She shoves in all her chips on the self-appointed task of illuminating the great dichotomy of human history and modern life: the I versus the WE. In her own way, she is an ultimate riverboat gambler. With no apologies, she splits the world down the middle. Most people who brush up against her work can’t stop to consider the depth of her admiration for the independent and powerful and creative individual, or the nature of her aversion to the collectivist who can only borrow from such individuals, and then distort and undermine what they have misappropriated. On the basis of that decision, she refused to suspend her attack, even for a moment. She fully intended to destroy collectivism at its root. She knew she was up against the most powerful forces of society, and she was not going to compromise or relent one inch. On the other hand, she obviously wrote her two great novels in the middle of a feverish exaltation. #Ayn rand was an avowed freeThe moral imperative to be free replaces the exhilaration of being free. The one glaring problem in Ayn Rand’s work is the overall effect of her hammering mercilessly on behalf of freedom and the individual-after 400 pages, her prose takes on a programmatic aspect. Make them empty.” (my notes for The Underground) “Why carry the burden of creating something and then having to stand behind it and be proud of it? Why think and imagine and create your own way into the future of your most profound vision? Why bother? And why, therefore, allow others to do so for themselves and cause disordered, disharmonious ripples in the great silent lake of humanity? Pull them down. These are not questions for people who believe they already know everything worth knowing. Here I’m republishing my 2014 article because, these days, beyond the manipulation of people and agendas, a few questions are still burned on the sky:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |