"Ideal" novel by Ayn Rand to be published

[moralist]

Available at Amazon July 7th 2015.

Greg

[Selene]

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/03/ayn-rands-early-novel-ideal-to-be-published-after-80-years/

By
Jennifer Maloney

Ayn Rand fans, here’s something to whet your appetites: New American Library has released the cover image for “Ideal,” the first Ayn Rand novel to be published in more than 50 years.

Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” invented the philosophy of Objectivism. More than 25 million copies of her novels have been sold around the world.

“Ideal” tells the story of a screen actress who is accused of murder and visits six of her most devoted fans to ask for help. In 1934, when she was in her late 20s, Rand first wrote “Ideal” as a work of fiction.

But Rand was dissatisfied with it and set it aside. The same year, she rewrote it as a play. The play didn’t have its New York premiere until 2010 – 66 years after she wrote it.

The original version was rediscovered in 2012 by Richard Ralston, publishing manager at the Ayn Rand Institute, while digitizing the Rand archives. (At 135 pages, it’s been called a novelette and a novella. The publisher is now billing it as a “short novel.”)

The new book, which contains both the novel and the play, is scheduled to be released on July 7 by Penguin Random House imprint New American Library, Rand’s longtime publisher.

“I’ve heard wishful comments over many years from readers wondering if there were other novels in Ayn Rand’s papers,” Mr. Ralston said.

There was, and soon those readers will have it.

[Selene]

http://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451475550/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1435680062&sr=8-1&keywords=ayn+rand+ideal&linkCode=sl1&tag=atlashruthemo-20&linkId=XGY6BIWF3JOJDAOT

Originally conceived as a novel, but then transformed into a play by Ayn Rand, Ideal is the story of beautiful but tormented actress Kay Gonda. Accused of murder, she is on the run and turns for help to six fans who have written letters to her, each telling her that she represents their ideal—a respectable family man, a far-left activist, a cynical artist, an evangelist, a playboy, and a lost soul. Each reacts to her plight in his own way, their reactions a glimpse into their secret selves and their true values. In the end their responses to her pleas give Kay the answers she has been seeking.

Ideal was written in 1934 as a novel, but Ayn Rand thought the theme of the piece would be better realized as a play and put the novel aside. Now, both versions of Ideal are available for the first time ever to the millions of Ayn Rand fans around the world, giving them a unique opportunity to explore the creative process of Rand as she wrote first a book, then a play, and the differences between the two.

INCLUDES AN INTRODUCTION BY LEONARD PEIKOFF

Unfortunately, it does "include an introduction" by one of the men most responsible for blunting her influence in popular culture.

He really sucks at marketing one of the great women thinkers of all time.

A...

[Brant Gaede]

It's worse he wrote an introduction to Atlas Shrugged. That was even beyond Rand. She did one for the 25th anniversary edition of TF, but it was mostly to explain it in relationship to AS. AS was to be her final and complete statement of what she came here to do. A capstone. Objectivism was for Nathaniel Branden, and he ran with it with her complete support, which varied as she was able and then got its own head of steam. Either Joan or Allan Blumenthal, if not both, wondered if Objectivism was psychotherapy for herself. She was the victim of her own novel in that it didn't have the out-of-the-door impact she expected from those she wanted it from and being a victim she got depressed. Coming back down to the real world after all those years writing must have been quite a shock.

--Brant

[Selene]

It's worse he wrote an introduction to Atlas Shrugged. That was even beyond Rand. She did one for the 25th anniversary edition of TF, but it was mostly to explain it in relationship to AS. AS was to be her final and complete statement of what she came here to do. A capstone. Objectivism was for Nathaniel Branden, and he ran with it with her support.

--Brant

He and Barbara definitely ran with it until they hit the wall of human jealousy and rejection.

Sad part was that it was so survivable and Ayn's instinctive reaction to curl up in a defensive ball just made it not possible.

What a waste.

A...

[Brant Gaede]

It would have been a waste if it had continued for another five years. To be involved with Objectivism in the 1960s was to have the sense of being in what Nathaniel Branden called an impregnable fortress. That had real value in the 1960s, but 1968 meant, because of the Vietnam War and its protests, the complete intellectual collapse of the left. It was no longer ideas vs ideas but leftists in control which continues to this day. After LBJ's collapse, hoi polloi stopped laying down for their government, doubted it, but were unaware they were being laid down anyway, now more and more. They're so inured to what's been going on war's no longer any big deal to them. If they'd bring back the draft maybe they'd wake up when their Johnnies go marching off again.

--Brant

oh, yeah--and Marys

[Selene]

It would have been a waste if it had continued for another five years. To be involved with Objectivism in the 1960s was to have the sense of being in what Nathaniel Branden called an impregnable fortress. That had real value in the 1960s, but 1968 meant, because of the Vietnam War and its protests, the complete intellectual collapse of the left. It was no longer ideas vs ideas but leftists in control which continues to this day. After LBJ's collapse, hoi polloi stopped laying down for their government, doubted it, but were unaware they were being laid down anyway, now more and more. They're so inured to what's been going on war's no longer any big deal to them. If they'd bring back the draft maybe they'd wake up when their Johnnies go marching off again.

--Brant-

oh, yeah--and Marys

I agree with most of your post, however, as I have preached on OL, that was the time.

A disciplined, strong and focused political movement, at precisely that time, with, "Objectivist" intellectual input could have had a dramatic impact on America.

That influence, intellectually, in a dynamic Libertarian Party, with a different focus, would have made the difference in establishing a trained political force that would have started electing folks in local offices.

Kinda like the minor league's baseball system merged with the college baseball system.

We would have elected a President within twenty to thirty years and would have had a local, state and federal field force that would have folks who were running to be begging for our support.

Ah well...

beau geste

A...

[Brant Gaede]

That's an interesting schematic. You could write an interesting, maybe valuable, novel off that could-have-been as an alternative history. Alongside Night had some similarity to such an idea.

--Brant

don't forget the sex

[Selene]

That's an interesting schematic. You could write an interesting, maybe valuable, novel off that could-have-been as an alternative history. Alongside Night had some similarity to such an idea.

--Brant

don't forget the sex

Thanks.

I never forget the sex.

[Brant Gaede]

Sex? What's sez?

[Selene]

Sex? What's sez?

Sez sizzling sex...