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Atlas Shrugged (historical context) (view source)
Revision as of 13:02, April 20, 2013
, 13:02, April 20, 2013→Omission of context
Rand omitted the historical context deliberately.<ref name=notime>Lawrence R, "[http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/books/rand/atlas/faq.html#Q4.2 Atlas Shrugged FAQ: When is the story set in time]?" ''Objectivism Reference Center,'' retrieved 16 February 2012.</ref> In several of her letters, she said that the story could take place at any time, but would take place when the political institutions she most admired about the United States would no longer function. To emphasize the timeless nature of her story, she left out any reference to any historical event that could “date” the story in any way.
Rand omitted the historical context deliberately.<ref name=notime>Lawrence R, "[http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/books/rand/atlas/faq.html#Q4.2 Atlas Shrugged FAQ: When is the story set in time]?" ''Objectivism Reference Center,'' retrieved 16 February 2012.</ref> In several of her letters, she said that the story could take place at any time, but would take place when the political institutions she most admired about the United States would no longer function. To emphasize the timeless nature of her story, she left out any reference to any historical event that could “date” the story in any way.
And so the story does take place centuries after the fall of the Spanish Empire (the era of Sebastián d’Anconia, ancestor of [[Francisco d'Anconia|Francisco]]), and at least a century after the founding era of the American [[railroad]]s (including the fictitious [[Taggart Transcontinental Railroad]]).
And so the story does take place centuries after the fall of the Spanish Empire (the era of Sebastián d’Anconia, ancestor of [[Francisco d'Anconia|Francisco]]), and at least a century after the founding era of the American [[railroad]]s (including the fictitious [[Taggart Transcontinental Railroad]]). But exactly when it takes place in modern times, she gives no clue. She mentions the technology that existed in her day, to show either that:
# The story could have taken place at the time she wrote it, i.e., the great collapse could have come in 1957. Or:
# American society might literally ''forget'' any technology it invented and adopted after that date.
So references to public pay telephones, and a time when railroads were the primary means of transport, cannot set a "future limit" on the date.
Tellingly, the producers of the current ''Atlas Shrugged'' series of motion pictures wrote a specific back-story element: that the world had abandoned air travel, and even private jet aircraft were rare. He could have written "smartphones" and TV monitors out of the story, but decided instead to update the other technological references to modern times. Any other producer could do the same without affecting the essential plot elements. (A future producer could also change the Taggart Transcontinential Railroad to Taggart Airlines if he wanted to.)
== Generic titles ==
== Generic titles ==