tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post526494859171959266..comments2024-03-17T04:17:49.429-07:00Comments on Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature: Retouching RandDaniel Barneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06359277853862225286noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-28553136708905006332009-10-05T22:19:08.121-07:002009-10-05T22:19:08.121-07:00I have imagined NB's preoccupation with Rand&#...I have imagined NB's preoccupation with Rand's jealousy when he was trying to detach emotionally. Unfortunately this came at a time when he was involved with someone else at least emotionally before physically. Now that must have been erotic for him. And it had to be secret, even from Barbara.<br /><br />NB knows more than anyone else how much jealousy Rand is capable of. He knows she will bring down the entire NBI empire he has nurtured to success. And as he says, he wants it all. Why can't he have it all?<br /><br />Rand in 1960 resembled a harridan. Unkempt chopped gray hair, stocky fat and ill dressed, making no attempt at all to be attractive, at least when she gave lectures in Philadelphia. Why a young charismatic man like NB would have been attracted to her is difficult to conceive. She was no couger. No Sophia Loren, no Demi Moore. How she could deceive herself about her desirability boggles the mind. But to believe that her mind was the highest value for her and NB for a sexual relationship was not in question. Her philosophy depended that it be true. And it wasn't, so, therefore, NB had to have failed intellectually to prefer Patrecia.<br /><br />And anyone who has read his <i>Judgment Day</i> can appreciate that Patrecia is a rare being. And to his credit he recognizes this and gives it all up for her. She may not be Rand's equal intellectually, but she is her superior in emotional understanding and rationality and intellectual honesty. She is not the kind of woman that thinks one person can own another person.tenajhttp://www.focusfree.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-40537115766789645272009-10-05T21:55:21.145-07:002009-10-05T21:55:21.145-07:00As is well known, Rand had a rather odd fascinatio...<i> As is well known, Rand had a rather odd fascination with Nathaniel Branden's secret girlfriend, Patrecia, described as a striking blonde. Rand even kept a photo of Patrecia in her desk drawer for some reason. And in her later years she was strangely fascinated by Farrah Fawcett and "Charlie's Angels." She seems to have wanted Farrah to play Dagny in the miniseries.</i><br /><br />Rand also had a fascination with BB. Rand thought she was the embodiment of one of her heroines. And the description of Devers one visit to her sounds like another. I have no reason to think Devers was being inaccurate.<br /><br />So we have the classic case of the paranoid personality. Fascination and jealousy of the love object's other(s). A typical oedipal configuration. The jealousy drives the passion and it is excessive because its roots lie in the unresolved oedipal complex. So she is hostile to her mother which obscures her jealousy of her mother in the struggle for her father.<br /><br />Yeah I know this sounds so dated. But Heller has made this so clear. Heller makes no judgment but just reports. So Dragonfly I think she has given valuable new material that is subtle, factual and enlightening.<br /><br />And the affair is not secret from Frank and BB but it is secret from the rest of the collective. How is that honest? This is collusion between Rand and NB. And I think the omission of honesty is serious. Plus the fact that secrecy is an important element of affairs. It increases the erotic potential greatly. Openness and honesty makes the affair more everyday, less romantic, less exciting.<br /><br />A romantic relationship divorces the relationship from its inherent capitalistic connotations. Rand's insistance on a romantic relationship was an ideal way to deny the capitalistic aspect of sexual relationships, marriage or not. As Durrell said in one of his novels post Alexandria Quartet,concerning the pill, <i> Now woman has become a commodity. She is no longer an event. She has become like grain, corn, or any commodity that can be bought and sold.</i> And this is said with despair and chagrin.tenajhttp://www.focusfree.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-10474418213139660302009-10-05T16:27:11.482-07:002009-10-05T16:27:11.482-07:00"I see for example no footnotes (or are these..."I see for example no footnotes (or are these deleted for this example?)"<br /><br />I haven't seen the book, though I have pre-ordered it, but my guess is that there are endnotes, keyed to specific lines of text. This technique is often used to make endnotes less distracting. <br /><br />It's hard to believe that a 500+ page bio of Rand would not include extensive endnnotes.Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963295565160636175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-51230353076357147912009-10-05T14:35:30.771-07:002009-10-05T14:35:30.771-07:00I got curious, so I read also the first chapter of...I got curious, so I read also the first chapter of Heller's book. After all the praise I've seen here I'm rather disappointed. It doesn't tell me much that I didn't know already, except for a few details here and there, but nothing remarkable. I found the tone rather adulatory and uncritical, which doesn't incite me to buy the book. I'm ready to believe that it isn't a hagiography in the ARI style, but it doesn't seem very critical either.<br /><br />I see for example no footnotes (or are these deleted for this example?), so I've no idea how <i>reliable</i> this all is. I'm at least rather skeptical about Rand's own "memories", knowing how she could embellish the truth if that suited her ("no one helped me", yeah sure). Probably there is no way to find out anymore (except for straight facts like where she lived, went to school, what her father did, etc.), but then I'd at least wanted to see what is fact and what is speculation. Now it's just a nice story that doesn't tell us much that we didn't know already.Dragonflynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-32343601406197620712009-10-05T09:54:38.081-07:002009-10-05T09:54:38.081-07:00Okay, I found the reference, using Amazon's &q...Okay, I found the reference, using Amazon's "search inside" feature.<br /><br />On p. 157 of "Goddess of the Market," Burns writes, "Like all Rand heroines, Dagny is beautiful as well as brilliant, and socially well born. A glamorous and striking blonde, she is the granddaughter of a pioneering railroad tycoon whose empire she now controls."<br /><br />Given the quote from "Atlas" that Richard supplied, Burns appears to be in error when she describes Dagny as a "striking blonde."Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963295565160636175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-16847965994877081352009-10-05T09:35:44.171-07:002009-10-05T09:35:44.171-07:00I think I was right in saying that Burns makes thi...I think I was right in saying that Burns makes this observation (about blonde heroines), but possibly I misread or misremembered what she wrote. I don't want the author to take the hit for making a mistake when I may be the one who is mistaken. <br /><br />I'm not too surprised that Dagny does indeed have brown hair. Supposedly the character was modeled after Katharine Hepburn.Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963295565160636175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-40334739453408309702009-10-05T07:17:19.974-07:002009-10-05T07:17:19.974-07:00Jennifer Burns observes that all Rand's heroin...<i>Jennifer Burns observes that all Rand's heroines are blonde, something I hadn't noticed. (I pictured Dagny as dark-haired, like Rand herself.)</i><br /><br />"A sweep of brown hair fell back, almost touching the line of her shoulders." -- description of Dagny Taggart in Atlas Shrugged<br /><br />Perhaps we should file this next to other "often-reported" or "well known" claims.Richardhttp://www.noblesoul.com/orc/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-80948728477264906442009-10-04T21:17:19.000-07:002009-10-04T21:17:19.000-07:00Thanks for the pointing out that the first chapter...Thanks for the pointing out that the first chapter of Heller's book is online. For those who might have trouble finding it on the Amazon page, as I did, here's a direct link to the PDF file:<br /><br />http://snipurl.com/sbv5c <br /><br />"Her adoration of lithe blond peers is scary."<br /><br />Jennifer Burns observes that all Rand's heroines are blonde, something I hadn't noticed. (I pictured Dagny as dark-haired, like Rand herself.) <br /><br />As is well known, Rand had a rather odd fascination with Nathaniel Branden's secret girlfriend, Patrecia, described as a striking blonde. Rand even kept a photo of Patrecia in her desk drawer for some reason. And in her later years she was strangely fascinated by Farrah Fawcett and "Charlie's Angels." She seems to have wanted Farrah to play Dagny in the miniseries.Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963295565160636175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-15650023168764244732009-10-04T21:14:31.927-07:002009-10-04T21:14:31.927-07:00Just read the first chapter myself, it's super...Just read the first chapter myself, it's superb. Aren't we lucky to get two brilliant bios at once, after the long wasteland of apparatchik drivel!Daniel Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359277853862225286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-27700572464281634752009-10-04T17:50:18.448-07:002009-10-04T17:50:18.448-07:00Good post Michael Prescott I liked it.
