Works of Ayn Rand. American writer Ayn Rand: biography, creativity, best works and interesting facts from life. Romantic manifesto. Philosophy of literature


Ayn Rand is an American writer originally from Russia. Her real name is Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum. The reader is familiar with the novels “Atlas Shrugged,” “The Source,” and “We Are the Living.” A woman is the creator of the philosophical doctrine of objectivism. Once she came to America with fifty dollars in her pocket and a typewriter in her suitcase, and today more than 500 thousand copies of her books are published annually in the world, and their total circulation has long exceeded 30 million.

Childhood and youth

Alice was born into a Jewish family in St. Petersburg. Her father Zalman-Wolf (Zinovy ​​Zakharovich) Rosenbaum worked as a pharmacist. Mother Hana Berkovna (Anna Borisovna) Kaplan was a dental technician. Alice had two sisters - Natalya and Nora. My maternal grandparents were extremely wealthy people in the city. Berka Itskovich Kaplan owned a large clothing company for the military, and Rosalia Pavlovna worked in the pharmaceutical industry.

At first, the girl’s father was the administrator of the pharmacy, but in 1914 he became its co-owner. The family lived in a spacious apartment directly above this pharmacy.

Alisa was brought up in prosperity and studied at the prestigious girls’ gymnasium named after Stoyunina. At the age of 4 she learned to read, and during her school years the girl began writing her first stories. At the age of 9, she realized that in the future she dreams of becoming a writer. The girl saw the enthusiasm of her family during the February Revolution and felt the scale of the problem during the October Revolution.

In 1917, her father’s pharmacy was taken away, and the family had no choice but to move to Crimea for the time being. Alisa graduated from high school in Yevpatoria. But soon the Bolsheviks reached there too.


When the girl was 16, the family returned to St. Petersburg. Alisa entered Petrograd University at the Faculty of Social Pedagogy. The training was designed for 3 years, the faculty united three sciences at once - history, law and philology. It was then that she became acquainted with the works that had a great influence on the young lady. In 1924 she graduated from the university. Although there is a version that the girl was expelled due to her bourgeois origin.

It is not surprising that the theme of politics runs through the works of Ayn Rand. Many of her heroes fought against the despotism of the tsar or against communist power.

Literature

In 1925, Alice Rosenbaum’s first work, “Pola Negri,” the story of the film actress’s creative path, was published. That same year, the girl received an American study visa and left for the United States. At first she lived with relatives in Chicago. But after six months she moved to Los Angeles.


The girl hardly spoke English; her possessions included a small suitcase with personal belongings and a typewriter. As soon as she set foot on American soil, she decided to take a pseudonym. She chose a simple name - Ain, and did not think about the surname for a long time, borrowing the name of the brand of her typewriter, Remington Rand.

Her parents remained in Russia, in Leningrad. They died during the siege of the city during World War II. Her sister Natalya died in 1945, but Nora, at the invitation of Ain, immigrated to the United States. True, the woman soon returned to the Soviet Union and lived in Leningrad until her death - until 1999.


Alice did not come to the USA empty-handed; while still in Russia, she wrote four full-fledged film scripts. Therefore, her goal was to get into Hollywood. However, she soon began working in Hollywood as an extra. But her scripts were rejected. In 1927, the film studio where Ayn Rand worked closed. The woman worked part-time as a waitress, saleswoman, and costume designer.

In 1932, she managed to sell the script to the film company Universal Studios. Her work, entitled “Red Pawn,” was purchased for $1,500. And at that time it was a good amount. The money received allowed Ayn Rand to concentrate on writing books.


In 1933, she completed her first play, Attic Legends. It was even staged on Broadway, but it was not successful with the audience, so it was soon removed from the repertoire.

In 1934, Ain completed work on the novel “We Are the Living,” in which she talked about Soviet Russia. This was nothing more than a public statement by the writer against communism. The book was published in 1936, Rand was paid $100 for it. The year it was published, the novel was not a commercial success. In 1937, the book was published in Great Britain.


Rand then plunged into writing her novel The Fountainhead. She created this work for 4 whole years. Sometimes the writer was so devoted to the process that she sat at the typewriter for 30 hours, without stopping for sleep or a snack.

But the result was worth it; critics praised The Source; the book was on the national bestseller list 26 times. Although initially everyone refused to print the manuscript. Some said the plot was too controversial, too intellectual and not intended for the general public. And only the only publishing house, Bobbs Merrill Company, agreed to publish Rand’s book.


In 1949, Hollywood made a film based on The Fountainhead; the main character, the ideal man Howard Roark, was played by Gary Cooper. Of course, the success of this work spurred Ayn Rand to work even harder. And in 1957 she published her main novel, Atlas Shrugged. She worked on the work for 12 years.

In the book she talks about freedom, selfishness and hypocrisy of modern society, about moral values. According to polls, Atlas Shrugged is in second place after the Bible on the list of books that have the greatest influence on Americans.


When the book became a bestseller, the writer's early works were republished. For example, the novel “We are the Living.” True, the writer made some adjustments to the text. According to her, minimal. Today, the first edition of a book is very rare and valuable.

After the publication of Atlanta, Ayn Rand wrote only books of journalistic content. She devoted the rest of her life to her philosophical teaching.

Personal life

For the first time, Alisa Rosenbaum fell in love in St. Petersburg. The object of her attention was Lev Borisovich Bekkerman, a graduate of the Leningrad Technological Institute. It was he who became the prototype of Leo Kovalensky in her work “We are the Living.” Beckerman was shot on May 6, 1937.


One day on the set a woman saw actor Frank O'Connor. Afterwards she said that this was her ideal. In 1929 they got married. And in 1931, Ayn Rand received American citizenship. She and her husband lived in marriage until his death. The man died in 1979.


According to her, her husband became her faithful friend, editor and life companion. True, this did not stop her from having a young lover, Nathaniel Brandon; he shared her philosophy and was a follower of the writer. The young man was 24 years younger than Rand. It is noteworthy that Frank knew about this relationship, because it lasted 13 years.

Death

Ayn Rand died on March 6, 1982 in her own home in New York. The cause of her death was heart failure. The woman was buried in the Kensico Cemetery.


Since she had no children, she bequeathed her estate to Leonard Peikoff. 3 years after the writer’s death, the man founded the “Ayn Rand Institute: Center for the Development of Objectivism.”

Bibliography

  • 1934 – “Ideal”
  • 1936 – “We are the living”
  • 1938 – “Anthem”
  • 1943 – “The Source”
  • 1957 – “Atlas Shrugged”
  • 1958 – “The Art of Fiction. A Guide for Writers and Readers"
  • 1964 – “The Virtue of Selfishness”
  • 1969 – “Romantic Manifesto”
  • 1979 – “Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology”

Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum was born in St. Petersburg, in the family of pharmacist Zalman-Wolf (Zinovy ​​Zakharovich) Rosenbaum (1869, Brest-Litovsk - between 1941-1943, Leningrad) and his wife, dental technician Hana Berkovna (Anna Borisovna) Kaplan (1880, St. Petersburg - November 1941, Leningrad), the eldest among three daughters (Alice, Natalya and Nora). Zinovy ​​Zakharovich served as the manager of pharmacies owned by Anna Borisovna's sister Dobrula Kaplan and her husband Ezekiel Konheim, where in 1904 he met his future wife - the daughter of a tailor, owner of a large enterprise for sewing military uniforms Boris (Berka Itskovich) Kaplan and pharmacist Rosalia Pavlovna Kaplan.

