Ayn Rand was born to an affluent upper-middle-class
family on February 2, 1905,
in St. Petersburg, Russia. Rand formulated many of her strongly
held beliefs early in life. Although her family was nominally Jewish,
Rand thought of religion as a form of mysticism and became a committed
atheist at the age of fourteen. She was passionately interested
in politics, particularly after the beginning of the Russian Revolution
in 1917. When the
Bolshevik Party came to power at the end of 1917,
it nationalized Rand’s father’s business and dimin-ished the family’s
fortunes considerably. Rand opposed the Bolsheviks’ ideals, which
included communism, socialism, and collectivization.
Rand graduated from the University of Petrograd with
highest honors in philosophy and history. In 1925,
Rand obtained a temporary visa to visit relatives in Chicago. She
left Russia with no intention of returning. She moved to Hollywood
to pursue a career as a screenwriter and took a job as an extra
on the set of King of Kings, a film directed by
the legendary Cecil B. DeMille. In California, Rand met Frank O’Connor,
whom she married in 1929.
Over the next several years, Rand moved from job to job
in Hollywood. In 1932,
she sold her first screenplay, Red Pawn, to Universal
Studios. That same year, Rand’s first stage play, Night
of January 16th, was
produced in Hollywood and then on Broadway. She completed her first
novel, We the Living, in 1933,
but all of the publishers she approached rejected the manuscript
until 1936, when Macmillan
published the novel in the United States. The novel was based on
Rand’s life in Russia and drew strong criticism from leftist members
of the American intelligentsia. Rand began work on The Fountainhead in 1938.
Again she had trouble finding a publisher, but eventually Bobbs-Merrill
accepted the novel in 1941.
Over the next two years, The Fountainhead’s reputation
grew by word of mouth and the novel became a bestseller when it
came out in 1943.
In 1957,
Rand published Atlas Shrugged. By this time her
work had inspired a devoted following. Rand made numerous public appearances
to lecture and explain the ideas behind her work. Rand disliked
being associated with either the conservative or libertarian political
movements in the United States. She felt her ideas were distinct
and started her own movement, called Objectivism, which promoted
her conception of rational self-interest and denounced altruism. The
Fountainhead embodies Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, suggesting
that egoism is an absolute moral good and therefore any person,
institution, or system that blocks an individual’s freedom and talent
is evil. The Fountainhead is an Objectivist parable. Each
character in the novel represents a different level on the spectrum
of good and evil. Like the authors of other satirical and allegorical
works, Rand does not create complex, three-dimensional characters,
but designs personalities to prove a point.
During the 1950s
and 1960s, Rand promoted
her ideas with the help of two young protégés, Nathaniel and Barbara
Branden. Rand’s affair with Nathaniel Branden put an end to her
alliance with the young couple. Rand died in her apartment in New
York City on March 6, 1982.
At the time of Rand’s death, more than twenty million copies of
her books had been sold. Rand’s work continues to draw heated reactions
from critics. She has been called a fascist, and some call her admirers
devotees and worshippers, and even go so far as to call Objectivism
a cult. Nonetheless, the Ayn Rand Institute and the Objectivist
Center continue their work in America, and Rand’s novels still attract
a global following.
