“If creative fiction writing is a process of translating an abstraction into the concrete, there are three possible grades of such writing: translating an old (known) abstraction (theme or thesis) through the medium of old fiction means (that is, characters, events or situations used before for that same purpose, that same translation) -- this is most of the popular trash; translating an old abstraction through new, original fiction means -- this is most of the good literature; creating a new, original abstraction and translating it through new, original means. This, as far as I know, is only me -- my kind of fiction writing.”--Ayn Rand
Related Reading: Thumbnail Sketch of Ayn Rand; Ayn Rand Really, Really Hated C.S. Lewis
1 comment:
What a self-centered egotist she shows herself to be! I shouldn't be surprised as that would be in accord with the center of her philosophy of "me-first-ism" and her active revulsion at any manifestations of altruism. If that is what is meant by an original thesis, then "Atlas Shrugged" is full of it. However, it isn't original at all. Machiavelli seems to have expressed it well. And in what respect is her means of expression new? I have never understood how her writings could have achieved such popularity.
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