Feminist Interp. Ayn Rand - CL.: Amazon.ca: Sciabarra, Mimi, Chris Gladstein: Books

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10 Reviews

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3.3 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Rembrandt confetti, Aug 16 2003

By

A. Morrow (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feminist Interp. Ayn Rand - Ppr (Paperback)

Rand's morphing in a feminist is the entire object of the book; hence the new term "Randian-Feminism." In "Looking Back," the essay "Ayn Rand: The Reluctant Feminist" is a nice piece of misinformation, since Rand was not a reluctant feminist. "Feminist Rereadings of Rand's Fiction" is a tiresome attempt to squeeze meanings out of scenes and characters of Rand's books that she mostly never meant. This is accomplished with a huge amount of psychobabble, qualifying it for the psychobabble award of the decade. They pedantically slice many of Rand's phrases, finding links between anything and everything in their content, however irrelevant, then assemble these into a new set of "meanings." They are like monkeys with scissors, cutting up a Rembrandt, and turning it into a Jackson Pollock. The last part, "Toward a Randian Feminism?" consists of views on Rand's feminist possibilities. Again, through pure psychobabble and distortion, various writers bend and stretch Rand into a ridiculous caricature feminist - even a camp feminist, thanks very much. This lame attempt to morph Rand into a feminist won't work in the end - like graffiti on her tombstone, it will eventually wash off.

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1.0 out of 5 stars N. Branden's comments silly and layered with irony, Dec 6 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Feminist Interp. Ayn Rand - Ppr (Paperback)

Nathaniel Branden writes in his review: "...this book, criticisms of Rand and all, will do more to advance the cause of Rand's work than all their (actual Objectivists) true-believer praise and idiotic adulation."

Branden should review some of his own writings about making groundless, arbitrary assertions. Just exactly why or how is such a book superior in "advancing the cause"? As AR would have said: "No answer is given".

Secondly - anyone familiar with the 'personal history' of AR and Branden should find his use of the term "idiotic adulation" to be layered with irony. You couldn't find a more idiotic way to express 'adulation' for someone who is in the role of your mentor then ...well ... you know.

Sorry about that - but it had to be said.

Sciabarra is pretty obviously not too bright, and no comparison can be made between such a so-called 'scholar' and the truly educated and intelligent "poor souls at ARI".

Just another non-intellectual book on Ayn Rand that will be forgotten by the time Objectivism really takes hold.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent wide-ranging scholarly discussion, Mar 6 2001

By

Thomas Gramstad (Oslo, Oslo Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feminist Interp. Ayn Rand - CL. (Hardcover)

I'm a contributor to this anthology. This book covers a lot of new ground, bringing together people and perspectives all over the map, from different disciplines and backgrounds, and even three continents. Few things provide a more fruitful and explosive combination than Ayn Rand and feminism. While most contributors to the book are feminists, at least one, maybe two are anti-feminist (depending on how one would classify Camille Paglia). Most contributors are positive to Rand, in the sense that they/we feel that Rand contributed a lot of value (and that more value can be gained by engaging Rand and feminism with each other), but not in the sense of uncritical idolatry. Rand provokes a lot of polarized response: idolatry or condemnation. What Rand needs is a more balanced and scholarly treatment, and engagement with other thinkers and traditions in intellectual history, and this volume does provide that. Feminism has individualist and collectivist wings, and the collectivist wings have been too dominating recently; engaging with Rand can lead to a revival of individualist feminism. In my own contribution, entitled _The Female Hero: A Randian-Feminist Synthesis_, (ifi.uio.no/~thomas/po/female-hero.html) I apply and extend Rand's conception of heroism to women, leading towards a new radical individualist feminism which is interestingly also an ancient vision of female strength and power. Thus I compare and combine Rand with myths of Amazons, and writers who explore these ancient images of power, writers like Merlin Stone, Barbara Walker and Riane Eisler and scholarly accounts of ancient goddesses and heroines. I also discuss androgyny and postandrogyny, and non-patriarchal sexualities. My article is available on my web site. I would also recommend the web site of Chris Sciabarra (co-editor of the book), where you can find a subsite about the book, which includes highlights from reviews and discussions of the book, including the archives of a structured online seminar going through all the articles of the entire book.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Many disciplines brought to bear ...
This anthology includes a marvelous variety of perspectives on Rand's philosophy as well as her fiction; to criticize this work based on the all-or-nothing behavior of the ARI or... Read more

Published on Feb 15 2001 by T. Diefenbach

4.0 out of 5 stars CULT?
The following of Ayn Rand is a not a "cult." As rational people, we should be able to draw the distinction. Read more

Published on Mar 27 2000 by Luke Thomas