[dpwiener]

One can appreciate Rand's philosophy and her intellectual genius without requiring that she be the kind of perfect human hero depicted in Atlas Shrugged. Those who insist on denying her flaws are themselves denying reality. This author appears intent on re-writing history to comport with some idealized image.

Ayn Rand certainly did have an incredibly brilliant mind. It was fascinating for me to hear her speak at the Ford Hall Forum and other venues back in the sixties. But she could also be arrogant and impatient and short-tempered. I remember times when someone would ask an innocent (or perhaps merely ignorant) question, and she would suddenly and viciously attack the questioner and speculate on the person's psychological and philosophical flaws as a human being. It wasn't pretty. Other times she could be gracious and relatively charming.

So read her books and remember the good and accept that there was also some bad. The former heavily outweighed the latter.

[PatrickHenry]

Ping.

[jackbob]

Excellently reasoned reply. I also have great admiration for this marvelous woman of accomplishment. Her Virtues of Selfishness most influenced my outlooks. But I did not agree with everything she wrote in her objectivists newsletter or her non-fiction books. Having read all her books except Atlas Shrugged (which I never got more than forty pages into) and a play she wrote named after a date (which I only half read), gives me I guess an extremely crippled insight into her ideas.

At any rate I agree with you that the author of this new work, appears to be locked in to an idealized image. On the other hand, its nice that somebody is presenting another view, even if I'm never able to get at the truth.

[ModelBreaker]

One can appreciate Rand's philosophy and her intellectual genius without requiring that she be the kind of perfect human hero depicted in Atlas Shrugged.

When I was 16, they seemed like perfect human heros. On further reflection, her heros seem more like depraved, but talented narcissists.

[aynrandfreak]

Great post. I'd heard stories about Rand berating questioners. That's not my approach to the less rational, but I'd still have loved to ask her some questions myself.

[shrinkermd]

"Ayn Rand certainly did have an incredibly brilliant mind. It was fascinating for me to hear her speak at the Ford Hall Forum and other venues back in the sixties. But she could also be arrogant and impatient and short-tempered. I remember times when someone would ask an innocent (or perhaps merely ignorant) question, and she would suddenly and viciously attack the questioner and speculate on the person's psychological and philosophical flaws as a human being. It wasn't pretty. Other times she could be gracious and relatively charming."

Most, but not all, truly creative writers are egocentric, prone to a dominating disposition and likely to offend many while gaining plaudits from others. Rand came to this country as a young girl. She mastered the English language sufficiently well to write well crafted novels that are still read and discussed. At the same time, she was a feminine type person whose chief fault was not sexual peccadilloes but chain smoking. She died of lung cancer much too early.