Ideal

Name: Ideal
ISBN: 9787229116729

Ayn Rand / 郑齐 / 张林Chongqing Publishing House · ChinaMar 2017

3.8

Word count: 120K words
Chapters: 17
ISBN: 9787229116729

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Summary

In 1934, Ayn Rand completed the novel Ideal, but believing its theme was better suited to the stage, she adapted it into a play and set the manuscript aside. For eighty years, her handful of novels—The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and Anthem—have won her hundreds of millions of readers worldwide, while her three plays, Ideal, Night of January 16th, and Think Twice, have enjoyed enduring success on Broadway. Yet fans kept asking: did Ayn Rand really leave no other literary works? Now, eighty years later, the heirs of Ayn Rand's estate have finally brought Ideal—the quintessence of her early thought—out of the dusty archives and before the world. In Ideal, film star Kay Gonda, believed to have committed murder, seeks refuge with six fans who once wrote her fervent letters declaring she was their life's ideal. Yet the husband who dreams of escaping reality yields to his wife and turns Gonda away; the farmer about to lose his home to poverty sells her to the police for the reward; the painter enjoying sudden success refuses to believe the ideal could truly walk into his life; the minister ostracized by his peers forces Gonda to confess her sins before God to win back his congregation; the down-and-out millionaire covets her beauty; only a boy with nowhere left to turn is willing to give his life for her...

Editor's review

Ideal is one of Ayn Rand's shorter yet strikingly powerful works of literature, often regarded as a dramatic prefiguration of her philosophical ideas. Unlike the systematic exposition in her long masterworks such as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, this work is more like a sharp scalpel, through a moral choice in an extreme situation, striking directly at the harm done by collectivism and altruism to the individual spirit. The story revolves around the actress Kay Gonda, who goes into hiding after being wrongly accused of murder, and during this time seeks help from six "fans" who once publicly worshipped her and claimed they would give everything for her. These six knocks on the door are like six trials of the soul, mercilessly exposing the fragility of the "ideal" in the face of ordinary reality and human cowardice. With a cold, even cruel touch, Ayn Rand depicts the fundamental conflict between idealists and the secular world, as well as the hypocrisy of the "second-hander" personality (that is, people who derive their sense of value from others and evade the responsibility of self-creation). The value of reading this book lies in its density of thought and narrative tension; it does not offer a comfortable reading experience, but forces readers to examine themselves: can the beliefs you profess still hold when real costs must be paid? The translations by Zheng Qi and Zhang Lin convey the original's cold, sharp style with considerable accuracy, making it suitable as an introductory text for entering Ayn Rand's intellectual system, and its allegorical structure also keeps the philosophical discussion from becoming dull.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Ayn Rand's philosophical thought (Objectivism, rational self-interest) who hope to begin with a shorter work.
Literary enthusiasts who enjoy modern allegories or philosophical novels full of dramatic conflict, profound thought, and compact narrative.
Young readers who are thinking about the relationship between personal ideals and real-world pressure, individual value and collective demands.
Readers seeking to break away from conventional narrative and experience strong intellectual impact and depictions of moral dilemmas.

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a traditional story with complex plot, full-bodied characters, and a warm or hopeful ending.
Readers who completely cannot accept individualism and have an instinctive rejection of views such as "selfishness is a virtue."
People seeking light, entertaining reading and unwilling to engage in deep thinking or self-examination during the reading process.

Reading tips

The book can be read in comparison with Ayn Rand's essay collection The Virtue of Selfishness to gain a more comprehensive understanding of her philosophical claims.
When reading, there is no need to rush to make simple moral judgments about the characters' actions; focus instead on appreciating Ayn Rand's philosophical intent in setting up this extreme situation.
After reading, consider: if you were one of the people Kay Gonda turns to for help, how would you react? What values of your own would this reveal?

About the publisher

Chongqing Publishing House China · Founded in 1950

Chongqing Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for its titles in the humanities, social sciences, literature and arts, with about 940 books in its catalogue. Its publishing areas cover world history, science fiction, foreign literature, architecture and philosophy. Representative titles include Xiang Da's A History of Communications Between China and the West, Liang Sicheng's Rules of Qing-Style Construction, Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem II: The Dark Forest and III: Death's End, Ann Rand's The Fountainhead (25th Anniversary Edition), and Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series. Its authors include Xiang Da, Liu Cixin, Liang Sicheng and Ann Rand. The press has developed distinctive strengths in historical source editing, the introduction and creation of science fiction, the translation of foreign literature, and architecture and philosophy titles, balancing scholarly value with general readership. As public information is limited, this profile outlines its publishing directions based only on the books in the catalogue.

