Who Was Ayn Rand?
Ayn Rand moved to the United States in 1926 and tried to establish herself in Hollywood. Her first novel, We the Living (1936), championed her rejection of collectivist values in favor of individual self interest, a belief that became more explicit with her subsequent novels The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957). Following the immense success of the latter, Rand promoted her philosophy of Objectivism through courses, lectures and literature.
Ayn Rand was born Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum on February 2, 1905, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The oldest daughter of Jewish parents (and eventually an avowed atheist), she spent her early years in comfort thanks to her dad's success as a pharmacist, proving a brilliant student.
In 1917, her father's shop was suddenly seized by Bolshevik soldiers, forcing the family to resume life in poverty in the Crimea. The situation profoundly impacted young Alissa, who developed strong feelings toward government intrusion into individual livelihood. She returned to her city of birth to attend the University of Petrograd, graduating in 1924, and then enrolled at the State Institute for Cinema Arts to study screenwriting.
Granted a visa to visit relatives in Chicago, Alissa left for the United States in early 1926, never to look back. She took on her soon-to-be-famous pen name and, after a few months in Chicago, moved to Hollywood to become a screenwriter.
Following a chance encounter with Hollywood titan Cecil B. DeMille, Rand became an extra on the set of his 1927 film The King of Kings, where she met actor Frank O'Connor. They married in 1929, and she became an American citizen in 1931.
Rand landed a job as a clerk at RKO Pictures, eventually rising to head of the wardrobe department, and continued developing her craft as a writer. In 1932, she sold her screenplay Red Pawn, a Soviet romantic thriller, to Universal Studios. She soon completed a courtroom drama called Penthouse Legend, which featured the gimmick of audience members serving as the jury. In late 1934, Rand and her husband moved to New York City for its production, now renamed Night of January 16th.
Around this time, Rand also completed her first novel, We the Living. Published in 1936 after several rejections, We the Living championed the moral authority of the individual through its heroine's battles with a Soviet totalitarian state. Rand followed with the novella Anthem (1938), about a future collectivist dystopia in which "I" has been stamped out of the language.
In 1937, Rand began researching a new novel by working for New York architect Ely Jacques Kahn. The result, after years of writing and more rejections, was The Fountainhead. Underscoring Rands individualistic underpinnings, the books hero, architect Howard Roark, refuses to adhere to conventions, going so far as to blowing up one of his own creations. While not an immediate success, The Fountainhead eventually achieved strong sales, and at the end of the decade became a feature film, with Gary Cooper in the role of Roark.
Rand's ideas became even more explicit with the 1957 publication of Atlas Shrugged. A massive work of more than 1,000 pages, Atlas Shrugged portrays a future in which leading industrialists drop out of a collectivist society that exploits their talents, culminating with a notoriously lengthy speech by protagonist John Galt. The novel drew some harsh reviews, but became an immediate best seller.
Around 1950, Rand met with a college student named Nathan Blumenthal, who changed his name to Nathaniel Branden and became the author's designated heir. Along with his wife, Barbara, Braden formed a group that met at Rand's apartment to engage in intellectual discussions. The group, which included future Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, called itself the Collective, or the Class of '43 (the publication year of The Fountainhead).
Rand soon honed her philosophy of what she termed "Objectivism": a belief in a concrete reality, from which individuals can discern existing truths, and the ultimate moral value of the pursuit of self interest. The development of this system essentially ended her career as a novelist: In 1958, the Nathaniel Branden Institute formed to spread her message through lectures, courses and literature, and in 1962, the author and her top disciple launched The Objectivist Newsletter. Her books during this period, including For the New Intellectual (1961) and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966), were primarily comprised of previously published essays and other works.
Following a public split with Braden, the author published The Romantic Manifesto (1969), a series of essays on the cultural importance of art, and repackaged her newsletter as The Ayn Rand Letter. She continued traveling to give lectures, though she was slowed by an operation for lung cancer. In 1979, she published a collection of articles in Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, which included an essay from protg Leonard Peikoff.
Rand was working on a television adaptation of Atlas Shrugged when she died of heart failure at her home in New York City on March 6, 1982.
