 Cover of the first edition | |
| Editor | Michael S. Berliner |
|---|---|
| Author | Ayn Rand |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Dutton |
Publication date | 1995 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 720 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-525-93946-6 (hardcover) |
| OCLC | 31412028 |
Letters of Ayn Rand is a book derived from the letters of the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand. It was published in 1995, 13 years after Rand's death. It was edited by Michael Berliner with the approval of Rand's estate.
When Rand died in 1982, the materials in her estate included copies of over 2000 letters written by her between 1926 and 1981. Berliner selected "approximately 35 to 40 percent of the total" for publication. [1] He also edited the letters to remove "less interesting material", such as opening and closing statements or apologies by Rand for not writing someone sooner after they had written her. [2] Discussing the letters in the context of a later controversy over the editing of Rand's published journals, historian Jennifer Burns affirmed that Berliner had only omitted material rather than changed the content. [3]
The hardcover edition of Letters of Ayn Rand was published by Dutton in 1995. A paperback edition was published by Plume in 1997.
The organization of the letters is largely chronological, but specific sections are dedicated to Rand's correspondence with Frank Lloyd Wright, Isabel Paterson and John Hospers. An appendix provides a form letter that Rand sent to many fans of The Fountainhead who had written her. Rand's heir, Leonard Peikoff, provides an introduction.
At the time of its release, about a dozen publications reviewed Letters of Ayn Rand, according to the Ayn Rand Institute. The reviews were mixed. [4]
In The New York Times Book Review , Christopher Cox, then a member of the United States House of Representatives, gave the book a positive review. He said Rand's letters were "an important part of Ayn Rand's intellectual contribution" that are "filled with flashes of emotional insight, surprising facts and unintended humor." [5] This was the first positive review of one of Rand's books in The New York Times Book Review since 1943. [4]
Another positive review came from Rand scholar Chris Matthew Sciabarra. Writing in Reason magazine, he predicted that Rand's letters would "delight and sometimes shock readers", and said "what is most startling about the collection is how well it humanizes Ayn Rand." [6]
Liberty magazine editor R.W. Bradford found the book interesting and said it "allows the reader to see glimpses of the real woman and her development as a thinker and writer." [7] However, he described Berliner's editing as "inept" [8] and Peikoff's introduction as "uninformative". [9] He said Rand wrote relatively few letters for a significant literary figure, and suggested Berliner held back potentially interesting letters for fear of upsetting Rand's "self-made myth," which Bradford considered "inexcusable". [8]
In The Washington Post , Jeffrey Frank described the book as "ultimately tedious". He said her earlier letters are "considerably more interesting than the later ones", which include "an endless amount of whining about various publishers, her detailed responses to editors' suggestions, her hectoring assertions of her beliefs." [10]
In National Review , Florence King said the "book reeks of the sycophancy that Miss Rand always inspired" and noted several letters attacking the National Review itself, "the magazine she loved to hate". [11]
Objectivist magazines praised the book, with one saying, "in her letters we learn more of the style of her soul", [12] while another called the book "the next best thing" to knowing Rand personally. [13]
In a review for the Los Angeles Daily News , Scott Holleran called the book "a treasure chest" in which "Rand emerges as a passionate thinker". [14]
Other reviews included a review by Claudia Roth Pierpont in The New Yorker , [15] and reviews in Booklist , [16] Choice , [17] and the Richmond Times-Dispatch . [18]
Rand scholars writing about the book some years later also expressed mixed opinions. Mimi Reisel Gladstein complimented the "uncommon variety of letters" included, saying it "allows the reader access to the many facets of Rand's private and public personae." [19] However, she noted a mistake regarding Rand's birthday at the beginning of the book, and included it among several posthumous books approved by Rand's estate that "have not always exhibited a confidence-inspiring level of academic rigor." [20] Jennifer Burns said scholars can use the material in the book, but indicated the material omitted by Berliner includes items "of high interest to the historian" so that "important insights can be gleaned only from the originals." [3]
Alice O'Connor, better known by her pen name Ayn Rand, was a Russian-born American writer and public philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system she named Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful and two Broadway plays, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel, The Fountainhead. In 1957, Rand published her best-selling work, the novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward, until her death in 1982, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own periodicals and releasing several collections of essays.
Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute".
The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, her first major literary success. The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an intransigent young architect who battles against conventional standards and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation. Roark embodies what Rand believed to be the ideal man, and his struggle reflects Rand's belief that individualism is superior to collectivism.
Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Russian–American writer Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the United Kingdom. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when mankind has entered another Dark Age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated. A young man known as Equality 7-2521 rebels by doing secret scientific research. When his activity is discovered, he flees into the wilderness with the girl he loves. Together they plan to establish a new society based on rediscovered individualism.
