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer
João Gilberto, Brazilian musician
Henry Darger, American writer, created a 15,143-page ilustration book to be discovered only after his death
B. Traven, author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist, later in life only talked to others by phone or letter

Reclusiveness does not necessarily connote geographical isolation. A recluse may live in a crowded city, but infrequently leave the security of his or her home. However, isolated and sparsely populated states (e.g., Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska) and countries (e.g., New Zealand or Australia) often harbor recluses, who are often seeking complete escape from civilization.

In Japan, an estimated 1.2 million people suffer from psychological problems which cause reclusive behavior. The phenomenon of "Hikikomori" or "social withdrawal" has become a major problem, often blamed on Japan's education system and social pressure to succeed.