RAND, Ayn

Born Alyssa (Alice) Resenbaum, 2 February 1905, St. Petersburg, Russia; died March 1982

Married Frank O'Connor, 1929

Ayn Rand's early life of relative comfort was abruptly terminated when the family business was nationalized after the Russian Revolution. An excellent student whose far-ranging interests included mathematics, literature, philosophy, and engineering, Rand graduated from the University of Leningrad with a degree in history. Not able to adjust to the Communist regime, she accepted an invitation to visit relatives in New York in 1926.

Rand went to Hollywood to write screen scenarios and was given a job as an extra by Cecil B. de Mille. Though de Mille rejected her first five scenarios as too romantic, unrealistic, and improbable, Rand did eventually work as a screenwriter.

We, the Living (1936, 1977) received a lukewarm critical reception. The themes are the sanctity of human life and the evil of collectivism in Russia. Written at the same time, The Night of January 16th (1936, 1983) is an effective dramatic piece. The play's originality derives from the gimmick of allowing each night's audience to serve as the jury in a murder trial.

The Fountainhead (1943, film version 1949) established Rand as a popular writer and is considered her best work. The world of contemporary architecture serves as the backdrop for this battle between the forces of individualism and collectivisim, between creativity and derivativeness.

The plot follows protagonist Howard Roark's career from the day he is expelled from architectural school, through his difficulties in establishing a career, to his professional and personal victory and vindication. The book ends with the triumph of the virtuous and the creative. The heavy moralizing has drawn negative reactions from some commentators.

The philosophies set forth in The Fountainhead were amplified in Atlas Shrugged (1957), the fullest novelistic treatment of Rand's theories and established her as an intellectual cult figure. A novel which can be read to satisfy many different tastes, it has been categorized by various critics as a mystery story, science fiction, a philosophical diatribe, a female fantasy novel, and a justification of capitalism.

The protagonist, Dagny Taggart—whose attempts to run a transcontinental railroad are complicated by networks of bureaus, councils, and committees that strangle productive initiatives—fights a losing battle against a group that wants to "stop the motor of the world" in order to rebuild a society of free enterprise, devoid of government controls. She inadvertently finds a projection of this society, Galt's Gulch, a utopia in a hidden valley in Colorado. Galt's Gulch was born as a reaction against the collectivist maxim, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"—its motto is "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man nor ask another man to live for mine."

Rand's philosophical thought informs her work as well, and all of her publications following Atlas Shrugged were nonfiction. During the 1960s she was a popular campus lecturer, and in conjunction with the Objectivist, a newsletter published to explain Rand's brand of philosophy, courses in objectivism were taught by the Nathaniel Branden Institute.

Rand's novels, though popular, have received little serious consideration as works of literature; she is something of a cultural phenomenon. Her books have been reprinted many times, and Atlas Shrugged is roundly considered one of the top books of the century from sources as disparate as the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, Book-of-the-Month Club, and Barnes and Noble. Rand's life and thought were also depicted in a major film in late 1999. Though her politics are anathema to most feminists, her commitment to self-actualization both as a philosopher and as creator of one of the most positive female protagonists in American literature (Dagny Taggart) suggests that perhaps her works need to be reevaluated by women.

OTHER WORKS:

Anthem (1938; revised 1946, 1995). For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1961). The Virtue of Selfishness (1964). Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966, 1976). Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1967, 1990). The Romantic Manifesto (1969, 1971). The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (1971). Philosophy: Who Needs It (1982, 1984). The Early Ayn Rand: A Selection From Her Unpublished Fiction (1986). For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1996). Ayn Rand's Marginalia: Her Critical Comments on the Writings of Over 20 Authors (1996). The Letters of Ayn Rand (1997). The Ayn Rand Column: Written for the Los Angeles Times (1998). The Journals of Ayn Rand (1999). The Ayn Rand Reader (1999).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Binswanger, H., ed., The Ayn Rand Lexicon (1986). Bloom, H., ed., American Women Fiction Writers, Volume Three 1900-1960 (1998). Branden, B., The Passion of Ayn Rand (1986). Branden, B., Ayn Rand and Her Movement: An Interview With Barbara Branden, Rand's Close Colleague and Administrator of Her Movement (1991). Branden, N., and B. Branden, Who is Ayn Rand? (1962). Branden, N., My Years With Ayn Rand (1999). Coleman, D. M., "The Pursuit of Happiness Through a Virtuous Life: Ayn Rand and Aristotle" (thesis, 1997). Den Uyl, D. J., The Fountainhead: An American Novel (1999). Erickson, P. F., The Stance of Atlas: An Examination of the Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1997). Gladstein, M. R., The Ayn Rand Companion (1984). Gladstein, M. R., The New Ayn Rand Companion (1999). Gladstein, M. R. and Sciabarra, C. M., eds., Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand (1999). Haught, J. A., 2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People With the Courage to Doubt (1996). Hoffman, J. L., "Feminist Characteristics in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged" (thesis, 1998). Merrill, R. E., The Ideas of Ayn Rand (1991). O'Neill, W., With Charity Toward None (1971). Peikoff, L., Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1993). Perinn, V. L., Ayn Rand—First Descriptive Bibliography (1990). Pinson, J. L., Objective Journalism and Ayn Rand's Philosophy of Objectivism (dissertation, 1996). Robbins, J. W., Without A Prayer: Ayn Rand and the Close of Her System (1997). Rothbard, M. N., The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult (1990). Sciabarra, C. M., Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical (1995). Tuccille, J., It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand (1997). Walker, J., The Ayn Rand Cult (1999).

Reference works:

CA (1975). Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States (1995). TCAS.

Other references:

America (1999). American Book Review (May 1990). American Enterprise (1997, 1998). Book World (July 1995). Commonweal (8 Nov. 1957). Forbes (Mar. 1998). Free Inquiry (Summer 1994). Freeman (May 1996). Harper's (Feb. 1999). Insight (Sept. 1997, May 1999). In These Times (July 1999). Journal of Libertarian Studies (Fall 1992). Maclean's (Aug. 1998). National Journal (1997). National Review (May 1990, Sept. 1994). NY (26 Oct. 1957). NYTBR (16 May 1943, Oct. 1997, Aug.1995). Playboy (March 1964). SR (12 Oct. 1957). U.S. News & World Report (Mar. 1998)

—MIMI R. GLADSTEIN,

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