Although she weathered criticism for her perceived literary shortcomings and philosophical arguments, Rand undeniably left her mark on the Western culture she embraced. In 1985, Peikoff founded the Ayn Rand Institute to continue her teachings. The following year, Braden's ex-wife, Barbara, published a tell-all memoir, The Passion of Ayn Rand, which later was made into a movie starring Helen Mirren.
Interest in Rand's works resurfaced alongside the rise of the Tea Party movement during President Barack Obama's administration, with leading political proponents like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz proclaiming their admiration for the author. In 2010, the Ayn Rand Institute announced that more than 500,000 copies of Atlas Shrugged had been sold the previous year.
In 2017, Tony-winning director Ivo van Hove reintroduced The Fountainhead to the American public with a production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Having originated at Toneelgroep Amsterdam in the Netherlands, van Hove's version featured his performers speaking in Dutch, with their words projected onto a screen in English.
We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us!
Follow this link:
Ayn Rand - Books, Quotes & Philosophy - Biography
- Ayn Rand Quotes (Author of Atlas Shrugged) - Goodreads [Last Updated On: June 13th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Wikipedia [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- Who Is Ayn Rand? - The Objective Standard [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Wikipdia [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Ayn Rand - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Ayn Rand (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Quotes - The Quotations Page [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Institute eStore : Ayn Rand [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand | American author | Britannica.com [Last Updated On: July 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 8th, 2016]
- The Fountainhead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: July 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 8th, 2016]
- Frequently Asked Questions | The Ayn Rand Institute [Last Updated On: July 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 14th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand - Uncyclopedia - Wikia [Last Updated On: July 31st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 31st, 2016]
- Ayn Rand's Ideas - An Overview | AynRand.org [Last Updated On: August 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 16th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand - Wikipedia, den frie encyklopdi [Last Updated On: August 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 19th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand - IMDb [Last Updated On: August 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 19th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Wikipdia, a enciclopdia livre [Last Updated On: August 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 25th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand - Salon.com [Last Updated On: September 2nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 2nd, 2016]
- Objetivismo, la filosofa de Ayn Rand | La Rebelin de Atlas ... [Last Updated On: October 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 25th, 2016]
- The One Argument Ayn Rand Couldnt Win New York Magazine [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2016]
- Voices for Reason Blog | The Ayn Rand Institute [Last Updated On: November 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 10th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Predicted an American Slide toward Fascism ... [Last Updated On: November 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 25th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Student Conference 2016 [Last Updated On: December 2nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 2nd, 2016]
- Ayn Rand - The New York Times [Last Updated On: December 2nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 2nd, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Was Wrong about Human Nature - Evonomics [Last Updated On: December 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 4th, 2016]
- Media, morality and the neighbors cow: When did Ayn Rand ... [Last Updated On: December 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2016]
- How Ayn Rands theories destroyed Never Trump conservatism [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2016]
- Fountainhead of bad ideas: Ayn Rands fanboys take the reins ... [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand's Progressive Readers are Misguided | National Review [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2016]
- The Daily 202: Ayn Rand-acolyte Donald Trump stacks his ... [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2016]
- The scary ghost of Ayn Rand looms over the Trump cabinet [Last Updated On: December 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 16th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand and the Invincible Cult of Selfishness on the American Right ... [Last Updated On: January 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 25th, 2017]
- Humor: School book club loses funding after asking Ayn Rand to come speak - The Aggie [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Making Ayn Rand Relevant in the Era of President Trump - Huffington Post [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand Novel - Long Speeches + Narrative Drive = Speculator - Forbes [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- The Ayn Rand scene Sajid Javid reads every year - Spectator.co.uk [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- The Ayn Rand in Donald Trump: The Virtue of America First | The ... - American Spectator [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Would Ayn Rand Have Cast President Trump As A Villain? | Zero ... [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Jerome Tuccille, Author of It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand and More, RIP - Reason (blog) [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Donald Trump & Ayn Rand | CLUSTER B [Last Updated On: February 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 19th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand Contra Nietzsche - The Objective Standard [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Judging Milo Yiannopoulos, ft. Ayn Rand (Episode #24 of MY PODCAST) - ChicagoNow (blog) [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- How Much Ayn Rand Is There in Trump's 'America First' Foreign ... - American Spectator [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Ayn Rand's Intellectual Development - The Objective Standard [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- Who Is Ayn Rand? - The Objective Standard - The Objective Standard [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- Cheer Up, Justin Amash! There's No Need to Cry Over One Missed Vote. - Slate Magazine (blog) [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2017]
