Letters of Ayn Rand

Rating:
Summary: It's a shame someone has to die...
Review: ...in order for a book like this to be published. But finally we get a real look into the private life of a fascinating author and philosopher. Having just finished a number of years at PSU, it seems clear that Objectivism is making headway as a serious philosophical view.

I'm more interested in music myself than philosophy, but I did notice that in the study of philosophy the Ball that Miss Rand got rolling so many years ago has gathered quite a bit of size and speed. Her ideas made sense to me both before and after I studied Logic, Semantics, and Philosophy. In fact, after studying the "big boys," as one professor of mine called them, I definitely saw a need for a philosophy that states that things are what they are!!

Anyway, I'm devouring this book!!!

Rating:
Summary: It's a shame someone has to die...
Review: ...in order for a book like this to be published. But finally we get a real look into the private life of a fascinating author and philosopher. Having just finished a number of years at PSU, it seems clear that Objectivism is making headway as a serious philosophical view.

I'm more interested in music myself than philosophy, but I did notice that in the study of philosophy the Ball that Miss Rand got rolling so many years ago has gathered quite a bit of size and speed. Her ideas made sense to me both before and after I studied Logic, Semantics, and Philosophy. In fact, after studying the "big boys," as one professor of mine called them, I definitely saw a need for a philosophy that states that things are what they are!!

Anyway, I'm devouring this book!!!

Rating:
Summary: Needs less cheese and more meat
Review: A potentially fascinating book, spoiled by some bad editorial choices. First of all, this is really the selected letters of Ayn Rand, and some of the selections are maddening-the book contains over half a dozen letters to Leonebel Jacobs, a fairly obscure portrait artist Rand knew back in the 1940s, but only a single letter apiece to Nathaniel and Barbara Branden, two of the most central figures in her life.

There are some other questionable omissions as well. A section devoted to Rand's correspondence with philosopher John Hospers contains only Rand's half of the exchange, even though Hospers was apparently willing to allow his own letters to Rand to be published, and even though he expressed concern that "[Rand's] summary of what I said sometimes did not reproduce what I really did say." I for one would like to have seen both sides of the dialogue; it would have been a rare opportunity to observe Rand actually debating her ideas. If the problem was lack of space, I think the smart move would have been to make room for Hospers' letters by cutting out some of Rand's less essential correspondence, like her note thanking Leonebel Jacobs for "the wonderful cheese" he sent her in 1948.

Oh well. Maybe sometime in the future, after the current controllers of her estate have gone on to that great Dead Letter Office in the sky, a more complete version of Rand's correspondence will become available. Until then, the anemic "Letters of Ayn Rand" will have to do.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating chronicle of the soul behind Atlas Shrugged.
Review: As one who knew Ayn Rand quite well at the end of her life, I was still amazed by this book: the unique combination of passionate valuing and ruthless logic that characterized her later years shone throughout her life--but with fascinating variations in form. Through these letters, you follow her life from age 21, when she writes back home to Russia, to Leo (the model for the hero of her first novel), to her long and brilliant philosophic correspondence with Prof. John Hospers after the publication of _Atlas Shrugged_. Also letters to H. L. Mencken, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mickey Spillaine, Barry Goldwater, Cecil B. DeMille, Bennett Cerf, Walt Disney, Alexander Kerensky, Ginger Rogers, Robert Stack, Isabel Paterson, as well as her responses to ordinary fan-letters. An intimate chronicle of the soul from which sprang Howard Roark, Francisco d'Anconia, John Galt and her other unprecedented heroes.Harry Binswanger ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: Ayn Rand is the author of numerous philosophical works, fiction and non-fiction alike. She is best known as the founder of her unique Objectivist philosophy, which is essentially concerned with individual men acting in their own rational self-interests, coupled with a strong moral defense of free-market Capitalism. Her ideas are very complex, yet easily grasped by the interested reader.

“Letters of Ayn Rand” is a wonderful book for Rand fans, however I think many of the ideas will be lost on newcomers. “Letters” contains almost 60 years worth of personal letters Miss Rand wrote during the course of her lifetime. We have a very wide range of recipients for her letters here, everyone from philosophers, heads of state, newspapermen, literary agents, Hollywood types, fans, political organizations, you name it. Rand was just as eloquent and blunt with her letter writing as with her “serious” writing.

