Description

Ayn Rand remains a truly significant figure of modern philosophy. Her unique vision of a world in which man, relying on reason, acts wholly for his own good is skillfully developed and illustrated in her most famous novels, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. But Rand's first novel, We the Living, a lesser-known but no less important book, offers an early form of the author's nascent philosophy-the philosophy Rand later called Objectivism.

Robert Mayhew's collection of entirely new essays brings together pre-eminent scholars of Rand's writing. In part a history of We the Living, from its earliest drafts to the Italian film later based upon it, Mayhew's collection goes on to explore the enduring significance of Rand's first novel as a work both of philosophy and of literature. For Ayn Rand scholars and fans alike, this collection is a compelling examination of a novel that set the tone for some of the most influential philosophical literature to follow.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Part 1: The History of We the Living
Chapter 2 From Airtight to We the Living: The Drafts of Ayn Rand's First Novel
Chapter 3 Parallel Lives: Models and Inspirations for Characters in We the Living
Chapter 4 We the Living and the Rosenbaum Family Letters
Chapter 5 Russian Revolutionary Ideology and We the Living
Chapter 6 The Music of We the Living
Chapter 7 Publishing We the Living
Chapter 8 Reviews ofWe the Living
Chapter 9 Adapting We the Living
Chapter 10 We the Living: '36 & '59
Part 11 Part 2:We the Living as Literature and as Philosophy
Chapter 12 We the Living and Victor Hugo: Ayn Rand's First Novel and the Novelist She Ranked First
Chapter 13 Red Pawn: Ayn Rand's Other Story of Soviet Russia
Chapter 14 The Integration of Plot and Theme in We the Living
Chapter 15 Kira's Family
Chapter 16 Kira Argounova Laughed: Humor and Joy in We the Living
Chapter 17 Forbidding Life to Those Still Living
Chapter 18 The Death Premise in We the Living and Atlas Shrugged
Chapter 19 Selected Bibliography

Product details

Published Feb 23 2004
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 384
ISBN 9780739106983
Imprint Lexington Books
Dimensions 228 x 151 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Robert Mayhew

Contributor

Jeff Britting

Contributor

Dina Garmong

Contributor

Onkar Ghate

Contributor

John Lewis

Contributor

Scott McConnell

Contributor

John Ridpath

Contributor

Tara Smith

Contributor

Jena Trammell

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