Essays on Ayn Rand's We the Living

(Paperback)

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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 philosophythe 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.

Reviews

This is a truly engaging collection of essays that provide valuable philosophic and literary insightas well as fascinating details about the publishing history and the musicof Ayn Rand's first full novel, We the Living. -- Dr. Gary Hull, Director of the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace at Duke University
A study of this kind is long overdue. Robert Mayhew has demonstrated an impressive vision in assembling a collection of this kind. One learns fascinating details about Ayn Rands life, her extraordinary care with her craft, and the critical reception of her first novel. Mayhew also sheds important light on her philosophy as it developed in the 1930s and beyond. -- Darryl Wright, Harvey Mudd College

Author Bio

Robert Mayhew is associate professor of philosophy at Seton Hall University. He is the author of several books and the editor of The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers, by Ayn Rand (2001).