domenica, luglio 03, 2005
:: Book Review - 'We The Living' by Ayn Rand ::my last bk review for the hols... kinda was too take up with optic discs to blog about it...
'We The Living' was one of the first books written by Ayn Rand (upon her arrival in 'the land of the free') and it is the closest to an autobiography. Not one of her life but of her beliefs and vision for the future. Cool isn't it?
To put it simply, it's about the story of a bourgeoise Kira (what a pretty name!) Argounova in the few years right after the success of the October Revolution. It talks of the turbulent times and the uncertainty that abound every single person in the 'liberalised' city of Petrograd. The language is so real it proves that we do not need 'a picture to tell a thousand words'! Take for example, the opening paragraph:
Petrograd smelt of carbolic acid. A pinkish-gray banner that had been red, hung in the webbing of steel beams. Tall girders rose to a roof of glass panes gray as the stell with the dust and wind of many years; some of the panes were broken, pierced by forgotten shots, sharp edges gaping upon a sky gray as the glass. Under the banner hung a fringe of cobwebs; under the cobwebs - a huge railway clock with black figures on a yellow face and no hands. Under the clock, a crowd of pale faces and greasy overcoats waited for the train.
But what i admire most about the writing style is her uncanny to be able to portray a person's character simply by choosing apt words to describe the persons' physical appearance:
"Kira Argounova entered Petrograd on the threshold of a box car. She stood straight, motionless, with the graceful indifference of a traveler on a luxurious ocean liner, with an old blue suit of faded cloth, with slender, sunburned legs and no stockings. She had an old piece of plaid silk around hre neck, and short tousled hair, and a stockingcap with a bright yellow tassel. She had a calm mouth and slightly widened eyes with the defiant, enraptured, solemnly and fearfully expectant look of a warrior who is entering a strange city and is not quite sure whether he is entering it as a conqueror or a captive."
Hmmm I must attempt to learn from this. In one of my blogs to follow, I shall attempt to describe various ppl I know and perhaps u guys could guess who I'm referring to?
The other two main characters in the novel are Lev Kovalensky and Andrei Taganov. The former a bourgeoise and the latter, a communist revolutionary. Both are in love with Kira. Through the mesh of entangled relations and emotions, we're able to get a rare but realistic glimpse into life in the Soviet Union (who better to tell us but Rand, who suffered at its hands?) Apart from that, we learn how flawed the theory of communism is and how it destroys the lives and willpower to live of the people it promised to liberate from oppression and poverty.
Yet, this novel does not merely condone communist policies and thoughts, it censures those who adopt a communistic/self-sacrificing attitude towards their own life. Even in a democratic nation, you'd be surprised at how many are behaving 'like communist's in the way they live their lives...
It's hard for me to explain just what I mean...
Read this:
No one can tell men what they must live for. No one can take that right - because there are things in men, in the best of us, which are above all states, above all collectives! ... Every honest man lives for himself. Every man worth calling a man lives for himself. The one who doesn't - doesn't live at all. You canot change it. You cannot change it because that's the way man is born, alone, complete, an end in himself. No laws, no Party, no G.P.U. will ever kill that thing in man which knows how to say 'I'. You canot enslave man's mind, you can only destroy it. ... Look at those whom you allow to triumph. Deny the best in men - and see what will survive. Do we want the crippled, creeping, crawling, broken monstrosities that we're producing? Are we not castrating life in order to perpetuate it? ... What is our goal, comrades? What are we doing? Do we want to feed a starved humanity in order to let it live? Do we want to strangle its life in order to feed it?
Well, what this novel brought out in me was a strong desire to live life meaningfully and to the max. I loathe the people who do not know how to live. Those who immerse themselves in 'fun' activities such as clubbing, boozing, gambling, sleeping around, and all the other meaningless, time-wasting 'hobbies'. Do not be mistaken, I'm not saying that all men must work to their death, and spend all their free time working more... what I am exhorting all to do is to make the fullest use of their life to achieve what their potential will allow them to, to improve, to grow and to embrace life.
Sigh, it's probably the Aquarian in me... I set such high standards for myself and all around me. I'll probably be doomed to spend my life alone... Or as they said, lock myself up in an ivory tower in contemplation of such intangible values that I end up like some kind of Rapunzel.
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francesca chiu
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on long-term dormicum drip
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