Photon_Man62 Posted December 17, 2013 Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 I'd like to do a short presentation on capitalist motifs in literature. Naturally I was drawn to Ayn Rand. I originally planned to read Atlas Shrugged, but it's very long and it would be quite time-consuming. I then turned my attention to her other work, which seems just as interesting (and is, luckily, shorter!). I've already read Anthem and enjoyed it, but it was pretty short and didn't touch on capitalism that much. I'll probably read both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged sooner or later, but for now I have to choose one. Could any of you please recommend me which one would be more appropriate to my needs, and shortly explain why? Thanks in advance! P.S. Sorry if this is the wrong section, the "books" one is nearly abandoned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JASKN Posted December 17, 2013 Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 Wikipedia, sparknotes, amazon book summaries coupled with Google search... These are a few of our favorite homework-helping things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon_Man62 Posted December 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 (edited) Wikipedia, sparknotes, amazon book summaries coupled with Google search... These are a few of our favorite homework-helping things. This is not homework help. I'm a libertarian and would like to interest some book-loving friends in individualism and capitalism (this is a book-club thing). Doing that, I'd love to get into Ayn Rand myself - summaries and other student materials are useless for that, this is for my own enjoyment and intellectual growth as well. I'm personally leaning towards The Fountainhead currently, but have some reservations - from what I gather, TF serves as a sort of "overture" to AS, which is why I'm afraid the motifs of individualism and capitalism would be too simple in it compared to AS. A perspective of an Ayn Rand fan would be great, most "TF vs AS" discussions that Google throws up just discuss which book each person preferred, and those opinions are pretty much split 50/50. Edited December 17, 2013 by Photon_Man62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted December 17, 2013 Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 Compared to Atlas, Fountainhead's theme is more personal that societal. If you want to talk about choosing a career you love and enjoy instead of a career that will get you more money or societal acceptance, Fountainhead would be the book. If you want to illustrate good things about businessmen and evils of statism, Atlas is the one. Since you mention a book club, here's bonus reply : put "A Town Like Alice" on your reading list. It does not dramatize capitalism vs. statism, but it does dramatize what it takes to set up a business. Be warned that it is like two different stories in one, and I'm talking about the second half of the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JASKN Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 Compared to Atlas, Fountainhead's theme is more personal that societal. If you want to talk about choosing a career you love and enjoy instead of a career that will get you more money or societal acceptance, Fountainhead would be the book. If you want to illustrate good things about businessmen and evils of statism, Atlas is the one. This pretty much sums it up. In Atlas Shrugged, Rand even goes as far as to write out several economic progressions of government policy being implemented, which reads like cascading dominos. She writes the book with the economy steadily getting worse as the government steadily increases its interference in business operations. By the end, her illustration of the competent individual businessman's essential role in an economy is crystal clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Repairman Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 If your book club includes non-fiction, my I suggest, Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal. Of the published works of Ayn Rand, this was the second book I read, after The Virtue of Selfishness. It depends on whether you prefer fictional literature, or ideological essays. I prefer straight non-fiction to the former. freestyle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 (edited) If your book club includes non-fiction, my I suggest, Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal. Seconded! This will also solve the length issue, since it is a collection of essays, so one can cover a few keys ones. In fact, if non-fiction is game, just present two essays: "Man's Rights" and "The Nature of Government" Edited December 18, 2013 by softwareNerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freestyle Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 If your book club includes non-fiction, my I suggest, Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal. Of the published works of Ayn Rand, this was the second book I read, after The Virtue of Selfishness. It depends on whether you prefer fictional literature, or ideological essays. I prefer straight non-fiction to the former. Thirded! Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal is a great collection of essays. It is a great read and gets to the essentials of the moral justification for capitalism (and individualism) very succinctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon_Man62 Posted December 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Thanks for all the input! Shame that Atlas is the one that fits my needs best, it's just too long for me to read efficiently. I'll probably stick with The Fountainhead for now, and read Atlas myself some other time. And "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" sounds great as well, and is pretty short, so I'll have a look at that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Repairman Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Another recommendation is simply checking out the Sparks Notes of Atlas Shrugged. I did that several years before actually reading the full novel, and it didn't ruin anything for me. Also, here is an exceptional visual interpretation with a reading of John Galt's speech: While the full reading in not complete, (the full reading could take up to 3 hours), I often let it play in the background for inspiration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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