It's a big birthday day today! First of all, a very happy birthday to my step bro Brian!!! He and his lovely wife Krista are out there conquering the Big Apple, but hopefully they won't mind heading back to the country for Farm Fest this summer!!
Secondly, happy birthday to James Joyce!! I'll get you next year.
Finally happy 106th birthday to Ayn Rand!!!
Rand has been in the news again lately, and in many ways - mostly bad - she seems to be as influential these days as ever. However, I still have a soft spot for her overheated prose. Since I'm short on time, here's a couple of quotes from an essay I wrote about her a while ago:
Everyone hates Ayn Rand these days, and there are some pretty good reasons why. For one thing, her disciple Alan Greenspan is one of the prime culprits in our current economic mess. For another, she saw nature as, essentially, the means to create gigantic sky scrapers. She was proudly reactionary and absurdly conservative.
...
But her real genius was in her passion for accomplishment. No one writes about work the way that Rand does. Not the monotonous grind of day to day labor, but the vital and sometimes violent act of creative work. For Rand (like Thomas Mann, but more viscerally), to do was to be. She describes the ecstasy of creation as if she were writing about God on the first day. And if that's what you're looking for, there are precious few other places to get it.
Secondly, happy birthday to James Joyce!! I'll get you next year.
Finally happy 106th birthday to Ayn Rand!!!
Rand has been in the news again lately, and in many ways - mostly bad - she seems to be as influential these days as ever. However, I still have a soft spot for her overheated prose. Since I'm short on time, here's a couple of quotes from an essay I wrote about her a while ago:
Everyone hates Ayn Rand these days, and there are some pretty good reasons why. For one thing, her disciple Alan Greenspan is one of the prime culprits in our current economic mess. For another, she saw nature as, essentially, the means to create gigantic sky scrapers. She was proudly reactionary and absurdly conservative.
...
But her real genius was in her passion for accomplishment. No one writes about work the way that Rand does. Not the monotonous grind of day to day labor, but the vital and sometimes violent act of creative work. For Rand (like Thomas Mann, but more viscerally), to do was to be. She describes the ecstasy of creation as if she were writing about God on the first day. And if that's what you're looking for, there are precious few other places to get it.
Happy birthday guys!!!
3 comments:
Happy Birthday, Brian. Wow, 29...so old!
Not sure about Rand. I've never really been drawn to read her. However, if I were to give it a shot, which do you think would be the best one to start with?
Amy
I still don't love Ayn Rand, but oh how I love your brain, Mister. And a very happy birthday to Brian!
Amy, read The Fountainhead.
Em
Thanks sweetheart - I love yours too : )
I would also recommend The Fountainhead Amy. Atlas Shrugged gets more press, because it's more insane, but The Fountainhead has (IMHO) more heart - and is about 1,000 pages shorter!
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