Top source for understanding "Atlas Shrugged"
This collection of 22 essays covers aspects of "Atlas Shrugged" from the most general to the most applied. For people who want to understand the underlying causes explaining why "Atlas Shrugged" exerts a tremendous impact on the thinking of people who change American culture, this book explains it. The collection begins with a refresher course on the events of "Atlas Shrugged" (I advise readers of these essays to have already read "Atlas Shrugged," even if years ago), then proceeds to previously-unreported facts about character developments that Ayn Rand made during the writing, and in the collection's later chapters the essayists elucidate through comprehensive non-fiction prose many of the ideas on law and business ethics that the novel presents through its characters' actions and in brief dialogue scattered through the novel.
Previously-published explorations on "Atlas Shrugged" didn't indicate how Ayn Rand's conception of her major character Francisco d'Anconia went through a significant transition. You get to read in this collection many quotations from Ayn Rand's manuscripts that show how d'Anconia changed from manuscript draft to manuscript draft to the final book. The early version of d'Anconia is intriguing, but it's easy to see why Ayn Rand realized that the story and the character needed the ruthless yet furtive honesty he has in the final incarnation. Not every aspect of the changes that "Atlas Shrugged" went through is here; for a comprehensive examination, "Essays on Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged'" should be read along with "Journal of Ayn Rand," published in 1997. Although some might want "Essays on 'Atlas Shrugged'" to cover it all, as it is it already fills 465 with its essays before going on to 41 pages of appendices (not counting the index), so the editor can be excused for not trying to give an overview of what people will find in "Journals of Ayn Rand" on pages 389 to 664. "Journals of Ayn Rand" is great for seeing how the overall structure of "Atlas Shrugged" was tweaked several times during the writing, and "Journals" shows what Ayn Rand wrote to herself to clarify her thinking — but it doesn't reproduce manuscript originally intended for the novel and then superceded. "Essays on 'Atlas Shrugged'" fills in that gap, along with analyses of the significance of those changes, changes that were not hinted at by the notes that Miss Rand wrote for herself.
There's more:
• Had you noticed (or merely suspected without having the words to name it) that the emphasis in "The Fountainhead" (Ayn Rand's novel immediately prior to "Atlas Shrugged") was on the importance of independence to self-fulfillment (and human achievement) whereas in "Atlas Shrugged" there's a stress on rationality? Essayist Darryl Wright noticed, and he writes in detail that let's us follow how Ayn Rand elaborated on her understanding of the issues involved until she reached her last conclusions on which of those two virtues is paramount;
• Have you wanted to carry away in your mind single-word descriptions that nail down just what mistaken thinking styles are held by the characters in the book, so that you can better identify these wrong habits when you see others using them? In the essays, you'll find Mr. Thompson identified as a pragmatist, Dr. Stadler as a Platonist ("a Scientist King"), etc. In each case, the reasons for the label are given.
• Do you want to know why a film or TV version of "Atlas Shrugged" has yet to happen? One chapter details the efforts (and contracts) that didn't end with any filming during Ayn Rand's lifetime (she lived another 25 years after publication).
• Have you wanted to better understand the speech that Galt makes to explain the ruination of the economy and culture? Inasmuch as the text of "Atlas Shrugged" does not divide that speech into sections, you may have been fazed or overwhelmed by such an undertaking. Three of the essayists undertook thorough examinations and present their findings here. (One of the three — Allan Gotthelf — knew Ayn Rand, showed his outline to her, and listened as she told him that his understanding is correct.) For people who take "Atlas Shrugged" seriously, this can be a fantastic time-saver, because great analyses are presented in prose and in an outline published as an appendix. (What's more, I had to acknowledge that the outline here is better than the one I created on my own before this book was available.)
If you are at all serious about studying "Atlas Shrugged" "under the hood," this should be your first source. Some of the contributors knew Ayn Rand; the others studied her philosopher under those who knew Ayn Rand, and through the auspices of the Institute co-founded by her heir and thirty-year "pupil." You won't go wrong learning about Ayn Rand and "Atlas Shrugged" from this book.
[link to the review on site where it was originally posted]
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