Soon after the birth of his youngest daughter Nora in 1910, Zinovy ​​Zakharovich became the manager of the large pharmacy of Alexander Klinge on Nevsky Prospect and Znamenskaya Square, and the family moved to a spacious apartment on the second floor of the mansion above the pharmacy. The third floor was occupied by the family of another sister, Anna Borisovna, and her husband, the famous St. Petersburg gynecologist and medical scientist Isaac Moiseevich Guzarchik (1864-?). Already in 1912, Zinovy ​​Zakharovich became a co-owner and in 1914 the sole owner of this pharmacy, the staff of which now included 6 pharmacist assistants, 3 trainees and several assistants.

In 1917, after the revolution in Russia, Zinovy ​​Rosenbaum's property was confiscated and the family moved to Crimea, where Alice graduated from school in Yevpatoria.

On October 2, 1921, Alice entered Petrograd University with a degree in social pedagogy for a three-year course combining history, philology and law. During her studies, she became acquainted with the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche, which had a great influence on her. She graduated from the university in the spring of 1924. Some sources erroneously claim that she was expelled from the university due to her "bourgeois background". In 1925, in the “Popular Film Library” series, Alice Rosenbaum’s first printed work, “Pola Negri,” an essay on the work of a popular film actress, was published as a separate book.

In 1925, she received a visa to study in the United States and settled in Chicago with her mother's cousins ​​who lived there. Her parents remained in Leningrad and died during the siege during the Great Patriotic War. Both sisters also remained in the USSR. Natalya Zinovievna Rosenbaum (1907-1945) graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory. Eleanor Zinovievna Rosenbaum (married Drobysheva, 1910-1999) emigrated to the United States in 1973 at the invitation of Ayn Rand, but soon returned to the Soviet Union and lived in Leningrad/St. Petersburg until her death. Alice's first love, a graduate of the Leningrad Technological Institute Lev Borisovich Bekkerman (1901-1937, Leo Kovalensky in her novel “We are the Living”), was shot on May 6, 1937.

Alice remained in the USA and began working as an extra in Hollywood. The four finished film scripts that she brought from Russia did not interest American film producers. In 1929, she married film artist Frank O'Connor (eng. Frank O'Connor, 1897-1979). On March 13, 1931, she received American citizenship.

In 1927, the studio where Ayn Rand worked closed, and until 1932 she worked various temporary jobs: as a waitress, as a newspaper subscription saleswoman, and then as a costume designer at the RKO Radio Pictures studio. In 1932, she managed to sell the script for “Red Pawn” to the film company Universal Studios for $1,500, which was a very large sum at that time. This money allowed her to leave her job and focus on literary activities.

Ayn Rand died of lung cancer on March 6, 1982. She is buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

Literary creativity

Rand wrote her first story in English, “The Husband I Bought,” in 1926, the first year of her life in the United States. The story was not published until 1984.

In 1936 in America, and in 1937 in Great Britain, Ayn Rand’s first novel “We the Living” was published about the life of disenfranchised people in the USSR. Rand put a lot of effort into the novel; she wrote it for 6 years. But critics considered “We the Living” a weak work, and American readers also did not show much interest in this book. However, in 1942, the novel was filmed in Italy, and the total circulation was 2 million copies.

In 1937, she wrote a short story, “Anthem,” which was published in Great Britain in 1938. The second major novel, The Fountainhead, was published in 1943, and the third, Atlas Shrugged, in 1957. After Atlas, Rand began writing philosophical books: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966), For the New Intellectual (1961). ), “Introduction to the Philosophy of Knowledge of Objectivism” (1979), “New Left: Anti-Industrial Revolution” (1971), “Philosophy: Who Needs It” (1982), “The Virtue of Selfishness” (1964) and many others, as well as give lectures at American universities.

Political Views

In her political beliefs, Rand defended unlimited (laissez-faire) capitalism and minarchism, and considered the only legitimate function of the state to be the protection of human rights (including property rights).

On October 20, 1947, Rand testified as a witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee in connection with the film Song of Russia. In her testimony, Rand regarded the film as communist propaganda. In general, she believed that persecution for expressing communist views was contrary to freedom of speech, but she believed that the state had the right to know who was a member of a party that advocated violence to achieve political goals. At the same time, she supported private measures to reduce the penetration of communist ideology into cinema. She said about this:

Perception of heritage in the West and in Russia

In the West, the name Rand is widely known as the creator of the philosophy of objectivism, based on the principles of reason, individualism, rational egoism and which is the intellectual justification of capitalist values ​​as opposed to socialism, which was popular during the years of her active writing (1936-1982).

Her story "Anthem" became a source of inspiration for Neil Perth, drummer of the Canadian rock band Rush, who wrote the lyrics to the song of the same name.

A number of organizations in the United States and other countries are engaged in the study and promotion of the literary and philosophical heritage of Ayn Rand. First of all, this is the Ayn Rand Institute () in Irvine (California).

In Russia, despite several translations of her novels, Rand still remains a little-known writer and philosopher. Well-known fans of Ayn Rand in Russia are economist Andrei Illarionov, businessman Evgeny Chichvarkin, writer and journalist Yulia Latynina.

Books

  • Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (3 volumes) = Atlas Shrugged. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2011. - P. 1364. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1430-1
  • Ayn Rand The Source (in 2 volumes) = The Fountainhead. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2011. - P. 808. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1671-8
  • Ayn Rand We are the living = We the Living. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2012. - P. 473. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1752-4
  • Ayn Rand The Virtue of Selfishness = The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2011. - P. 186. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1462-2
  • Ayn Rand Return of the Primitive. Anti-Industrial Revolution = Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2011. - P. 352. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1480-6
  • Ayn Rand Capitalism. The Unknown Ideal = Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2011. - P. 424. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1471-4
  • Ayn Rand Romantic Manifesto. Philosophy of Literature = The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2011. - P. 200. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1556-8
  • Ayn Rand The art of fiction = The art of fiction. - M.: "AST", "Astrel-SPb", 2011. - P. 319. - ISBN 978-5-17-076672-7
  • Ayn Rand The husband I bought = The husband I bought. - M.: "AST", "Astrel-SPb", 2011. - P. 319. - ISBN 978-5-271-38484-4
  • Ayn Rand Think twice = Think twice. - M.: “AST”, “Astrel-SPb”, 2012. - P. 319. - ISBN 978-5-271-38691-6
  • Ayn Rand's Concept of Selfishness. - Association of Businessmen of St. Petersburg, 1995. - 128 p. - (Monuments of common sense). - ISBN 5-85186-038-3
  • Ayn Rand Anthem = Anthem. - M.: "Alpina Publisher", 2011. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1696-1
  • Ayn Rand's Apology for Capitalism. - M.: “New Literary Review”, 2003. - ISBN 5-86793-229-X
  • Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged (in 3 volumes) translation by Kostygin D.V. = Atlas Shrugged. - St. Petersburg: Kult-inform-press, 1997. - 1000 copies.

Articles

Film adaptations

The novel "The Fountainhead" was filmed in 1949, starring Gary Cooper. The novel “We the Living” was filmed in 1942 and in 1986, and the film adaptation of the novel “Atlas Shrugged” was released in 2011. Three of the writer’s novels and several plays were filmed; Ayn Rand was also the screenwriter of the films “Love Letters”, which received four Oscar nominations and “You Are Alone.” In total, there were 11 film adaptations based on the works and scripts of Ayn Rand.

