Ayn Rand and her book "Virtue of Selfishness"

"Virtue of selfishness" is one of the cult American books, which not so long ago became popular in Russia. But few know who wrote this book. At the same time, the author's fate is more than interesting.

Childhood Anne Reid

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

Alisa had three sisters. But she stood out against the general background by the fact that she already knew how to read and write in four years. Not having adventures in real life, the girl found them in abundance in books. Alice was a modest, shy and withdrawn child, so she could not boast of a wide range of contacts. Her favorite friends were writers and heroes. Among the first, she preferred Hugo most of all, among the latter was the French hero Cyrus, who amazed her with courage and determination. At nine years for Rosenbaum there was no reading more pleasant than the novels from France.

While still a little girl, Alice advocated the equality of the sexes. She was terribly annoyed when she read somewhere or heard the statement that the woman was at home. She was drawn to her adventures and distant countries. But the world of Alice 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 drafted to the front. They did not return home.

Youth

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

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

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

Life in exile

When the future writer was in New York, she had with her only a suitcase with personal things, a typewriter, bought by her mother after the sale of family jewelry, and zero knowledge of the English language. Being practically unfamiliar 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 of Ein (Ain), and she looked at the name on a typewriter called "Remington Rand." With a new name, she went to conquer Hollywood. Even then she had thoughts in her head that would finally be formulated in the book "Virtue of Selfishness". However, then Ein was going to become not a writer, but a screenwriter or an actress.

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

Maturity and death

In the US, Ein gained enough freedom to speak, write and preach what she believed. Even then, she defended the ideas, which then will be set forth in the work "Virtue of selfishness." The writer often appeared before the public, proving the incompetence of communism. Even at the age of fifteen she refused religion, considering it unreasonable and humiliating.

Over the years, her only real friend for Anne was her husband. Children they did not exist. The writer devoted her time to works and protection of her own ideas. At the same time, she had many admirers who fell in love with a woman with her point of view and with burning eyes. This is what everyone remembered.

Rand died in New York in her own apartment. Her lawful spouse died even earlier. She never saw the collapse of the USSR. However, I knew that one day that day would come.

Creation

"Virtue of selfishness" is not the only and not even the most popular book by Ain Rand. She started her career in St. Petersburg. Even then she realized that by the word one can stir up the minds of many people and raise them to the present business. Inspired by her favorite writers. Reading Hugo, Rand decided not to write about what people are, but about what they should be.

A lot of books came out from under her pen. She wrote "We are alive", "Source", "Atlant straightens shoulders", "Virtue of selfishness". Rand was also often printed in various newspapers and magazines. Her publications attracted no less attention. Being very popular in the West, it remained unknown to anyone in the USSR.

About the book "Virtue of selfishness"

Ayn Rand, while still Alice Rosenbaum, was indignant at the Soviet slogans calling for her life to work for the country. She believed that first of all you should think about yourself. After all, Christianity taught us to love our neighbor. Can someone be closer to a person than he is?

All these ideas the writer further developed in her publications. At one point they became so much that it was decided to collect everything together and publish under the same cover for all the fans of Ein Rand. "Virtue of selfishness" made a furor in the West and for a long time remained a popular book. In the post-Soviet space, the book became known much later than its publication in the United States.

"Virtue of selfishness": reviews and reviews

Rand had a lot of fans and opponents. All of them could not ignore the publication 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 read that it is only worth reading to those people who are ready to listen quietly to someone else's point of view without experiencing deep emotion 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, who was for her expressed in the face of the USSR. The writer is fully in line with the spirit of her time. Therefore, for each new generation to get acquainted with the writings of the writer, we must prepare some historical basis for knowledge about that era.

Echoes other books Rand "Virtue of selfishness." Reviews say that this book should be for the reader to become a real acquaintance with the writer, even if something of her works has already been read.

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