Ayn Rand‘s Anthem only takes about an hour to read. So while it’s her weakest novel, the literary value per minute of reading is high. And it definitely belongs on any list of classic dystopian fiction. Only recently, though, did I discover that there are two graphic novel adaptations.
1. The 2011 adaptation by Charles Santino and Joe Staton.
This version heavily edits the text, and has exactly three panels per page. The illustrations are basically just black-and-white sketches; skillful, but not exciting to me. On the positive side, bright kids of 7 0r 8 would be able to follow the story easily. One sample page:
2. The 2018 adaptation by Jennifer Grossman and Dan Parsons.
This version uses almost all (all?) of the original text, and the illustrations and layouts are consistently thrilling. While I enjoyed both graphic adaptations, this is definitely the better one for readers 13 and up. Stellar! And there’s even a full Youtube video adaptation of the graphic novel. One sample page:
Notice how panel 1 makes you feel like you’re actually climbing down the grating into the belly of the Earth. The whole book is packed with similarly evocative panel arrangements. And there’s even a shout-out to Orwell in the final panel.
P.S. Anyone know how the Atlas Society got the rights to adapt Anthem? I would think that Leonard Peikoff would have blocked this as long as it remained in copyright…
HT: David Boaz for sending me the Grossman-Parsons version.
READER COMMENTS
Alex Tabarrok
Apr 28 2021 at 10:14am
Anthem is in the public domain, at least in the United States.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1250
robc
Apr 28 2021 at 10:55am
I disagree, mostly because it is short and to the point, making it easy to read and digest. Also, it is the inspiration for 2112, so it has that going for it.
Ryan M
Apr 28 2021 at 12:46pm
I just ordered the 2nd one for my 9 year old, who already reads “Tuttle Twins.” (even my 7 year old enjoys those)
Unfortunately, it appears from the reviews that the book itself is poorly constructed. It would be nice if a publisher could create a better version, and that shouldn’t be terribly difficult to accomplish.
Jennifer Anju Grossman
Apr 29 2021 at 2:36pm
Latest printing has resolved those production issues. If you have any issues with your copy let us know at The Atlas Society and we’ll make sure to take care of you. Thank you. p.s. you may also want to check out our latest graphic novel, Red Pawn — my personal favorite thus far.
Ryan M
Apr 30 2021 at 5:16pm
Awesome! I’ll let you know how it ends up. The book arrives this afternoon.
David Seltzer
Apr 28 2021 at 5:35pm
Bryan, I’ve read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged several times in my life. As I’ve embraced her philosophy, I’ve alienated several liberal friends. When they asked for my personal interpretation of Rand’s work, I generally responded by making it clear that I’m NOT duty bound to provide for another person. I have property and dominion in my person as well as dominion over what I produce. I am not a ward of the state or its coerced servant. With that said, I am charitable by choice. There is virtue in choice not coercion. That is the point my former liberal friends miss by a distance equal to that between the earth and the moon.
Dave Killion
Apr 28 2021 at 10:16pm
I make similar arguments, but cast them in favour of my interlocutors. I tell them that THEY are not duty bound to provide for another person. THEY have property and dominion in their persons as well as dominion over what THEY produce. THEY are not wards of the state or its coerced servants.
It is a small thing, but weakens arguments that I’m simply greedy, selfish, uncaring, and so forth.
David Seltzer
Apr 28 2021 at 10:28pm
Dave, good point. Thank you. I’ll try that approach in the future.
Kurt Schuler
Apr 29 2021 at 8:20pm
Mother: Son, I spent years of my life raising you. Now, a long period of bad health has forced me to sell the house and drain my bank account to pay for my expenses. I have no money left and nowhere to go. Can you take me in?
Randian Son: In the words of David Seltzer, “I’m NOT duty bound to provide for another person.” He said, “I am charitable by choice,” but as for me, I am not charitable, also by choice. Go away.
Ryan M
Apr 30 2021 at 5:25pm
Rand certainly isn’t perfect. I think this scenario is unlikely, because human beings pretty much always have a religious perspective, whether they recognize it or name it or otherwise. Political philosophy (talking about what should be forced on others by government, or even by society) and religious philosophy (things you should do as an individual, whether anyone has the right to expect it or not) are two different things, and really need to go hand-in-hand. I think it was Burke or maybe Toqueville (or maybe both) who pointed out that what is essentially libertarianism can only really work in a society that is already moral. There’s a lot of truth to that. When I argue that we should not have a welfare state, that does not mean that individuals should not be generous with their own resources. It also does not mean that I do not personally care about the needy.
Roger Barris
Apr 28 2021 at 6:22pm
I second Alex Tabarrok’s comment. I asked Jennifer Grossman, who runs the Atlas Society, why they chose this novel and she said it was the only one in the public domain.
Phil H
Apr 28 2021 at 11:15pm
Alright, I’ll bite. From the pages included above, it looks like the premise is that government deliberately stymies invention in favour of a sadistic philosophy. In reality, that sounds very much like what the church used to do. Hindering other people’s inventions is also a classic business tactic.
I have no objection to Rand, but taking her to be an important thinker seems to make about as much sense as starting an Edgar Allen Poe cult.
Thomas L Knapp
Apr 29 2021 at 6:52am
What makes a thinker “important?”
Whether you agree with her particular ideas or not, Rand introduced those ideas to a great many people through her writing and other projects — and some of those people in turn advanced the material into new fields (e.g. Nathaniel Branden’s self-esteem writings), brought it to secondary audiences via new formats (music, film, other fiction genres, etc.), and engaged with it in academia.
If she’s so unimportant, why do even those who disagree with her still continually feel the need to talk about her?
Henri Hein
Apr 29 2021 at 1:51pm
Here is one sense in which she is unimportant: the entirety of her work is ignored or disliked by the entirety of non-libertarians. With thinkers like Milton Friedman or Thomas Sowell or Hayek, I can use points or passages that non-libertarians at least have to acknowledge. I have not once been in a position where I thought an idea from Rand would resonate with my interlocutor – unless they were already libertarian.
robc
Apr 29 2021 at 10:48am
I don’t think Rand would disagree with you about religion.
The society of the novel uses religious words, such as sin, despite not having a religion, as far as I remember. Some of the stuff seems over-the-top, but no matter how extreme, I have heard everything in it stated by someone at some time. It is, like 1984, a distopian vision if you take certain ideologies to their ends.
Remember, she grew up in the USSR, that is her background. She has seen communist ideas taken to the extreme. And she knew how much further they would have liked to have gone.
Ryan M
Apr 30 2021 at 5:28pm
Whether she is an “important” thinker or not, this sort of story can be pretty beneficial for young people to be exposed to. You don’t have to idolize Rand to find her books interesting and useful.
(it would also be interesting to see a book like “Darkness at Noon” rendered in graphic novel format. I wonder what a lot of kids would think about something like that.)
Phil H
May 3 2021 at 6:26am
Yes, that’s fair enough. I certainly don’t have any problem with people, young or old, reading Rand. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to cite her as a reason to think something… how to put it… it’s like Ursula Leguin: also a writer of fiction who included many important ideas in her books, in memorable narrative forms. I’d be happy to discuss Leguin’s or Rand’s ideas, but not to take the fact that Leguin or Rand thought X as a reason to believe X (or even to think X is important).
Henri Hein
Apr 29 2021 at 1:53pm
I have always found Rand to be curiously overrated. She wrote some good stories, but I don’t think her voice is that great, and I have not found anything compelling in her intellectual framework.
Comments are closed.