In Review: Ayn Rand's Newly Published Book

Robert Collison writes:

So is Ideal worth all literary hullabaloo? Yes. Both the novel and the play concern the tribulations of the greatest screen goddess of the era, clearly modelled on Greta Garbo, after the death of her one-time lover. Immediately the movie goddess is suspected of being a murderess. And such suspicions are heightened when she goes on the lam with the police in hot pursuit. But be forewarned — Ideal is a philosophic tract not a True Detective whodunit.

The apparent genesis behind the novel/play was a conversation Rand had with a perfervid movie fan who claimed she would give up her life to meet a certain actress. Ayn Rand found such Hollywood hysterics dubious — and concocted a narrative “in which the integrity of those who profess certain ideals would be tested. What if their idol suddenly appears in their lives, seemingly desperately in need of help, so that their ideals now demand ‘real action’?”

In both the novel and the play, each scene, or chapter begins with a letter outlining the slavish devotion of a particular fan to Kay Gonda, the novel/play’s Garbo-like heroine. Adulation only begins to capture the esteem each — a henpecked family man, an illiterate farmer, a pretentious artist, a deadbeat evangelist, a decadent playboy and a sad sack misfit — feels for Miss Gonda. But in the end, they all betray her, save one, for the opportunity to make a fast buck or score some points at the expense of their beloved idol....