Author: jon

Reasoning why

Post author By jon
Post date July 23, 2014

Read the first half of this post here

In some lighter posts, I’ll come onto the severe weaknesses in Rand’s writing which I believe she cannot control, and which generated some of the fun that kept me sane during the harder going parts. But I think it’s clear that partially Roark’s bizarre construction is an intentional effect. Rand wants to create an embodiment of her virtues: if we were to describe Roark even in negative terms as unreflective, callous, monomaniacal or bone-headed, I can see the committed Randian openly embracing these qualities (though I suspect they would rather cast them as unswerving, selfish, focused).

So why does it backfire so badly? I would challenge even the most starry-eyed devotee to find the Roark we’re given compelling. The narrative voice – and by extension Rand herself – chooses to spend more of the novel away from him than otherwise. Even if we allow ourselves to discount the rape scene – where the distancing is total, and he may as well be an incidental criminal – he comes out as a pretty second-rate kind of superman.

Books Lit Crit Rand Rand & Nabokov The Fountainhead

Goodies and Badies

Post author By jon
Post date July 23, 2014

My favourite source (wikipedia) describes the process of the The Fountainhead as a series of interactions between Roark, the “author’s ideal man of independence and integrity” and a continuum of lesser personalities. While it’s certain that Roark is an flawless paragon for Rand, as I plowed through the first section it became very clear that Rand has no interest in providing us any nuanced characters. The Fountainhead is a Manichean novel where the characters are neatly split into badies and a vanishingly small number of goodies – it is never in any doubt which are the favoured creatures – and there is no prospect of complexity, heterogeneity of character, or redemption.

Books Humour Philosophy Rand Rand & Nabokov

Light relief: the funny stuff in Objectivist Epistemology

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

Reading through the Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology was frankly a bit of a chore, but it was brightened by Rand’s trademark bizarre language. Here are some of my favourites:

Mathematics is the science of measurement

erm…

Man can perceive the length of one foot directly; he cannot perceive ten miles

Never, ever, has any man been able to see ten miles.

Books Ethics/Metaethics Philosophy Rand Rand & Nabokov

Amateur philosophical background: the ethics

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

In this second philosophical preamble to actually starting talking about The Fountainhead, I’m going to give an overview of the more relevant part of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, the ethics.

Unlike the epistemology, which has a very ad-hoc vibe to it, it’s hard to dispute that Rand’s system of values was present (in increasing degrees) in her earlier novels, until it came to dominate her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged. The length of the novels, and the volume of speechifying, correlates with this. Rand published a distillation of her position in The Virtue of Selfishness in 1961 (predating the epistemology), and it’s this we’ll draw on.

Books Epistemology Ethics/Metaethics Philosophy Rand

Being “reasonable”: what’s worth salvaging from Rand’s epistemology?

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

Given the critical tone of my last posts, the main motive for my overview of the Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology would seem to be scorn. On the negative side, as well as a the expected deep inconsistencies I was genuinely surprised to find how many straight-up contradictions I found when I started to tabulate Rand’s claims against other types of philosophical system: a particularly perplexing one is her attitude to measurement, which she simultaneously suggests is unnecessary and the only way essential characteristics can be compared.

But I maintain that we need to give credit when it’s due, and try to find the sensible equivalents of Rand’s positions – she is after all mimicking the greats.

Epistemology Ethics/Metaethics Philosophy Rand

Amateur philosophical background: the “epistemology”

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

“Mathematics is the science of measurement” – Ayn Rand, An Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

Before I jump (or sink) into The Fountainhead, I thought I’d put together an (amateurish) primer on Ayn Rand’s philosophy in two parts. The first will deal with what she calls her “epistemology” – something that is usually understood as a means of knowing. The second will deal with the ethics. In each case, I’ve taken most of Rand’s material from her own words – if you want to follow along here, this is all taken from her book, An Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. I’m also indebted to the wonderful Partially Examined Life podcast’s episode on Rand – I’d highly recommend this for a professional touch – and the rest of their episodes too, for that matter.

Books Lit Crit Rand Rand & Nabokov

Ayn Rand: managing expectations

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

It is no secret that I come to The Fountainhead with rather low expectations. Everything I’ve heard, even sometimes from otherwise admirers, suggests that Rand’s prose will:

Exist purely for the service of an extremely rigid political idea. There will be no variety, no fun to be had, except to hammer home the message of objectivism, individualism and capitalism at every point.
Be mostly dialogue, and contain extremely long and didactic soliloquies. There will be a lot of telling and not showing.
Be extremely literal and earnest; irony, ambiguity, and humour will be absent
Be indifferent to realistic descriptions of psychology; the surrounding world; the practice of professions; and personal relationships.
Contain some very dubious sexual politics

I list these to make my initial biases explicit. My aim in reading The Fountainhead is to give credit where it’s due – I want to acknowledge where Rand’s text is good (or even just ok), and particularly where it bucks these trends.

Hey, sometimes low expectations can be a good thing.

Books Rand Rand & Nabokov The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead? Good Lord, why?

Post author By jon
Post date July 21, 2014

As an exercise in mind-broadening, or possibly masochism. Full disclosure: I have never been an enthusiast of Ayn Rand, and I think Objectivism is a half-baked philosophy, or approaching a cult, depending on how seriously you take it.

Cycle Touring Cycling Domestic Tours

Bike Tour: The Welsh Desert

Post author By jon
Post date June 11, 2012

139 miles (224 km) over 3 days between Jun. 9, 2012 and Jun. 11, 2012. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.

Across the Cambrian mountains, crossing the intriguingly named Green Desert (Elenydd)

I originally did this mini-tour, inspired by the Roughing it in Wales journal, back in the Summer of 2012.

From mid-Wales I traveled across the Cambrian mountains, crossing the intriguingly named Green Desert (Elenydd) and the sparsely populated hills on border with England – wild camping all the way.

Cycle Touring Cycling European Tours Travel

Bike Tour: Belgians and Luxembourgeois

Post author By jon
Post date March 19, 2011

527 km (327 miles) over 11 days between Mar. 9, 2011 and Mar. 19, 2011. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.

No camping or cooking, but a fair bit of emergency bike fixing were required.

My very first international bike tour, where I attempted to ride from Dunkerque to Luxembourg on a very cheap bike bought in Oxford. No camping or cooking, but a fair bit of emergency bike fixing were required.

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