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 reasons, like: apathy, a phobia, schizoid personality type, or various anxiety disorders.

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]}

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) often harbour recluses, who are often seeking complete escape from civilization^{[citation needed]}.

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.

[edit] Recluses

The following is a list of famous individuals who have disappeared from the public eye for a lengthy period of time, or have continually lived a reclusive lifestyle.

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd guitarist. Since his departure from Pink Floyd and until his death he kept a low profile, recording only two solo albums, granting no interviews and doing no live shows.
Marlon Brando, famous method actor, described as very reclusive - especially after his son murdered his daughter's boyfriend, and his daughter committed suicide five years later.
Tod Browning, American film actor and director whose career spanned both the silent and talkie movie eras.
Octavia E. Butler, African-American science fiction author.
Jack Chick, Christian fundamentalist comic book publisher.
The Collyer brothers.
Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division.
Henry Darger, American writer, who created a 15,143-page illustrated book discovered only after his death.
John Deacon, English bassist with the rock band Queen
Eileen Derbyshire, soap opera actress (Coronation Street).
Emily Dickinson, poet.
Doris Duke, philanthropist.
Bob Dylan, musician who went into a 20-month seclusion after a motorcycle accident.
Fred Eychaner, Chicago media mogul, founder of Newsweb Corporation.
Rod Evans, original singer of rock band Deep Purple. He has not been seen publicly for more than 25 years.
Agnetha Fältskog, singer and former member of musical group ABBA.
Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion. His reclusiveness in later years was 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.
Greta Garbo, actress, who famously said, "I want to be alone."
João Gilberto, Brazilian musician.
Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist, who later in life only talked to others by phone or letter.
Alexander Grothendieck, German mathematician, winner of the Fields Medal.
Thomas Harris, author.
George Harrison, songwriter who went on hiatus several times during his life, particularly during the '90s until his death in 2001.
Howard Hughes, movie producer and aircraft entrepreneur, who suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
John Hughes, has not given an interview in years, has not directed a film since Curly Sue in 1991, and is distant to the Hollywood scene.
Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, electronic music artist.
Jandek, ultra-reclusive musician from Houston, Texas. He released dozens of albums from 1978 to the present day, yet he never appeared in public or played live until 2004. However, his mysterious persona endures, mainly because he has only ever granted one interview - by phone - to Spin magazine in the 1980s, and even that didn't reveal much personal information.
Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Prior to his arrest and trial, Kaczynski lived alone in a remote cabin in Montana, abandoning virtually all twentieth-century technology, even writing his entire Unabomber Manifesto on an old-model typewriter.
The Kills (band), scarcely grant interviews, and are also asocial.
The band Kraftwerk. "Their legendary Düsseldorf studio, Kling Klang, has no telephone, no fax machine, no receptionist and returns all mail unopened. They have not attended a photo shoot since 1978." [1]
Stanley Kubrick, film-maker. He was very secretive about his life and work, although close friends and family all regarded him as a normal person, contrary to the public myths surrounding him.
Ray LaMontagne, folk singer-songwriter.
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird.
John Lennon, songwriter who hid from the public eye to raise his second child until 1980.
Georges Lentz, composer.
Thomas Ligotti, author.
Terrence Malick, film director, has made only four feature films in 32 years.
Jeff Mangum, singer of the band Neutral Milk Hotel.

Chris Marker, French filmmaker and photographer. Never gives interviews and when queried for a photograph of himself, will respond by sending a picture of a cat

Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer.
Cormac McCarthy, author.
Beverlee McKinsey, soap opera actress (Another World).
Morrissey, former lead singer of The Smiths.
Harry Nilsson, musician, known at one point to be very reclusive.
James Padgett, economist and philanthropist.
Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician, winner of the Fields Medal.
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.
The Residents, rock band who always appear masked.
Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails frontman who recovered from social anxiety.
Axl Rose, singer of the band Guns N' Roses avoided the public in varying forms from 1994 to May of 2006.
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.

Masamune Shirow, manga artist/writer. Never allows photographs of himself to be published.

Phil Spector, record producer.
Layne Staley, vocalist for Alice in Chains.
Sly Stone, funk musician.
Patrick Süskind, German author of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
John Swartzwelder, most prolific writer of The Simpsons. He has been credited with over 60 episodes, most of which are classics.
B. Traven, author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. His true identity is still a matter of debate.
Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, who retired from music in 1982 and has not been seen publicly for upwards of 10 years. He is rumored to have multiple sclerosis.
The Wachowski Brothers, filmmakers.
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.
Matthew Corbett Nobody currently knows what Matthew is doing with his life. His last public tv appearance was in 1998 when he retired from sooty and co. Since then the public have been left in the dark about his current life or whereabouts. Since leaving sooty and co ONE photo exists of him from 2004.