Hickman fa...Good post Michael Prescott I liked it.<br /><br />Hickman fascination is directly linked to her favorite book Dostoevsky's <b>The Possessed</b>. Stavrogin's heinous crime is similar and there is another one similar in <b>Brothers Karamazov.</b> She is clearly not differentiating between fiction and reality, rather typical for severely disturbed persons, which I think she was. (Of course Dostoevsky was too and others.)<br /><br />Heller's first chapter on amazon is a hole blown in the dike. (No pun intended.) Ayn's early years, her relationship with her mother is graphic in its account of her Oedipal period. Laugh at Freud as you will , it is classic in her unreconciled hostility toward her mother and her really awful precociousness which was such an incredible defense that she must have felt her very life and soul was at stake.<br /><br />Her adoration of lithe blond peers is scary. Repudiating herself, her physical being, her Jewish heritage, she worships the blond Aryan. Now where have we come across that before. This colors all her writing and politics. Simply ghastly in psychological terms. She is revealed naked to all by Heller and this is just the first chapter. The psychologists and psychoanalysts will destroy her over this.<br /><br />For a marvelous book on this theme of worshipping the aggressor (identification with the aggressor)go to Toni Morrison's <b>The Bluest Eye</b> a story of a little black girl who loves her white doll with blue eyes. And so much more and beautifully written.tenajhttp://www.focusfree.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-22196431094096613762009-10-04T17:29:28.652-07:002009-10-04T17:29:28.652-07:00I'd mention that whatever the original motivat...<i>I'd mention that whatever the original motivation of people like Peikoff was, it has now turned into a permanent power trip for the ARI. They alone are competent to opine on Rand's life.</i><br /><br /><br />All the secrecy will come back to bite them. But now they have established her and she is a cultural force. And I repeat, they owe it all to NBI.tenajhttp://www.focusfree.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-91842989056185782872009-10-04T17:26:37.295-07:002009-10-04T17:26:37.295-07:00I am beginning to think that LP has in fact protec...I am beginning to think that LP has in fact protected her legacy. If all the contradictions and stories had come out right away her fame would have been tarnished. The time between the Brandens' books gave him time to polish up, organize the material, and allowed the myth of Ayn Rand to solidify before any cracking at the foundation. If the internet had been around at the time of her death he wouldn't have been able to do it. <br /><br />Ah transparency.tenajhttp://www.focusfree.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-88875732272122695722009-10-04T17:21:47.727-07:002009-10-04T17:21:47.727-07:00Well I have a great idea. Why doesn't someone ...Well I have a great idea. Why doesn't someone pitch a pseudo reality show of Ayn Rand. Just think, those Russian years and the Revolution of 1917! Wow!<br /><br />The coming to America, relatives, going to California and Cecil De Mille selecting her at the gate to come in. On the <b>second</b> day. Seeing Frank in the crowd, marrying him, writing The Fountainhead, the movie with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal (real life lovers doomed to be apart) meeting Nathaniel, coming to New York, the collective, writing Atlas, the affair, the secrecy, the betrayal, and on and on. What a great long run soap opera could be made of it.<br /><br />And I know this sounds ironic, but I mean it. This is great entertainment, much better than Mad Men and the same period for some of it. Can't you just see it roll out on and on forever!<br /><br />Somebody pitch this and make millions and millions. Perhaps BB who has lived all her life on Randian fame.tenajnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-53976515249953965912009-10-04T10:01:21.648-07:002009-10-04T10:01:21.648-07:00Though it's probably of interest to no one but...Though it's probably of interest to no one but me, I want to update my previous comment for acccuracy's sake. Now that I've nearly finished "Goddess of the Market," I retract my statement that 80% of the material in the book was familiar to me. This was true of the early section, but after p. 100 or so, there was a great deal of new material. Much of the content relating to Rand's life in the 1950s and onward was fresh. <br /><br />In her "essay on sources," Burns criticizes the Barbara Branden bio for various alleged errors and says the book is "marked by a certain amount of score settling." This probably explains why Burns does not designate "The Passion of Ayn Rand" as a "full-length biography." I still think she is wrong on this point, however. Whatever its defects, "Passion" is a full-length bio by any reasonable standard.