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/lit/ - Literature

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11509074 No.11509074 [Reply] [Original]

This is unironically a great novel and reveals Rand as a more nuanced thinker than most would care to admit. The harsh condemnation of material greed and money-grubbing is particularly stark given the image of her created by the left.

>> No.11509154

This is nothing less than the twentieth century's greatest work of literature. If you disagree, you're probably a second-hander.

Don't worry, parasite. We prime movers will carry you back to Eden.

You also unironically have to be an INTJ to understand this book, so other types shouldn't even bother. Sorry.

>> No.11509176

It's hard to choose a favorite among so many great books, but "The Fountainhead" is one of the best, most powerful novels ever written about self-preservation, dignity. Its universal message crosses all boundaries and instills one with the hope that it's not too late to better ourselves. Since it's impossible in this world we live in to empathize with others, we can always empathize with ourselves. It's an important message, crucial really. And it's beautifully stated in the novel.

>> No.11509220

I did not particularly like this book, but I found Toohey's perversion of charity genuinely offensive, which made him a shockingly good villain. I truly hated him.

>> No.11509838
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11509838

>>11509074
>>11509154
>>11509176
In all honesty, I enjoyed reading this book. That said, it's hardly the achievement Randians make it out to be, and (especially when read as a part of her larger body of work) it's astonishingly contradictory.

The most famous speech in all of Atlas Shrugged involves Rand's ideal man literally equating money with virtue. In the Fountainhead, the hero offers many other definitions — independence, inability to pity, adherence to an artistic vision, originality for its own sake — all of which, under the right circumstances, contradict each other.

Taken as a guide to life, Rand's work advocates a kind of schizophrenic narcissism, wherein every means of self-aggrandizement is deemed a virtue, every kind of abuse is rebranded as love, and only the most superficial, cornball kinds of villainy are recognized as vice. Rand denies the existence of grey areas, elevates intuition into knowledge, and decries all those who even hint at the use of humility.

Her prose is competent and her dialog has flashes of wit, but that's all she'll ever amount to: a source of aphorisms for the self-satisfied.

>> No.11509852

>>11509838
This is a very even-handed, well-reasoned critique. I appreciate your taking the time to write it.

Other than Peikoff, did Rand pass the objectivist torch to any other authors? I can't imagine they achieved much commercial success or I'd know about them.

>> No.11510356

>>11509154
>People with the INTJ personality type are imaginative yet decisive, ambitious yet private, amazingly curious, but they do not squander their energy.

Howard Roark is literally THE INTJ

>> No.11510458

I thought Rand pasta was banned?

>> No.11511139
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11511139

>>11509154
>Wow, someone seriously defending Rand.
>hmm, they seem so sure of themselves, could it be that...
>Myers-briggs fag
nevermind

>> No.11511144

>woman
>jew
I bet she has a LOT of profound philosophical thoughts we should all take very seriously

>> No.11511149

>>11509176
>and instills one with the hope that it's not too late to better ourselves
What the shit ? It's quite the opposite. Remember when Keating tries to actually develop his skills, but it turns out it's too late for him ?

>> No.11511603

>>11510458
Oh we're not allowed to discuss a widely read work of literature because you're a pinko who demands we write it off as pasta? Fascinating

>> No.11512881

>tfw you will never blast granite

>> No.11512895

>>11511603
No. I know you're new here, but when this board was added as a trial board, /pol/ tried spamming Rand constantly to the point that posting Rand would give you a ban.
So, like your meth-addled hero, your understanding of culture is ahistorical and incorrect.

>> No.11512973

>>11509838
>Taken as a guide to life,
It's fiction.

>> No.11514361
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11514361

>>11509852
There aren't any other "Objectivist" authors, but I've written a paper on Rand-adjacent novels in the American canon. The centerpiece was a comparison between Rand and Cather, with the characters of Atlas Shrugged mapping nearly 1:1 onto the characters of O Pioneers. There's some other heroes in American myth and folklore that share similarities with Rand's characters. And, of course, she's had countless imitators.

The conclusion I drew was basically that hers is the latest brand of underdog-but-also-undefeatable American businessowner archetype, which has ties to similar archetypes in colonialist and white supremacist storytelling.

It's the dominant class describing themselves as under threat, pulling in any and all contradictory scraps of evidence they can to do so.

>>11512973
Rand explicitly stated that her fiction was meant to illustrate her beliefs about the way men ought to live. And it's a shitty illustration.

>> No.11515257

>>11514361
Alright pinko, we all get it. You're very smart (despite having produced nothing of worth in your miserable life and sucking on the tit of the government for a living).

>> No.11515315

>>11515257
Are you describing him or you?

>> No.11515512
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11515512

There's nothing wrong with Ayn Rand's political philosophy, but the fact that she is called out so often by the intelligentsia for it, but they'll never do the same to any other type of conservatism except outright racism, is hihgly illuminating of the goals of the American intlligent class. 1984 is apparently an excellent book that everyone should read, despite the hundred page political rant; Rand's like stupor is absolutely inexcusable. lol

>> No.11515521
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11515521

>>11509074

>> No.11515583
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11515583

>>11515257
Joke's on you, I have a STEM degree and a real job™ at a large company. I'm just doing my MFA for giggles.

>> No.11515636

>>11509074
Her followup novel Battlefield Train was superior.

>> No.11515676

>>11515257
lol what

>> No.11515757

If I read this as a NEET would it make me want to kill myself?

>> No.11515791

>>11515757
Probably, but it shouldn't.

>> No.11515831
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11515831

>>11509074

>> No.11515840

>>11515512
desu a lot of 1984 is similar to Rand's writing, from the absolute embodiment of evil-tier villains to the way the sex scenes are written.

>> No.11515852

>>11515512
A mod has edited my post to include numerous typos. Just goes to show you who's in control of this website.