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Ayn Rand. 1905-1982. Early Life. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905 Father was a pharmacy owner By age 9, wanted to be a fiction writer. As a young girl, witnessed 1917 Bolshevik Revolution (which she opposed) Family moved to the Crimea to avoid the war (Ukraine)
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Ayn Rand 1905-1982
Early Life • Born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905 • Father was a pharmacy owner • By age 9, wanted to be a fiction writer
As a young girl, witnessed 1917 Bolshevik Revolution (which she opposed) • Family moved to the Crimea to avoid the war (Ukraine) • Communists seized father’s business; near starvation for the family
Education • Attended University of Petrograd • Studied philosophy & history • Did not study literature because she did not want to focus on writers who bored her and that she despised
Emigration • 1926 -- left USSR for America • No intention of returning • Moved to Hollywood to become a screenwriter • 1929 -- married actor Frank O’Connor
Writings • Considered herself a European writer • Red Pawn - 1932 first screenplay • Night of January 16th - Broadway play
We the Living - first novel • completed in 1933; finally published in 1936 • Based on her years under Soviet rule
The Fountainhead - began in 1935; published in 1943 • Rejected 12 times • Protagonist is Howard Roark, Rand’s “ideal man”
Atlas Shrugged - began in 1935; published in 1957 • An “intellectual mystery” • Most famous work
Anthem - finished in 1937; published in England in 1938, America in 1946 • Novelette about the danger of collectivism • Focuses on a society where the individual has no value
Philosophy • Realized that she needed to identify the philosophic principles that created a “hero” to write well • Needed to “formulate a ‘philosophy for living on earth’”
Philosophy is called “Objectivism” • Focuses on the importance of the individual • The Fountainhead shows this ideal hero • Mike Wallace Interview
Morality of Man • Morality rooted in Survival and man survives through Reason • Morality is really man’s achievement of his own habits • Man should only be influenced by SELF ONLY…not the church, government, or society’s institutions (marriage) • Man doesn’t have to sacrifice himself to others to be moral or have self esteem • Self esteem determined by himself
In Her Own Words • What is Love? • What is Education?
Final Notes • Every book Rand published is still in print • Hundreds of thousands of copies are still sold each year • So far, more than 20 million copies have sold