Ayn Rand

pog it

thanks to whoever on here recommended this book- brilliant.

turgon

A very popular author on the Internet, Ayn Rand's books focus of her philosophy we should all be as independent as we can of influence and coercion by others. Her two main works are "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged."

She seems to be the one author that attracts a lot of idealogical and other criticism from people who have never read her books whatsoever. Over in the politics board, if she is mentioned the negative comments she gets will be from people who will slyly append they've never actually read any of her work.

What do people think of her and her work?


Ive read the Fountainhead. I thought the characters were good, and the ideology was good, but that it was too long. I know Rand was trying to fit in a lot over a lengthy narrative time-line, but I still thought it was a bit self indulgent. I would say she is a good author, an ok writer, with a good philosophy.

ocianain

Popular with college kids, she loses her wisdom as you age

Illkillya

I think people are entitled to comment on her philosophy without having read her books, since it's clear enough where she stands. I only read Atlas Shrugged, and it was mostly repeating the same thing over and over for 2000 pages. Definitely not a good writer, but some good stuff in there and it is worth reading.

Will give The Fountainhead a bash one of these days.

turgon

Illkillya, its not so much the commenting itself, its the extent of the commenting. Some people even level personal abuse at Rand without even turning a page of her novels. I think that is very silly. Tbh its as if people are to afraid to read them incase they will be converter

Anyway Ill have to read Atlas Shrugged.

Daftendirekt

Hey, I've been considering investing in this book.

I'm somewhat familiar with Rand's philosophy, but I haven't heard many positives about her writing.

I was just wondering whether it'd be worth my while picking up Atlas Shrugged. I'm interested in learning more about Objectivism, but at the same time, I'm weary about wading through 1,000+ pages of what I've been led to believe is subpar writing.

Any recommendations?

dogbert27

If you want to get started with Ayn Rand but the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged seem a bit daunting try to find Anthem. It's a short story, over 100 pages I think but it will give you a good start to what Ayn Rand is about.

DagneyTaggart

A remarkable book. Enjoy the story and give the philosophy some thought but don't join Rand in taking it to the extreme. A legendary book.

cognoscente

Her characters are completely subject to her ideology, making them wafer thin. Pretty much all of the characters are either evil socialists, brilliant individualists or sheep in between. The sheep want to be like the individualists (though they don't always realise it), but are manipulated by the evil socialists and ultimately unhappy because of it. That's about it really. There's very little further nuance.

I mean neither the characters nor the society in which they function is situated in anything close to reality. I'm willing to accept some... accentuation to convey a philosophical point but she's just completely reductionist.

Also worth noting some hilarious if pretty twisted portrayals of women presumably reflective of Rand's own strange psyche.

Anyway I never liked her writing, but her philosophy did appeal to me in my youth when I yearned for something concrete to believe in. It doesn't take too long to realise that her own branch of objectivist egoism is antithetical to any sort of functioning society.

I'm being gentle here. Her work is terrible from both literary and philosophical perspectives.

DagneyTaggart

A lot of truth in what you say cognoscente but do you really mean it to say her characters are wafer thin? For example the character John Galt could hardly fall into that category?

I think also think that you are overstating the case saying her work is terrible. I don't count myself as a bookworm and that may be the reason that I found this book to be highly intriguing and hard to put down, despite it being over a thousand pages in breath.

If you really do believe this to the extend that you say I might enjoy reading something you feel betters this book in terms of characters and ideology.

Thanks in advance.

Crucifix

Anthem is the only Rand book I've read, and it was probably the worst book I've ever read. I'd like to read the Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged so I could have an informed opinion but I don't think I could face another Anthem (except 10 times as long)

johnathan woss

Why is Ayn Rand mentioned so often on this forum ?

Her work isn't literature it's expensive toilet paper. And I'm being kind.

DagneyTaggart

I read the comment below and thought it relevent enough to post here to balance out this debate. It is a review of a new biography of Rand (Ayn Rand and the World She Made). The review is by Tyler Cowan of www.marginalrevolution.com.

The author is by no means a "Randian" but she is willing to praise the famous Atlas Shrugged "money speech" as "original, complex, and although somewhat overbearing, beautifully written." She nominates We the Living as Rand's most persuasive work in a literary sense.