An Important Question

[dianahsieh]

Originally posted by Diana from NoodleFood,

I'm presently in the middle of reading Robert Mayhew's excellent anthology Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem. I've never been much of a fan of Anthem, but the essays in the anthology are giving me an enormous new understanding of and appreciation for the work. Although I read Anthem in February, I eagerly anticipate reading it again as soon as I finish the anthology.

My friend Lin Zinser had the same experience with the also excellent anthology Essays on Ayn Rand's We the Living. Although I've always loved We the Living, I also gained a much greater understanding of it by reading the anthology.

Unfortunately, I've heard that neither of these two anthologies are selling terribly well: they've only sold a few hundred copies. That's quite distressing to me. After all, they are excellent works. The essays are well-written, interesting, and illuminating -- not just of Ayn Rand's literary methods, but also of her philosophy. They are stellar examples of good scholarship on Objectivism. So Objectivists and fellow travelers who don't buy and read these books are missing a fantastic opportunity to understand and appreciate Ayn Rand's fiction and philosophy so much more deeply and thoroughly than ever before. Moreover, the better these anthologies sell, the more receptive publishers will be to future works on Objectivism by Objectivist scholars. (That's of great interest to me, obviously!)

From what I hear from other quarters, this kind of lack of interest isn't unique to these anthologies. Although The Objective Standard is doing very well in its subscriptions, the journal has fewer than expected Objectivist subscribers. (That does mean more than expected non-Objectivist subscribers -- and that's great news!) Like Robert Mayhew's anthologies, The Objective Standard is a fantastically interesting read. (I'm in the middle of reading the first issue now too.) So I'm puzzled as to why subscriptions haven't been snatched up by Objectivists and fellow travelers in droves. (Unlike lecture courses, these works are not expensive.)

So here's what I'd like to know: If you haven't bought these anthologies, why not? Have you not heard of them? Are you just uninterested in reading essays on Ayn Rand's fiction? Have you just not gotten around to buying them? Are you unsure of their value? Are you living in a hut without two pennies to rub together?

Despite that last, I am asking a serious question here: I really do wish to know why so few of the many thousands of people with a serious interest in Ayn Rand's fiction and philosophy have bought Dr. Mayhew's excellent anthologies or subscribed to The Objective Standard. So I'd very much appreciate if those of you who haven't purchased the volume would indicate your reasons for not doing so in the comments or via private e-mail. Also, since I'm sure that NoodleFood readers are a more studious bunch than most, I'd like to ask those of you with a local club to inquire with your members as to whether they've bought the anthologies -- and if not, why not. Then tell me what you find out, if you please. Also, if you've read and enjoyed the volumes, please encourage those people to buy and read them!

This question is of great personal interest to me. In a few years, I'll be free from the burdens of graduate school to write what I please. I'd very much like to write on Objectivism for those already familiar with Ayn Rand's fiction and philosophy -- at least part of the time. However, if that's like shouting into a black hole, then I may as well concentrate my efforts upon more interested and appreciative audiences.

(In case anyone is wondering, I have not revealed any confidental information in this post.)

[AMERICONORMAN]

I am very interested in anything on Ayn Rand's fiction. For a writer, to study We The Living, is essential because it is her best plot, as she herself admits. I attended a lecture in Toronto by Robert Mayhew on the eve of the publishing of that book. I'm not ready to study We The Living. Also, when I do study it I would like to get more of the answers by myself AND THEN go to other scholars. It's the same reason why I haven't listened to Peikoff's course on the history of philosophy. I want to read other histories of philosophies first as a sort of intellectual training AND THEN get all the antidotes from Dr. Peikoff.

Now the Anthem anthology, I would be interested in reading soon, just for the pleasure. However, part of it is money. Part of it is that I don't deserve it because I have other projects to complete. And part of it is that I don't like to order over the internet. If it were available at the big bookstores here, I would probably buy it on a whim one day (at least I could read through it). I once had the idea to write an essay comparing Anthem and Zarathustra, which I would still like to do, but which is quite far away. There is something very special about Anthem and the Anthem anthology would be more appealing than the We The Living anthology.

Unfortunately, my economic situation does not give me the liberty to engage in all the intellectual projects that have come to mind over the years.

I think that Ayn Rand fans haven't bought those books, and many others, including lectures, because of time. Our culture is not geared to assist Objectivist intellectuals succeed in spending most their days studying philosophy. It is something one has to earn and fight for. Most people think that weddings, birthdays, and other special events are more important than studying Ayn Rand. They usually are not. Then there are lovers to pursue and struggling in that yet not sacrificing the central project of one's life.