The script for the computer game BioShock was created based on the critical attitude of the game creators to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. According to the game's scenario, the founder of the city, Andrew Ryan (an anagram of the name of the writer Ayn Rand - And Ryan), embodies the ideas of the free market without external interference, which leads to the destruction of the city.

Ayn Rand must be given her due. (Preferably in tangible form; her most sacred object was the American dollar.) Despite her humble beginnings, she managed to found her own philosophical movement and become one of the most read and revered authors of the 20th century. In the ranks of her followers you can meet many celebrities, from the famous tennis player Billie Jean King to the economist Alan Greenspan. And Ayn Rand herself was faithful to the same strange hairstyle for more than half a century - which can also be classified as an achievement.

Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum, was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States in 1926. She arrived in New York, but then headed to Hollywood, where she appeared in a cameo role in Cecil B. deMille's biblical epic "King of Kings" and later rose to the position of chief costume designer at Radio-Kate-Orpheum Studios. An ardent anti-communist, she began writing screenplays and then novels that reflected her radical individualist philosophy (first me, then everyone else). The Fountainhead, published in 1943, featured the power-hungry architect Howard Roark (a poorly hidden reference to Frank Lloyd Wright). This work marked the beginning of a new philosophical movement, now known as objectivism, which gradually began to attract more and more new fans.

In 1947, Rand spoke before a committee of the US House of Representatives criticizing Hollywood, which, in her opinion, created too positive a picture of life in the USSR. She enjoyed the roles of accuser and founder of her own philosophical movement (some even say cult), which was actively promoted by her student and lover Nathaniel Branden in the 1950s and 1960s. Rand's main work, Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957, only strengthened her reputation as the main preacher of “rational egoism.” She repeatedly appeared on television in various talk shows, where she willingly debated with opponents.

Rand was never a favorite of the literary public and regularly received unflattering reviews from both publishers and critics. One publisher rejected The Source, adding the following note to the manuscript: “It’s poorly written and the hero is unsympathetic.” Another lamented: “I wish there was a readership for books like this. But she's not there. The book won't sell." The novel Atlas Shrugged was called "unsuitable for publication and sale." In his review of the thousand-page Talmud, published in National Review, writer and editor Whittaker Chambers decried the author's “dictatorial tone,” noting that “in all my reading life I cannot remember another book in which a sense of arrogance has been so persistently maintained. This is harshness, devoid of any condescension. This is dogmatism, devoid of any attractiveness." But, putting aside dogmatism, let's say that Ayn Rand had another, softer and more humane side, which she rarely turned to the public. She collected stamps and pieces of agate. She was a Scrabble fan. Left alone at home, Rand loved to turn on the gramophone, put on a record with songs from the early 20th century, and sing along. Sometimes she even took the conductor's baton, danced around the room and waved the baton to the beat of the music. She was not interested in nature (she even stated that she hated looking at the stars), but she was interested in the creations of human hands, for example, skyscrapers. “If you look at the skyline in New York in the evening, you will see the most magnificent sunset in the world,” she said. “It seems to me that if all this beauty is threatened by war, I will rush through the entire city and throw myself into space to obscure these buildings with my body.”

I wonder if she felt the same way about TV mogul Aaron Spelling's home.

In a 1980 interview with television journalist Phil Donahue, Rand admitted that she was a big fan of the television series Charlie's Angels. She called the 1970s hit “the only romance series on television. It's about three beautiful girls who do all sorts of impossible things. The impossibility is what makes them interesting. These three girls are better than so-called real life.”

Ayn Rand's own so-called real life ended on March 6, 1982. The writer died of cardiac arrest. She is buried in New York's Kensico Cemetery one grave away from jazz conductor Tommy Dorsey.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

How did Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum turn into Ayn ​​Rand? Contrary to popular legend, she could not take a pseudonym in honor of her favorite typewriter. The Remington-Rand brand did not yet exist in 1926, when the writer changed her last name. Some claim that her nickname is related to the South African currency, but there is no conclusive evidence for this. English-speaking literary scholars even have a theory that the English word “rand”, written in Cyrillic, is similar to her real surname Rosenbaum - well, here you can judge for yourself that this is not so. In general, the secret of the surname remains a secret. But “Ain” is the name of a Finnish writer whose work Rand was passionate about.

AT HIGH SPEEDS

From the age of twenty-eight until she was seventy-something, Ayn Rand, let's say, was in a long-term relationship with Dexedrine, a drug that promotes weight loss. These weight-loss pills, containing the powerful stimulant drug dextroamphetamine, were often shown on American television in commercials warning teenagers against drug use and describing the negative side effects of “speed” (another name for amphetamines). According to some accounts, Rand took two small green pills daily for more than forty years, until finally her doctor advised her to stop taking them. Thus, the sudden mood swings and outbursts of rage that Rand was prone to may well be explained by drug use.

VINTAGE HOBBY

In addition to taking green pills, Rand had another hobby - philately. She collected stamps as a child, and then remembered this activity when she was already over sixty. She even, with her characteristic tediousness, provided a philosophical basis for her hobby, publishing an essay in 1971, which, of course, was called “Why I Love Collecting Stamps.”

LIVING TOY

Rand had many followers around her, but none of them were as devoted to the writer as Nathan Blumenthal, a student from Canada who first became her protégé, then her intellectual heir, and then her personal sexual toy. They met in 1950, when nineteen-year-old Blumenthal sent Rand an enthusiastic fan letter. To his surprise, the famous writer invited him to her home so that he could participate in one of the endless philosophical discussion meetings that she called “Collectives.” Blumenthal (he would soon change his name to Nathaniel Branden) managed to quickly penetrate the writer’s inner circle. Rand even became a bridesmaid at his wedding. By 1955, their relationship became physical. Rand was fifty by then, and Branden twenty-five. In conversations with friends, she mentioned that she should have sex with him at least twice a week - in order to “relieve writer’s block.”

How did their spouses react to such a non-trivial relationship? Rand's husband, Frank O'Connor, didn't seem to mind. Branden's wife put up with the situation for several years (Rand was kind enough to inform the poor woman in advance about her plans to enter into a relationship with her husband), but then she finally filed for divorce. Branden used his access to the body of the founder of Objectivism to establish the Nathaniel Branden Institute, a center dedicated to spreading Rand's egotistical "good news" throughout the world. However, in 1968, this idyll came to an end: Branden began secretly dating another Rand follower, a young and beautiful model. Having caught her partner in infidelity, Rand flew into a rage and vowed to destroy him. She gave a speech to the public in which she officially expelled Branden from the Objectivist movement. Branden now lives in Beverly Hills, California, and works as a psychotherapist specializing in self-esteem issues. In 1999, he published a controversial memoir, My Years with Ayn Rand.

LA-LA-LA, lu-lu-lu, I DON’T LOVE THIS CRAP!

Rand hated all classical romantic music, especially Beethoven and Brahms. She even happened to completely break off relations with friends if she found out that they loved Beethoven!

