ATLAS SHRUGGED: It's more than just a political novel

Atlas Shrugged has been in the news a great deal in the past few months. The novel’s sales have spiked as readers seek to make sense of the economic crisis and of the dramatic moves by the government to take over the financial sector of our economy. Some have called the novel prophetic in its depiction of the process by which governmental controls introduced to stem one calamity cause a greater one, which is then used to justify further controls; and we have begun to hear worries that the most productive members of our society will “go Galt”—i.e., follow the example of John Galt, the hero of Atlas Shrugged, who leads a strike of the men of the mind.

Most of the recent discussion of Atlas has focused on its political themes, creating the impression that the novel is essentially a condemnation of government intervention in the economy. However, its scope, its relevance to the current crisis, and the reasons for its enduring appeal go much wider and much deeper than this. Galt goes on strike not simply against high taxes and unjust regulations, but against the morality of altruism, which Rand identifies as the cause of such measures, and against the world-view of which this moral code is an expression—a philosophy that denies the efficacy of reason and the absolutism of reality.

Atlas Shrugged is a novel about the role of the mind in man’s existence. In it, Rand diagnoses not only political and economic trends, but also much of the frustration, injustice, and pain that we experience in our personal lives, tracing them all back to the mind-stultifying ideology that has come to dominate western culture and has replaced the Enlightenment ideals on which America was founded. As a prescription for the rebirth of America, and as a guide to anyone who seeks to make the most of his life, Atlas offers a revolutionary philosophy of reason and egoism.

First and foremost, however, Atlas Shrugged is a literary masterpiece: Rand presents her ideas in the form of an ingeniously plotted mystery, with unforgettable characters, heart-wrenching conflicts, and an inspiring resolution. The thousands who have picked the novel up as a result of the financial crisis are getting more than they bargained for, and they’re in for a real treat.

There will soon be a new resource to help readers, old and new, to get the most out of Rand’s magnum opus: Robert Mayhew’s collection, Essays on Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, forthcoming from Lexington Books. Mayhew, who set a new standard in the study of Ayn Rand with his previous collections on We The Living, Anthem, and The Fountainhead, has once again assembled the leading scholars working in the field. The result is a volume packed with historical information about the novel and fresh insights into it as a work of literature and philosophy. I am proud to be a contributor.

Gregory Salmieri is visiting assistant professor of philosophy at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Comments

[Ali Imdad]

A warm thank you to Dr Greg Salmieri for a profound act of justice: Setting the record straight by showing that Atlas Shrugged is not primarily a political novel but the greatest Romantic Realist novel to date. It is also the best work on philosophy, for those active minded individuals who are willing to put forth the requisite effort for Inducing principles from its events.

[Lakshmi Raj Sharma]

Steven Brockerman has hit the nail on the head when he says that Atlas Shrugged deals with the role of the mind in man's existence. In a sense any novel that is outwardly political, must be at some level personal and apolitical. The politics of the novel cannot be separated from the plot but the plot is generally not merely politics. I might say that the plot is basically personal- expereince stretched onto the background of politics.
My own political novel, The Tailor's Needle, which is due for publication in July,(publisher Picnic Publishing UK, see blog on Picnic website) will bear this out.

Without the personal, the political would be little different to Political Science.

[Paul Beaird]

If you own a business or work in one, by now you have discovered that your culture is schizophrenic about your role in business. From pulpits to political podiums and university think tanks, everyone feels free to condemn the profit motive. Yet, if you go to bed at night with no more than you arose with in the morning, you have wasted a day. Every life form requires a continuous flow of positive values coming from active work. Wouldn't it be great, if there were at least one positive voice explaining and defending your role as a businessperson, adding positive value to the culture in which you live and work? Well, there is. A little Russian immigrant woman, who chose America as the land of her moral values, defines and supports productive people, at all levels, in MORAL terms. You'll find this voice in her high-action, adventure novel, Atlas Shrugged, the most inspiring novel ever written...if you love your life on Earth. Read, learn, enjoy!

[Burgess Laughlin]

I have read and greatly benefited from the historical parts of Dr. Mayhew's collections of essays on Ayn Rand's novels _The Fountainhead_ and _We the Living_.

For that reason, as a long-term student of history, I am very much looking forward to the upcoming _Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged_, the novel that was the final, peak achievement of her fiction-writing career and the launching pad of her second career as full-time advocate for her philosophy, Objectivism.

[Phillip Schearer]

I wholeheartedly second Greg Salmieri's comments. For 45 years I have been an admirer of Ayn Rand, an advocate of her philosophy of Objectivism, and for almost 20 years a supporter of the Ayn Rand Institute, the Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (www.aynrand.org).

One aspect Dr. Salmieri did not touch on is that for a lucky few of the new readers, "Atlas Shrugged" will be life-changing, as it was for me when I first read it. My thoughts then were "Why of course! It's so obvious! Why has no one ever told me this before?"

In the years since I have come to understand that, first, creating a new, rational philosophy is not obvious, requiring a brilliant mind I feel honored to be exposed to; and second, no one told me anything like what Ayn Rand had to say because Objectivism is opposed to millennia of widely-accepted false principles.

The false philosophies of history can only slowly be replaced; progress is glacial but it is real and accelerating, and I hope the new readers of "Atlas" will be moved to help change the world.