Ayn Rand
About the Author
Synopsis
Early Life
Schooling
PHILOSOPHER
To create her unusual stories and characters, Rand had to define the new ideas and principles that guide her heroes. She had to create a new philosophy. “I am interested in philosophical principles,” she wrote, “only as they affect the actual existence of men; and in men, only as they reflect philosophical principles.” For Rand, philosophy is not an esoteric subject but a daily force shaping individual lives and human history. You must have some view of the kind of world you live in, of how best to understand and deal with it, and of what to aim at in life. Your only choice is whether your philosophical premises are acquired by your own independent thinking or absorbed unquestioningly from those around you. Formally, Rand called her philosophy “Objectivism,” but informally she called it “a philosophy for living on earth.”
Major accomplishments
1913Attends first motion picture exhibition in St. Petersburg
1917Witnesses first shots of February revolution
1918Discovers writings of Victor Hugo To escape civil war, family moves to Ukraine (fall) and then Yevpatoria, Crimea (spring)
1921Graduates from Yevpatoria High School #4 (June 30) Family returns to Petrograd Enrolls in Petrograd State University (circa August 24) Discovers the works of Nietzsche (1921–22)
1924Discovers Viennese operettas Graduates from Leningrad State University (October 13) Enrolls in State Technicum for Screen Arts (October 15)
1927Hired by DeMille as junior screen writer (circa June 11)
1929Marries Frank O’Connor (April 15) Hired by RKO wardrobe department
1931Becomes U.S. citizen (March 13)
1982Writes her last page of “Atlas Shrugged” teleplay (January 1) Dies in New York City (March 6)
Her Books
- 1936 We the Living
- 1943 The Fountainhead
- 1957 Atlas Shrugged
- 1934 Night of January 16th
- 1938 Anthem