Ayn Rand and her book "The Virtue of Selfishness"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"The Virtue of Selfishness" is one of the cult American books, which has recently become popular in Russia. But few people know who wrote this book. At the same time, the fate of the author is more than interesting.

Anne Reid's childhood

The future writer was born in St. Petersburg in a Jewish family. At birth, she received the name Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum. A warm relationship, full of love and understanding, was kept by the future writer with her father. It was not possible to find a common language with her mother, a capricious and demanding woman.

Alice had three sisters. But she stood out against the general background by the fact that at the age of four she could read and write. Having no adventures in real life, the girl found them in abundance in books. Alice was a modest, shy and withdrawn child, therefore she could not boast of a wide range of communication. Her favorite friends were writers and heroes. Among the former, she most of all preferred Hugo, among the latter, the French heroine Cyrus, who struck with her courage and determination. At the age of nine, Rosenbaum found nothing more enjoyable to read than novels from France.

When I was littleAs a girl, Alice stood for gender equality. She was terribly annoyed when she read somewhere or heard the statement that a woman's place was at home. She was drawn to adventure and distant lands. But Alice's world was destroyed in an instant. When the girl was nine years old, the First World War broke out. Many relatives of the future writer were called to the front. They never returned home.

Youth

A couple of years after the first tragedy in the Rosenbaum family, a second one happened. The First World War was replaced by the Civil War. And then Alice's father lost everything he had. They became a poor working-class family who had to work hard to have at least some food at home.

After school, the girl went to study as a historian. She freely expressed thoughts full of faith in humanity and true heroism. Her ideal was still Hugo. But along with him, Nietzsche appeared in life, whose works Alice met already as a student.

After graduating, Rosenbaum worked as a tour guide for a while. And then she decided to leave the country and go to America. Everything was presented as a two-week trip to Chicago. But even then, Alice decided that she would not return to her native St. Petersburg.

Life in exile

When the future writer ended up in New York, she had with her only a suitcase with personal belongings, a typewriter bought by her mother after selling family jewels, and zero knowledge of English. Being practicallyunfamiliar with the culture of the West, Alice realized that under her real name she could not take place. Then she decided to take a pseudonym.

She took the name Ein (Ain), and looked up the last name on a typewriter called "Remington Rand". With a new name, she went to conquer Hollywood. Even then, thoughts were forming in her head that would finally take shape in the book The Virtue of Selfishness. However, at that time, Ein was going to become not a writer, but a screenwriter or an actress.

In Hollywood, Rand met young actor Frank O'Connor, whom she later married. So she found not only a true friend, editor and attentive reader, but also US citizenship.

Maturity and death

In the US, Ein found enough freedom to speak, write and preach what she believed in. Even then, she defended the ideas that would later be set forth in the work The Virtue of Egoism. The writer often spoke to the public, proving the failure of communism. At the age of fifteen, she abandoned religion, considering it unreasonable and humiliating.

For many years, Ann's only true friend was her husband. They never had children. The writer devoted all her time to writing and defending her own ideas. At the same time, she had many admirers who fell in love with a woman with her own point of view and burning eyes. Everyone remembers her like that.

Rand died in New York in her ownapartment. Her legal husband died even earlier. She never saw the collapse of the USSR. However, I knew that one day this day would come.

Creativity

The Virtue of Selfishness is not Ayn Rand's only or even her most popular book. She began her career in St. Petersburg. Even then, she realized that a word can excite the minds of many people and raise them to a real cause. Inspired by her favorite writers. While reading Hugo, Rand decided to write not about what people are, but about what they should be.

From her pen came a lot of books. She wrote "We are alive", "The Source", "Atlas Shrugs", "The Virtue of Selfishness". Rand also often published in various newspapers and magazines. Her publications attracted no less attention. Being very popular in the West, she remained unknown to anyone in the USSR.

About The Virtue of Selfishness

Ayn Rand, still being Alice Rosenbaum, resented Soviet slogans calling for devoting her whole life to working for the country. She believed that first of all, you should think about yourself. After all, Christianity taught to love your neighbor. Can anyone be closer to a person than himself?

The writer further developed all these ideas in her publications. At one point, there were so many of them that it was decided to put them all together and publish under one cover for all fans of Ayn Rand. The Virtue of Selfishness made a splash in the West and remained a popular book for a long time. In the post-Soviet space, the book became famousmuch later than its US release.

The Virtue of Selfishness Reviews and Reviews

Rand had many admirers and detractors. All of them could not ignore the release of a new book by the writer. And even years after her death, work still attracts a wide variety of people.

Reviews and reviews of this book say that it is worth reading only for those people who are ready to calmly listen to someone else's point of view, without experiencing deep agitation and irritation if it does not coincide with their own. Rand was one of those people who divide the world into black and white, refusing to recognize shades. She talks about the heroes and the real enemy, which was expressed for her in the face of the USSR. The writer fully corresponds to the spirit of her time. Therefore, each new generation, before getting acquainted with the works of the writer, should prepare some kind of historical basis of knowledge about that era.

Resonates with Rand's other books The Virtue of Selfishness. The reviews say that this book should become a real acquaintance with the writer for the reader, even if some of her works have already been read.

Anne Rand remains one of the most talked about writers in the world. Despite the fact that much has changed in the world since her death, her ideas continue to excite the minds of readers.