Ellsworth Toohey

But a collectivist architectural critic did become a celebrity; the character of Ellsworth Toohey is based largely on Lewis Mumford.

Roderick T. Long, Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy at Auburn University, at 3:47 pm EST on February 10, 2005

Mumford’s the word

Yes, I came very close to mentioning the fact that Mumford was the original for Toohey (just as Frank Lloyd Wright was for Roark). But the resemblance between Toohey and Mumford is roughly that between a caricature and its real-life model. One or two features, made grotesque, obliterate the rest.

Mumford certainly had some success in his day — writing for the New Yorker and so forth — but his renown and his power were far more limited than those of Ellsworth Toohey, super-villain.

Scott McLemee, columnist at Inside Higher Ed, at 9:32 am EST on February 11, 2005

The phenomenon of people holding forth vehemently about books they haven’t read and films they haven’t seen might make an interesting column. The Bible and Fahrenheit 911 come to mind as examples from my own experience this week. I was thinking of starting a list when I ran across your observation regarding Rand’s books.

E. DeRieux, at 4:32 am EST on February 14, 2005

Re: Scott McLemme’s article: like mostof Rand’s detractors, he did not mention a single philosophical idea that she held.Instead he just made snide and ad hominem comments.Does Mr. McLemee realize how much he is confessing—that he cannot refute her philosophy so is reduced to child-like insults? If this is the best the left can come up with, Rand’s victory is assured.

Edwin Locke, Professor (retired) at U, of Md., at 9:21 pm EST on February 14, 2005

I read Atlas Shrugged when I was 19, and a student of analytic philosophy (who, like many analytic philosophers had, and still 22 years later has, a great fondness for Nietzsche) The funny thing is, I can remember being overwhelmed by the sense that the person writing it was an ill-willed pompous twit, but have absolutely no memory of the content. So I’m in the odd situation of someone who has read Rand, has a very strong impression of her, but cannot defend it textually.

Harry Brighouse, U.W. Madison, at 8:35 pm EST on February 15, 2005

re: Harry Brighouse

If you still have a great fondness for Nietzsche, you really ought to re-read Rand’s novels. Nietzsche has crept into Objectivism, as you can see from the following quote from “Thus Spake Zarathustra":

“The self saith unto the ego:’Feel pain!’ And thereupon it suffereth and thinketh how it may put an end thereto-and for that very purpose it is ‘meant’ to think.The self saith unto the ego: ‘Feel pleasure!’ thereupon it rejoiceth, and thinketh how it may oftentimes rejoice—and for that very purpose it is ‘meant’to think.”

Objectivism teaches us to rejoice in our capability to think, to use it to our best potential, and to feel pleasure through our ability to reason. Nietzsche had an effect on Rand.

Give her another try!

Cristina Utti, at 10:27 pm EST on February 15, 2005