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

by Ayn Rand (Author), Peter Schwartz (Introduction)
Key Phrases: life require compromise, pet sentences, personal alchemy, New York, Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In The Art of Nonfiction, Ayn Rand spends six pages explaining why something she wrote about the launching of Apollo II is far superior to something Loudon Wainwright wrote about it; throughout the book, she uses her own work as examples of exemplary writing. Somehow, though, Rand's robust ego is less unbearable here than it is in, say, her Art of Fiction.

This book is a frank demystification of the writing process that originated as a series of lectures given in 1969 to friends and other potential contributors to Rand's magazine, The Objectivist. "Any person who can speak English grammatically can learn to write nonfiction," Rand declares. All you need "is what you need for life in general: an orderly method of thinking." Rand values clarity above all else in nonfiction writing, and it is her own clearheadedness that makes this book appealing. Within these pages, Rand discusses subject and theme, audience, philosophy, outlines, writing, and editing. She takes swipes at The New Yorker for its "'brilliant' essays that say nothing," and at William Buckley, whose "trademark is to use words he probably spends half his time looking up in the dictionary." She rails against disruptions ("When I was writing Atlas Shrugged, I accepted neither day nor evening appointments, with rare exceptions, for roughly thirteen years"). And she is an exacting taskmaster who demands that you not choose a lesser aspect of a subject than "the deepest one that interests you and that you can do." Finally, says Rand, you must write from a position of complete confidence and omnipotence. "While you are writing," she says, "you must be God's perfect creature (if there were a God)." --Jane Steinberg

From Library Journal
In 1969, Rand gave a series of lectures to followers who wished to write for her Objectivist magazine. Best known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Rand later wrote extensively on the philosophy that underlay her fiction. This is a transcript of her lectures on writing nonfiction, edited by Rand scholar Mayhew, who previously edited Rand's Marginalia. Though frequently sound, Rand's advice is obscured by philosophical jargon and has little to offer to the general reader seeking guidance on how to write. Moreover, readers may be put off by Rand's dogmatic style, her use of examples from her own writing, and her assumption that readers share her political beliefs. One of Rand's more helpful hints is to avoid misleading titles; given her view of writing as a technical process that anyone can learn, the editors clearly ignored her advice. Recommended for libraries where there is strong interest in Rand's life and work. Susan M. Colowick, North Olympic Lib. Syst., Port Angeles, WA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Plume (January 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452282314
• ISBN-13: 978-0452282315
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #135,407 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful, practical, helpful how-to book for any writer., January 31, 2001

By	Betsy Speicher "http://forums.4aynrandfans.com/" (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book takes the aspiring writer step-by-step through the process showing him how to organize his thoughts and communicate them clearly.

It is loaded with practical advice on how to choose a subject and theme, judge one's audience, apply philosophy without preaching it, create an outline, write a draft, and edit. Ayn Rand is empathetic and reassuring to a writer having difficulties and she offers solutions for problems of self-doubt, writers block, transitions, style, how to get ideas for writing, and many more.

Editor Mayhew has done an excellent job of translating Ayn Rand from the spoken word to the written page and has brought her passion for ideas and for writing alive again.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Clarity and Honesty, April 22, 2001

By	Jean-Francois Virey (59500 DOUAI France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"You are not writing for the cause, for humanity, for posterity. You are writing because you *want* to write; and if you do not want to, you do not have to, neither today not ever. Remind yourself that it is all for your own happiness, and if you truly dislike the activity, do not try it. Writing is too difficult to do with a half-intention." - Ayn Rand.

Books that purport to teach you how to write abound, so why pick Ayn Rand's?

First, she herself was a master of the art of writing. And just as the unequaled excellence of *The Fountainhead* and *Atlas Shrugged* should make anyone curious to read *The Art of Fiction*, her demonstrated ability to combine logic with emotional power in countless articles is the best recommendation one could find for the present volume. *The Art of Nonfiction* is a reliable guide for the same reasons that books on martingales written from a trailer are not.

Second, not only was Ayn Rand an experienced and highly talented non-fiction writer, but she also had the kind of mind that enabled her to make sense of her ability. Just because someone can do something does not mean he can explain how he does it. Dogs can catch balls, but they are poor teachers of ballistics, and many writers, when it comes to explaining their art, are no better.

What makes Rand a first-rate teacher of the art of non-fiction is first of all her epistemology. The author of *An Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology*, Rand developed a theory of concepts which she summarizes here in very simple terms: "only concretes exist... abstractions are merely a method of classifying concretes". Based on this theory, she formed her concepts deliberately and consciously, and she had an uncanny ability, best described by her student and heir Leonard Peikoff, to "oscillate" between various levels of abstractions, from simple percepts to the highest "abstractions from abstractions". Such a capacity she shows here to be essential to non-fiction writing.

Ayn Rand also laid the foundations for a science she called "psycho-epistemology", which she defined as "the study of man's cognitive processes from the aspect of the interaction between the conscious mind and the unconscious". This science is absolutely necessary to understand the process of non-fiction writing, which is essentially a collaboration between the conscious and the sub-conscious - the former dealing mostly with the outline and editing stages, and the latter, with the actual writing. The whole secret of Rand's writing technique is the skillful management of these co-workers in the writing process.

*The Art of Nonfiction* is a slim but dense and very well organized volume which will be of particular interest not only to professional writers, but to amateurs, from the student with a paper to draft to the techno-freak who wants his webpage actually to be, and not merely look, good. As for those whose opinion of Ayn Rand has been entirely shaped by about half a century of smears, they will be astounded by the clarity, the honesty and the benevolence of the woman they have been lied about for so long.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful Look At A Writer's Work, December 22, 2004

By	D. Sean West (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To me the interesting aspects of such books on writing is not the general how-to advice but rather the specifics of how different writers approach the craft. Rand certainly approaches writing far more systematically than any of the other writers I have read on this subject (Annie Dillard & Steven King in particular) but in part this may be because the subject of the book deals only with nonfiction writing-a field requiring more discipline than fiction writing.

While I think that any reader would be in trouble if they sought to follow Rand's methods too closely there is much good advice that can be taken and adapted to one's own style. But while some of her methodologies might be too specific for one to apply to there own writing they do highlight Rand's worth as an artist- she lets no word go to waste, each one is intentional and thought through.

This is the first book that I have read by Rand so I am not overly familiar with her philosophy but such foreknowledge is not necessary to understand and enjoy this book as her other works only come up as helpful examples used to illustrate style points.

Like I said before, there is much good advice to be had here but don't try to follow it all too closely or else you will make yourself crazy; the main worth of the book is in the inspiration one can get from finding out how a great writer works.