GOLDWATER FAN

The name Rand is usually associated with political conservatism, but in reality it is not so easy to sort her views into categories. Although she often supported Republican presidential candidates, she voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 (a decision she later regretted) and refused to support Ronald Reagan in 1960 (she criticized him for "a mixture of capitalism and religion" and called Reagan "representative of the worst type of conservative"). The candidate who practically embodied her philosophy was Senator Barry Goldwater, a Republican from Arizona. Endorsing him in her Objectivist Bulletin in 1964, Rand wrote: “In times of moral decline, such as these, men seeking power for power's sake seek leadership everywhere and destroy one country after another. Barry Goldwater is the only one who lacks the lust for power... Living in a world gripped by dictatorship, can we afford to miss such a candidate? As practice has shown, we can. Despite Rand's support, Goldwater lost the presidential election to Lyndon Johnson by more than fifteen million votes.

AYN RAND WAS AMONG THE MANY FANS OF THE POPULAR SERIES CHARLIE'S ANGELS IN THE 1970s. SHE CALLED IT “THE MOST ROMANTIC SERIES OF OUR DAYS.”

SO IT TURNS OUT WHAT IS THE SECRET OF “2112”!

The Grammy in the category “Most Unusual Follower of Ayn Rand” goes to... Neil Peart from the Canadian rock band “Rush”! The drummer and lyricist behind such classic rock hits as "Tom Sawyer" and "New World Man" fell in love with Rand's Objectivist philosophy in the early 1970s while living in London. Attentive listeners will likely find references to Rand's works generously scattered throughout the lyrics of "Rush."

TENNIS PHILOSOPHY

Such diverse and dissimilar personalities as rocker Neil Peart, former head of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher flocked to the ranks of the followers of Objectivism. In addition, this teaching has affected an unusually large number of women's tennis legends. Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova have all spoken frequently about the influence of Rand's novels on their lives. When Martina Navratilova was asked to name her favorite book, she chose The Fountainhead, which taught her the importance of “striving for excellence and staying true to your dreams and ideals, even if it means going against public opinion.” And Billie Jean King said that Atlas Shrugged helped her make a new breakthrough in her career in the early 1970s. by Weiss Gary

Gary Weiss The Universe of Ayn Rand Dedicated to Seymour Zucker and the memory of Bill Wallman, as well as to publishers and economists who are unfailingly true to their strong moral principles If money could atone for sins, Only the richest in the world would be saved. My tests (folk

From the book “Stars” that conquered millions of hearts author Vulf Vitaly Yakovlevich

Introduction. The Significance of Ayn Rand The year 2009 began, and the dire consequences of the financial crisis were evident everywhere. The first shock has already passed, but it hasn’t gotten any easier. The search for those responsible was in full swing. I was collecting materials for a magazine article about Timothy Geithner, just

From the book Steve Jobs. The one who thought differently author Sekacheva K. D.

Ayn Rand Freedom Atlanta Although she was born in Russia, her name is practically unknown in our country, meanwhile in the West she is considered one of the most influential writers and thinkers of the second half of the last century. According to opinion polls, her main book

From the author's book

Ayn Rand “Atlas Shrugged” 1957 Ayn Rand (February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982) is an American writer of Russian origin and philosopher, creator of the philosophical movement of objectivism. “Atlas Shrugged” is the fourth and last

The Great American Delirium or “Who is John Galt?” Ayn Rand, aka Alice Rosenbaum, author of a national bestseller, second in sales in the United States after the Bible, believed that “The cross is a symbol of torture. I prefer the dollar sign - a symbol of free trade and a free mind."

The Library of Congress once conducted an extensive sociological survey trying to determine which book had the most profound influence on Americans. The first place, of course, was taken by the Bible, but the second place was taken by the “great American incorruptible” Atlas Shrugged" This “great work” was created by a “philosopher and writer” Ayn Rand(Ayn Rand), known in the USA as the “Russian American writer” - “Russian Writer”, - or “American Leo Tolstoy in a skirt, originally from St. Petersburg.” Onthe Runet website dedicated to creativity and promotion of her ideas says so : « Atlas Shrugged" is a novel by our great compatriot Ayn Rand, who emigrated to the USA in the mid-20s».

Every year her books are published in a circulation of more than half a million copies, the total number reaching 25 million. Rand published her first bestseller, The Fountainhead, in 1943. "Atlant" was released in 1957. At the same time, interest in Rand’s books did not fade away, but also increased almost exponentially (until the crisis struck and sales of “Capital” went up Marx)…

Milton Friedman And Ronald Reagan. Alan Greenspan. For Hillary Clinton

However, no matter how impressive these figures may seem, they cannot convey the extent of the influence that Rand has on our contemporaries. And we are not talking about ordinary readers; the third generation of the business and political elite is being brought up on Rand’s books. Suffice it to say that among those readers who publicly acknowledged her influence on the formation of their own views were Milton Friedman And Ronald Reagan. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve System (1987-2007), one of the developers of the channeling of emission money into derivatives and other virtual derivatives, considered one of the most influential figures in the US, for many years he was also a member of the “Collective” - Ayn Rand’s circle, her consistent student and admirer. For Hillary Clinton Rand is a "role model." And American presidents built their foreign policy in full accordance with the ideas of the “genius writer”...

From an interview with Ayn Randgave to Playboy magazine in 1964 :


"Playboy": You said that today any free nation has the moral right, if not the obligation, to attack Soviet Russia, Cuba, or any other "slave cattle pen." This is true?
Ayn Rand:
Absolutely right. A totalitarian state that violates the rights of its citizens is outside the law and does not dare to declare its own rights...

According to Newsweek ”, gave a definition of Ayn Rand’s unprecedented influence on the socio-political field of the country: “She is everywhere” (but now she writes “ Can Ayn Rand Survive the Economic Crisis? »).

The matter did not end with America alone. On April 25, 2000, at the presentation of the Russian translation of “Atlanta,” the economic adviser to the President of the Russian Federation Andrey Illarionov stated that Ayn Rand, " one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century" is his idol. To the journalist’s question: “ And you Vladimir Putin introduced you? Or maybe he is already familiar with this book?", Illarionov replied: " The book was in the personal library of the President of the Russian Federation even before I became an adviser to the President" Hmmm, a selection of books Boris Nikolaevich done by professionals wisely... ( By the way, I wonder if this opus is observed in the office Dmitry Anatolyevich- ask him on a personal forum)…

In addition, it turns out that a group of influential admirers of Ayn Rand’s work until recently actively lobbied the Duma and government structures for inclusion of books by “our great compatriot” in the compulsory secondary school curriculum , (along with the Constitution of the Russian Federation)…

Shtetl Tao

You cling to your neighbor, and you have wonderful words for this. But I tell you:

your love for your neighbor is your bad love for yourself.

Friedrich Nietzsche


Ayn Rand came to America at the age of 21 as a fully formed virgin, and it is reasonable to assume that she drew the fundamental ideas of her work from the life experiences accumulated in her nominal homeland. But in countless official and unofficial biographies, Rand’s Russian page is outlined in three phrases: born in St. Petersburg, decisively rejected the revolution, emigrated to the USA.

Zinovy ​​Zakharovich Rosenbaum, originally from the wretched small-town Brest-Litovsk, finally broke through the Pale of Settlement, successfully marrying Anna Borisovna Kaplan, a native of St. Petersburg. Zinovy ​​Zakharovich worked hard in the pharmaceutical business and in 1912 became the owner of a promising pharmacy on Znamenskaya Square at the end of Nevsky. In this remarkable family, the future greatest American writer Ayn Rand was born on January 20, 1905, according to the metric - Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum.



