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First, a quick introduction: I've read only one of Ayn Rand's novels, The Fountainhead, which I didn't much like, not so much because of its political or economic ideas or its heroine's attitude of "I am Woman, Rape Me, Architect!" but because I didn't like any, and I mean any, of the characters: they were all mean or nasty or petty or single-mindedly mean or all of the above, and not even in a love-to-hate sort of way. I don't necessarily need to like all, or even most, of the characters in a book to enjoy it (and I readily admit that one reason I plan to continue reading George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is my justified expectation that GRRM will be merrily torturing one of the viewpoint characters even more, and I admit to looking forward to this). But it helps if I can like someone, and I didn't. The experience has so far kept me from reading Atlas Shrugged despite assurances from many people that it's a better book, or the one book of Rand's that this biography suggests I would enjoy reading, Anthem. (While I'm discussing The Fountainhead, I'm amused to note that biographer Heller credits the "frank" sex in the book as one reason for the novel's popularity. I, alas, came to the book after reading far too many terrible Harlequin romance novels in high school [some of which also edged quite close to rape fantasy models] not to mention Jean Auel's books, so this aspect, as a selling point, was quite lost on me. Bring on Ayla and Jondalar and the endlessly tedious sex scenes. Ahem.)
But Ayn Rand as both a polarizing and inspiring figure appears to be making a bit of a comeback in political circles, so, rather than attempt to plow through Atlas: Shrugged, I decided to pick up Anne C. Heller's recent biography: Ayn Rand and the World She Made. And guess what shocking fact I found?
Authors who write unsympathetic, unlikeable characters tend to be unsympathetic, unlikeable people. Who would have guessed?
Which did not mean that the biography did not make for fascinating reading. Rand was one of those astonishing people who was a sort of six degrees of separation link between Czar Nicholas II, Cecil de Mille, Gary Cooper, Alan Greenspan and Gerald Ford, which right there is a guarantee of a good biography even without the fun sexual scandal. (Alan Greenspan was one of her devoted followers; in 2008 he admitted to Congress that the entire idea that greed would turn out to be ethical and altruistic wasn't working out so well. Oh well.) She was also, by all accounts, an utterly brilliant, utterly single-focused, mesmerizing woman with a gift for seriously pissing people off while remaining utterly compelling to watch.
Ayn Rand grew up in the last days of the Romanovs and watched both of the Russian Revolutions; one of her very few childhood friends was the daughter of an Imperial official, and she had a strong second hand view of the many, many mistakes made by the Romanov dynasty in its last years. Her experiences in both tsarist Russia and the first few years of the Soviet Union shaped her ongoing hatred for communism and fierce dedication to capitalism. She arrived in the United States determined to be famous, met Cecil de Mille (Heller carefully points out that accounts of this meeting vary) and began working as a screenwriter, novelist and essayist. You would think that the Revolution and escaping the Soviet Union would be the most exciting part of the story. You would be wrong. The most enthalling part of Rand's life, in this biography, turns out to be the affair she had with Nathaniel Branden, 24 years younger than she. Both were married; both told their spouses. But this is not exactly the happy polyamory story that it could have been, mostly because Ayn Rand was a self-centered egotist, to use a softer, kinder term.
Rand had married Frank O'Connor, a kindly, extremely good looking extremely minor actor (you get the impression IMDB.com only mentioned him because of Ayn Rand). By several accounts, he did not satisfy Rand sexually, although she continued to speak highly of him and credit him for his emotional support. When she and Branden decided to have an affair, they summoned their spouses into a room and explained this, demanding a specific number of days for sex. It all sounds rational enough, and to give Heller credit, she describes this dispassionately enough; she clearly has no personal problems with open relationships.
But although the spouses agreed to the arrangement, apparently under the force of Rand's personality (which was, by all accounts, utterly compelling), they were not happy with it. Branden's marriage eventually broke up, and he began sleeping with a third woman – an affair that led to a painful, violent and financially problematic breakup between him and Rand, who never spoke to him again and did her level best to demonize. (He continued to work with the self-esteem movement and had a quite successful career.) Heller describes this well, without taking sides; she understandably is less successful in containing her emotions when she discusses Frank O'Connor, a man that Rand mentally abused and treated like hell as he deteriorated in old age. (You cannot help pitying O'Connor, who earned this after years of unshakeable loyalty to his wife.)
Beyond this, the biography provides a fairly good rundown of Rand's intellectual life and acquaintances, Rand's occasional deep depressions (which help explain why the workaholic only produced four novels in her career) and Rand's ability both to inspire extraordinary loyalty and utter disdain, her tendency to utterly cut people off (those regarded as traitors), her ability to hold both liberal and conservative positions in the name of individuality and reason, and her utter egotism. Also, a very cute story about Gary Cooper that has caused me to consider seeking out his biography. To counter this, I finished the book thinking that I never have to read a biography of Alan Greenspan at all.