I very much enjoyed following Rand’s career through these letters. We start with a young Russian woman trying to settle in to American life, through a writer’s struggles to get her work published, and ending with the writings of an established philosopher ahead of her time. Rand fought tooth and nail to get both “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” published as written, however we learn that she was not entirely against having editorial assistance. Rand understood the editor’s job of providing constructive criticism of her work; however she always stood tall and insisted on making any sort of changes to her works personally. She never tolerated any sort of editorial “rewrites” of her novels or her original screenplays, etc.; Rand fought many tough battles with editors, publishers, film producers, etc. during the course of her writing career for the purpose of having her work stand as written by her hand ALONE. This was very difficult to do back in the 40s and 50s (probably more so today), as witnessed by her numerous letters to the powers-that-be.

Rand was brutally honest with everyone she wrote letters to, including family members and adoring fans. Rand was helping to support a niece during the girl’s troubled high school days. Rand then found out that the girl and her caretakers weren’t being up front with her, and subsequently told her relatives in no uncertain terms that Rand’s assistance for the girl is NOT charity and that her help is NOT unconditional. In other instances, fans of Rand who misinterpreted her books were shown little sympathy; not because Rand was against teaching fundamentals of her philosophy (she acted as a teacher far more often than not), but because the letter-writer seemed to have purposefully missed Rand’s crucial philosophical points. Rand had no patience for those who would claim to be fans of “The Fountainhead”, yet ask her to support causes that did not match the ideas of her novels. Her voice is always clear, and her uncompromising use of reason and logic are unmatched.

There are some complaints from other reviewers regarding the choice of publishing Rand’s numerous letters to philosopher John Hospers. The argument revolves around the choice of not publishing Hospers’s responses to Rand, and that the letters presented here are “one-sided”. While I can understand the argument, the fact is that this book is intended to be “Letters of Ayn Rand”, not “Letters of John Hospers”. It is made clear to the reader that Rand and Hospers had numerous conversations other than their written correspondence, and Rand’s letters to Hospers are only a small portion of their conversations. Therefore, EVEN IF Hospers letters were published alongside Rand’s, the discussions between the two would remain incomplete. I myself have no problem reading Rand’s letters to him without having the other side published, mostly because I trust Rand to have been honest with her rebuttals of Hospers’s ideas.

Another complaint revolves around the lack of letters to / from Nathaniel Branden. The philosophical split between Rand and Branden is well known, however I think the choice to ignore their (probable) arguments within these pages was a sound one. Certainly, Rand and Branden’s long term working relationship included far more than dissenting letters between the two of them. Branden and Rand worked side by side for many years, and I find it unlikely that the details of their split are to be found strictly in the form of “letters” to each other. It is much better for both parties in my opinion to refrain from detailing their split, as Rand is not longer with us to defend herself. Truly, I would love to know what went on to cause their split, but I would rather know nothing at all than hear only one side.

I came away with a better understanding of many of Rand’s ideas, which is significant because I have already read the bulk of Rand’s published works. Rand arrives at her conclusions in a different manner within her letters, and the “different” approach presented here served to make clearer her attitudes towards life and politics. Certainly, it was a blessing to read her answers to specific questions, as there are ideas within her work that are difficult to grasp when told from only one angle.

This book is a treasure trove for all Rand fans, but is not for beginners. Rand makes many references to characters and events within her philosophical novels that come across as cryptic to readers not familiar with the material. After reading “Letters of Ayn Rand” in full, the Rand “novice” would come away with a rudimentary, patchwork feel for her ideas at best, so I cannot recommend this book unless you have already read “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” at the very least.

Rating:
Summary: She Meant It
Review: Ayn Rand once said that her personal life was a postscript to her novels. According to her, it consisted of the sentence: "And I mean it."

Here is a collection of Miss Rand's personal letters from which we can judge, partly, whether such a statement wsa true -- or not. Was Ayn Rand a passionate valuer? Was she just? Did she take ideas as seriously as she claimed? These are but a few of many questions that this book, which documents what Rand wrote off-the-record, answers.

Long before turning the last page, the one sentence I couldn't help but say was: "She meant it."