Indeed, Time is of the essence. I only took the time to respond to you because I'm eating lunch and now its cold. Soon I got to get on with my day.

Jose Gainza.

[Lemuel]

I would love to have a tremendous library of Objectivist-related materials in my posession. Having collected everything available in retail bookstores (Rand's fiction, major non-fiction works, OPAR, etc.) I've been slowly acquiring other materials online. Most recently, I puchased Ayn Rand Answers, a wonderful collection of Rand's words from lecture Q&A sessions, and Why Businessmen Need Philosophy (ed. Ralston). Whenever I have a couple of hours, I work on reading Bernstein's The Capitalist Manifesto, too.

Why not more, though? Well, for me, several reasons:

1. Analyses of Rand's literary works is of interest to me, but they are of lower priority than reading new material published by Objectivist scholars. I'm eagerly looking forward to more on Piekoff's DIM hypothesis, for example.

2. I get Anthem, We the Living, etc. I'm sure I don't have the scholarly in-depth understanding of the analysts, but I've found very little in Rand's fictional works that I do not understand (or that requires extrapolation) that I haven't found in her non-fiction.

3. I'm a musician by career, and a music instrument marketer by trade. While there is certainly a need for philosophy in both creative and business aspects of my career, I also need to spend a lot of time on resources directly related to my job. Product technology research, sales and marketing guides, learning the necessary skills to maintain our website (since our guy isn't around anymore), learning Swedish, writing and recording musical demos of the gear I sell (and learning the software needed to do that), and so on ... I just don't have time to delve too deep into scholarly Objectivist works. Which is going to help me sell more - ItOE or Dale Carnegie?

4. This may seem a controversial statement, and maybe worthy of a separate thread, but for those who are "too busy with their lives" to dedicate most of their time to the promotion of Objectivism in American culture ... how deep must one go? I'll admit, I've been stumped in a few arguments, and my mind isn't made up about certain issues, but there aren't issues or topics that are not directly related to me (like the big immigration ado ... I still haven't made up my mind on what the issue really is). But as it applies to my life, my goals, my values, do I need to know more about Anthem than its theme of individualism, the significance of the light bulb & the library, and the more surface-level themes?

5. Outside of the financial support of Objectivism's leaders, how is reading the deeper analyses helping me change the culture in which we live? Certainly they are valuable, but given that positive changes in America - to last - will come slowly, aren't the major themes of Rand's fiction enough to get started?

If I'm displaying a big banner of irrationality, here, please feel free to smack me up a little. Just bear in mind that I am not in any way trivializing the work of Objectivist scholars, nor do I wish to promote the idea that one should ever stop studying, learning, and gaining a greater understanding of Objectivism. But, not being a scholar, lawyer, teacher, politician, or other professional who deals directly with ideas, I have to pick and choose my materials, and where I'm going to apply my mental energies.

[Hal]

I'm not interested in the Anthem anthology because a) I didnt particularly enjoy Anthem (especially when compared to either FH or AS), and I wouldnt have much interest in reading a collection of essays on a fictional work anyway. However, I would definitely be interested in a journal which promoted high standards of scholarship and actually engaged with Objectivist philosophy in a serious manner.

I hadnt heard of the Objective Standard, but looking at the page, I dont think its the sort of thing I'd find interesting. It seems to be more focused on current events and politics rather than on philosophical matters. This isnt a complaint, just a personal preference. I thought that Don Watkins "Axiomatic" looked promising, although I havent got around to checking it out yet. I've no idea how many subscribers he's got but I'm quite curious. Quite a few of the essays in Sciabarra's "Journal of Ayn Rand Studies" also look worthwhile, and they deal with issues I find interesting to a greater extent than most of the other publications I've encountered.

edit: If you were going to write on Objectist issues then I'd definitely be interested, especially since I enjoyed several of the essays on your website (particularly the one which gave an overview of the philosophy of mind presented by several prominent Objectivists). One of the things which irritates me about Objectivism is that there seems to be a lack of serious written scholarship being produced - most of it is uncritical repetitions of what AR said, without any real attempt at engagement. The stuff that seems genuinelly new seems to take the form of expensive audio lectures rather than being in essay/book form, which I find curious (the 'aynrandbookstore' is misleadingly named ). If Peikoff/Binswanger/etc were to condense their research into a book or series of essays which were written in a proper academic style, rather than selling it as a 4 hour lecture course, I'd buy it.

Edited April 10, 2006 by Hal