2002 Summer Seminar UCLA, June 30 - July 6

Ayn Rand and Literature as the Projection of a Moral Ideal

—Kirsti Minsaas, Ph.D.

Course Description:

In The Romantic Manifesto Ayn Rand stated that her literary goal was to project a moral ideal, in accordance with the principle that the task of fiction, as distinguished from history, is to present things not as they are but as they might be and ought to be. Kirsti Minsaas will discuss the philosophical and literary implications of Rand’s statement, relating it to classic writers who have professed a similar literary ideal, most notably Sir Philip Sidney in the Renaissance period and Percy B. Shelley in the Romantic period. Prof. Minsaas is a Senior Research Fellow in English Literature at the University of Oslo, Norway. She has lectured on Ayn Rand’s literary art both in Europe and in the United States.

Schedule: Sunday, 11:30:00 AM
Track: Art and Aestethics