Atlas Shrugged

[juldea]

Yeah. Hank and Fransisco totally shack up at the end of the book.

I am still a fan. Make what assumptions you will, I suppose.

Comments

[ian-goodknight.livejournal.com]

What is with this Ayn Rand person lately? Everyone is reading her stuff, specifically Atlas Shrugged.

I had to read Fountainhead in less than a week for summer reading on my senior year. I hate her crap. lol

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Grin. I made the same point (http://www.livejournal.com/users/juldea/540013.html) (about her being everywhere all of the sudden) a week or two ago.

I don't know if I count in that list, though. This is like the 7th time I've read Atlas Shrugged (and The Fountainhead and Anthem and We the Living - all of her fiction.) Rand is my favorite author and these are my favorite books. Do you consider her "crap" because you disagree, or because you felt you were forced to read a book you didn't want to in the middle of the summer rather quickly?

[ian-goodknight.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember you saying that and then like all of a sudden everyone here was reading her. It was weird...I walked into the back room of one of the stores and an employee on her break was reading Atlas Shrugged.

No, had nothing to do with being rushed. My 10 page report on that book was about me bashing it and I got an 'A'. Which tells you that I picked on some good things. But I can't remember the exact things I knocked on or I'd say. I think it had something to do with Roark and him being a stupid stubborn ass and there were better ways of being able to create "his" architecture other than just not being employed. That and I beat up his little speech at the end of the book because it was not thought out. Oh, and I felt that Rand inflated the book with fluff when 700 pages could've been made into 300 and the same point still being reached.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Why would it matter to you (or anyone else) how Roark goes about performing architecture?

What thoughts did he miss out on in his speech (if you remember at all)?

As for the last bit - I agree somewhat. If by "fluff" you mean the way she constantly and consistently pounds in her beliefs, then yes. If there's something else you're talking about that fills up space, I can't reply to that without knowing it... ;)

[ian-goodknight.livejournal.com]

It's not just his architecture, it's the fact that he's consistantly stubborn through his entire life. And it does matter to me because I'm reading it. :P

I don't remember, it was well over a year ago.

Yeah, by fluff, I meant pounding the same thing over and over again. Though, I think there was some other junk that could've been left out, but I don't remember.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Stubborn isn't a bad thing. Hooray for integrity!

[ian-goodknight.livejournal.com]

But huzzah for the person that can see vision but instead of condemning the rest of the world for not seeing it or forcing them to conform to it, he brings them willingly to his vision in order to get a glimpse it through his eyes.

Roark forced people to look at his work and purposefully did things he knew people would not like for his own amusement and triumph instead of integrating his ideas into society and explaining their efficiency to the public. But he was too full of pride when it came to his gifts and thus cared more about himself and his ideals than he did about the creations made by his talents.

Roark is what I would consider an anti-hero.

(As you can see, I'm slowly starting to recall what I wrote about.)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

But... no one has an obligation to share their thoughts with the world. If the world wanted Roark's vision, he gave it. He built a bunch of buildings during the book, to people who approached him and said, "I like your work and want a building done by you." He never forced anyone to look at his work, and he never did anything for the purpose of "people not liking it." He just worked when someone approached him and hired him for a job...

I don't know what you mean about "too full of pride." There's no such thing! Pride is never something to be ashamed of.

[diego001.livejournal.com]

"It was like a sex scene in an Ayn Rand novel!" - Angels in America.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I about had a hernia at that line.

[sammid.livejournal.com]

I myself knew someone recently that was reading a book or two of hers,and another someone who was like ,"WTF are you reading that shit for?!"
So I have no idea what the author or the books are about.
And how long have these books been around?
If it's been a good while,then I also don't understand why everyone seems to be reading them all of a sudden either.*shrug*

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Heh. The Fountainhead was written in 1943 and Atlas Shrugged in 1957. Those are her two largest and most popular fiction novels. So they've been around for a long time! Another reason why it's weird that people are suddenly reading them. I mean, I reread them every few years, but that's just me.

Well, a quick glance at what she is about: http://www.aynrand.org/objectivism/io.html

The books are fiction novels that involve people that live by her philosophy and how they interact with the world. They're not written as complex as that link above ... they're really big, though.

[sammid.livejournal.com]

Well I'll put it right out there,that I don't know jack about philosophy and the like;not really anyway,but from what I read on that site,she seems a bit full of herself,and her ideas on 'ethics' piss me off.
Her ideals when it comes to 'ethics',and for her I'd use the term loosely,well it seems to me she has none,or doesn't believe in ethics.
And I think that too many people are like her ideal,and that's mainly why the world is as fucked up as it is,because no one gives a rats ass about anyone but themselves.
Yeah,so no offense or anything,I'm angry about my own life,and she just angered me further.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I think the argument can be made that the world is fucked up because people don't take care of their own problems...