Lucid to the point of being cartoonish. Her an analysis of style and the elements of literature are worthy of reading again though. I know it's sneered at by contemporary critics. I think her ideas have a lot of merit. If you don't buy them completely, they still would influence any thinking person's approach to interpreting art. ( )

In this tiny book, Ayn Rand presents to her audience rational esthetics. This is different from her more famous books (Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead) but even in those there is philosophy. I would only read this after I had read her other books because this can be somewhat difficult to understand for people who are not students of any kind of philosophy. But if you are a fan of Ayn Rand, I suggest you get your hands on this. ( )

Ayn Rand's writings are a breath of fresh air. She was a luminary and her works are a testament to the heroic nature of the human spirit. ( )

In this profoundly original presentation of a rational esthetics, Miss Rand holds that the distinguishing characteristic of top rank Romantic writers ". . . (apart from their purely literary genius) is their full commitment to the premise of volition in both of its fundamental areas: in regard to consciousness and to existence, in regard to man's character and to his actions in the physical world. Maintaining a perfect integration of these two aspects, unmatched in the brilliant ingenuity of their plot structures, these writers are enormously concerned with man's soul (i.e., his consciousness).

"They are moralists in the most profound sense of the word; their concern is not merely with values, but specifically with moral values and with the power of moral values in shaping human character. Their characters are 'larger than life,' i.e., they are abstract projections in terms of essentials. In their stories, one will never find action for action's sake, unrelated to moral values."

"The events of their plots are shaped, determined and motivated by the characters' values (or treason to values), by their struggle in pursuit of spiritual goals and by profound value-conflicts."

"Their themes are fundamental, universal, timeless issues of man's existence—and they are the only consistent creators of the rarest attribute of literature: the perfect integration of theme and plot, which they achieve with superlative virtuosity."

"If philosophical significance is the criterion of what is to be taken seriously, then these are the most serious writers in world literature."

A profoundly original presentation of a rational esthetics.