What is Ayn Rand best known for?

What is Ayn Rand best known for?

Ayn Rand. American novelist, playwright, non-fiction writer, and philosopher Ayn Rand was born Alisa Rosenbum in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), Russia in 1905. By the time she completed her education at Petrograd State University, she had published her first essay and changed her professional name to Ayn Rand.

When was Ayn Rand’s first book published?

Rand’s first novel was published in 1936. Rand found her first serious financial success with her worldwide bestselling novel, The Fountainhead, in 1943. She wrote the screenplay for the popular film adaptation produced by Hall Wallis and starring Gary Cooper.

When was Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged published?

Rand’s best-known work, the international bestseller Atlas Shrugged, was published in 1957. Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism is cited by selected contemporary politicians and prominent citizens as a major influence on their thinking.

What does Ayn Rand say about philosophy in West Point?

In this 1974 address to West Point cadets, Ayn Rand argues that whether we realize it or not, all of us hold and act on philosophic ideas, and that philosophy is a crucial, practical need of human life. Subscribe to receive timely updates.

Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a novelist-philosopher who outlined a comprehensive philosophy, including an epistemology and a theory of art, in her novels and essays.

Is Ayn Rand married to her husband?

She was married to him till his death in 1979. She adopted the pen name Ayn Rand to (it is thought) protect her family back in Russia, although she also told the New York Evening Post in 1936 that “Rand” was an abbreviation of her Russian surname. Rand and her husband moved permanently to New York City in 1951]

What is Ayn Rand’s philosophy on altruism?

The core of Rand’s philosophy — which also constitutes the overarching theme of her novels — is that unfettered self-interest is good and altruism is destructive. This, she believed, is the ultimate expression of human nature, the guiding principle by which one ought to live one’s life.

What is Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism?

Rand’s philosophy, which she called objectivism, tapped directly into the American ideals of freedom, hard work and individualism. In novels like Atlas Shrugged, and her non-fiction like The Virtues of Selfishness, Rand argued for the removal of any religious or political controls that hindered the pursuit of self-interest.

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was a Russian-born immigrant to the U.S. and subsequently, an accomplished American author and screenwriter. She is perhaps best-known for her seminal work of fiction Atlas Shrugged, the characters of which embody in word and action Rand’s own branch of philosophy known as Objectivism.

What was Ayn Rand’s philosophy in Atlas Shrugged?

Yet few novels have had an impact as enduring as Atlas Shrugged, a dystopian allegory in which captains of industry struggle against stifling regulations and an over-reaching government and one by one close down production, bringing the world economy to its knees. Rand’s philosophy, which she called objectivism,…

How did Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead become so popular?

The Fountainhead was serially rejected and published to ambivalent reviews, but it became a word-of-mouth hit. Over the coming years, a cult following arose around Rand (as well as something very close to an actual cult among her inner circle, known, no doubt ironically, as the Collective).

Can Ayn Rand’s philosophy be taught to a-level students?

In those novels, and in the essays and lectures she turned to afterwards, Rand expounded – at great and repetitive length – her philosophy, soon to be taught to A-level students alongside Hobbes and Burke.

Does Ayn Rand have a new follower in the White House?

But Rand’s philosophy of rugged, uncompromising individualism – of contempt for both the state and the lazy, conformist world of the corporate boardroom — now has a follower in the White House. What is more, there is a new legion of devotees, one whose influence over our daily lives dwarfs that of most politicians.