2 days ago
5
Ayn Rand is a talented writer and the most fair criticisms of her work boil down to being derivative of Nietzche and verbose.
Although she's famous as a writer my favorite thing from her isn't novel but an interview where she talks about her husband. Rand was married to a struggling painter and the primary bread winner in her household. The interviewer asked if that was hypocritical. If she wasn't as selfish as she claimed. Her response was the most romantic thing I've ever heard.
She said her marriage was the most selfish thing in her life. That she gets several times more happiness from being married to her husband than to the world's richest industrialist. How a selfless marriage would truly be a sad thing. Who could imagine standing at the altar and saying "I don't really get much out of marrying you. It's not in my self interest, but I'll marry you for your sake." No. Your marriage should be a selfish affair. You should be getting something out of it that you can't live without. Something that you need so deeply that you'd sacrifice anything else. It wasn't hypocritical to pay for his painting because it made her happy.
https://youtu.be/mQVrMzWtqgU?si=rELiS3nz3UFkQ1f2
And she is a talented writer. You just can't look at Anthem or Howard Roark's introduction in The Fountainhead as piece of craft and come to the conclusion that she wasn't.
https://recommendmeabook.com/book/06oFvTjxoEbBckdpeWW2
You can admit that without becoming a libertarian or whatever. It didn't make me one, and in fact you should make good faith engagements with ideas you disagree with.
But, If her work truly keyed in on one thing it's the pettiness of group think. She doesn't get derided so mercilessly today because she's an unappreciated ubermensch, but it is due to the social license to do so. Her work just doesn't merit the frothing hatred. But you sure can get up votes on reddit by being unnecessarily cruel about her. And to her credit she understood that.
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