Books- Atlas Shrugged And Then Some

I really like Audible.com and have become hooked on getting the Classics and other giant tomes in this form because when I am alone in the dye room, I can create and "read", all at the same time. I could always do several things at once, as long as I was not required to talk, too. :o)

I had a marathon going on the iPod in the player because I had decided that now was the time to listen to Atlas Shrugged. I had always thought that this was a piece that I should read in the old sense of the word but if I gave over my eyes and hands to such a task, I would feel like a scholar, instead of a learner; tied to the physicality of reading. I chose to do the precious download (when you live by satellite, as we do here in this place, you treasure your band-width) a couple of months ago and set to listening to this amazing piece of work. Some people might call it a Piece of Work but I took it for what it was, a philosophical work by a radical thinker, who was highly influenced by her times, in the days of the Red Scare. Her cadence and verbiage sounded, when read aloud, much like something from the 1930's and I had to remind myself that this was published in 1957, when I was a little girl, a little girl who learned to Duck and Cover.

  I found it interesting that this book was being usurped by the radical right. I had it in my queue because I had always wanted to read it and finding that it was on the reading list recommended by someone like Ann Coulter, whose behavior and brashness makes my skin crawl (is she for real or just another far right shock jock?) made me feel that I might seem to be influenced instead of finding the book at the precise moment that it needed to be listened to. When I started it, we were in the thick of this economic morass and I kept seeing the spooky parallel between Then and Now. A man in our town had plastered signs around our "urban" and rural neighborhoods about a Call to Meetin' that he had organized, in late September. I was sure that it was going to be one of those ridiculous shouting matches spurred on by the Tea Bag movement. I refused to be a part of an event that was going to be about angry mobs instead of an exchange of ideas. It turned out to be on weekend that we spent in Canby at OFFF, so I had to find out about it in our local small town paper (The Mountain Democrat), when we returned. I actually thought that it was going to be a rant fest by people who listen to the radical right media, known as Talk Radio. I was wrong about that. This event was put together by the guy who owns the Mountain Mail and he was trying to wake people up about calling politicians to task for being in the pocket of big business. Politicians on BOTH side of the "aisle". As an Independent, I can agree with that. What I can't agree with is rhetoric and mean spirited shouting festivals. The folks who attended the event with the hope of it turning into one of the orchestrated Town Hall Shout-a-thon's were sorely disappointed, according to the reporter. Hmmm, someone who had something to say about people EDUCATING themselves and seeing all sides of the sphere. Wait, WHAT? Where was the yelling? You want to be sensible???

 The reason that I brought this up is because of what I had seen on the leaflets that the organizer  sent out. He actually had a reading list and on the reading list was Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Before I heard about Who, What and Where I was totally appalled because the radical right was using this book for propaganda, (much like a certain OTHER best selling book...ahem...The Bible.) or so I surmised. This man only wanted to educate a lot of people who DO NOT READ BOOKS and for that, I commend him. Ann Coulter, on the other hand (and her ilk) has been holding this book up as some sort of literal horror story to scare the masses. It is a piece of fiction with a lot of philosophy as well as insight into what COULD happen IF ALL ELSE FAILED. It is a piece of work that had to have had an amazing amount of shock value when it was first released (if one could get through the enormity of its size) and has remained a modern classic. I am happy to have finished it with the help of a great reader and Rand's story gave me lots of great discussion fodder with Rod, who would hear snips of it when working at the skein winder. He thought that it was going to be about railroads and kept thinking that he could critique it for the failure of accuracy in this vein, because he is a train buff. Yes, there are trains and railroads but this is almost a work of science/industrial fiction, if you get my drift. I will be happy to discuss the book but only with someone who has read or heard the unabridged version. No rants over snips. This is my point with the Bible or Atlas Shrugged. I take these works as parables written by clever and observant humans, that can be used to teach a person how to Be A Good Human. The literal meanings of such works can be argued over and analyzed but in the end, what you get from them is what YOU get from them. You are meant to stretch your Aha muscle and THINK.

Many people can see themselves in this book, whether they like what they see or not. I have come from a long line of entrepreneurial people, who worked for themselves and created art or products/services. I see myself. I see my father, who has bumped up against society forever with his unusual ideas. I see my husband who was a part of the corporate world, while earning the money that has kept our future safe while supporting and finally becoming a part of the world of the entrepreneur that balanced our lives. I see people who have been caught in the downward spiral and while understanding the tough love of someone like Ronald Reagan, who loathed poor people, know that we still can't expect everyone in our society to just pull themselves up by their bootstraps, if they have no boots or the hands to pull with.

I listened to this work with visible nodding and audible "Hah" moments and also with a lot of eye rolling. This is what should happen and why I worry about a work of this magnitude that becomes a shield for the very people who are the villains in this piece. The VILLAINS with the radio program and the loudspeakers. Wake up, people. Read the book if you want to and see it for what it is; a thought provoking giant of modern literature. If you let someone tell you that it is Real or Now or anything other than what it is, you are lost, as were the human cogs in the book.

I certainly did not intend to write a rant but well, it just came out. Atlas Shrugged just does this to people, if they get it. 

Now I am enjoying the physicality of reading the last Stoney Calhoun novel, written by the late William Tapley, called Dark Tiger. It was given to me by his loving wife, Vicki Stiefel, who is also a murder mystery writer and the author of the book that we have collaborated on. Dark Tiger is a Great Read and has relaxed my brain as a comfortable work of fiction does. I expect the writer to paint me a picture and make me the fly on the wall. I am having a hard time putting it down and read half of it on the plane home from Hartford. Thank you, Vicki. It is a bittersweet thing, this book finished while Bill was getting sick again but it is a wonderful that he did finish it and that you introduced me to his voice. 

Have I told you lately how much I love books. Now that I have corrected my astigmatism and have the option of audiobooks, I can bathe in the words...pour them over my head, if I like. Thank you sir, may I have another?

Comments

[kit]

What a wonderful and informative 'rant'. Thank you for bringing up issues that often lay buried. I have missed your voice lately. I'll have to log on to my audible account (don't you LOVE them!) and check out Bills book also.

[MaryjoO]

I am glad you posted this. I also saw some of the articles about the book being touted by "the right" and went ???? so so strange. But with your recommendation will definitely get it from Audible - it is good to "listen" and think, too!

[Madeline]

Good rant! I've read AS two or three times many, many years ago. This Democrat still stands by portions of the book, but realistically -- and it is, after all, a novel. I was surprised to see this NYT book review and that the far right (who are far off in my book) have grabbed Rand: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/books/review/Kirsch-t.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1

[Lisa Souza]

The book on the iPod right now is The Colony. It is the story of the leper colony on Molokai and how people were banished to the island. When I was a kid, singing in the Catholic services at Treasure Island, one of the books that made quite an impression on me (freebee from the missionary people) was about Father Damien and the Lepers.
Another FAVORITE has been The Story of English. SO interesting, if you love language and jigsaw puzzles. :o)

[AlisonH]

I can't comment on AS, not having read it--but Ann Coulter is on record as saying that Joseph McCarthy has been maligned and is actually a Good Guy. I want to give her the famous public comeback given him, "Have you no sense of decency?"

Meantime I take great courage from your guy wanting people to actually talk and learn from each other. We need more like him--and you.

[greta]

I still have the copy of Atlas Shrugged that I carried around in High School.
I probably would enjoy re-reading it!
Thanks for the reminder.