Sigh!
I was hoping not to get sucked up into this.....
I have read all of Rand that has been published, including all of her non-fiction Objectivist Screeds, and I have read them more than once.
I find myself agreeing with many things said here, and, therefore, disagreeing with many others.
If you have not read Rand, please confine your objections to generalizations.
These are facts about Rand:
1. She was an atheist.
2. She was disgusted by Libertarianism (it is not objective).
3. Marriage, to her, was a form of hero worship. Of course you have time for your mate and of course you have time for your children. Remember, children are one of the most selfish things you can do (philosophically and biologically)- hardly altruistic.
4. Her heroic characters were designed to be the highest Man could achieve. Why would anyone want to read a book about the average schmuck (like me)?
She tried to systematize a way of life into a "philosophy" that could be followed by anyone who wished to strive for the best in themselves.
Now, having said those complimentary things, I will say that I don't think she was a good writer. I think this is because the story she was telling must be consistent with Objectivism, and that forced consistency led to some silly, and somewhat theatrical, things creeping into her novels. Plus, I admire her for writing in a non-native language, but I can see many instances when the language is stiff, probably because English was not native to her.
60-70 years later, here we are on a conservative forum vehemently squawking about her on both sides. Doesn't that say a lot for the power of her works? I don't think they will go away any time soon.
If you had paid even the slightest attention to what I wrote,you would have seen that I (as well as others on this thread,who don't like her work,nor her "philosophy") have read her books;or tried to.
Just WHAT is so "complimentary" about someone being an atheist,a sef-centered,immoral B...h ?
Are you a parent? For most people,there is little "selfish" about having and raising a child/children;NOTHING!
Marriage is a form of "HERO WORSHIP" ROTFLMSO
Rand's a lousy writer,her characters are cartoon stick figures,her prose ennui inducing and so dry and dusty,that one dies of thirst from reading it;that is,if one isn't put to sleep first.And even though writing in a language other than her mother tongue,by the time she wrote those horrors,she had been speaking English long enough to be quite fluent and at ease in it!
Rand didn't write her fiction,which some her mistake for fact,in the '30s nor the '40s,but in the '50s...so your math is seriously OFF.
We're discussing her and her abysmal works,because a BRAVE man and an intelligent one (read the article!),long ago wrote a critique of her (gack,gag,puke) most famous books.It has now been posted to FR and as is our wont,FREEPERS saw the thread,many read the article,and are posting our opinions. That's all.that's it,no more and no less. And the ONLY other tome Rand is ever discussed here,is when one of her drooling sycophants decided to talk about her and her rubbish.The rest of us would just as soon ignore her and her body of pathetic drivel.