January 26, 2005
Ayn
A bit of a biography of JohnGalt's favorite author.
Philosophy
Posted by AlexC at January 26, 2005 10:37 AM
My favorite Ayn Rand story: I stayed at a friend's house and left my copy of "Atlas Shrugged" out. My friend's new-dealer father read it in one sitting and asked me "Who wrote that, James Watt's Mother?"
I, conversely, was quite taken and credit her writings and President Reagan's "New Federalism" speech with bringing me into the conservative fold. But man, I wish I could read 1000 pages in one evening...
My favorite Ayn Rand story: I stayed at a friend's house and left my copy of "Atlas Shrugged" out. My friend's new-dealer father read it in one sitting and asked me "Who wrote that, James Watt's Mother?"
I, conversely, was quite taken and credit her writings and President Reagan's "New Federalism" speech with bringing me into the conservative fold. But man, I wish I could read 1000 pages in one evening...
Posted by: jk at January 26, 2005 12:18 PMAs you would expect from JohnGalt, this column taught me more about Andrew Stuttaford than about the woman who's "strangely" important life he wrote about. Like the fact that he surmises Rand's creed as "ego and laissez-faire" instead of "Objective Reality, Reason, Self-Interest and Capitalism" as she so famously summarized it herself. And the terms he uses to describe the woman and her ideas: creepy, harangue(r), cult, propaganda, "somehow" enduring.
It isn't clear how much Rand the good Mr. Stuttaford has read, (whether by accident or ignorance he misspelled Nathaniel Branden's name) but it's certainly clear he didn't fully grasp the enormous importance of her work. Or, perhaps he did and he's merely hostile to the idea of rational self-interest and its natural place as the underpinning of liberty.
Posted by: johngalt at January 26, 2005 4:18 PM | What do you think? [2]