Biography of Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand (birth name: Alisa Rosenbaum) born in Saint Petersburg in 1905, grew up comfortably with her well-to-do family. Her father, a self-sufficient chemist and owner of a successful pharmacy, could comfortably provide for his family until the Russian Revolution began in 1917. Soon after the Bolshevik takeover, his assets were proclaimed part of the Soviet state, which can be argued as the root to Rand's bitterness toward collectivism. In spite of hardship, Rand graduated from the University of Petrograd after studying history and philosophy, and quickly emigrated in 1925 to the United States under the guise of visiting relatives.
Ayn Rand for Beginners by Andrew Bernstein, romantically depicts Rand as a brilliant young, struggling novelist and screenplay writer whose raw talent was dutifully noted by a book publisher, thus setting her free from the shackles which bound her from spreading the word of her personal philosophy. This notion somewhat ignores the fact that Rand moved to Hollywood because of her obsession with becoming famous. Rand showed great interest in film and movie stars from a young age, however her predominant interest pertained to writing screenplays and novels.
Although her early writings were not necessarily bereft of her predominant ideology of man's ability to achieve greatness, her first novel We the Living was the first to genuinely highlight her anti-collectivist ideology, or more specifically her distaste for "Soviet tyranny." Rand is often pegged as a capitalist paragon whose opinion of communism and its implementation is legitimized by her status as a primary source for information on early Soviet rule, however it is often disregarded that Rand was a child during the revolution. It is also often ignored that Rand only experienced Soviet rule during arguably its most tumultuous time, which is to say that no country is spared in facing severe and sometimes catastrophic growing pains in the immediate years after their revolution. Rand only experienced this difficult time for Soviet Russia during her teenage years, which not only exemplifies her bias (which by definition is directly contradictory to "objectivity"), but raises important questions about her as an historical primary source. If one is looking for an historical reference to the life of a bourgeois Russian teen after the Russian Revolution, Rand certainly fits the bill, however her consideration as a sociopolitical and philosophical savant due to her brief life during Soviet rule is a blatant farce.
- Stephanie Centeno
Ayn Rand for Beginners by Andrew Bernstein, romantically depicts Rand as a brilliant young, struggling novelist and screenplay writer whose raw talent was dutifully noted by a book publisher, thus setting her free from the shackles which bound her from spreading the word of her personal philosophy. This notion somewhat ignores the fact that Rand moved to Hollywood because of her obsession with becoming famous. Rand showed great interest in film and movie stars from a young age, however her predominant interest pertained to writing screenplays and novels.
Although her early writings were not necessarily bereft of her predominant ideology of man's ability to achieve greatness, her first novel We the Living was the first to genuinely highlight her anti-collectivist ideology, or more specifically her distaste for "Soviet tyranny." Rand is often pegged as a capitalist paragon whose opinion of communism and its implementation is legitimized by her status as a primary source for information on early Soviet rule, however it is often disregarded that Rand was a child during the revolution. It is also often ignored that Rand only experienced Soviet rule during arguably its most tumultuous time, which is to say that no country is spared in facing severe and sometimes catastrophic growing pains in the immediate years after their revolution. Rand only experienced this difficult time for Soviet Russia during her teenage years, which not only exemplifies her bias (which by definition is directly contradictory to "objectivity"), but raises important questions about her as an historical primary source. If one is looking for an historical reference to the life of a bourgeois Russian teen after the Russian Revolution, Rand certainly fits the bill, however her consideration as a sociopolitical and philosophical savant due to her brief life during Soviet rule is a blatant farce.
- Stephanie Centeno
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