A Selective Recreation of Reality

Last week's interview on Just Right included a clip from this 1964 interview on Columbia University's WKCR radio with novelist Ayn Rand. The same interview opens with Rand being asked to define objectivist art (which includes literature, music, paintings, sculptures, architecture, etc.).

Here's her surprising answer:

"Art is a selective recreation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical values. By metaphysical I mean those fundamental values which deal with man's relationship to existence — such as the nature of man, the nature of the universe in which he deals, what should be his proper values. Fundamental questions of that kind belong to the science of metaphysics. And it is with metaphysical values, primarily, that art is concerned."

Notice how she doesn't say the purpose of art is to entertain. Of course, it should, but I'd argue that the enjoyment factor is merely the means serving the higher purpose she describes here — the teaspoon of sugar that helps the metaphysical medicine go down. Sadly, today, so much music, art and literature is all high-fructose corn syrup with little moral nutrition.

Stay sane & read good books,
John C. A. Manley

PS To hear last week's Just Right episode — with clips from not just Ayn Rand, but Ray Bradbury and George Orwell, along with a full-length interview with my son and I —  head over to Just Right Media (or your favourite podcast platform).

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/