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.
However, a heuristic for good art that I’ve been using for a long time is: are its defenders enthusiastic about its enriching qualities? There are many art forms that do nothing for me, but I can appreciate the genuine enthusiasm of those who are in to it. Rand’s novels clearly pass this test. And in the end: it’s difficult to justify criticism of novels based on excerpts.
Why The Fountainhead? Why not Atlas Shrugged?
It’s shorter. I’m not Spartacus.
So you object to Rand politically? Why do you hate individualism?
I don’t have a problem with libertarians or “classical” liberals. I find the kind of extreme laissez-faire capitalism advocated by Rand to be the least offensive of the extreme political positions. I am sympathetic to some of the individualistic notions Rand supports – although of course they had long been expressed, in far superior form, elsewhere.
Philosophically?
Yes. One of the goals of these posts will be to see how the rather large holes in Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, manifest themselves in her writing – generally with detrimental effect. Aside from specifically looking at this in Rand’s work, I’m also interested in some of the higher level questions: is there utility in creating a philosophical literature of ideas? Does this justify a tin ear for language?
Having said that, nearly all of Rand’s ideas have some – better expressed – equivalent which I can appreciate. I am sympathetic to virtue ethics, pragmatism, egalitarianism, meritocracy, liberalism, and individual creative engagement.
So this is an exercise in schadenfreude?
Yes, partly. This is not to rule out that there is also a good deal of wholesome fun to be had in some of Rand’s more bizarre attempts at, for example, figurative language. Any book that can unintentionally make me laugh out loud (in public) so often has something to recommend it.
But all this isn’t really very significant – I’d rather use it as a test case of my conception of good art – and to think about what makes some of the writers I admire skip over the pitfalls Rand tumbles into.
Secondly, there’s the interesting phenomenon of a oracle-like figure, proclaimed by a genius for her writing – fiction and philosophy – where the material works are so poor. The question of what is valuable in the work, and whose values, is one which continually lurks in the background of the Objectivist movement.
Finally, I also find Rand a somewhat tragic character: someone who had a genuinely interesting life, who could never live up to her own ascetic, sentimental philosophy, and whose acolytes transformed into a cult figure which must have been – at least partly – to her distaste. Fundamentally the juxtaposition of this with being the writer of the biggest selling book (after the Bible) in the US is simply an interesting story.
So which writers do you admire?
As far as I am concerned, Nabokov is the man. One benefit is I am beginning to reread Nabokov for contrast, and am gaining a clearer perception of his occasional flaws but mostly a deeper appreciation of what he achieved.