Quote:
Originally posted by LessinSF
Name me a more influential English-language novelist.
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Dickens. Seriously. Put aside his influence on other novelists, which itself would win the argument over Rand and so is not fair to raise here. Invented modern Christmas, which began the Victorian era as the least of four minor religious observances and now thanks to Dickens's enshrinement of personal sentimentality consumes free market economies for an entire quarter of a year. Meanwhile, exhaustively depicted a world that made socialism seem like a moral imperative. Rand merely tries to tear down what Dickens unintentionally created.
Half of what Britain thinks of itself is influenced by Shakespeare and the authors of the KJV, who are ineligible for the honor in question, but easily half of what Britain
is was influenced by Dickens. I doubt there is any single American who could compete with Dickens (again, in terms of influence on the culture).
eta This argument is an insanity and I bring shame upon myself and this dojo to continue it. Google hits for "Ayn Rand": 2,570,000. Google hits for "Orwell OR Orwellian": 16,700,000. 