Rating:
Summary: These letters would make great bedside reading, except they'
Review: I agree completely with David Brown who writes on The Daily Objectivist website: "Never mind your views of Rand's views or how long it's been since you read the Promethean tale of the man who "set out to stop the motor of the world, and did." If you're at all intrigued by the fiery personality that was Ayn Rand, you must, no option, read these letters. Covering some five decades of her life, and penned with her unique intensity, they give us the most fascinating insight into Rand's mind and life in many years. And there's a surprise on almost every page." Indeed there is! This book is full of gems...see Ayn Rand tell a young man how to find the right woman! (Hey, it worked for me!)

Rating:
Summary: Revealing, and EXACTLY in the way her admirers think
Review: I found this book tremendously inspiring, as inspiring as a great biography--because in a sense that is what it is. Ones sees that despite the negatives, Ayn Rand took joy in the great crusade of ideas that constituted her life. Through these letters the reader feels like he is participating in this drama.

The most interesting aspect is, in the Introduction's words, the "series of painful shocks" by which she came to realize the philosophical and moral bankruptcy of "the pitiful compromisers and anti-intellectual temporizers" known as conservatives. A few of them have posted reviews below. As comes out in those postings, conservatives want to "conserve" not only capitalism, but also the moral-philosophical status quo. This is evident in the logical structure of the arguments presented. An "actual" philosopher is presumed by them to be any representative of that Establishment, whereas a young person striving to come to an independent grasp of reality has got to be an unwitting victim. A novelist who solves an ancient problem (the is-ought gap) in the course of composing a character's climactic speech ("Well, I never! A speech in a novel! Who ever heard of such a thing?") is only starting to engage in "efforts" in philosophy when she refers to and cites that speech in the manner of a proper academic who is publishing before he perishes.

One hears the familiar drone of the conservative in another reviewer's condemnation of Rand's morality of rational self-interest as "justification for behaving in a[n] anti-social manner that is slowly destroying the fabric of the societies of the Western World."

One often hears it said about Objectivists (those who espouse Ayn Rand's philosophy) that "No disagreement with her writings is ever accepted and if you disagree you are an evil communist/collectivist." It is true that many of her admirers, notably among the young (who are especially fiery when it comes to ideals), act that way. But these LETTERS show that that was not Ayn Rand's own attitude when she believed the person was intellectually honest--witness her correspondence with, among many others, John Hospers.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe worthwhile for Rand scholars....
Review: Perhaps I was just coming down off of an Ayn Rand high when I read this, but whatever the case, this collection of correspondance just doesn't deserve a place beside Rand's self-published work, which is in sufficient abundance to make a collection like this unwarranted.

If you are thoroughly absorbed into Rand's Cult of Personality (amazingly effective even after her death), then you will probably enjoy this work. There was certainly a time where I would have devoured every letter. If, on the other hand, you have been impressed and affected by The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, We The Living, or Anthem, I would strongly suggest working through Rand's nonfiction before diving into this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Other Side of Ayn Rand
Review: This collection of Ayn Rand's letters is an interesting and important addition to her works. It was edited by Michael Berliner, then-executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. (ARI advocates the "Official Objectivism" of Leonard Peikoff.) For those who know Rand through her at times shrill writing and the self-serving accounts of former insiders, this collection presents a valuable "other side" to Rand. Written over a period of 55 years, we read love letters to her husband, letters to friends and fans, and letters to politicians. In fact, Rand corresponded with some of the most famous people of the century, such as Alexander Kerensky, H. L. Mencken, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Barry Goldwater, to name a few. The philosophical portions of the letters are quite meaty, and Rand obviously put a great deal of effort into her correspondence.

Not surprisingly, the only letters to Nathaniel Branden included were written before he became her associate. The end result is that Branden's contributions to Objectivism are downplayed, which is typical of the material produced by the ARI. (For example, even though Rand approved of Branden's writings published prior to their split, they do not appear in THE AYN RAND LEXICON or other post-split collections.)

The most interesting selections are the letters to Isabel Paterson and the distinguished philosopher John Hospers. In order to get permission to quote Hospers' comments contained in Rand's letters, the editor was obliged to include a statement from Hospers. As Hospers says, Rand occasionally misrepresented or misunderstood his point, so printing only Rand's letters to Hospers makes him "look like a bloody fool. . . . And that isn't quite fair, is it?"