Book Review: Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand. Jeff Britting. Overlook Duckworth. 2004. 120 pages, plus References, Chronology and Bibliography. ISBN: 1585674060.

Who is Ayn Rand?

She was born in 1905 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, into a middle class Jewish family (her father owned a chemist's shop.) The Russian Revolution of 1917 changed their lives forever, and crystalized Rand's lifetime hatred of communism.

She immigrated to the United States in 1926. She found work as a screenwriter and script reader in Hollywood, California, and wrote her first two novels, We the Living (1936) and Anthem (1938), which "portray dystopias and dictatorships as warnings against monolithic sociopolitical systems such as Communism and Fascism."

In 1943, the first of the two classic Rand novels was published. The Fountainhead portrays Howard Roark, "an architect and formidable egoist, who fights against his entire profession for his own artistic vision. The character of Roark embodies Rand's philosophy of objectivism, which encourages individuals to pursue their rational self-interests."

In 1957 her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged was published. In this book, the 'men of the mind' go on strike, led by John Galt (under the slogan, Who is John Galt.)

After 1957 Rand concentrated on non-fiction, prosletyzing her Objectivist philosophy in The Objectivist Newsletter (1962-1965), The Objectivist (1966-1971), and finally The Ayn Rand Letter (1971-1975). She also wrote many non-fiction books on the virtues of capitalism. She died in 1982.

Her two most famous books have never been out of print. I myself discovered The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in my teens, and found the philosophy of objectivism compelling and the two books the best 'bibles' one could ask for. (Which is not to say that I did not find certain aspects of the narrative of The Fountainhead offensive. Howard Roark actually rapes the main female character, Dominique Francon, although one is supposed to assume that he "knew she wanted it" and of course she did, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. I much prefer as a role model Dagny Taggart of Atlas Shrugged.)

Ayn Rand was, quite simply, a genius. Her life is a must-read, whether or not you subscribe to her philosophy, or dismiss her views summarily. The most well-known biography is The Passion of Ayn Rand, published in 1986. It is not without controversy, as its author, Barbara Branden, was the wife of Nathanial Branden, with whom Rand had an affair until they split acrimoniously in 1968.

This book, Ayn Rand, is by no means a full-fledged biography of the author, but rather an overview. The controversies of 1968 are glossed over, as is her increasing egomania (at least according to Barbara Branden) during her later years. Anyone who wants to understand Rand must find full-length biographies of her.

But, as an overview of Rand's life, this is a must have, especially since it publishes dozens of never-before-seen photos and drawings (author Jeff Britting is the archivist at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California. Illustrations, many of them in color, include such things as a photo of Ayn Rand's birth certificate (she was born Alisa Rosenbaum and assumed the name Ayn Rand when she arrived in the United States), many family photos from Russia, pages from Rand's notebooks and journals, and selections of photos Rand collected, which she called "Pictures I Like", of such things as the Matterhorn, and a bust of Aristotle.

I found her green card of interest. When she received it she was already married to Frank O'Connor. Her surname is recorded as O'Connor, her "Given name" is recorded as "Mrs. Charles Francis."