The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: glory unimaginable, literary premises, rewritten scene, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, New York (more...)

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In 1958, a year after the publication of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand gathered a group of student readers and writers in her living room for a series of 12 four-hour lectures about fiction. The Art of Fiction evolved from that course. Though Rand's Romantic Manifesto was also partly based on the same lecture series, this book omits (for the most part) Rand's discussions of other art forms. Its gist is a case for fiction that is "Romantic" (deriving from a belief in free will) rather than "Naturalistic" (allowing for fate).

It is hard to be ambivalent about Ayn Rand. Rand spoke in absolutes, and either you buy it or you don't. There is plenty of fiber and nutritious material in this book, but the Rand agnostic may find it hard to digest. Rand's ego is enormous and her dismissiveness petty most every step of the way. "In regard to precision of language," says Rand, who uses her work throughout the book to exemplify her points, "I think I myself am the best writer today." But woe to any other author, excluding Victor Hugo, Mickey Spillane, and, with reservations, Dostoyevsky. "To see how not to write," advises Rand, "read [Thomas Wolfe's] descriptive passages." Sinclair Lewis, she says, is a "perceptive but superficial observer." James Joyce? "He is worse than Gertrude Stein. ...He uses words from different languages, makes up some words of his own, and calls that literature."

Still, Rand does have some useful things to say to the fiction writer. Perhaps most important is her emphatic belief in the concrete. "In order to be completely free with words," she intones, "you must know countless concretes under your abstractions." It is only the concrete, she adds, that will lead the reader to your abstractions, your themes. Along related lines, Rand believes firmly that "If a writer feels that he was unable fully to express what he wanted to express, it means that he did not know clearly what he wanted to express"--no more blaming it on writer's block for you! And remember: "A good style is one that conveys the most with the greatest economy of words." This means that "when you draw a character, everything that you say about him acquires significance by the mere fact of being included in your story." The bottom line is that "Art is selectivity." --Jane Steinberg

Product Description

A newly published resource taken from a famous lecture course given by Ayn Rand

In 1958, Ayn Rand, already the world-famous author of such bestselling books as Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, gave a private series of extemporaneous lectures in her own living room on the art of fiction. Tore Boeckmann and Leonard Peikoff for the first time now bring readers the edited transcript of these exciting personal statements. The Art of Fiction offers invaluable lessons, in which Rand analyzes the four essential elements of fiction: theme, plot, characterization, and style. She demonstrates her ideas by dissecting her best-known works, as well as those of other famous authors, such as Thomas Wolfe, Sinclair Lewis, and Victor Hugo. An historic accomplishment, this compendium will be a unique and fascinating resource for both writers and readers of fiction.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Plume (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452281547
• ISBN-13: 978-0452281547
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #132,752 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable for aspiring novel writers, October 25, 2000

By	Alan S. Golub (Totowa, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have shelves of books about creative writing, and this most recent addition is definitely in the top three (the other 2 are Bird By Bird by Annie Lammott and On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner). The reason these books stand out is because they are constantly engaging, and filled with either new ideas, or the best restatement of ideas that may already be familiar to you. I find myself turning to these books repeatedly, while the majority of my other writing books have barely been opened since my initial review.

Here, Ms. Rand offers excellent insight into how actual writing gets done. For example, her thoughts on writer's block, and what others may call "inspiration," are not only fascinating, but they ring true. The next time I'm sitting there gathering wool, wondering what to write next, I'll follow this book's advice to take a step back and make sure that the scene I want to write fits into what I'm trying to accomplish. According to Ms. Rand, if it's not flowing, there's a reason, and part of the writer's job is to figure it out. Without spoiling too much, rest assured that this book coaches you on how to figure out what's wrong, and what to do about it.

Yes, Ms. Rand has definite ideas about the "right" way to do things -- there's basically her way, and the wrong way. But if you read through this with an open mind, and remember that everything that seemed to work for Ms. Rand may not work for you, then you will greatly enjoy this book. I've really learned a whole new way of thinking about theme, plot, "plot-theme", and characterization -- all of which I plan to integrate into my next writing project. And that's really the best recommendation I can give -- not only did I find this book interesting throughout, but I hope to incorporate some of the advice in my writing.

By the way, I've never read Ms. Rand's novels, and I don't subscribe to her rather radical (to my way of thinking) philosophy of objectivism. But not being familiar with her work doesn't detract from the ability to enjoy or understand this one. Ms. Rand discusses her work, but provides enough context for you to easily understand her points. In fact, her writing theories and discussion make me want to read through some of her more popular books, as well as classics by other authors, like Victor Hugo, whom Ms. Rand greatly admires.

If you are serious about writing gripping, plot-driven fiction, then you really owe it to yourself to grab a copy of this excellent peek into the creative process of a well-known and respected novelist. There's fiction writer's gold on almost every page!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book!, December 10, 1999

By	Lee Sandstead (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews

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Author: Lee Sandstead Subject: Suffering and tragedy in art

I never had a full justification why I love movies such as "Life is Beautiful," "Braveheart," and "Cyrano de Bergerac." They all present heroes, who die tragic deaths. Ayn Rand, in her new book on fiction writing, gives me the answer.

"The justification for presenting tragic endings in literature is to show, as in "We the Living," that the human spirit can survive even the worst of circumstances--that the worst that the chance events of nature or the evil of other people can do will not defeat the proper human spirit. To quote from Galt's speech in "Atlas Shrugged": "Suffering as such is not a value; only man's fight against suffering, is."

I highly recommend this book to everyone. There is bound to be some piece of information that will come as a revelation; for me, there has been many.

Best, Lee Sandstead Memphis, TN (Soon to be NYC)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pathobiology of Fiction, April 28, 2002

By	"mfuchs" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews

A surprising exclamation of "Thank You!" was my instant gut reaction, undeniably ordered by my subconscious, right after reading her last word of this remarkable book. Trying to compete with such authority, "Time well spent" my next cognitive thought.

Have you ever felt the type of gratitude towards a professor who achieved to engage you in a lecture full of clarity, energy, wit, objectivity, intellectual stimulation, and who had you mesmerized, to the point of where you forgot the sense of time? A lecture that didn't register as yet another missionary and boring message by somebody only out to convince you that his/her religion is the only valid one, using all sorts of cheap rhetorical tricks or biblical mystery to sway you? Well, you're in for a treat.

Whether, in the end, one agrees or doesn't with Ayn Rand's points she submits in this remarkable analysis of fiction writing is not what you'll end up with if you allow yourself to go beyond simple judgment of her viewpoints. This is not just another debate with an achieved author seeking approbation about her opinion on what is better or best in literature. This is neither a religious manifesto merely destined to justify or reinforce the credo of her fans.

It is way more valuable, for it is a candid sharing of accumulated cognition, a march of intellect of somebody who has the gift of one of the most precious forms of communication of human existence: the imparting of knowledge and understanding of excellence onto others, not in the abstraction or with self-serving generalities, but with enough of a concrete of information that is powerful enough to stimulate the positive creativity in others, whatever form or shape that may take in the end.