<br /><br />Overall, I found "Goddess" to be a well-written, balanced portrait, though personally I would have laid more stress on Rand's dark side, and the dark side of the Objectivist movement generally. The sexual abuse suffered by Ellen Plasil at the hands of an Objectivist therapist is not mentioned. Neither is the often-reported claim that at least one young Objectivist committed suicide after being excommunicated from the movement. Edith Efron's famous statement about Rand, that there was no way to describe how crazy she was, isn't reported, nor are many similar statements from others who knew Rand. (See Jeff Walker's "The Ayn Rand Cult" for a huge amount of this material.) <br /><br />Burns also slightly downplays the creepiness of the youthful Rand's fascination with tabloid murderer William Hickman. She describes Hickman as "a teen murderer who mutilated his victim and boasted maniacally of his deed when caught," which is accurate as far as it goes, but leaves the reader unaware that Hickman's murder was one of the goriest and most horrific in Los Angeles history, rivaling the Black Dahlia case and the Manson killings. The nauseating details, which were fully reported at the time, put Rand's apparent infatuation with Hickman (whom she writes about as if he were a dreamy teen idol) in a rather more disturbing light. <br /><br />(Details of the Hickman murder are here: http://snipurl.com/sbkhk )<br /><br />In my opinion, Rand wasn't just an eccentric; I think she was mentally ill, and that her illness - probably a form of borderline personality disorder - developed when she was very young and got worse as she aged. No doubt my perspective colors my reaction to Burns' book. In any case, I enjoyed "Goddess of the Market," learned many new things, and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Ayn Rand.Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963295565160636175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-74332242369231490842009-10-03T09:11:34.534-07:002009-10-03T09:11:34.534-07:00For the record, I did buy "Goddess of the Mar...For the record, I did buy "Goddess of the Market" and am about one-quarter into it. I find the book interesting and well-written, but one thing bothered me. On p. 2, Burns writes, "Unlike other novelists of her stature, until now Rand has not been the subject of a full-length biography." <br /><br />This isn't accurate. Barbara Branden's book "The Passion of Ayn Rand" is a full-length biography. Though it concentrates on the period of Rand's life when Branden knew her, it also covers the rest of Rand's life in detail. <br /><br />So far, I'd say roughly 80% of the material in "Goddess of the Market" was familiar to me from the Branden book. In some sections the figure is close to 100%. <br /><br />Of course, Branden's book is also a personal memoir, which Burns' is not. But that doesn't mean it's not a legitimate biography in its own right. Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson" is perhaps the most famous bio ever written, and Boswell had a long, close, personal association with his subject.Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963295565160636175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-76165693250468155532009-09-28T11:13:22.514-07:002009-09-28T11:13:22.514-07:00Greg you use of the phrase "other mole-like c...Greg you use of the phrase "other mole-like creatures" makes you sound like a pathetic Randiod. Grow up and apologise Nobody comes here to read filth like that. Idiotic comments like that are the stock in trade of 5th rate Objectivist forums.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-65376311511127360042009-09-28T11:10:51.125-07:002009-09-28T11:10:51.125-07:00Greg I agree with you when you wrote this -
"...Greg I agree with you when you wrote this - <br />"A philosopher must be able to communicate his profounder principles and his vision of life and the world; and if he can't communicate these things, or if he communicates them badly, or through the veil of a nauseous verbiage, fit only for pedants and other mole-like creatures, then why should he be considered much of a philosopher at all."<br /><br />But the above described Rand, right down to the pedants, and not Sartre. Nice try though and saying nasty things about Satre does not make them true.<br /><br />P.S. Rand clearly is the worst of that group.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-33240849365826020722009-09-27T21:07:14.346-07:002009-09-27T21:07:14.346-07:00Anon: "The difference between Rand and Sartre...Anon: "The difference between Rand and Sartre is at least he was philospher."