On topic for this thread: Atlas Shrugged is something which Dante easily could have put in the Inferno as one of the punishments in the lower circles of hell. Sure, we can talk about her philosophical worth as a writer, but did Ayn Rand REALLY need to write a thousand pages trying to tell us what Gordon Gekko managed in three words: "Greed is good"? I know some people like her philosophy, which is fine, but can we just agree that her writing is like a red hot poker to the eye?
As to the point of canon (maybe it should have its own thread?): I particularly want to respond to the comment about whether ideas have intrinsic value or whether the value is produced by the arbitrary values choices of society.
On the one hand, Billy Shakes himself very definitely thought that there are natural values which cannot be disputed - i.e., Truth. He worked to incorporate these Truths into his works at every turn - so, setting aside how we may now view it, it seems we must at least agree that Shakespeare did not think that the cultural norms of society determined values and relative truths. In other words, he was entirely opposed to any form of relativism.
But that IS a separate question from how we now think about him, obviously. I'm a traditionalist, not into theory, so I'm biased towards thinking that we, as scholars, are meant to investigate literature in order to find the Truth which is lurking therein. The purpose of art is the conveyance of Truth - and writers like Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, etc, were exceptionally good at doing this, thus their success. So, in short, I just want to offer a brief defense for the notion of the intrinsic value of ideas - which is of course predicated on the existence of certain, unchangeable truths in the universe. I don't know how that idea will go over, but there it is.
In any event, this is a great conversation! Well worth having, lets please continue!