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"Romanticism is a category of art based on the recognition of the principle that man possesses the faculty of volition.
Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments. An artist re-creates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man of existence. In forming a view of man's nature, a fundamental question one must answer is whether man possesses the faculty of volition -because one's conclusions and evaluations in regard to all the characteristics, requirements and action of man depend on the answer.
Their opposite answers to this question constitute the respective basic premises of two broad categories of art: Romanticism, which recognizes the existence of man's volition -and Naturalism, which denies it.
In the field of literature, the logical consequences of these basic premises (whether held consciously of subconsiously) determine the form of the key elements of a literacy work.
1. If man possesses volition, then the crucial aspect of his life is his choice of values -if he chooses values, then he must acte to gain and / or keep them- if so, then he must set his goals and engage in purposeful action to achieve them. The literacy form expressing the essence of such action is the plot. (A plot is a purposeful progression of logically connected events leading to the resolution of a climax).
The faculty of volition operates in regard to the two fundamental aspects of man's life: consciousness and existence, i.e., his psychological action and his existential action, i.e., the formation of his own character and the course of action he pursues in the physical world. Therefore, in a literacy work, both the characterizations and the events are to be created by the author, according to his view of the role of values in human psychology and existence (and according to the code of values he holds to be right). His characters are abstract projections, not reproductions of concretes ; they are invented conceptually, not copied reportorially from the particular individuals he might have observed. The specific characters of particular individuals are merely the evidence of their particular value-choices and have no wider metaphysical (except as material for the study of the general principles of human psychology) ; they do not exhaust man's characterological potential.
2. If man does not possess volition, then his life and his character are determined by forces beyond his control -if so, then the choice of values is impossible to him- if so, then such values as he appears to hold are only an illusion, predetermined by the forces he has no power to resist- if so, then he is impotent to achieve his goals or to engage in purposeful action -and if he attemps the illusion of such action, he will be defeated by those forces, and his failure (or occasional success) will have no relation to his action.
[non sequitur]
The literary form expressing the essence of this view is plotlessness (since there can be no purposeful progression of events, no logical continuity, no resolution, no climax).
(pp.91-99)
"
(pp.99-115)
-Ayn Rand, "What is Romanticism ?", chapitre 6 in The Romantic Manifesto. A philosophy of literature, Signet, 1975 (1971 pour la première édition), 196 pages, pp.91-115.
Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments. An artist re-creates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man of existence. In forming a view of man's nature, a fundamental question one must answer is whether man possesses the faculty of volition -because one's conclusions and evaluations in regard to all the characteristics, requirements and action of man depend on the answer.
Their opposite answers to this question constitute the respective basic premises of two broad categories of art: Romanticism, which recognizes the existence of man's volition -and Naturalism, which denies it.
In the field of literature, the logical consequences of these basic premises (whether held consciously of subconsiously) determine the form of the key elements of a literacy work.
1. If man possesses volition, then the crucial aspect of his life is his choice of values -if he chooses values, then he must acte to gain and / or keep them- if so, then he must set his goals and engage in purposeful action to achieve them. The literacy form expressing the essence of such action is the plot. (A plot is a purposeful progression of logically connected events leading to the resolution of a climax).
The faculty of volition operates in regard to the two fundamental aspects of man's life: consciousness and existence, i.e., his psychological action and his existential action, i.e., the formation of his own character and the course of action he pursues in the physical world. Therefore, in a literacy work, both the characterizations and the events are to be created by the author, according to his view of the role of values in human psychology and existence (and according to the code of values he holds to be right). His characters are abstract projections, not reproductions of concretes ; they are invented conceptually, not copied reportorially from the particular individuals he might have observed. The specific characters of particular individuals are merely the evidence of their particular value-choices and have no wider metaphysical (except as material for the study of the general principles of human psychology) ; they do not exhaust man's characterological potential.
2. If man does not possess volition, then his life and his character are determined by forces beyond his control -if so, then the choice of values is impossible to him- if so, then such values as he appears to hold are only an illusion, predetermined by the forces he has no power to resist- if so, then he is impotent to achieve his goals or to engage in purposeful action -and if he attemps the illusion of such action, he will be defeated by those forces, and his failure (or occasional success) will have no relation to his action.
[non sequitur]
The literary form expressing the essence of this view is plotlessness (since there can be no purposeful progression of events, no logical continuity, no resolution, no climax).
(pp.91-99)
"
(pp.99-115)
-Ayn Rand, "What is Romanticism ?", chapitre 6 in The Romantic Manifesto. A philosophy of literature, Signet, 1975 (1971 pour la première édition), 196 pages, pp.91-115.
