Art

Happy Atlas Shrugged Day 2014

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September 2 is Atlas Shrugged Day, the anniversary of the day (in 1946) on which Ayn Rand began writing the novel. September 2 is also a significant date in the novel, and the date on which the story begins. I celebrate Atlas Shrugged Day by reading passages from the novel, often by opening the book […]

Art

Happy Ayn Rand’s Birthday 2014

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As always, I celebrate Ayn Rand’s birthday, February 2nd, by opening one of Ayn Rand’s novels to a random page and reading a passage. Every passage is marvelous. Today, I opened The Fountainhead to this passage (Rand [1943], 1952, 223–224, Part Two, Chapter 3), of one villain’s ironic written praise of another: “Greatness is an […]

Art

Happy Atlas Shrugged Day, 2013

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September 2 is Atlas Shrugged Day, the anniversary of the day (in 1946) on which Ayn Rand began writing the novel. September 2 is also a significant date in the novel, and the date on which the story begins. I celebrate Atlas Shrugged Day by reading passages from the novel, often by opening the book […]

Art

Happy Ayn Rand’s Birthday 2013

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I celebrate February 2, the birthday of Ayn Rand, by opening one of her novels to a random page and reading. Today I read these two passages from The Fountainhead. “Miss Cook, I’ve read Clouds and Shrouds and it was a spiritual revelation to me. Allow me to include myself among the few who understand […]

Art

Happy Atlas Shrugged Day, 2012

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I consider Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, the greatest work of art and most advanced human achievement. September 2 (1946) is the date on which Ayn Rand began writing the novel, and is also the date on which the novel begins. I celebrate Atlas Shrugged Day by reading passages from the novel, often by opening […]

Politics

“The Despoiling of Ability”

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As if having read my blog (Shared Sacrifice) from Tuesday and reprising his role as the villain, President Obama said this yesterday: Look, I want everybody in America to do well. I want everybody to have a chance to become a millionaire. I think the free market system is the greatest wealth generator we’ve ever […]

Politics

Happy Independence Day

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Today I celebrated Independence Day by reading the Declaration of Independence and some pages of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Anyone who wonders about the connection is invited to read the right-hand column of the home page of this blog. Second Renaissance Books once published a tear-off calendar, “Ayn Rand Quote of the Day • […]

Art

Read Atlas Shrugged

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(A slightly revised version of this post appears in Capitalism Magazine, April 17, 2011) I do not recommend the movie based—unfaithfully and ineptly, in my judgment—on Atlas Shrugged (Rand 1957) that opens today. (See my analysis of one scene here.) Instead, I urge every thoughtful individual to read the novel, again and again, and to […]

Art

Exposition vs. Drama

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I have seen the movie, Atlas Shrugged Part 1. I do not plan to publish a review, but I have written an essay comparing one scene, viewable on the Internet, to the corresponding scene in the novel. In this essay, my secondary purpose is to judge this small part of the movie; my primary purpose […]

Art

Happy Ayn Rand’s Birthday

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This morning, I celebrated the birthday of Ayn Rand. I opened Atlas Shrugged to a page at random, and began reading. The passage I read was about a great injustice committed against one of the heroes. I was reminded of great injustices in world events today, foreseen by this passage. Yet the very brilliance of […]