In year 11, I read both Atlas Shrugged & The Fountainhead, and found them full of two revolting qualities: 1] selfish individualism and 2] destructive, laissez faire capitalism. Thus I am relying on Jonathan Freedland and others for a more balanced review.
Alissa Rosenbaum (1905-82) was born in St Petersburg, the eldest of 3 children. Alissa was enrolled in a progressive school where she excelled academically but was socially isolated. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, her father’s successful pharmacy shop was confiscated by Communists, an event she loathed. At Leningrad State Uni, she studied history and read the works of Greek philosophers, then in 1924 enrolled in the State Institute for Cinematography.
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A letter from Chicagoan cousins encouraged her to leave Russia, to gain expertise that she could apply in the Soviet film industry. Upon arrival in 1926, she became Ayn Rand! From Chicago Rand went to Hollywood, where producer Cecil B DeMille got her work in films. In 1929 she married actor Frank O’Connor. Soon hired by RKO Radio Pictures, she continued writing stories, plays and film scenarios, and became an American citizen (1931).
Rand’s play, Night of January 16th (1933), was a hymn to individualism in a courtroom drama. In 1934 she and O’Connor moved to New York to oversee the play’s production on Broadway. That year she also wrote Ideal, about a self-centred film star on the run from the law.
Her 1st published novel, We the Living (1936), was a romantic tragedy in which Soviet totalitarianism typified the intrinsic evils of collectivism, the subservience of individual interests to those of the state. Then Anthem (1938) portrayed a future collectivist dystopia.
Rand spent 7+ years working on The Fountainhead (1943), where a handsome architectural genius whose individualism was shown in his total commitment to his own happiness. The hero, Howard Roark, blew up a public housing project he’d designed, after it was altered against his will by government bureaucrats. On trial for his crime, he delivered a lengthy speech in his own defence in which he argued for individualism over collectivism, egoism over altruism. And the jury voted unanimously to acquit him!! Roark was Rand’s vision of the ideal man who embodied her egoistic moral ideals - was he inspired by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959)?
In 1945 she began planning her next novel, Atlas Shrugged (1957). The book depicted a future U.S on the verge of economic collapse after years of collectivist misrule, where productive citizens i.e industrialists had been exploited to benefit an unworthy population of incompetents. The heroic and handsome physicist-inventor, John Galt, led a band of elite creators in a strike, to force the government to respect their economic freedom. From their Colorado fort, they watched as the national economy and the collectivist social system faded.
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In 1974 she had surgery for lung cancer and survived, but she could no longer pursue major writing projects. In 1979 she re-published Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, a collection of philosophical articles, and died in 1982.
In 1986 Barbara Branden published The Passion of Ayn Rand. Despite the resulting damage to her reputation, Rand retained a loyal following among conservatives. In the 1990s-2000s her works contributed to the popularity of U.S libertarianism; she was an iconic figure in the anti-government Tea Party movement (2009). These specifically political influences, rather than her literature or philosophy, will live on. After all, Travis Kalanick (Uber), Peter Thiel (Facebook), Steve Jobs (Apple) and ex-President Donald Trump adored her thinking.
Alissa Rosenbaum (1905-82) was born in St Petersburg, the eldest of 3 children. Alissa was enrolled in a progressive school where she excelled academically but was socially isolated. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, her father’s successful pharmacy shop was confiscated by Communists, an event she loathed. At Leningrad State Uni, she studied history and read the works of Greek philosophers, then in 1924 enrolled in the State Institute for Cinematography.
Ayn Rand in St Petersburg
The Moscow Times
A letter from Chicagoan cousins encouraged her to leave Russia, to gain expertise that she could apply in the Soviet film industry. Upon arrival in 1926, she became Ayn Rand! From Chicago Rand went to Hollywood, where producer Cecil B DeMille got her work in films. In 1929 she married actor Frank O’Connor. Soon hired by RKO Radio Pictures, she continued writing stories, plays and film scenarios, and became an American citizen (1931).
Rand’s play, Night of January 16th (1933), was a hymn to individualism in a courtroom drama. In 1934 she and O’Connor moved to New York to oversee the play’s production on Broadway. That year she also wrote Ideal, about a self-centred film star on the run from the law.
Her 1st published novel, We the Living (1936), was a romantic tragedy in which Soviet totalitarianism typified the intrinsic evils of collectivism, the subservience of individual interests to those of the state. Then Anthem (1938) portrayed a future collectivist dystopia.
Rand spent 7+ years working on The Fountainhead (1943), where a handsome architectural genius whose individualism was shown in his total commitment to his own happiness. The hero, Howard Roark, blew up a public housing project he’d designed, after it was altered against his will by government bureaucrats. On trial for his crime, he delivered a lengthy speech in his own defence in which he argued for individualism over collectivism, egoism over altruism. And the jury voted unanimously to acquit him!! Roark was Rand’s vision of the ideal man who embodied her egoistic moral ideals - was he inspired by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959)?