Alice met the February revolution with an open heart. But I didn’t accept Oktyabrskaya. The objective prerequisites for the above assessment were: in February, the Tsar’s privileges were rather abstractly deprived, and in October, Zinovy ​​Zakharovich’s pharmacy was taken away from Zinovy ​​Zakharovich quite specifically - as they say, two big differences. After the Rosenbaums went on the run after their confiscation, is it any wonder that the discomfort of nomadic life left an indelible mark on young Alice's political views?

In the fall of 1918, Zinovy ​​Zakharovich realized that it would not be possible to return the pharmacy, gave up and took his family to Ukraine, then the Rosembaums moved to Crimea. Advanced biographers of Rand like to draw parallels with the family based on the Crimean exodus Nabokov, especially since Alisa studied in St. Petersburg at a girls’ gymnasium with Olga Nabokova, the writer's sister. As he writes Alexander Etkind: « The Nabokovs managed to escape to England by selling jewelry along the way, but the completely impoverished Rosenbaums had to return to Petrograd" The hypothesis is, to put it mildly, absurd. It’s not even a matter of jewelry (it would be a good businessman Zinovy ​​Zakharovich if he didn’t save a couple of gold pendants in bottles of medicine for a rainy day!), but in the assessment of changes. For the Nabokovs, the power of the Bolsheviks was an absolutely foreign and alien power, while the Rosenbaums had every reason to perceive it as blood. That’s why the Nabokovs sailed away on a ship, and Alice’s family safely sat out the discomfort of the civil war and returned to St. Petersburg (but

exhibitions dedicated to citizen Rosenbaum are currently being held at the Nabokov Museum )…

While Alice, internally indignant at the Soviet regime for the alienation of family property, serenely completed her education at Evpatoria school No. 4, another fiery girl Rosalia Samoilovna Zemlyachka-Zalkind she caught half-dead white officers throughout Crimea, whom she personally shot in the back of the head. Hand in hand with an internationalist Beloy Kun and a security officer Feldman The compatriot liquidated about 100 thousand people, for which she received the Order of the Red Banner in the spring of 1921. At exactly the same time, Alisa Rosenbaum received her certificate, and her repressed family decided: it was time to go back to Petrograd!

On August 24, 1921, Alice entered Petrograd State University. That same year she first became acquainted with books Friedrich Nietzsche, whose influence on her work, noticeable even with the naked eye, she always temperamentally denied.

The ideas of the German philosopher caused in Alice’s fragile soul that painful dichotomy, which she never managed to get rid of until her death. On the one hand, the young PSU student hated the Bolsheviks for their “low, rootless origins,” admiration for the stupid masses and contempt for the human person. On the other hand, she secretly felt admiration for the Ubermenschliche (superhuman) ambitions of revolutionary heroes, especially evident in the “exploits” of the valiant Cheka/GPU. All this inevitably merged into a kind of sexual-Freudian mess, from which the work of Ayn Rand and the philosophical theory of objectivism that lies at its foundation (the term was coined by the writer herself) were then born. These experiences almost literally formed the basis of Rand's first novel, We The Living (1936): the love story of a young noblewoman (!) Kira Argunova(one must understand this as a prototype of Alice herself) to Lev Kovalensky, the son of the executed tsarist admiral, and Andrey Taganov, GPU investigator (!)...

Throughout her American life, Ayn Rand carefully pushed into her subconscious the reverse side of her enthusiastic admiration for the unbridled brutality of Bolshevism. At the same time, she strongly emphasized her categorical rejection of Bolshevik collectivism and neglect of individual rights. Well, naturally, her name was under the strictest ban in the Soviet Union. The most Bolshevik (in mentality and manners) public figure in America was nominally considered a terrible anti-communist and the worst enemy of Soviet power.

Now the most interesting thing: Alice Rosenbaum’s very dual perception of Bolshevism was a commonplace for those who subconsciously felt an inner closeness to the roots of the revolution, but for one reason or another were rejected by this revolution or did not find a place in it. Another thing is striking: the form in which the “removal” of this contradiction took place in the soul of the future bardess of Laissez-Faire Capitalism. The twenty-year-old graduate of Petrograd State University clearly formulated her main enemy and religiously carried his image until the end of her life.

Its attributes: - collectivism,- altruism,- mysticism.

And although Ayn Rand always claimed that she was fighting Bolshevism, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that we are talking about Christianity. It is in Christianity that the idea of ​​self-sacrifice (=altruism), community (=collectivism) and belief in the miraculous (=mysticism) are most expressively intertwined. Everything that Ayn Rand wrote in her life, every line of her fiction books, political pamphlets and popular-philosophical essays is imbued with boundless (truly Bolshevik!) hatred of Christianity, and only then, latently, of communism, totalitarianism and other “isms” . It's funny, but that's about it

another, older imperishable woman also repeats

After graduating from the Faculty of Social Pedagogy, Alisa Rosenbaum entered screenwriting courses at the Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography (LGITMiK, October 15, 1924) and at the same time thought deeply about leaving. Writes Alexander Etkind: « In 1926, she applied for an exit visa and was lucky. She reached New York through Riga. She is twenty-one years old. Alice's mother and father remained in denial. They will die in St. Petersburg during the blockade" Yes, this is such a tragedy, but Zinovy ​​Zakharovich, Anna Borisovna and Alisa’s two younger sisters Natalya and Eleanor, of course, did not remain in any “refusal”. The Rosenbaums simply did not think about emigrating: the former pharmacist, unlike his eldest daughter, was not delusional about his noble origins and therefore sincerely believed that Soviet power was his native power, quite reliably protecting him from pogroms. Alice herself kept her true intentions in the strictest confidence: she was given a visa not to change permanent residence, but only for a short trip to visit her maternal relatives - Tailors... Hmmm, the end of the 80s - the beginning of the 90s, the sausage emigration under the guise of “political”, “demshiz” is now diligently scribbling in the Russian blogosphere about the “horrors of the Soviet Union” and the “bloody KGB”...

Land of Great Opportunity

Take a look at our country. This is the most noble country in the history of mankind. The country of the greatest achievements, the greatest prosperity, the greatest freedom. And this country did not arise from selfless service, not from sacrifice, not from dedication and not from altruism. This country was founded on human rights

achieve happiness. Your own happiness. Yours, and no one else's. Private, personal,

selfish motivation. And what are the results!

Ayn Rand, about the USA


Already boarding the ocean liner, Alice knew for sure: there would be no turning back. She will never return from America to the kingdom " red Christian Ham" Meanwhile, the task was not an easy one: the currency in my pocket was as big as a nose, knowledge of the language was zero (it’s funny that until the end of her life Ayn Rand spoke English with a terrible accent), the visa was only for six months, the US emigration quota was exhausted by seven years ahead. Alice decided: if she couldn’t get hooked, she would go to Mexico or Canada, where she would patiently wait in the wings. The naive advice of the Tailors - to spit on formalities and live quietly without a visa, as the rest do - Alice rejected with indignation and by no means romantic pragmatism: “ I'm not going to live in America illegally. Someday I'll be famous and it will show right away».


