Branden's Judgment Day
There are considerable differences between Barbara's and Nathan's books. For one thing, Barbara focused on a legitimate topic: a biography of Ayn Rand, for all her follies an author of some stature. While Barbara's effort was overblown and had considerable flaws, she at least tried painfully to come to terms with her experience with Rand. There is indeed in her work a considerable amount of passion.
But Nathan Branden's Judgment Day focuses on a far less interesting or legitimate topic: the history of his own feelings in every situation in his life. I can't think of any topic less interesting to a rational person.
And what feelings! For a shrink, and for a man of his narcissism, Branden displays an amazing lack of self-knowledge or of insight into the people around him. For here is the allegedly mature, post-Randian Branden writing a saga of unrelieved tedium. The story of Nate the Great, a world-historical figure of our century, spending all of his life amid an endless array of shmucks, creeps, lowlifes, and assorted villains and morons. And these were his lovers and supposedly his best friends! FULL ARTICLE by Murray Rothbard
Comments (8)
Barry Loberfeld
"During the six months that I was associated with the Randian movement (the first half of 1958, at the beginning of the RandCult) ..."
Branden formed a cult ... and Peikoff sustained it. But Rand herself was no dogmatist.
Published: September 8, 2009 8:30 AM
agentprovocateur
And so the chum trail's set...
Published: September 8, 2009 10:35 AM
Brian Macker
I read both books and they were both interesting in their own ways. I never could stomach Rand's fiction so I'm not sure why Rothbard seems to think she's such a superior writer to Brandon.
Sure Brandon's book was scummy but the whole crew was acting like scum, especially Brandon, which he fully admits to. With a title like "Judgement Day" I'm not sure why Rothbard expected this to be a hagiography.
Rand was better for her criticisms of other philosophies more than for any positive philosophical work she did. The fact that she dealt heavily with ethics in her philosophy opens her up to criticism based on her ethical behavior. It indicates what she mean by "selfishness" and it certainly did not, as she claimed, have anything to do with "enlightened self interest". It had to do with short sighted selfish behavior.
Published: September 8, 2009 6:50 PM
Craig Howard
This article is too full of personal animus to be of any value. I'm an Objectivist who doesn't care in the least about Rand's tumultuous personal life or those of her followers who created her personality cult. Why the Mises site saw fit to feature this overwrought bit of soap opera script is beyond me.
Published: September 8, 2009 7:57 PM
Art Thomas
This article was pertinent when it was first published. Why is it pertinent today, especially on this web site?
Published: September 8, 2009 9:37 PM
Alexander S. Peak
Although I agree with Mr. Howard that this piece is probably not very objective, I have to guess, in response to Mr. Thomas's question, that the editors of the site are not implying, through the featuring of the article, that the topic is particularly "pertinent" to today, but are rather just trying to make yet another of Rothbard's many articles available online. I suspect that the long-term goal is to make available every piece of writing he and Dr. Mises ever wrote eventually available, and that, on this day, it's Rothbard's critique of Branden's book that is being made available.
Cheers,
Alex Peak
Published: September 8, 2009 10:24 PM
Art Thomas
Mr. Peak,
I don't doubt that what you say is probably true.
I was implying that given the economic volcano that is rumbling beneath us, this article could have been reserved for the day after the Federal Reserve and the income tax were abolished!
Published: September 8, 2009 10:47 PM
Stephan Kinsella
Art Thomas:
"This article was pertinent when it was first published. Why is it pertinent today, especially on this web site? "
Two answers. First, just about all Rothbard wrote is "pertinent."
Second, see Four New Books about Ayn Rand.
Published: September 9, 2009 2:13 AM