I was really into Ayn for a couple years after high school, but it's probably been 10 years since I read anything by her.
ayn rand is my arch-nemesis... i hate that bitch! seriously. talk about a talentless government whore
I liked "Anthem" - very post-1984. "The Fountainhead" totally changed my mind about a lot of things (I was 18) including the "virtue of selfishness". I found myself totally admiring Howard Roark and totally despising Ellsworth. I haven't read Atlas Shrugged but will before I die.
Ayn Rand is one of the most revealing writers of the 20th century. Unconsciously and unintentionally, Ayn freely reveals through her heroines, both her own deep rooted sado-masochism, and the deep perverted sexual impulses behind Hierarchical Capitalism. Ayn, rejected as ugly by the perverted standards of our Sexual Hierarchy, reveals through her fictional heroines, her own phantasies of being a Prime-female sexually-desired by the Hierarchy's Alpha-males. Ayn reveals the Collectivism of Capitalism, as we ant-like insects organize in the business of status struggle within our Primate Sexual Hierarchy. Ayn reveals all these hairy smelly primate goings-on while remaining completely clueless. Perfect revealing Stream of Consciousness, unintentional and spontaneous.
I don't know that she only did that through her fiction... Through most of her life, Rand enjoyed both a husband and a lover. This is a woman who moved through life disapproved of, but always getting pretty much what she wanted. I have not read much Ayn Rand, but I do want to get to more of it. So far, I've only read Anthem and a couple of essays from her book on Objectivism.
People either hate her or love her. Most people I've seen hate her. And now that I'm done making a general statement, I decline to comment.
I know what your saying, and yeh, she does write thick books. But sex can't help but find itself at the core of her work. Capitalism, like all business, politics, and religion, is only our repressed sexual energy, stealthily redirected. Ayn reveals this in many, not so subtle, ways. After all, her books are hardly more than Capitalist Silhouette Romance Novels. Objectivism is always a very appealling way to disguise very Subjective and subconscious motivations. 'The Passion of Ayn Rand' is her lover/disciple's memoirs, as well as those of her other close disciple, her lover's wife. Apparently, like most of us humans, she never really got what she wanted. Capitalist of the Jungle, swinging down from the penthouse, taking Ayn in his productive arms and ravishing her on the marble floor! Her meek and mild husband couldn't give it to her, and her disciple/lover couldn't quite cut-it either. Only Howard Roark could...in her objectivist dreams!
does everyone know that she fled russia as the communists took over? i think its interesting that she went on to develop her particular philosophy with that background. That said, i still like "we the living". Its just a damn good book that is more unintentionally philosophical. Its one of her earliest, i think.
We do. I think anthem is a very well written book. I just read it in LA class, most kids didn't understand it. But I think it displayed a very scary view of a contolled society. I am probally going to read 'atlas shrugged' some time soon