<br /><br />Why can Sartre be regarded as a philosopher and not Rand? Because Sartre's philosophy is more "sophisticated"? Because Sartre was more learned and philosophically literate? So what if he was. His judgment (which is even more important) is even worse than Rand's, and his philosophy is dreary, pedantic, with a strange air of German profoundity about it (which doesn't speak well for Sarte, since he wrote in French). A philosopher must be able to communicate his profounder principles and his vision of life and the world; and if he can't communicate these things, or if he communicates them badly, or through the veil of a nauseous verbiage, fit only for pedants and other mole-like creatures, then why should he be considered much of a philosopher at all? At least Rand is readable—even to the point of liveliness in her more polemical works. If her philosophy is riddled with inept formulations, errors of fact, and equivocations based on vague words, then so are the philosophies of many other so-called great thinkers. Let's face it: much of what passes for great philosophy is little more than bad reasons for believing in things that aren't true. If Plato, Hegel, and Sartre can be regarded as philosophers, then there's no reason to exclude Rand from their company. She's hardly the worst of that group.gregnyquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13653516868316854941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-16245475488779430272009-09-26T15:34:45.770-07:002009-09-26T15:34:45.770-07:00Michael you will be broke if you spend your money ...Michael you will be broke if you spend your money on pointless books like this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-82196309302151550392009-09-26T15:33:42.161-07:002009-09-26T15:33:42.161-07:00Yes, but just becasue Frank was an alcoholic and a...Yes, but just becasue Frank was an alcoholic and a failed B-movie actor why does that mean he was not a 'prime-mover'?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-89624621338757234372009-09-26T06:17:53.992-07:002009-09-26T06:17:53.992-07:00I would say that although Rand comes off rather po...I would say that although Rand comes off rather poorly in the book, the portrait isn't entirely negative. Nathaniel Branden comes across worse.<br /><br />If anyone should be made fun of, it's the ARI orthodoxy who, for almost 25 years have been denouncing the Brandens' books, when there is more than enough evidence in their archives to show that the Branden portrayal is basically correct.<br /><br />To take an incredible example, Valliant accuses Barbara of practically making up her source (Don Ventura) for Frank's drinking in the 50s. Well, the Archives has an interview with Ventura which references his drinking! (I should mention that Barbara only identified him by name after PARC.)<br /><br />-Neil<br /><br />-NeilNeil Parillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11074901258306769278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-86045911633993460272009-09-26T03:54:15.148-07:002009-09-26T03:54:15.148-07:00I don't like Rand at all?
Bahh, do you blame ...I don't like Rand at all?<br /><br />Bahh, do you blame me after making it to the bitter end of Atlas Shrugged. At least Battlefield Earth, a boke I read when 12 at least had 20 - 30 pages of enjoyable reading for every 200 ppages or so of boring ones. Though which book has the 'worse' science? Hubbard with his washing off radiation with water or Rand with the motor and project X?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-12110568789421102902009-09-25T22:03:23.631-07:002009-09-25T22:03:23.631-07:00RC:
>I don't think Sartre had, um, discover...RC:<br />>I don't think Sartre had, um, discovered amphetamines back when he was writing Being and Nothingness<br /><br />Well I could be quite wrong about Rand of course. I do recall he had a similarly long term habit, at any rate. Interestingly it was said of Sartre that for him writing itself was a kind of drug.Daniel Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359277853862225286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-80762975266975851292009-09-25T20:02:51.314-07:002009-09-25T20:02:51.314-07:00"you make it out like you are broke."
N..."you make it out like you are broke."<br /><br />Not quite ... but after four years of Obamanomics, who knows? :-(Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12963295565160636175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-53215140268131778652009-09-25T18:15:29.863-07:002009-09-25T18:15:29.863-07:00Oh c'mon Michael, you make it out like you are...Oh c'mon Michael, you make it out like you are broke.<br /><br />Say what you want, Rand had an interesting life. The books will both be excellent.<br /><br />-NeilNeil Parillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11074901258306769278noreply@blogger.com