fiction

Mickey Spillane: Crusader for Justice by Shoshana Milgram

October 12, 2022 arilive_user Podcast 1:29:40 0 Comments

Mickey Spillane is one of the best-selling writers of all time, with estimated sales of 225 million copies. Mike Hammer, his most enduring hero, is a private detective who pursues justice with physical and moral courage. Mike uses his gun, his fists, and his mind to avenge the innocent, to destroy the evil, and to guard the good. Many reviewers dismissed or condemned Spillane’s writing; many readers, undeterred, have devoured the books anyway. Ayn Rand admired the Mike Hammer books and praised them publicly. This talk surveys the range of Spillane’s writing career (including his ideas for films starring his friend John Wayne), with emphasis on the voice and virtues of his crusading hero.

Recorded live on July 3, 2022 as part of the Objectivist Summer Conference.

O. Henry: Austin’s Storyteller and America’s Spirit by Shoshana Milgram

February 2, 2022 arilive_user Podcast 59:17 0 Comments

“More than any other author,” Ayn Rand wrote, O. Henry represents “the expectation of finding something wonderful around all of life’s corners.” He became world-famous for his ingenious plot twists, exuberant wordplay, and cheerful benevolence. It all began, in fact, in Austin—where he lived, loved, worked, and first expressed his glowing literary universe. (No advance reading required.) Recorded live as part of The Objectivist Conference on August 30, 2021.

Aristotle and the Romantic Manifesto by Robert Mayhew

March 30, 2020 arilive_user Podcast 1:23:35 0 Comments

In the Romantic Manifesto, Ayn Rand reports that before she heard the name “Aristotle,” she had accepted his principle “that fiction is of greater philosophical importance than history, because history represents things only as they are, while fiction represents them ‘as they might be and ought to be.’” The aim of this talk is to explain the role of this principle in Aristotle’s esthetics and Ayn Rand’s, and to note other parallels between the Poetics and Romantic Manifesto.

Recorded live on June 27, 2019 in Cleveland, OH.