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Title: The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand, Robert Mayhew ISBN: 0-452-28231-4 Publisher: Plume Books Pub. Date: 30 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: ...
Comment: While an undergraduate student at Seton Hall between 1997 and 2000, I had the distinct and memorable pleasure of being a student of the author of this book, Robert Mayhew. I sat for 7 of his course offerings over 3 years, and he continues to stand out in my mind as one of the most competent, engaging, and effective instructors with whom I have dealt in 22 years of schooling. Mayhew has the unique ability to satisfy the mildly curious as well as the most discriminating academician. In the years since graduation, I've paged through several of his volumes on the ancient Greeks, and I found them more interesting than any of the work I was doing in law school. You cannot go wrong with him.
Rating: 5
Summary: A useful guide for some.
Comment: Ayn Rand describes the necessary elements to take a theme abstraction and present it as a set of concretes directly related to the theme abstraction - the Romantic style. To help convey her reasoning she analyses examples from writers, herself included, who fit in, and some who don't. Victor Hugo and Isak Dinesen are two examples that are consistent with her preferences. Sinclair Lewis and Thomas Wolfe being two that aren't.
When I reviewed, The Fountainhead, I stated that Ayn Rand had an unfortunate tendency to indulge in 'eye poppingly bad' literary prose, which in this book she goes into great detail to point out its merits. Whilst her defence of these sections is logical, it still doesn't take away from their basic quality: they're still eye poppingly bad. As badly written as the pieces she has chosen from elsewhere to demonstrate how not to write. Unlike Victor Hugo's, and Isak Dinesen's, which is very smooth . When she writes more plainly, as she does for most of the time, her intention is conveyed perfectly well without any need for colourful and distracting prose.
That was the only real contradiction and failing of this book. Everything else is very appropriate for those who have the inclination and determination to write well in the Romantic style.
Her Non-fiction follow up is worth reading as a companion volume
Rating: 5
Summary: An enlightening guide to the art of nonfiction
Comment: The Art of Nonfiction is taken from a series of informal lectures that Ayn Rand gave to students in 1969 on the topic of the art of nonfiction writing. It was not prepared for publication by Rand, but the material in it was culled from these lectures, for which Rand had only an outline to prepare her. The Art of Nonfiction serves as a companion piece to The Art of Fiction, both from an author who wrote some of the Twentieth Century's most important and influential fiction and nonfiction works.
This work aims to teach the reader the principles behind the art of nonfiction writing. The chapters, which follow the order of the lectures given by Rand, cover such topics as how to get ideas for writing, the importance of and how to create an effective outline, the role of the conscious and subconscious in writing, editing, and how to prepare an article for publication. The book focuses on nonfiction article writing (all of Rand's published nonfiction works are compilations of her nonfiction essays), but also offers advice on nonfiction book writing. Rand was convinced of the omnipresence of one's philosophy in one's life and work, and this is evident in this book, which is replete with tie-ins to her philosophy and fascinating philosophical analysis of such topics as the nature of the subconscious mind and how to properly allow one's philosophical convictions influence one's writing.
Although the content is excellent and the progression is logical and persuasive, the reader should bear in mind that the material in it was neither prepared by nor intended for publication by Rand, who did not believe that the material as presented in these lectures would be good enough for publication. Still, it is remarkable how solid the material is, considering that it was done with little preparation on Rand's part.
One need not agree with Rand's philosophy to gain value from this book, so well reasoned and persuasive is her presentation. Both writers and readers have much to gain from this important addition to Ayn Rand's literature.
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Title: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand, Tore Boeckmann ISBN: 0452281547 Publisher: Plume Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (Signet Shakespeare) by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451147952 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 April, 1983 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: For the New Intellectual by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451163087 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 March, 1984 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451138937 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 April, 1985 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0452010306 Publisher: Plume Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1990 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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