One negative: the biography leans heavily on the account of Barbara Brandon, the wife of Rand's lover – understandable, since this is a primary source of information on a critical part of Rand's life – but problematic, since no matter how Barbara Brandon may have attempted to stay unbiased, the affair was emotionally painful to her, and her account, therefore, should probably be treated with more caution than Heller does.
It's kinda sad that I've focused so much of a post on the founder of Objectivism and all the Going Galt stuff on sex, isn't it?
But Ayn Rand as both a polarizing and inspiring figure appears to be making a bit of a comeback in political circles, so, rather than attempt to plow through Atlas: Shrugged, I decided to pick up Anne C. Heller's recent biography: Ayn Rand and the World She Made. And guess what shocking fact I found?
Authors who write unsympathetic, unlikeable characters tend to be unsympathetic, unlikeable people. Who would have guessed?
Which did not mean that the biography did not make for fascinating reading. Rand was one of those astonishing people who was a sort of six degrees of separation link between Czar Nicholas II, Cecil de Mille, Gary Cooper, Alan Greenspan and Gerald Ford, which right there is a guarantee of a good biography even without the fun sexual scandal. (Alan Greenspan was one of her devoted followers; in 2008 he admitted to Congress that the entire idea that greed would turn out to be ethical and altruistic wasn't working out so well. Oh well.) She was also, by all accounts, an utterly brilliant, utterly single-focused, mesmerizing woman with a gift for seriously pissing people off while remaining utterly compelling to watch.
Ayn Rand grew up in the last days of the Romanovs and watched both of the Russian Revolutions; one of her very few childhood friends was the daughter of an Imperial official, and she had a strong second hand view of the many, many mistakes made by the Romanov dynasty in its last years. Her experiences in both tsarist Russia and the first few years of the Soviet Union shaped her ongoing hatred for communism and fierce dedication to capitalism. She arrived in the United States determined to be famous, met Cecil de Mille (Heller carefully points out that accounts of this meeting vary) and began working as a screenwriter, novelist and essayist. You would think that the Revolution and escaping the Soviet Union would be the most exciting part of the story. You would be wrong. The most enthalling part of Rand's life, in this biography, turns out to be the affair she had with Nathaniel Branden, 24 years younger than she. Both were married; both told their spouses. But this is not exactly the happy polyamory story that it could have been, mostly because Ayn Rand was a self-centered egotist, to use a softer, kinder term.
Rand had married Frank O'Connor, a kindly, extremely good looking extremely minor actor (you get the impression IMDB.com only mentioned him because of Ayn Rand). By several accounts, he did not satisfy Rand sexually, although she continued to speak highly of him and credit him for his emotional support. When she and Branden decided to have an affair, they summoned their spouses into a room and explained this, demanding a specific number of days for sex. It all sounds rational enough, and to give Heller credit, she describes this dispassionately enough; she clearly has no personal problems with open relationships.
But although the spouses agreed to the arrangement, apparently under the force of Rand's personality (which was, by all accounts, utterly compelling), they were not happy with it. Branden's marriage eventually broke up, and he began sleeping with a third woman – an affair that led to a painful, violent and financially problematic breakup between him and Rand, who never spoke to him again and did her level best to demonize. (He continued to work with the self-esteem movement and had a quite successful career.) Heller describes this well, without taking sides; she understandably is less successful in containing her emotions when she discusses Frank O'Connor, a man that Rand mentally abused and treated like hell as he deteriorated in old age. (You cannot help pitying O'Connor, who earned this after years of unshakeable loyalty to his wife.)
Beyond this, the biography provides a fairly good rundown of Rand's intellectual life and acquaintances, Rand's occasional deep depressions (which help explain why the workaholic only produced four novels in her career) and Rand's ability both to inspire extraordinary loyalty and utter disdain, her tendency to utterly cut people off (those regarded as traitors), her ability to hold both liberal and conservative positions in the name of individuality and reason, and her utter egotism. Also, a very cute story about Gary Cooper that has caused me to consider seeking out his biography. To counter this, I finished the book thinking that I never have to read a biography of Alan Greenspan at all.
One negative: the biography leans heavily on the account of Barbara Brandon, the wife of Rand's lover – understandable, since this is a primary source of information on a critical part of Rand's life – but problematic, since no matter how Barbara Brandon may have attempted to stay unbiased, the affair was emotionally painful to her, and her account, therefore, should probably be treated with more caution than Heller does.
It's kinda sad that I've focused so much of a post on the founder of Objectivism and all the Going Galt stuff on sex, isn't it?
