Abstract

MIMI REISEL GLADSTEIN charts the trajectory of the breakthrough in critical attention to Ayn Rand as a literary artist. Gladstein explores the paucity and negative character of early critical reaction in the context of some similarities to other writers, such as Faulkner and Steinbeck, who, like Rand, challenged the thinking and mores of their communities and times. Like some authors who experience popularity with a wide audience, Rand was ignored by the academic establishment. However, the breakthrough in recent attention exhibits a variety and scope that bodes well for positioning Rand in the canon of twentieth-century fiction