The first step towards conquering a new world was changing names. Alice Rosenbaum burned in the oven like the skin of a frog princess, and the divine Ayn Rand was born. The official version states that " Alice was worried about the safety of her relatives remaining in the USSR“... right up to the mid-60s... She still hid her real name from all her admirers, supporters and even her closest friends, if meticulous journalists had not found out. But the pseudonym ideally corresponded to all the literary characters of the future writer: they are warlike and noble, emphatically of the Nordic type and of noble origin - real Valkyries of the Wagnerian sense. However, the comparison is unfortunate, since Ayn Rand hated German composers - not only Wagner, but also Mozart With Beethoven. German philosophers also suffered: Immanuel Kant she defined it as “the first hippie in human history.” There's work here for the old man Freud

From February to August, Ain lived in Chicago with the Tailors, eagerly fussing about extending her visa, after which she left to find her destiny in Hollywood. The Dream Factory immediately turned to the defector in the right place, despite the fact that no change of names could eliminate the flaws in Ain’s appearance: a lack of waist, non-Euclidean limbs, lack of a bust, neurotic thinness, hysterical character, and finally, that impossible nose... What remained, however, were the eyes , about which so many enthusiastic memories have been written! Lev Rockwell, the president Free Enterprise Institute: “These were the eyes of a reptile, capable of killing with its gaze.” Barbara Branden, comrade-in-arms and biographer of the writer: “ The dark eyes seemed too big for her face. Covered with dark eyelashes, they radiated an inhuman tension of thought. These were the eyes of a creature woven from the power of clairvoyance».

These eyes sank into the soul of the famous director Cecil DeMille, who already on the second day (!) after Ain’s arrival in Hollywood, noticed the girl at the gates of his own studio. Cecile invited Ain into the car, drove her to the set, and an hour later offered her a job first as an extra and then as an employee in the script department. Three days later, Ayn Rand's eyes burned through the actor's heart Frank O'Connor, whom she married three years later. On March 13, 1931, she received an American passport and became naturalized.

In 1927, DeMille's studio closed, and Ayn had to work as a waitress, newspaper subscription saleswoman, and then as a costume designer at RKO Radio Pictures. The next six years of vigorous rotation in the cinema scene were spent pushing through his own script. In 1932 the studio

Universal “I bought “Red Pawn” for one and a half thousand dollars. The script was never put into production, but the fee was enough to devote himself entirely to his professional career as a writer. True, it was not possible to go wild: with the advent of the Great Depression, Frank’s career quickly faded away, never to be revived. Until his death in 1979, he remained in the shadow of his great wife, content with the role of manager of the family ranch in California and gardener-florist.

In 1936, Ayn Rand wrote her first novel, We the Living. She was lucky again: the book was published by a prominent publishing house " M acmillan " But the love story of the Russian noblewoman Kira “for some reason” did not find a response in the hearts of the American man in the street. But in 1942, at the height of World War II, the novel “We the Living” was filmed in fascist Italy. Two films from the Roman studio “Scalara” were released at once - “We the Living” and “Farewell, Kira”.

His next work, the dystopian story "Anthem" (1938), with traces of deep influence Zamyatin And Huxley Ayn Rand decided to publish it in England. Alas, the change of location did not affect the result: the work of the novice graphomaniac did not strike a chord in the hearts of the inhabitants of Albion.

Ayn Rand's genius was evident in the conclusions she drew from her early failures: it's not about ideas, it's about form! Her new compatriots did not care at all about the events in a foreign and incomprehensible Russia; the American plot was another matter. But thoughts can be left unchanged. The novel “The Fountainhead” (1943), which brought Rand boundless fame, became just such a correct book.

The path to the stars was thorny - “The Source” was rejected one after another by 12 publishing houses. What is impressive is not so much the unanimity of book businessmen as the inhuman tenacity of the author: what kind of character does one need to have in order to swallow an insult 12 times in a row, wipe it off and knock on the next door? The thirteenth publishing house, Bobbs-Merrill, was ready to join the previous 12 and send The Source to the trash bin, but then it lay down its bones Archie Ogden, young editor: " If this isn't the book you're looking for, I'm not the editor you're looking for!“The pathos of self-sacrifice was so romantic that the director doubted his own literary taste. The book was published, and literary critics immediately subjected the novel to withering criticism. But ordinary readers praised “The Source” to the skies. The circulation at that time was simply unthinkable: 100 thousand copies. Already at the end of 1943, Hollywood bought the film rights for 50 thousand dollars. Ayn Rand's pension contribution was made.

An amazing pattern: during Ayn Rand’s lifetime, not a single positive review of her books was written! However, the stronger the accusations of graphomania, amateurism, ignorance and plagiarism, the better her works sold out.

After the success of The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand began writing the main work of her life - the novel Atlas Shrugged. It took 12 years and 3 million 106 thousand 261 characters to create the imperishable. The novel was published on October 10, 1957 and has since become firmly established in the “treasury of American culture.”

Despite derogatory reviews and the overwhelming length (1,168 pages in small print), readers avidly reveled in the characters, plot and, most importantly, “objectivism” - the writer’s independent philosophy. Circles of ardent admirers and propagandists of Rand's ideas arose everywhere. Activists of the “inner circle” (the same “Collective”) - Nathaniel And Barbara Branden- established a special institute (Nathaniel Branden Institute), sponsoring courses and lectures on objectivism from ocean to ocean. In the late 50s, the future financial genius of America, Alan Greenspan, also joined the “Collective” (he was married to Barbara Branden’s high school girlfriend).

Little by little, the figure of Ayn Rand began to undergo mythologization and acquire cult forms, which, however, only contributed to the growth of her popularity.


Imperishable shrugged her shoulders

“By raising the dollar sign as our symbol, a symbol of free trade and free minds, we

we begin our movement to wrest our homeland from the hands of weak savages,

to whom its nature, meaning and splendor remained unknown.”

Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"


The novel “Atlas Shrugged” itself is exactly one and a half times larger in volume than “War and Peace”. For the first thousand pages, various characters in various circumstances constantly ask each other: “ Who is John Galt?"And they shrug their shoulders in bewilderment. Fifty pages before the end, John Galt finally materializes and immediately becomes the main character. As for the plot, it resembles the development of the production theme in books of socialist realism. With a minus sign.

In Atlanta, Rand describes a “capitalist strike” who refuse to live by socialist laws and leave the world. This leads to the collapse of civilization and proves that people who create business enterprises are the ones who carry the world on their shoulders. It is not surprising that for many entrepreneurs this greatest work of American literature has truly become a second Bible.

Rand considers any form of government redistribution of wealth immoral. The author of "Atlanta" speaks not only about the unconditional moral superiority of capitalism over any other form of economy. She sharply criticizes the mainstream political parties of the right and left, which have more or less abandoned the free market and created a climate of dependency and dependence of people on each other. This is what the main character of the work, John Galt, says to the American population regarding the strike of leading industrialists:

« There is no need to shout that it is our duty to serve you. We do not recognize this debt. Don't shout that you need us. We do not consider need to be a reasonable requirement. Don't shout that you own us. This is wrong. Don't beg us to come back. We are going on strike - we, people who live by reason.
We are on strike against self-sacrifice. We strike against the dogma of unearned rewards and unrewarded responsibilities. We are on strike against the doctrine that man's pursuit of happiness is evil. We are on strike against the teaching that life is sinful
».

In the third volume, Rand formulates a moral credo: " I swear on my life that I will not live for someone else and I will not ask someone else to live for me. ».