版权信息
理想：小说
序言
关于《理想》手稿的一点说明
第一章凯伊·贡达
第二章乔治·S·佩金斯
第三章耶利米·斯里尼
第四章德怀特·朗格力
第五章克劳德·伊格那提亚斯·希克斯
第六章迪特里西·冯·伊斯哈齐
第七章强尼·道斯
理想：剧本
序言
人物一览表（以及时间地点）
序幕
第一幕
第二幕

FAQ

What makes Ideal unique compared with Ayn Rand's more famous The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged?

Ideal is short and highly condensed in plot, more like a thought allegory. Unlike the latter two, it does not build an enormous worldview and a complex network of character relationships, but focuses on one core moral dilemma for sharp, concentrated analysis. It is an excellent slice for understanding Ayn Rand's critique of the "second-hander" personality and altruist ethics.

Is this book suitable for readers who do not know Ayn Rand?

Yes. This book is a relatively low-threshold entry point into Ayn Rand's thought. The story itself is independent and compelling, and readers need no prior knowledge of the Objectivist philosophical system to be drawn in by its dramatic tension and moral paradoxes, which may in turn spark further interest in exploring her core ideas.

Is the book's theme of the shattering of "ideals" too pessimistic?

Ayn Rand's intention is not to promote pessimism, but to perform a kind of disenchantment and clarification. She tries to distinguish true ideals, based on reason and individual creation, from false "ideals" that depend on others or collective illusions. The "shattering" shown in the book mainly concerns the latter. In Ayn Rand's view, although the former may encounter many obstacles in reality, it is itself indestructible because it is rooted in individual rational cognition and action. The ending of the book also suggests a way out for such true idealists.

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About the author

Ayn Rand Author · American · 1905–1982

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher, the founder of Objectivism, best known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Her work spans both literature and thought, often using social novels and classic works to explore the tension between individual will, reason, and creativity; essays such as The Romantic Manifesto set out her literary views. Her writings are classed under foreign literature, social fiction, and inspirational growth, have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, and have had a profound influence on twentieth-century American thought. Beyond fiction and essays, her writing also touches on ideals and individual value, and Chinese readers can gain a fairly complete picture of her literary and intellectual profile through the many available translations.

郑齐 Author

Zheng Qi is an author about whom little public information is available, with five works currently held in the collection. Judging from the existing titles, his writing and editorial work span several fields: foreign literature, medicine, and social fiction. Representative works include Ideal, Collected Papers on the Academic Legacy of Lu Guangxin, A Manifesto of Romanticism, and The Night of January 16. Among them, Collected Papers on the Academic Legacy of Lu Guangxin points to the organization of medical scholarship, A Manifesto of Romanticism reflects an interest in literary trends, and works such as Ideal show a concern with social fiction. Because details of birth and death dates, nationality, education, and career are not recorded, a full biography cannot be outlined; based on the works available, however, Zheng Qi's writing covers a broad range, combining literary expression, academic organization, and social observation, and this diversity of subject matter is the main clue to understanding the author.

张林 Author

Zhang Lin is a Chinese author whose works span a notably wide range of subjects, with 107 titles held in the collection. Judging from the available bibliography, his writing covers several fields: social novels and essayistic works such as Galloping Horse, One Person, and Don't Forget Why You Started Because You've Gone Too Far; the compilation of the Fu-Selected Liu Duzhou Medical Case Commentaries series, showing an interest in documenting traditional Chinese medicine; I Confess: Recorded Confessions of Japanese War Criminals, a work of history; and Tang and Song Poetry Anecdotes, aimed at popularizing classical verse. His works are also often classified under foreign literature and social sciences. Public information about Zhang Lin is limited, and his biography, nationality, and dates of birth and death cannot be verified. The range of his output nonetheless suggests a versatile writer who moves between literary creation, historical documentation, and the organization of medical texts, balancing accessible writing with careful compilation of source materials.