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Flannery O’Connor: Friends Don’t Let Friends Read Ayn Rand (1960)
Open Culture ^ | June 18, 2014

Posted on 03/14/2015 8:04:26 PM PDT by don-o

In a letter dated May 31, 1960, Flannery O’Connor, the author best known for her classic story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (listen to her read the story here) penned a letter to her friend, the playwright Maryat Lee. It begins rather abruptly, likely because it’s responding to something Maryat said in a previous letter:

I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky.

The letter, which you can read online or find in the book The Habit of Being, then turns to other matters.

O’Connor’s critical appraisal of Ayn Rand’s books is pretty straightforward. But here’s one factoid worth knowing. Mickey Spillane (referenced in O’Connor’s letter) was a hugely popular mystery writer, who sold some 225 million books during his lifetime. According to his Washington Post obit, “his specialty was tight-fisted, sadistic revenge stories, often featuring his alcoholic gumshoe Mike Hammer and a cast of evildoers.” Critics, appalled by the sex and violence in his books, dismissed his writing. But Ayn Rand defended him. In public, she said that Spillane was underrated. In her book The Romantic Manifesto, Rand put Spillane in some unexpected company when she wrote: “[Victor] Hugo gives me the feeling of entering a cathedral–Dostoevsky gives me the feeling of entering a chamber of horrors, but with a powerful guide–Spillane gives me the feeling of listening to a military band in a public park–Tolstoy gives me the feeling of an unsanitary backyard which I do not care to enter.” All of which goes to show that Ayn Rand’s literary taste was no better than her literature.


TOPICS: Books/Literature
KEYWORDS: aynrand; flanneryoconner
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To: don-o

She was right about Tolstoy. She was right about a lot of other things, too.

L


41 posted on 03/15/2015 8:26:58 AM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: don-o
When Mickey Spillane died, someone wrote an "obit" as though written by his character Mike Hammer. I wish I'd saved it. The writer caught Hammer's "voice" very well.
42 posted on 03/15/2015 2:53:08 PM PDT by JoeFromSidney (Book RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY, available from Amazon.)
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To: verga

“How many books did Flannery O’Connor sell?
How many books did Ayn Rand sell?

Let the consumer judge which is a better messenger.

I am not sure that Quantity of book sales should be a strict metric. One could always reply with: How many Korans have been sold? or: How many Bibles have been sold?”


People tend to buy books based on how much they value the anticipated message or story. Hence, the Koran (odd people as they are), the Bible, Ayn Rand................Flannery O’Connor.

Are YOU Flannery O’Connor?


43 posted on 03/15/2015 10:12:19 PM PDT by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

“How many books did Oprah sell?
Ha.”

OK, I’ll bite. How many books did Oprah sell compared to Ayn Rand?


44 posted on 03/15/2015 10:13:54 PM PDT by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: stonehouse01

“... so Ayn Rand’s fans clearly have higher IQ’s than that, however Flannery O’Connor’s work is more complex, so the basic point holds true.”

OK, how do we put your position to a test? I disagree with your point. How do you prove it?


45 posted on 03/15/2015 10:16:54 PM PDT by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: Rembrandt
Are YOU Flannery O’Connor?

I have no idea what this question even means.

46 posted on 03/16/2015 3:01:00 AM PDT by verga (I might as well be playing chess with pigeons,.)
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To: Larry Lucido

War is good for business.
Peace is good for business.
War and Peace is good for insomnia.................


47 posted on 03/16/2015 6:13:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Man builds a ship in a bottle. God builds a universe in the palm of His hand.............)
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To: Rembrandt
My point was that "number of books" does not reveal who was the greater writer.

If that were the case, the "Little Red Book" of Chairman Mao, and the Koran, are among the world's greatest literature.

And Oprah and Ayn Rand are greater than Dostoevski.

Which I would dispute.

48 posted on 03/16/2015 9:39:20 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Lord, save Your people and bless Your inheritance; give victory to the faithful over their adversary)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

“My point was that “number of books” does not reveal who was the greater writer.
If that were the case, the “Little Red Book” of Chairman Mao, and the Koran, are among the world’s greatest literature.

And Oprah and Ayn Rand are greater than Dostoevski.

Which I would dispute.”


So, boiled down to basics, we’re talking about your opinion.


49 posted on 03/16/2015 7:53:26 PM PDT by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: stonehouse01
Flannery O’Connor is far superior to Ayn Rand. Her fiction has the depth that comes from the accurate understanding of the fallen nature of her characters and their need of redemption. Rand’s work remains on the shallower level because without the proper understanding of human nature that comes with understanding Christianity, it is going to miss the mark.

Why the deuce should anyone care a fig what Flannery O’Connor wrote? Her bio makes her seem like Stephen King's mad spinster aunt!

50 posted on 03/19/2015 9:25:53 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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