Do you know capitalism? Oh, you don't know capitalism! (websitesem 40)

“The task of human consciousness is to perceive reality, not to create it.

Man's mind is his only instrument of knowledge. And always A."

Ayn Rand

“Either a new morality based on rational personal gain, and as a consequence -

freedom, justice, progress and happiness of man on earth. Either -

the old morality of altruism, and as a consequence - slavery, violence,

incessant terror and sacrificial ovens.”

Ayn Rand


The stunning success of Ayn Rand cannot be explained only by the well-chosen plot of her books. The dog is buried in “objectivism,” which, according to former adviser to the President of the Russian Federation Andrei Illarionov, places Rand among the greatest philosophers of the 20th century. But don't take academic criticism of Alice Rosenbaum's "philosophy" for granted. Her merit is that she was the first to lower philosophy to the level of understanding of the average person. Or rather, she didn’t omit anything, since her own level of philosophical perception of the world was always outside the framework of the academic tradition. Ayn Rand is not Zarathustra, not understood by ordinary people, but a rope dancer who draws sincere applause from the market square.
Peter Schwartz, Chairman of the Board of the Ayn Rand Institute, very accurately defined the contribution of his patroness to the development of American civilization: “ Ayn Rand gives people a fundamental philosophy of life, a philosophy based on reason. This philosophy teaches every person that he has the moral right to live not for the sake of others, but for the sake of his own happiness" Briefly and clearly.
The beauty of objectivism is that it is easy to explain, easy to digest, and easily fits into everyday American morality. The provisions of objectivism are transparent, like the commandments of the Soviet pioneer:
- Reason is the only instrument of knowledge and the only guide to action.
- The main task of a person in life is to achieve personal happiness without sacrificing oneself for the sake of others and without demanding sacrifices from others. - Capitalism is the highest achievement of humanity, and free enterprise is the basis of universal happiness and prosperity.
- The only task of the state is to ensure the inviolability of private property and individual rights. Everything else is a usurpation of power.
- Religion, God, altruism, collectivism, self-sacrifice, selfless service, mysticism and intuition are the worst enemies of a free person, immoral obstacles to a bright future and progress.
- The main engine of progress is not writers, not artists, not philosophers, not poets, but businessmen. They are the greatest sufferers of the modern era.

About goats

“Every political force that seeks to enslave a nation, every real or potential dictatorship, needs the existence of a minority from which it is made a scapegoat, on which all the blame for the failures of the nation is placed and which is used to justify its dictatorial habits. In Soviet Russia, such a scapegoat was the bourgeoisie, in Nazi Germany - the Jewish people, in America - businessmen.”

Ayn Rand


Americans liked objectivism so much that after the death of the writer, they began to promote it in addition to two official competing institutions - the aforementioned Ayn Rand Institute, founded by the spiritual and material heir Leonard Peikoff(the writer had no children), and the Institute for Objectivist Research David Kelly- thousands of circles and societies popping up like mushrooms on every university campus.
However, the weakness of objectivism lies in the fact that the American national consciousness is a very specific thing, and therefore not only unpleasant, but also completely unacceptable in other civilizations. So one can hope that objectivism will not take root either in Europe, or in the East, or in Russia. The reader can sleep peacefully: his children will never see him John Galt in the school curriculum. In any case, I would really like to hope...

Epilogue
A year before her death, Ayn Rand gave a speech at the annual conference in New Orleans, organized by James Blanchard, Chairman of the National Committee for Currency Reform. Four thousand prominent entrepreneurs, bankers, financial consultants, investors, economists, mutual fund managers and manufacturers held their breath and listened to every word of their idol. Ayn Rand ended her speech with the words of John Galt, the hero of the novel Atlas Shrugged: “ The world you so desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. But in order to conquer it, complete concentration is required, a complete break with the world of your past, a break with the doctrine that man is a sacrificial animal who exists for the pleasure of others. Fight for your own self-worth. Fight for your own pride. Fight for the essence of man: his sovereign rational consciousness».
The trembling old woman's voice, falling into falsetto and blurred by a heavy accent, was suddenly drowned in the frantic applause of the audience, which, rushing from their seats, with tears in their eyes, selflessly expressed endless gratitude on behalf of the most oppressed class of America... Nietzsche also sobbed with them...P. S. And at the end of XX I centuries have not yet died out of utopians who want to build a happy future in a particular place at any cost. In this case, on a man-made concrete island in the neutral waters of the Caribbean Sea, 120 miles west of the Cayman Islands. According to a report in The New York Times Magazine, an eccentric businessman from Oklahoma Howard Turney, who changed his name to Lazarus Long, planned to create a new state there. Everyone was invited, ready to make a monetary contribution to the construction of a New Utopia. A mandatory condition for obtaining citizenship was the recognition of the basic principles on which a unique state would be built: the philosophy of objectivism, or rational egoism, developed in the writings of the American writer Ayn Rand.
I wonder what purpose Mr. Lazarus Long is currently using the book for?
__________________
Based on the article S. Golubovsky

And

Ayn Rand's main book fueled interest in one of the most influential American women of the 20th century, and today she cannot be called “forgotten” or “little known” in her homeland. However, it is also obvious that many compatriots only heard the name. Therefore, here today I will describe the biography of Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum, an emigrant from Russia who had a huge influence on the formation of America's ideas about itself.

In any case, one of Ayn Rand’s students and admirers, former (and most famous) head of the US Federal Reserve System Alan Greenspan, admitted: “It was she who convinced me, through long nightly arguments, that capitalism was not only efficient and practical, but moral.”

Ayn Rand (Alice Rosenbaum) (1905-1982)


Alisa Rosenbaum was born into the family of a pharmacist (according to other sources, a seller of household chemicals) in St. Petersburg (she had two younger sisters).

Natasha, Nora and Alisa Rosenbaum

She studied at a prestigious women's gymnasium (together with Vladimir Nabokov's sister Olga). Father rejoiced at the February revolution, but not the October one; My father’s pharmacy was confiscated and the family left for Crimea. Soon the Bolsheviks came there too. Alisa graduated from a gymnasium in the south, where for some time she taught literacy to Red Army soldiers, which she recalled with warmth. When she was 16, the family returned to Petrograd.

Alisa Rosenbaum in her youth

There, Alice Rosenbaum entered the Faculty of Social Pedagogy, specializing in history, and graduated three years later, in the spring of 1924. At this time, she became interested in cinema, and she studied at the Photo and Film College for a year. At the same time, she published her first book - a brochure about the popular actress Pola Negri.

At the end of 1925, Alice received a visa to visit her relatives in the United States and left Soviet Russia in January 1926. As it turned out, forever.

Alisa Rosenbaum at 19 years old, student

In the USA, Alice Rosenbaum took the pseudonym Ayn Rand, and since then she has been known by this name. She studied English with relatives in Chicago for six months, and then moved further west. Her first goal was Hollywood, but the four scripts she brought with her did not suit anyone. For some time, Ayn Rand worked as an extra - getting this opportunity was also not easy; biographies say that Hollywood producer Cecil DeMille offered her a job after he gave her a ride in his convertible to a girl returning from another refusal at a film studio.

Ayn Rand on the balcony of her Hollywood apartment in the late 1920s.

In April 1929, Ayn Rand married aspiring actor Frank O'Connor, with whom she lived her entire life.