- About Harry Binswanger - The Objective Standard [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2017]
- Paul Ryan channels his inner Ayn Rand: Health care is neither a right nor a privilege - Raw Story [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand's policies losing power - arkansasonline.com [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand would be proud of GOP approach to health care - The Herald-Times (subscription) [Last Updated On: March 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 19th, 2017]
- To understand Trump read Ayn Rand | Troy Media - Troy Media [Last Updated On: March 27th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 27th, 2017]
- Joy Reid goes off on Ryan's Ayn Rand ideology: He is 'fine' taking eyeglasses from children to pass a bill - Raw Story [Last Updated On: March 27th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 27th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand individualism vs. JFK patriotism - Fort Bend Herald [Last Updated On: March 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 29th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand's objectivist philosophy is now required reading for British teens - Quartz [Last Updated On: March 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 29th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand Included on A-Level Curriculum in UK - The Objective Standard [Last Updated On: March 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 29th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand on A-Level Curriculum in United Kingdom - PR Newswire (press release) [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2017]
- Adam Smith Institute's Eamonn Butler Extols Ayn Rand - The Objective Standard [Last Updated On: April 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 5th, 2017]
- How Ayn Rand's 'elitism' lives on in the Donald Trump ... [Last Updated On: April 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 5th, 2017]
- No sympathy for the poor: How Ayn Rands elitism lives on ... [Last Updated On: April 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 5th, 2017]
- How Ayn Rand's 'elitism' lives on in the Trump administration [Last Updated On: April 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 5th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand, Trump and Silicon Valley [Last Updated On: April 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 12th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand's neoliberal legacy is seen today - The Guardian [Last Updated On: April 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 14th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand's selfish gene is out of date - The Guardian [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2017]
- Elon Musk and Amber Heard spotted hanging out together in Australia - Fox News [Last Updated On: April 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 25th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand's Counter-Revolution - The New York Times - New York Times [Last Updated On: April 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 25th, 2017]
- Uncle George or Ayn Rand? It's our choice - The Citizen.com [Last Updated On: May 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 2nd, 2017]
- The Toast - Ayn Rand Rewrites [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2017]
- Vox Populi: 'All high schools should have Ayn Rand plus George ... - Savannah Morning News [Last Updated On: May 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 17th, 2017]
- Uber's CEO is just so misunderstood - CNNMoney [Last Updated On: May 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 23rd, 2017]
- Casey Neistat's First Selection for His Book Club May Surprise You - Entrepreneur [Last Updated On: May 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 26th, 2017]
- MOTIVE FOR MADNESS - Canada Free Press [Last Updated On: May 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 30th, 2017]
- Digital Life: Tech in a nanny state or Ayn Rand wonderland - Kansas City Star [Last Updated On: May 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 30th, 2017]
- Surprise, no one wants to be Ted Cruz's Secret Santa - Mashable [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2017]
- Review: 'I, Daniel Blake' - Silicon Valley's Metro [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2017]
- Elate's Revival of Ayn Rand's NIGHT OF JANUARY 16TH Opens 6/3 - Broadway World [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2017]
- LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Draining the safety net ensures poor get poorer - Delaware State News [Last Updated On: June 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 3rd, 2017]
- The Fountainhead: As Long As It's Black - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: June 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 3rd, 2017]
- Unhinged Liberal Media? New York Magazine Calls Koch Brothers 'Far Right Cranks' - Accuracy In Media (blog) [Last Updated On: June 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 5th, 2017]
- Caligula in the White House, Eichmann on Wall Street - PoliticalCritique.org [Last Updated On: June 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 5th, 2017]
- Mick Mulvaney's snake oil: A blend of bad science, bad math and really bad politics - Salon [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2017]