Article about Ayn Rand

RW81233

http://www.slate.com/id/2233966/

Obviously it's very critical, but I think it cuts to the heart of the main arguments against her philosophies.

soulsinging

i have the fountainhead on my book shelf, but i'm not sure i'll ever get round to reading it. i hear her writing and characters aren't particularly mind-blowing and it's mostly just window dressing for a REALLY long philosophical straw man debate.

MrMerkinball

I read Atlas Shrugged....and wished I hadn't

kl277374

Thanks for posting this

hinx

There was a pretty good article on her in a recent issue of the New Yorker too. I personally think she's an AWFUL writer...long winded, boring, etc.

soulsinging

MrMerkinball wrote:

I read Atlas Shrugged....and wished I hadn't

yeah, i can't shake the feeling that that's how i'd feel after a few hundred pages.

dasvidana

I have really mixed feelings about Rand's writing. When I read the Fountainhead, I loved it because the idea of the individual against the state really struck a tone with me. At the time I was a big RUSH fan (still am) and I was inspired by 2112 to read something by Rand. I read We the Living and then the Fountainhead. Without getting too academic, Rand stood for rugged individualism (which most of us believe is a good thing), which is reflected in the characters Howard Roark (the Fountainhead) and Kira (We the Living). Yet she was also the mother of objectivism, a philosophy that suggests that we are all morally obligated to pursue our own self-interests, even if at the expense of others, as in the characters of Atlas Shrugged. It seems that the liberals among us (myself included) seem to tolerate her based on the former point (individualism) while the modern right wing (in America at least) seems to agree with her on the later point (pursuit of self-interests).

She's probably rolling over in her grave at my "cliff notes" version of her work, but that's how I see it.

Digital Twilight

Interesting read.

I have read Atlas Shrugged & Anthem and i have just started to read the Fountain Head. Her philosophy for me is too extreme and not practical in human nature but there is a lot of wisdom and truth in some of her arguents and views about 'individulism' i guess and if the books do nothing else they will make you think and evaluate yourself and those aroung you - for those reasons i think Any Rand is worth people's attention.