On Ayn Rand

I was on Goodreads today, reading some lit reviews of books I've read, and I came across this comment about The Fountainhead:

"Rand was a brilliant writer. I love her usage of metaphors in The Fountainhead. She was also a mere reactionary product of Soviet subjugation and was rather romantic about her reactionary theories. Taken as a novel that offers a few lessons on the pursuit of the ultimate answers, it is brilliant. Taken as a Philosophy of life, governance, and coexistence it is naive, dangerous, and just plain silly." -[goodreads user]

After reading this comment, I immediately agreed, yet I could not help but feel slightly embarrassed. When I read The Fountainhead almost a year ago, I considered it an epic anthem for individualism. I thought Ayn Rand was some brilliant modern philosopher.... and she is brilliant! But like every artist, she was a product of her experiences. She grew up in revolutionary Russia, and her family experienced the horrors of collectivization. Her entire early life was a big punch in the face by communist Russia. Could that have possibly shaped her radical ideology?

I couldn't believe that I had never thought to read about her life... I mean, it only makes sense that her experiences somehow shaped her philosophy. And that is not to say that her work is any less valid or brilliant; it just goes to show that nothing is ever created in a vacuum. It's easy to get caught up in the wonder of well-written books that are hyped up as "classic literature," but the truth is that every one of them was written by an imperfect human, who sees the world through their own eyes, as they live it. Ayn Rand definitely articulated some human truths, but she is just one author in a vast world of other authors and people, all with their own stories to tell. In my opinion, taking any single book as a philosophy of life is foolish and dangerous. But taking it as one individual's perspective of the human experience may shed light on one aspect of our own world, which leads us on the path toward wisdom.