Sunday, November 1, 2009
Genius by Way of Affiliation: Kirsch on Rand
At The New York Times this week, Adam Kirsch reviews the new biography, Ayn Rand and the World She Made. He writes, 'Rand’s particular intellectual contribution, the thing that makes her so popular and so American, is the way she managed to mass market elitism — to convince so many people, especially young people, that they could be geniuses without being in any concrete way distinguished. Or, rather, that they could distinguish themselves by the ardor of their commitment to Rand’s teaching. The very form of her novels makes the same point: they are as cartoonish and sexed-up as any best seller, yet they are constantly suggesting that the reader who appreciates them is one of the elect. [. . .] while Rand took to wearing a dollar-sign pin to advertise her love of capitalism, Heller makes clear that the author had no real affection for dollars themselves. Giving up her royalties to preserve her vision is something that no genuine capitalist, and few popular novelists, would have done. It is the act of an intellectual, of someone who believes that ideas matter more than lucre. In fact, as Heller shows, Rand had no more reverence for the actual businessmen she met than most intellectuals do.'
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2 comments:
Brandon Watson explains that ". . . on Rand's view of capitalism, 'Giving up her royalties to preserve her vision' is exactly what a good capitalist will do: make contractual agreements, monetary or otherwise, for things of value."
I'm not so sure about the "or otherwise" of BW's argument. Rand put forth in no uncertain terms that one ought always to do what is best for one's self, first and foremost — it is the virtue of selfishness. In refusing to edit this speech, she devalued her own work; she chose evangelism over self-interestedness. To be quite honest – this from a person who believes Rand to have been more or less a sociopath – the was admirable; it was, however, also hypocritical. Monetary value is the only value of capitalism: all other forms of evaluation confuse the issue.
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