Frank O'Connor

In 1934, Ayn Rand completed her novel “We the Living,” in which she spoke about Soviet Russia. Rand herself wrote about him this way (looking back at the American left, who at that moment sympathized with the Soviet Union):

"this is the first story written by a Russian who knows the conditions of life in the new Russia and who actually lived under Soviet rule. ... The first story written by a man who knows the facts and who was saved to tell them. "

The plot of the love affair is that the main character gives herself to a security officer in order to save her loved one who is arrested and sick with consumption, but the security officer turns out to be a complex and strong character and also attracts her. When the men find out about each other, the security officer releases the arrested man and commits suicide, and the freed man abandons the heroine. She tries to flee the country, but is killed by a sentry at the Latvian border. However, the novel contains much more details and atmosphere of Russian reality during the NEP period.
Much later, Ayn Rand characterized the novel this way:

"We, the living not a story about Soviet Russia in 1925. This is a story about a dictatorship, any dictatorship, everywhere and at all times, be it Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany or - what this novel may have helped prevent - socialist America ".

The novel was not successful in the year of its first publication, but became a bestseller at the peak of the Cold War, in 1959. To date, two million copies have been sold.

However, in the mid-thirties, Rand's success was brought to her by the play (and film script) " Night of January 16 ". The play was staged on Broadway. During the performance, a jury was recruited from the audience, and the performance had two ending options, depending on the decision of the jury.

Ayn Rand as a screenwriter

In 1938, in England (and only seven years later in the USA), Ayn Rand's short dystopia was published. Hymn “, which depicted a future where the word “I” is forgotten. The main character, who fled from the team after many hardships, begins a new life with the invention of this word.

Ayn Rand did not like Roosevelt, believing that he was leading the United States along the path to socialism. In 1940, she campaigned for Republican candidate Wendell Willkie. During this time, she met (and became friends with) many leading free market advocates, including, for example, Ludwig von Mises.

The writer's first great success was the novel " Source ", which has already sold 6.5 million copies. The main idea of ​​the novel: too many people live for others or the lives of others, instead of living independently.

"Civilization is progress towards a society of privacy. The whole existence of a savage is public, governed by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of liberating man from other people ".

« I swear on my life and love for it that I will never live for another person and will never ask or force another person to live for me "- says the hero of her next and most famous novel" Atlas Shrugged ", published in 1957.

In 1947, Ayn Rand was invited as a witness to a House of Representatives committee hearing on the investigation into un-American activities in Hollywood. She insists that "Mission to Moscow" and "Song of Russia" misrepresent the USSR, embellish its reality, and are in fact propaganda for communism.

After the success of The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand moved from California to New York. She gains fans and supporters. It was at this time that a group was formed around her, playfully (referring to Rand's core individualist idea) called "The Collective", which included, among others, future Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Nathan Blumenthal (later to become Nathaniel Branden) and Leonard Peikoff.

Nathaniel (25 years younger than Ayn) was her enthusiastic admirer. In 1954, they began an affair (as English Wikipedia writes, with the consent of their spouses).

But Ayn Rand's most famous work was Atlas Shrugged. Here is a typical quote:

« On the morning of October thirty-first, he received notice that all of his property, including checking and deposit accounts, had been seized in connection with a court indictment for a three-year-old income tax arrears. It was an official notice, issued in strict accordance with the law, except that no arrears ever existed, and no legal proceedings took place at all ».

Do not try to recognize Russian realities in this text. The location is the USA. The main intrigue " Atlanta …”: Socialists come to power in the USA, as well as throughout the world, persecution of large (and then all other) businesses begins, the free market gives way to the planned economy, the country is slowly plunging into chaos and darkness. Opposing this accelerated heat death are a few businessmen like Hank Rearden and the novel's protagonist, Dagny Taggart, each of whom is a true embodiment of the spirit of free enterprise. The forces, however, turn out to be unequal, and one after another the positive heroes leave the stage, abandoning factories, mines and wells to be torn to pieces by a pack of government officials who are absolutely incapable of any creative work. The results of such a general strike are terrible: the economy is destroyed, civil war breaks out, and famine begins.

In this novel and subsequent philosophical works, Ayn Rand creates her own philosophy, which she called Objectivism. (Ugly simplifying, I would characterize it as the antipode of constructivism). She defined the basic principles of objectivism as follows:

reality exists independently of anyone's beliefs and desires;

reason is the only source of knowledge for humans and the main tool for survival;

a person finds a goal in himself, this means that each individual must live with his own mind and for himself, without sacrificing himself to others, and without making others his victims;

capitalism is the only moral social system.

Ayn Rand viewed philosophy not as a refuge from this world or a game, but as a matter of life and death. A passionate defender of individualism and capitalism, she considers political philosophy to be only a consequence of fundamental philosophy: " I am, first of all, a defender not of capitalism, but of egoism, and not even so much of egoism as of reason. If a person recognizes the priority of reason and is consistent in this, everything else goes without saying ".

Modern philosophers, for example linguistic analysts, do nothing but convince students of their inability to understand reality as it is. Rebelling against Western tradition, Rand sought support in the common sense of a businessman who valued his personal understanding as the main means of practical life.

In the late 1950s, Blumenthal-Branden created his Institute to promote the ideas of Ain, but in 1964 Nathan's affair with a young actress (whom he eventually married, leaving both his first wife and Ain) leads to their breakup and closure of the institute.

However, in 1985, Leonard Peikoff created it, which still exists today. In addition to the institute, there is also the Ayn Rand Society, which is active.

Ayn Rand had a very negative attitude towards the student unrest of the late 1960s:

"A social movement that began with the ponderous, puzzling constructions of Hegel and Marx ended with a horde of unwashed children trampling and screaming. "I want it right now" " she wrote about performing at Berkeley in 1965.

In 1968, she addressed the rioting students: " the ideas of your professors have ruled the world for the last fifty years, causing ever greater devastation... and today these ideas are destroying the world just as they have destroyed your self-respect ".

Sometimes Ayn Rand even claimed that contemporary America had implemented all the provisions of the Communist Manifesto. Like most conservatives, Rand gave ideas a causal meaning. Only from such a position can we talk about intellectual responsibility. If you believe that ideas lead to actions, a person can be held accountable for ideas. Radical thought, on the contrary, has always valued materialist schemes. Among their other functions, they are useful in that they deprive the thought itself of causal significance, and therefore of responsibility for its own consequences.

Ayn Rand died in 1982, according to some sources from lung cancer, according to others - from cardiac arrest.


Ayn Rand taught Americans to be proud of capitalism, not ashamed of it. At the beginning of her writing career, she needed Russian experience for this. Later, she learned to formulate thoughts without directly drawing on experience that was exotic for Americans, but this experience - the memory of the collectivist experiments of the first years of Soviet power - was always with her.

"Atlas Shruggs ", according to some surveys, is the most popular book in the United States after the Bible - almost 8% of Americans recognized its influence on themselves.

In today's Russia, Ayn Rand's ideas are in demand.
At the presentation of the Russian translation " Atlanta "The translators announced that they would seek approval of this novel as compulsory reading in secondary schools. Former economic adviser to the president and now opposition leader Andrei Illarionov called Rand his idol, and said that he recommended Putin to read" Atlanta ".

main sources:
Wikipedia , Etkind A. Interpretation of travel: Russia and America in travelogues and intertexts. M., 2001.

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