Claudia Franziska Brühwiler
Title
Prof. Dr.
Last Name
Brühwiler
First name
Claudia Franziska
Email
claudiafranziska.bruehwiler@unisg.ch
ORCID
Phone
+41712242755
8 results
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Item type:Publication, "Prospector and Jeweler": Ayn Rand on the Relationship between Politics and LiteratureThe novels by Russian immigrant writer Ayn Rand (1905-82) still attract a large readership, not least thanks to a recent renaissance of libertarian ideas in the US. Was it Rand's intention, when writing her novels, to construct political tracts, as many insinuate, or was she indeed trying to imitate her literary idols, as she herself claimed? The answer is complicated due to Rand's own contradictory statements on fiction's impact. Although Rand suggested that it was the reader who gave text meaning, she also believed her books to have an unambiguous message that should have a distinct effect on the reader.Type:journal articleJournal:Journal of American StudiesVolume:49Issue:1Scopus© Citations 1 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, From Mrs. Logic to Patron Saint of the Tea Party : The Changing Images of Ayn RandTo the respondents of a survey by the Library of Congress in 1991, she is the author of the most influential book, second only to the Bible; to many conservatives, libertarians and Tea Party adherents, she was what historian Jennifer Burns dubbed "a gateway drug to life on the right"; to many scholars, she was simply the author of bad novels who paraded as a philosopher without a PhD and who did not get involved in the academic discourse; and to The New Republic, she is just one of the most overrated intellectuals: Ayn Rand (1914-1982), repeatedly believed to be no longer relevant, polarized during her lifetime and still does so today. Thanks to the Tea Party movement, her ideas have experienced a renaissance, letting some even refer to her as an icon of the movement. This paper suggests, however, that self-professed admirers of Ayn Rand unwittingly perceive the atheistic writer, who had railed against traditionalists, conservatives, libertarians, allegedly leftist academics and intellectuals alike, as little more than a convenient libertarian pop icon. Their idea of Rand tends to be as overly simplistic as the vilifying portrayals by her former opponents and in popular culture. The paper will retrace how the image of Ayn Rand evolved over time, and how it contradicts Rand's actual positions and her own vision of what a public intellectual should be. It will first summarize Rand's rise to fame and her perception of the intellectuals of her time. It will then analyze how Rand has become part of popular culture and how this has transformed her public image, turning her into a political icon appropriated by groups that contradict many of her ideas and values.Type:conference paper - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Out of a Grey Fog : The Reception of Ayn Rand's Work in EuropeAyn Rand (1905-1982) is a household name in the United States, but even at the height of her career in the 1960s her work was hardly available or read in Continental Europe. Translations of even her most successful novels would only be printed after her death, since, previously, potential publishers and Rand's agents could not get her work translated for reasons both economic, legal and personal, that is, due to Ayn Rand's personal principles that precluded certain arrangements. Since then, however, her work has become more widely disseminated, with the long awaited French translation of Atlas Shrugged (orig. 1957) finally available and the publication of completely revised German language editions of all of her four novels. Although it would be exaggerated to speak of a surge of European interest in Ayn Rand's work, it has indeed received more media attention, not least due to her influence on the Tea Party movement and its activists as well as on American high-profile politicians and businessmen. This paper analyzes the reception of Ayn Rand's work in Western Europe, specifically in francophone and German-speaking Europe and in Spain, retracing the more recent discussion of her work and influence.Type:conference paper - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Who IS John Galt? – The Reception of Ayn Rand’s Work in EuropeThe novels and political ideas of Ayn Rand (1905-1982) have recently experienced a renaissance, also thanks to the Tea Party movement. While Rand is widely read across the United States, she is practically unknown in Europe, where she was born. The letters she received from European readers often lamented the fact that she did not receive any attention in their respective home countries. It is commonly thought that this difference in popularity is due to ideological reasons, the less individualistic culture of many European countries, for instance. This paper, however, will argue that other factors have also contributed to the lack of success of Rand's American bestsellers in Europe. To this end, the paper first provides a brief European publication history of Rand's oeuvre. It will then analyze the reasons practical and personal, as well as political and economic for the lack of success of Rand's novels in the European book markets.Type:conference paper - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Rand, Ayn(Charles Scribner's Sons, 2016); - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, "Nearly Perfect in Its Immorality"?-Ayn Rand and Business Ethics(2014-11-22)In the wake of the economic crisis and with the rise of the Tea Party Movement in the United States, Ayn Rand's (1905-1982) novels have been (re-)discovered by a large readership. Advocating a stark individualism and laissez-faire capitalism, Rand's opus magnum Atlas Shrugged (1957) resonates with many Americans' fears that their country may resemble more and more the dystopian world shown in the novel. Her work has likewise captured the imagination of entrepreneurs and managers like Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia.org) and John Allison (formerly with BB&T) who describe her ideas as a source of inspiration and guidance. It is thus hardly surprising that the implications of Rand's legacy likewise concern scholars in management studies. But what does Rand actually teach these managers and other readers? What are the ethical implications of her work, for the business world and beyond? Does Gore Vidal's verdict hold that Rand's school of thought is "nearly perfect in its immorality"?Type:presentation - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, From a Society of Second-Handers to Galt's Gulch : Ayn Rand's Counter-Worlds(2013-11-10)In the wake of the economic crisis and with the rise of the Tea Party Movement in the United States, Ayn Rand's novels have been (re-)discovered by a large readership. Advocating a stark individualism and laissez-faire capitalism, Rand's opus magnum Atlas Shrugged (1957) resonates with many Americans' fears that their country may resemble more and more the dystopian world shown in the novel. At the same time, many entrepreneurs dream of the kind of "corporate utopia" that the readers encounter in Galt's Gulch. Atlas Shrugged thus presents two counter-worlds, no in-between or ambiguous spaces. Although Rand's last novel is particularly built on the contrasts and proximity of utopian and dystopian worlds, she plays with these antipodes in her entire fictional oeuvre. This paper suggests that the latter is not only a narrative technique which shall better transport her works' political message, but that it also reflects how Rand perceived her past home continent, Europe. In order to explain the latter, the paper first briefly introduces Ayn Rand, her work, and its significance for the American Right. In a second step, it retraces how the development of counter-worlds becomes very early on a central feature in Rand's fiction. Finally, it will discuss the significance of this narrative theme both with regard to Rand's political intentions and convictions.Type:presentation - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, The Founding Mothers of Libertarianism: Ayn Rand, Isabel Paterson and Rose Wilder Lane(2011-03-24)In the wake of the economic crisis, the ideas of novelist and autodidact philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982) have experienced a renaissance. Her work has even been discussed on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Rand, who has become part of American popular culture, is but one of the three founding mothers of modern American libertarianism. The other two are the journalists and writers Isabel M. Paterson (1886-1961) and Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968), daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the famed Little House books. In this talk we will explore the works and lives of these three thinkers, and discuss how they influenced each other and live on in American political cultureType:presentation