We the Living is the debut novel of the Russian American novelist Ayn Rand. It is a story of life in post-revolutionary Russia and was Rand's first statement against communism. Rand observes in the foreword that We the Living was the closest she would ever come to writing an autobiography. Rand finished writing the novel in 1934, but it was rejected by several publishers before being released by Macmillan Publishing in 1936. It has since sold more than three million copies.
This is a bibliography for Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Objectivism is a philosophical system initially developed in the 20th century by Rand.
The Early Ayn Rand: A Selection from Her Unpublished Fiction is an anthology of unpublished early fiction written by the philosopher Ayn Rand, first published in 1984, two years after her death. The selections include short stories, plays, and excerpts of material cut from her novels We the Living and The Fountainhead.
Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand is a 1991 book by the philosopher Leonard Peikoff, in which the author discusses the ideas of his mentor, Ayn Rand. Peikoff describes it as "the first comprehensive statement" of Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. The book is based on a series of lecture courses that Peikoff first gave in 1976 and that Rand publicly endorsed. Peikoff states that only Rand was qualified to write the definitive statement of her philosophic system, and that the book should be seen as an interpretation "by her best student and chosen heir." The book is volume six of the "Ayn Rand Library" series edited by Peikoff.
The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature is a collection of essays regarding the nature of art by the philosopher Ayn Rand. It was first published in 1969, with a second, revised edition published in 1975. Most of the essays are reprinted from Rand's magazine The Objectivist.
The Objectivist movement is a movement of individuals who seek to study and advance Objectivism, the philosophy expounded by novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand. The movement began informally in the 1950s and consisted of students who were brought together by their mutual interest in Rand's novel, The Fountainhead. The group, ironically named "the Collective" due to their actual advocacy of individualism, in part consisted of Leonard Peikoff, Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, Alan Greenspan, and Allan Blumenthal. Nathaniel Branden, a young Canadian student who had been greatly inspired by The Fountainhead, became a close confidant and encouraged Rand to expand her philosophy into a formal movement. From this informal beginning in Rand's living room, the movement expanded into a collection of think tanks, academic organizations, and periodicals.
The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism is a 1964 collection of essays by the philosopher Ayn Rand and the writer Nathaniel Branden. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Objectivist Newsletter. The book covers ethical issues from the perspective of Rand's Objectivist philosophy. Some of its themes include the identification and validation of egoism as a rational code of ethics, the destructiveness of altruism, and the nature of a proper government.
The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution is a 1971 collection of essays by the philosopher Ayn Rand, in which the author argues that religion, the New Left, and similar forces are irrational and harmful. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Objectivist. A revised edition appeared in 1975, and an expanded edition edited by Peter Schwartz was published in 1999 under the title Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution.
Philosophy: Who Needs It is a collection of essays by the philosopher Ayn Rand, published posthumously in 1982. It was the last book on which Rand worked during her lifetime.
Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It is her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing. She described the theme of Atlas Shrugged as "the role of man's mind in existence" and it includes elements of science fiction, mystery and romance. The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism, including reason, property rights, individualism, libertarianism and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw as the failures of governmental coercion. Of Rand's works of fiction, it contains Rand's most extensive statement of her philosophical system.
Objectivist periodicals are a variety of academic journals, magazines, and newsletters with an editorial perspective explicitly based on Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. Several early Objectivist periodicals were edited by Rand. She later endorsed two periodicals edited by associates, and a number of others have been founded since her death.
Mimi Reisel Gladstein is a professor of English and Theatre Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso. Her specialties include authors such as Ayn Rand and John Steinbeck, as well as women's studies, theatre arts and 18th-century British literature. In 2011 she was named to the El Paso Historical Hall of Honor.
Journals of Ayn Rand is a book derived from the private journals of the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand. Edited by David Harriman with the approval of Rand's estate, it was published in 1997, 15 years after her death. Some reviewers considered it an interesting source of information for readers with an interest in Rand, but several scholars criticized Harriman's editing as being too heavy-handed and insufficiently acknowledged in the published text.
Judgment Day: My Years with Ayn Rand is a 1989 memoir by psychologist Nathaniel Branden that focuses on his relationship with his former mentor and lover, Ayn Rand. Branden released a revised version, retitled as My Years with Ayn Rand, in 1999.
The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand is a 1984 collection of essays on Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, edited by Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen. It includes essays by nine different authors covering Rand's views in various areas of philosophy. The work received positive reviews, crediting it with bringing serious attention by philosophers to Rand and her work. However, reviewers also noted that the work assumed considerable prior knowledge of philosophy on the part of the reader.
The Ayn Rand Cult is a book by journalist Jeff Walker, published by Open Court Publishing Company in 1999. Walker discusses the history of the Objectivist movement started by novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, which he describes as a cult.