In 1945 she began planning her next novel, Atlas Shrugged (1957). The book depicted a future U.S on the verge of economic collapse after years of collectivist misrule, where productive citizens i.e industrialists had been exploited to benefit an unworthy population of incompetents. The heroic and handsome physicist-inventor, John Galt, led a band of elite creators in a strike, to force the government to respect their economic freedom. From their Colorado fort, they watched as the national economy and the collectivist social system faded.
Top The Fountainhead, first published 1943
Bottom Atlas Shrugged, first published 1957
In an appendix, Rand described her systematic philosophy: Objectivism i.e the concept of a man with his own happiness as his ONLY moral purpose, with productive achievement as his noblest activity. Objectivism rejected all ideas that indicated a primitive culture i.e fatalism, ignorance, poverty, passivity and collectivism. Instead Objectivism promoted Western civilisation, capitalism and modernity, bringing individualism, science, industrialisation and wealth.
The book was attacked by a wide range of critics for its immorality, but it was well received by business leaders, men impressed by its moral justification of capitalism.
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged appealed widely to young people through their accessible and comprehensive philosophy, rejection of traditional authority and implicit invitation to the reader to join the ranks of the elite (by copying the story’s hero).
In 1950 Rand agreed to meet a young admirer, Nathan Branden; Nathan and his girlfriend became Rand’s intellectual followers. In 1951 the couple moved to New York, married in 1953, and introduced Rand to their friends at salons at Rand’s flat. The group, the Class of ’43 or The Collective, included an economist who later headed the U.S President’s Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Greenspan.
In the late 1950s, Branden established a business designed to teach Objectivism to Rand readers. Nathaniel Branden Institute in N.Y offered courses in Objectivism by Branden to other Objectivist centres. An educational academy perhaps, but the Institute did not permit its students to think critically about Objectivism; rather it guarded Objectivist orthodoxy against innovation by sympathisers, especially among the growing U.S and British right.
Meanwhile, Rand’s fame increased with her book sales. She was invited to speak at universities and on television programmes. Growing into her role as a public intellectual, she published her first work of nonfiction, For the New Intellectual, a collection of philosophical passages from her fiction, in 1961. The Virtue of Selfishness (1964) and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966) were drawn from lectures and articles. But Rand was continually frustrated by her failure to win acceptance among academic philosophers. She attributed this neglect to collectivist bias and incompetence, but it was probably due to the fictional, unscholarly form in which her philosophies appeared.
The book was attacked by a wide range of critics for its immorality, but it was well received by business leaders, men impressed by its moral justification of capitalism.
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged appealed widely to young people through their accessible and comprehensive philosophy, rejection of traditional authority and implicit invitation to the reader to join the ranks of the elite (by copying the story’s hero).
In 1950 Rand agreed to meet a young admirer, Nathan Branden; Nathan and his girlfriend became Rand’s intellectual followers. In 1951 the couple moved to New York, married in 1953, and introduced Rand to their friends at salons at Rand’s flat. The group, the Class of ’43 or The Collective, included an economist who later headed the U.S President’s Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Greenspan.
In the late 1950s, Branden established a business designed to teach Objectivism to Rand readers. Nathaniel Branden Institute in N.Y offered courses in Objectivism by Branden to other Objectivist centres. An educational academy perhaps, but the Institute did not permit its students to think critically about Objectivism; rather it guarded Objectivist orthodoxy against innovation by sympathisers, especially among the growing U.S and British right.
Meanwhile, Rand’s fame increased with her book sales. She was invited to speak at universities and on television programmes. Growing into her role as a public intellectual, she published her first work of nonfiction, For the New Intellectual, a collection of philosophical passages from her fiction, in 1961. The Virtue of Selfishness (1964) and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966) were drawn from lectures and articles. But Rand was continually frustrated by her failure to win acceptance among academic philosophers. She attributed this neglect to collectivist bias and incompetence, but it was probably due to the fictional, unscholarly form in which her philosophies appeared.
In 1968 Rand accused Branden of betraying Objectivist principles, ended his partnership in The Objectivist and demanded that the Institute be closed. The closing of the Institute allowed various self-described Objectivists to blossom, but Rand believed these young libertarians were flirting with anarchism.
In 1974 she had surgery for lung cancer and survived, but she could no longer pursue major writing projects. In 1979 she re-published Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, a collection of philosophical articles, and died in 1982.
In 1986 Barbara Branden published The Passion of Ayn Rand. Despite the resulting damage to her reputation, Rand retained a loyal following among conservatives. In the 1990s-2000s her works contributed to the popularity of U.S libertarianism; she was an iconic figure in the anti-government Tea Party movement (2009). These specifically political influences, rather than her literature or philosophy, will live on. After all, Travis Kalanick (Uber), Peter Thiel (Facebook), Steve Jobs (Apple) and ex-President Donald Trump adored her thinking.