Dirty Dickens.
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Dirty Dickens.
"Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life."
Those who agree with this are fundamentally ugly people.
Ayn Rand can't write a sentence to save her life and has the most disgusting philosophy I've ever heard. It is not enough to say that it is stupid and incorrect, it is also completely evil. One of her heroes rapes a girl to win her love. He also blows up a public housing project. This is the man Objectivists praise as an ultimate example. How she brainwashed millions of teenagers into becoming her foot-soldiers worldwide I'll never know. Luckily I first read Rand when I was 18 and was already familiar with the basic history of philosophy. Rand's ideas taking root are dependent on her hope that her reader will be a fresh young adolescent who can't pronounce "Kant".
Other views:
"Atlas Shrugged can be called a novel only by devaluing the term." - Whittacker Chambers, National Review
"This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." - Dorothy Parker on Atlas Shrugged
"The Fountainhead is Rand's best novel, which is not to say that it is good." - Mark Kingwell
"Ayn Rand writes bad prose." - George Saunders
"No. I am not--and have never been--influenced by Ayn Rand. In fact, I pity anyone who is influenced by Ayn Rand. It's almost as bad as being influenced by Dan Brown." - Salman Rushdie, when asked if he was influenced by her work.
I'm going to have to say Tolkien too. I just can't read Lord Of The Rings I have tried three times in the last ten years. :brickwall I admit defeat :)
I agree! I probably would enjoy her books if she made them much much shorter! Then I could forgive her atrocious writing and bland characters and just go 'ooh, it's getting juicy!' occasionally. But no...Quote:
Originally Posted by mystery_spell
Also, pretty much every abuse-autobiography. They always have names like 'Please, Uncle, no more!' or 'Just a child' or 'Why did Daddy hit me?' or variations. We have too many, and although it's wonderful that these people now have the courage to write a book, we have too many of them.
I've been unfortunate enough to have read one of those books. Needless to say, I was extremely underwhelmed. Stephanie Meyer is the epitome of inadequacy.Quote:
Originally Posted by mystery_spell
I also came in here expecting to see some Ayn Rand hate, and it's nice to not be disappointed, haha.
I like Ayn Rand
First, I'd like to say that I completely agree that the Twilight series has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Secondly, though I'm not sure that he is considered a literary writer (he shouldn't be), I think that Nicolaus Sparks has to be the most awful writer of all time. He's like the Thomas Kinkade of novelists. This is kind of interesting, though not exactly on the subject. I read a transcript of a speech Faulkner gave to some college students in which he reportedly told them that he believed that Hemingway wrote without courage.
Mmhm, Hemingway makes me feel like i'm about to have a seizure.
STOP reading him Lim before you have one.Quote:
Originally Posted by limajean
I am on that little red wagon - I have tried several times and given up.Quote:
Originally Posted by oopsycandy
Fortunately, not everyone is the same. Therefore, unfortunately for the writer, he/she cannot entertain everyone, because everyone is entertained differently. I happen to love Dickens (though I find your comments about him amusing :) ). His humor is dry and "between the lines", but it is entertaining.Quote:
I think the worst writers in the world are the ones that bore you.
The worst writer: Stephanie Meyer.
She may mean well, but she could have done 1,000,000,000,000 times better writing and editing her books. (for example, why rewrite the series from Edward's perspective? Couldn't she have included his perspective from the very beginning?)
Mhm, when I said "bore you" I was speaking specifically of our individual selves :)
Ha - amusing as in stupid?
I have a lot to say about Mr Dickens. Not many people here like my comments about him. But they can climb a tree and chill with the monkey's for all I care.
Yeah Dickens sucks big time, I agree limes
Yeah exactly. Like I said, dirty Dickens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by limajean
There are rabid Dickens fans here...they may burn us at the stake for this. :p