Who is the better author and human being, Mickey Spillane or Ayn Rand?

Question

I'm guilty of just doing the Cliff notes, Wikipedia, you tube interviews when it comes to exposing myself to Ayn Rand.
I'm not impressed and don't want to proceed.
I'm not actually going to read something as thick as Atlas Shrugged or the Fountainhead when I have work and a life to be invloved in.
It just seems like a rationalization for selfishness.
I'm definately not picking up Ayn Rand when I'm halfway through "Kiss Me, Deadly" by Mickey Spillane.
I loved "I, the Jury". I love film noir.
These are two authors that were alive at the same time, one is definately more enjoyable. One though I have no intention of reading her seems pompous, callous, pretentious and merely a rationalization for selfishness.
What was Mickey Spillane like as a person-(every interview I've seen with him shows him to be a lot like Mike Hammer). He was one of the mot published (and thereby most influencial authors ever).
Am I right to say that he was more influential and a better human being than Ayn Rand?

Answer 1

Rand is an egoist. I have never even attempted to read any of Rand's books because of that. Philosophically speaking an egoist believes that complete self absorption a valid model for ethical behaviour. On the other hand Spillane's Mike Hammer is almost ego-less if you subtract the swagger. He fights for lost causes and wins in the end; a hard boiled superman. We love the hero we despise the human- unfortunately for Rand, we don't want to see the worst in human nature (except at the end of one of Mike's gun barrel).
Rand is the better Writer.
Spillane is the best private eye/ crime writer

Perhaps you should try Raymond Chandler. Phillip Marlowe is a great of the hard boiled genre. Check out The Big Sleep or for newer stuff Norman Mailer wrote a great hard-boiled book called Tough Guys Don't Dance. Then there's John D. McDonald's Travis McGee, the self professed beach bum who lives on a houseboat and whose business card reads simply 'salvage consultant', written in the 60's and 70's a great set of books about a really tough guy.

Answer 2

You are comparing apples and ... octopusses! There is absolutely NO comparison between the two. Their genres are completely different and each has their own place in the annals of great literature. While Mickey Spillane was a master of the detective noir fiction (I write that myself) Rand was a genuis when it came to stories that involved deep psychological studies of characters. You are missing something by not reading The Fountainhead at least. As for who is the better person? Not knowing either one, I couldnt say. Pax - C.

Answer 3

Nobody will admit this, but you're right. Rand was spokesman for a selfish philosophy that doesn't pan out, while Spillane didn't give a damn, so long as people kept buying Mike Hammer books. Ultimately, popular culture, whether I like it or not, trumps Big Ideas.

I take it you've already seen Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly (1955?) . It is, together with Welles' Touch of Evil among the last of the great films noirs.

Answer 4

They were both good human beings because they were very creative and successful in their legitimate endeavours.
Being good writers would generally mean that they read and otherwise experienced some of the rest of the world before putting pen to paper. Not knowing that much about Spillane, but Rand studied many of the philosophers who came before her, even those she despised.
The criterion for a bad human being would probably be laziness together with a willingness to disparage and otherwise make judgements about something one has not even read.

Answer 5

That's like comparing Mozart with The Rolling Stones. Both are good, but have nothing in common, or comparison.