Atlas Shrugged is fiction that still provokes love/hate reflexive responses. Like Dune, Ayn Rand's magnum opus influenced a large segment of the populace. Like Catch 22, it hit some nerves. Like Stranger In a Strange Land, even its flaws resonated with readers of its day.
Rather than go on about the book's length (the 1996 anniversary edition is still over 1000 pages) or its improperly-perceived "right-leaning philosophy", why not try to think of a seminal work that is currently hot and fresh?
What book will we be picking apart 20, 30, 50 years from now that is IT today?
Atlas Shrugged followed Ayn Rand's first novel by 20 years, and came on the heels of two decades of seeing her newly-adopted country, the US, become more like the Soviet Russia she had fled. Remember, this was the late 1950s, and McCarthyism was the political correctness of the day.
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
--John Galt, from Atlas Shrugged
That's the philosophy Rand takes 1000+ pages to embody. I defy anyone to place that in either a right or a left corner.
John Galt and the others who "shrug" are creators, thinkers, swimmers against the collectivist, censoring, small-minded stream. It does not take too narrow a squint to see them recast as the bloggers of their day.
Do I feel that Atlas Shrugged is perfect, or even the best book I ever read? No, far from it. The novel is deeply flawed as a narrative, chiefly by Rand's urge to pontificate and preach. Her characters are sometimes wooden, and she has little sympathy for the good but peripheral actors in the tale. And Rand seemed constitutionally unable to concede a scrap of goodness to any character she had assigned to the "evil" side of the ledger.
But like Stranger In a Strange Land, Dune and Catch 22, this book transcends its shortcomings by the sheer power of its message. That's why, 35 years after its first release, Atlas Shrugged could be cited as the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible (according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club).
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Saleski
I defy anyone to place that in either a right or a left corner
so, given this apparent neutral philosophy, why is it that mostly conservatives/libertarians have latched onto it?
2 - Eric Olsen
because of its emphasis on individual responsibility, on the irreducibility of each individual's prime imperative of taking care of him/herself
3 - Shark
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another..."
Yes, Virginia -- it's safe to assume Galt was single and never had any children.
feh.
In part, I judge the book by how many assholes I've known who have worshipped it.
(heh.)
4 - DrPat
Shark: As one who has children, I can assure you that they ARE one's life, while children, and so come under the umbrella of the first clause. As for he second, do you intend to ask your children to live their lives for the sake of yours?
Re: your last point, well, I cannot saw anything about the quality of your acquaintances.
5 - DrPat
Thanks, Eric! Perhaps those who eschew the book see themselves in Galt's enemies. That might explain why the message is perceived as right-leaning.
6 - Mark Saleski
i eschew (swear t gawd, that's the first time i've ever typed that word...so i guess i eschew eschew) the book because i've mostly seen the message put to use as a rationalization for acting with extreme selfishness.
plus, she really, really needed an editor.
7 - DrPat
So did James Joyce, but Ulysses is lauded as a classic. Despite that, I doubt his novel is read outside of school assignments, and it doesn't make a list of influential works, except perhaps for librarians [grin].
(And isn't "eschew" a great word now that you've lost your virginity?)
So take the challenge. What book is current today that will have the same influence and impact as the four I mentioned?
8 - Mark Saleski
this is really a tough question, partly since books & reading how nowhere near the impact on our society that they did years ago.
9 - DrPat
Okay, if books do not have the impact, what -specific- singular piece does?
I can quote those often-quoted lines from Catch 22 and grok with those who read Stranger in a Strange Land. Dune continues to spawn books and movies.
So what has replaced these works? What will show up so high on the list of influential items 50 years from today, as Atlas Shrugged does now?
10 - Eric Berlin
Atlas Shrugged is an interesting case: a novel that, in part, helped to begin a political movement or, at least, is cited as a political influence (for good or ill).
But roll the dial back a notch, and Atlas Shrugged is a story, and a pretty good one at that. As a 15-year-old eager to dig his mind into a thick, epic novel, AS works in many ways. It's creepy slightly dystopian retro-future, it's story of the triumph of the individual in a maniac falling apart world, are very appealing. Sure, the last couple hundred pages devolve into treatise, but overall, it's a good story.
In fact, any book, film, or song talked about in any way for over 50 years qualifies, on some level, as successful.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
11 - Tim Hall
I know it's 20 years old, now, but what about William Gibson's Neuromancer?
More the technological aspects than the social/political ones; this is the novel that gave us the word "cyberspace". And it caught the imagination of an lot of Internet developers, who did change the world.
12 - Eric Berlin
I'd like to apologize for my grammar in my last comment: two of my it's should be its (sloppy me).
13 - DrPat
Tim, being 20 years old does not disqualify it. Neuromancer is a good candidate, maybe because it's still in the core library for a LOT of the new publishers (online).
Anyone else up to the challenge?
14 - JR
Perhaps those who eschew the book see themselves in Galt's enemies.
That seems unlikely. If they don't read the book, how can they see themselves in any of its characters?
15 - Eric Olsen
surely the Harry Potter series is the most read and at least indirectly influential literature of our time
16 - Shark
Dr: "...do you intend to ask your children to live their lives for the sake of yours?"
zzzzzzzzz...
Look, Doc, if I were to pick literary words to live by, I can think of a lot that are more worthy and profound than those of Ayn Rand. She's got some great mantras for Fanatical Capitalist Pigs -- but not so helpful for us compassionate, pinko socialists.
Either way, it's hard to meet yer 'challenge', Dr. Pat, when we live in a world of increasing illiteracy.
Besides, it's a post-post modern world, and we don't need no stinkin' "impact." The eras of 'isms' is way past. Get with the program.
BTW: I suggest that the number of people who purchase Rand vs the number of people who actually wade all the way through her is close to the same numbers for Joyce.
17 - Tim Hall
Eric, what, if anything, will be the lasting impact of Harry Potter in 30 or 40 years time?
18 - Eric Olsen
some of the terminology, a la A Clockwork Orange, the culturally pervasive notion that a world of wizards and witches exists parallel to, and intersecting with, ours
19 - Eric Berlin
Shark - Your suggestion is spot-on... and true of this literary corporal!
~ Eric B.
20 - Tim Hall
I expect we'll end up seeing words like muggles used by IT nerds to describe the computer-illiterate.
Perhaps we already have?
21 - Aaman
John Galt and the others who "shrug" are creators, thinkers, swimmers against the collectivist, censoring, small-minded stream. It does not take too narrow a squint to see them recast as the bloggers of their day.
Most bloggers I find are collectivist, censoring, small-minded - present company excepted, of course
I propose the LOTR as it still resonates strongly with readers, no thanks to the films.
For more recent, seminal fare, I propose "Midnight's Children" (Rushdie), "The Art Of Computer Programming" (Knuth) and the printed out "Humane Genome Project" in book form.
22 - Eric Berlin
Don't IT nerds have enough terms at their disposal off the strength of Monty Python and the Holy Grail alone?
~ Eric B., Monty Python admirer and non-IT nerd
23 - Eric Olsen
I would say with the rise of the Internet, literacy, as in use of the written word, is up markedly from the preceding TV era. That does not address a probable decline in the readign and appreciation of literature, however.
24 - Tim Hall
I sure a company I once worked for wasn't the only one in the world to name all the servers after Holy Grail characters. There was even one called "I'm not dead".
25 - Al Barger
Yes, Eric, Harry Potter has a parallel world of witches intersecting with our own. However, Bewitched pretty well established that point 40 years ago.