The Virtue of Egoism is one of the iconic American books that 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.
Childhood Ann Reid
The future writer was born in St. Petersburg in a Jewish family. At birth, she received the name Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum. Warm relationships full of love and understanding were kept by the future writer with her father. But 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 already at the age of four she was able to read and write. Having no adventures in real life, the girl found them in abundance in books. Alice was a
modest, shy and reserved child, so she could not boast of a wide circle of friends. Her favorite friends are writers and heroes. Among the former, she preferred Hugo more than anyone, among the latter, the French heroine Cirus, who was astounding with her courage and determination. At nine years old, Rosenbaum had no more enjoyable reading than novels from France.
While still a little girl, Alice advocated gender equality. She was terribly annoyed when she read somewhere or heard the statement that the woman’s place was at home. Adventures and distant lands pulled her towards her. 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 have not returned home.
Youth
A couple of years after the first tragedy in the Rosenbaum family, the second happened. The First World War was replaced by the Civil. And then Alice's father lost everything that he had. They turned into a poor working family, which had to work hard so that there was at least some kind of food at home.
After school, the girl entered to study as a historian. She freely expressed her thoughts, full of faith in humanity and genuine heroism. Hugo remained her ideal. But along with him, Nietzsche appeared in life, with the works of which Alice met already as a student.
After graduating, Rosenbaum worked for a while as a guide. And then she decided to leave the country and go to America. Everything was presented as a two-week tour in Chicago. But even then Alice 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 belongings, a typewriter, bought by her mother after selling family jewelry, and zero knowledge of English. Being almost 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 Ain (Ain), and spied the 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 Egoism. However, then Ain was not going to become a writer, but a screenwriter or actress.
In Hollywood, Rand met a young actor Frank O'Connor, whom she later married. So she gained not only a faithful friend, editor and attentive reader, but also US citizenship.
Maturity and death
In the United States, Ein gained enough freedom to speak, write, and preach what she believed. Even then, she defended the ideas, which will then 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, her husband remained the only true friend for Ann. They never had children. The writer devoted all her time to work and protecting her own ideas. At the same time, she had many fans who fell in love with a woman with her point of view and burning eyes. This is what everyone remembered.
Rand died in New York in her own apartment. Her legal spouse died even earlier. She never saw the collapse of the USSR. However, she knew that one day this day would come.
Creation
The Virtue of Selfishness is not the only or even the most popular book by Ayn Rand. She began her career in St. Petersburg. Even then, she realized that in a word it is possible to excite the minds of many people and raise them to the real thing. Her favorite writers inspired her. Reading Hugo, Rand decided not to write about what people are, but about what they should be.
Many books came out from under her pen. She wrote “We Are Alive,” “Source,” “Atlas Shrugs Off,” “The Virtue of Selfishness.” Rand also often appeared 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 “The Virtue of Egoism”
Ain Rand, while still Alice Rosenbaum, was outraged by Soviet slogans calling for her life to be devoted to work for the country. She believed that first of all it was worth thinking about herself. After all, Christianity taught to love his 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 everything together and publish it under the same cover for all fans of Ayn Rand. The “Virtue of Egoism” made a splash 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.
The Virtue of Egoism: reviews and reviews
Rand had a lot of fans and opponents. All of them could not ignore the release of the new book of 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 to those people who are willing to calmly listen 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, which was for her expressed in the person of the USSR. The writer is fully in the spirit of her time. Therefore, each new generation, before getting acquainted with the writer's works, should prepare some kind of historical basis of knowledge about that era.
Echoes with other Rand books, The Virtue of Selfishness. 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.
Ann 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.