The Remarkable Ayn Rand :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Remarkable Ayn Rand If a life finish kick in a theme song - and I believe that every worthwhile one has - exploit is best expressed in one word Individualism. (qtd. in ARI) This quote from Ayn Rand can be applied to everything she did or thought during her life. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 2, 1905, Rand felt out of place in her native country. She didnt agree with the ordinary ideas of mysticism and collectivism that formed the Russian g overnment and society. So at age 21, in 1926, she sailed to the join States. It was in the US that Ayn Rand made a name for herself, and began a new philosophy that would affect people nearly the world. Rand knew at age nine that she wanted to become a manufacture writer. What she didnt know was that her name would soon be known across the joined States, as well as Europe, for her controversial novels. Her origin novel, We the Living, was published in 1936. But it wasnt until 1945, with the arrival of The Fou ntainhead, that she won international fame. Rand had established a disposition as a talented novelist and philosopher by the time Atlas Shrugged was first printed in 1957. This work is considered by some to be her greatest work an intellectual mystery story integrating ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex. It also formulated a philosophy for living on earth (qtd. in ARI), sometimes referred to as objectivism. When she died on March 6, 1982 in her New York City apartment, she had sold over 20 million books. Although Ayn Rand is known mostly for her writing, her career in the United States began in the film industry. She left her relatives home in Chicago to go after a career as a screenwriter in Hollywood. On her second day in the city, she was standing on a recession and was offered a ride by Cecil B. DeMille, a director. He brought her to the set of his legitimate film, The King of Kings, and gave her a job as an extra. It was here, a week later, that she met musician Frank OConnor, whom she married in 1929. And although they were married for 50 years, Rand also had an 18 year relationship with Nathaniel Branden.