Ayn Rand - The Romantic Manifesto - A Philosophy of Literature

Photography: as not an art

Pieta‘ (Michelangelo)

Plot of novel: as essential attribute ; definition of; as dramatization of goal-directed action ; Naturalists’ objection to, as artificial contrivance ; and presentation of conflict of values; serving same function as steel skeleton of skyscraper; and events, as expressing meaning of novel; as not represented by physical action divorced from ideas and values; and premise of man’s possession of faculty of volition; plotlessness, and premise of man’s lack of volition; and antagonism of today’s esthetic spokesmen toward Romantic premise in; and top-rank Romantic novelists; and second rank of Romantic novelists ; and popular fiction; and imitators of Romanticists

Plot-theme of novel ; as core of its events ; and top-rank Romantic novelists

Poe, Edgar Allan, as modern ancestor of the Horror Story

Poem, basic attributes of

Popular fiction: common-sense ideas and values as base of; and absence of explicitly ideational element ; categories of ; contemporary examples of best writers of; characteristics of writing below top level of; “slick-magazine” type of ; and the Horror Story

Possessed, The (Dostoevsky), characterization in

Primitive music

“Progressive” education, hippies as products of

Psycho-epistemology: definition of; in art as illustrated by characterization in literature; and concretization of cognitive abstractions ; and concretization of normative abstractions; and metaphysical views of artist ; and process of communication between artist and viewer or reader; of artist, and style of his art work; role of in man’s musical responses ; art as the conditioner of; consonant with reality and man’s nature

Quo Vadis (Sienkiewicz): as top-rank Romantic novel ; characterizations in

Rand, Ayn: hypothesis on nature of man’s response to music; favorite form of dance; goal of writing of; projection of an ideal man as motive and purpose ; portrayal of a moral ideal as end in itself ; what is not the purpose of; and irrelevancy of questions about primacy of the novelist or the philosopher in her writing ; and basic test for any story; defining and presenting conditions making possible an ideal man; presentation of Man as an end in himself ; Naturalism, as literary school diametrically opposed to; selectivity in regard to subject ; as Romantic Realist ; manifesto of, as stated by Howard Roark in The Fountainhead, quoted; and esthetic principle of Aristotle; and present state of our culture

Reality: man’s acquiring and retaining his knowledge of ; man’s applying his knowledge of; art as selective re-creation of, according to artist’s metaphysical value-judgments ; metaphysics as science dealing with fundamental nature of; and an art work’s support or negation of one’s fundamental view of; religion as attempt to offer comprehensive view of; and artist’s metaphysical evaluation of facts; stylizing of, by artist ; novel as re-creation of; Romanticism’s break with; psycho-epistemology consonant with facts of

Reason: its relation to man’s survival; modern philosophers’ war against

Religion: beginning of art as adjunct to; mythology of, as concretization of its moral code; as primitive form of philosophy ; myths of; and Romanticists

Robinson, Bill

Rolland, Romain, as romanticizing Naturalist writer

Romanticism: and value orientation in work of art; and recognition of man’s faculty of volition ; practically non-existent in today’s literature ; antagonism of today’s esthetic spokesmen toward Romantic premise in art; destruction of, in esthetics; of 19th century, and influences of Aristotelianism and capitalism; as rebellion against Classicism; primacy of values brought to art by; and irony of definition declaring it as based on primacy of emotions ; and break with reality; philosophers as contributors to confusion surrounding term; definition of, as volition-oriented school ; and top-rank Romantic novelists and playwrights ; and second rank of Romantic writers; and writers with mixed premise of volition; philosophically as crusade to glorify man’s existence ; psychologically experienced as desire to make life interesting; virtues and potential flaws of, as seen in popular literature ; and movies and television ; and attempt to eliminate from Romantic fiction; altruist morality as archenemy and destroyer of; final remnants of; outlasted by Naturalism; value in a Romanticist’s work and in a Naturalist’s ; and end of great era of, with WW I; remnants of, in popular media; and escape into the supernatural ; and coming of age, with rebirth of reason and philosophy; as great new movement in art in 19th century; treated as bootleg merchandise ; and development of moral sense of life

Rosemary’s Baby (Levin), use of the supernatural in

Rostand, Edmond, as top-rank Romantic playwright

Royal Ballet, performance of Marguerite and Armand

Ruy Blas (Hugo)

Satire, legitimate, contrasted with “tongue-in-cheek” thrillers

Scarlet Letter, The (Hawthorne), as top-rank Romantic novel

Schelling, Friedrich

Schiller, Friedrich, as top-rank Romantic playwright

Schopenhauer, Arthur

Scott, Walter, as Romantic novelist

Sculpture: of Ancient Greece and of Middle Ages, difference in presentation of man in; nature of, and relation to other arts

Selectivity, as a basic principle of the arts

Sense of life: definition of ; and integrating mechanism of the subconscious; and rational philosophy; dominated by fear ; formed by process of emotional generalization ; and early value-integrations; as integrated sum of a man’s basic values; and adolescence ; matching conscious convictions, in fully integrated personality ; transition from guidance by, to guidance by conscious philosophy; and conflict between conscious convictions; changing and correcting of ; profoundly personal quality of; relation of, to personality; as sense of one’s own identity ; as integration of mind and values; love and art, as special province and expression of; of artist, and control and integration of his work ; of viewer or reader, and response to work of art; projecting of, in subject and style of work of art; and intellectual approach, difference between, in response to work of art; and evaluation of work of specific writers; role of in music; role of in dance; Aristotelian h century guided by; of Romanticists, and cultural atmosphere of 19th century; of modern man, emotions dominating; see also Moral sense of life

Serling, Rod, as Naturalist writer, and as Romanticist

Shakespeare, William: choice of subject by; as spiritual father of Naturalism

Siegfried (Fritz Lang), as best of Romantic movies

Sienkiewicz, Henryk: as writer of top-rank Romantic novel; and characterizations in Quo Vadis

“Slick-magazine” type of Romanticists

Soul: man as a being of self-made soul; art as the technology of

Spillane, Mickey: reasons for liking work of; style of, in One Lonely Night ; as top-rank writer of popular fiction; thrillers of

St. Francis Walking on the Waters (Liszt), a musical composition

Stage director: nature and demands of his role

Style of art work: as expression of view of man’s consciousness ; as product of artist’s psycho-epistemology ; response of man to; as most complex element of art ; and so-called “painterly” school; Cubism ; importance of, to artist and to reader or viewer; and psycho-epistemological sense of life

Style of novel: as a major attribute ; as means by which other attributes are presented; comparison of, in excerpts from two novels; see also Literary style