RAND, AYN of Atlas Shrugged Fame (c) By Polly Guerin

The firs time I saw the movie Fountainhead, a modern epic of gigantic proportions both by content and visual presentation, I was captivated by the story of the romantic and philosophical story of an uncompromising young architect named Howard Roark. This was the kind of hero whose depiction was the chief goal of Ayn Rand’s writing: the ideal man and his struggle against “second handers”-- those who attempt to live through others, placing others above self. The book itself, which Rand wrote over a period of seven years, was rejected by twelve publishers before finally being accepted by Bobbs-Merrill Company. But it became a worldwide success and in 1943 Rand sold the rights for the film version to Warner Brothers. Ayn Rand, a woman determined to succeed; a woman who today is called to the fore of public attention with the release of the movie, Atlas Shrugged is resurrected, so to speak, into the public consciousness.
TWO FAMOUS NOVELS
Two famous best-selling novels define the Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright and screen writer. The Fountainhead gained for its author lasting recognition as a champion of individualism. Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957, was her greatest achievement and her magnum opus. The plot of Atlas Shrugged involves a dystopian United States in which the most creative industrialists, scientists and artists go on strike and retreat to a mountain hideaway where they build an independent free economy. With this fictional strike Rand intended to illustrate that without the efforts of the rational and productive, the economy would collapse and fall apart. In it John Galt the novel’s hero delivers a lengthy monologue containing Rand’s most extensive statement of Objectivism. The publication of this novel of more than one thousand pages ended her career as a novelist and began her role as a popular philosopher.
THE PHILOSOPHER EMERGES
Rand is also recognized for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism, which she characterized as “a philosophy for living on earth.” Her philosophy of living on earth has changed the lives of thousands of readers and launched a philosophic movement with growing impact on American culture. In 1958 Nathaniel Branden established the Nathaniel Branden Lectures, later incorporated as (NBI) Nathaniel Branden Institute, to promoted Rand’s philosophy Rand expressed opinions on a wide range of topics including music, literature, sexuality and some of her followers mimicked all her preferences, wearing clothes to match the characters from her novels. Some describing NBI or the entire Objectivist movement as a cult or religion.
BORN TO MAKE HER MARK
Ayn Rand, Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum was born on February 2, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire. During her formative years she was educated in Russia and was eyewitness to both the Kerensky Revolution, which she supported, and in 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution which she denounced from the outset. In late 1925 she obtained permission to leave Soviet Russia for a visit to relatives in the United States and arrived in New York in 1926 and did not return to Russia. She worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood and sold her first screenplay, “Red Pawn,” to Universal Pictures in 1932 and saw her first stage play, Night of January 16th, produced in Hollywood and then on Broadway. We Are Living, her first novel, was based on her years under Soviet Tyranny. She died on March 6, 1982 (aged 77) in New York City.
RAND’S POLITICAL VIEWS EMPHASIZED INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAISSEZ-FAIRE CAPITALISM ENFORCED BY A CONSTITUTIONALLY LIMITED GOVERNMENT. HER VIEWS REFLECTED IN BOTH HER FICTION AND NONFICTION WORK. THE NEW FILM, ATLAS SHRUGGED I IS CURRENTLY PLAYING IN New York MOVIE THEATERS.