Flannery O’Connor: Friends Don’t Let Friends Read Ayn Rand (1960)

Open Culture ^ | June 18, 2014

[Lurker]

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

L

[JoeFromSidney]

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.

[Rembrandt]

“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?”

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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?

[Rembrandt]

“How many books did Oprah sell?
Ha.”

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

[Rembrandt]

“... 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?

[verga]

Are YOU Flannery O’Connor?

I have no idea what this question even means.

[Red Badger]

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

[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.

[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.”

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

[higgmeister]

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!