Recluse

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 Russian Orthodox monk who was later glorified as a saint. Famous recluses have included Emily Brontë, J.D. Salinger, Emily Dickinson, Stanley Kubrick, Howard Hughes, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Greta Garbo.