A Parable of Buried Talents

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In the following essay, Granville Hicks critiques Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" as a demonstrative act rather than a literary work, arguing that its earnest, belligerent tone and advocacy for superior individuals overshadow its literary value, suggesting the novel is driven more by hate than the proclaimed love of life.

["Atlas Shrugged"] comes among us as a demonstrative act rather than as a literary work. Its size seems an expression of the author's determination to crush the enemies of truth—her truth, of course—as a battering ram demolishes the walls of a hostile city. Not in any literary sense a serious novel, it is an earnest one, belligerent and unremitting in its earnestness. It howls in the reader's ear and beats him about the head in order to secure his attention, and then, when it has him subdued, harangues him for page upon page. It has only two moods, the melodramatic and the didactic, and in both it knows no bounds. (p. 4)

It would be pointless to discuss either the logic or the feasibility of the program Miss Rand so vehemently puts forth. What is important is the spirit in which the book is written. Like "The Fountainhead," "Atlas Shrugged" is a defense of and a tribute to the superior individual, who is, in Miss Rand's view, superior in every way—in body as well as mind and especially in his capacity for life. Its spirit, regardless of the specific doctrines it preaches, is calculated to appeal to those who feel that life could and should have more meaning than they have experienced.

Yet, loudly as Miss Rand proclaims her love of life, it seems clear that the book is written out of hate. (p. 5)

Granville Hicks "A Parable of Buried Talents," in The New York Times Book Review, October 13, 1957, pp. 4-5.

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