ATLAS SHRUGGED original dedication


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Ninth Doctor, in post 473 of The Rewrite Squad, asked if someone could quote Ayn Rand's dedication in the original editions of ATLAS SHRUGGED.

I did not see that anyone answered his request, so it is included below. The words and sentences in bold were deleted from editions printed after 1968.

The dedication page in the front of the novel read, "To Frank O'Connor and Nathaniel Branden."

The last page of the book is entitled, "About the Author."

Fifth paragraph:

"My other acknowledgement is on the dedication page of this novel. I knew what values of character that I wanted to find in a man. I met such a man -- and we have been married for twenty-eight years. His name is Frank O'Connor. When I wrote The Fountainhead, I was addressing myself to an ideal reader -- to as rational and independent a mind as I could conceive of. I found such a reader -- through a fan letter he wrote me about The Fountainhead when he was nineteen years old. He is my intellectual heir. His name is Nathaniel Branden."

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Thanks Jerry. The context of the request was Peter Reidy’s report that Onkar Ghate referred to Nathaniel Branden as a “junior associate” in a recent talk. I haven’t heard the talk but have confidence in Peter’s report. Does anyone know if it's available to hear?

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I've never heard of an audio, but email copies went out to members of the Ayn Rand Society. If you joined (Contributor is the best buy if you aren't a professional) you could probably get a copy. Gotthelf is currently editing an anthology of ethics papers presented over the years (U. Pittsburgh Press, forthcoming); maybe this will be in it.

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  • 6 months later...

Can I request? -- If somebody has a copy of the first (or original) edition, and if (s)he puts up a scanned version of the original dedication, it will be a great help.

"...she dedicated Atlas Shrugged to him and to her husband, Frank O’Connor."

http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/rand-ayn-branden-nathaniel-and-barbara/atlas-shrugged/71316.aspx

Yet, when you go to the dedication page in this Amazon.com page, it just has:

TO FRANK O'CONNER:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0525948929/ref=nosim/mattruff/#reader_0525948929

The following is from The Heirs of Ayn Rand by Scott McLemee 1999 Lingua Franca - http://www.mclemee.com/id39.html

"The novel appeared in 1957--its dedication page bearing the names of both Rand's husband and her lover. The Soviet spy turned Catholic neoconservative Whittaker Chambers reviewed it for William F. Buckley's National Review. He complained that Rand's anti-Communism barely concealed yearnings of a technocratic and indeed totalitarian nature. "From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged," Chambers wrote, "a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: ŒTo a gas chamber--go!'" Other comments were not much friendlier: Russell Kirk, the conservative philosopher, groused that people read her novels "for the fornicating bits." Rand fell into a severe depression--exhausted after fourteen years' work on Atlas Shrugged and convinced that the culture was so hopeless that no one could appreciate her accomplishment. Not even the Collective's adulation lifted her spirits."

Never saw this cover:

http://www.librarything.com/work/2336753/covers/

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  • 3 weeks later...

Maybe, but I wonder where you read this and what evidence your source gave. Such claims are only as good as the documentation that backs them up. Just as plausible is the supposition that "Nathaniel" had a nineteenth-century ring to it like "Cornelius" (Vanderbilt), who was pretty clearly a source.

If you had access to the manuscript you could see if she was using the name in the parts she wrote before she met him.

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Maybe, but I wonder where you read this and what evidence your source gave. Such claims are only as good as the documentation that backs them up. Just as plausible is the supposition that "Nathaniel" had a nineteenth-century ring to it like "Cornelius" (Vanderbilt), who was pretty clearly a source.

If you had access to the manuscript you could see if she was using the name in the parts she wrote before she met him.

Reidy-I didn't post where I got it from because the source was pretty lousy (it didn't cite where it got it's information from, I found it doing a search on Branden-I am reading "The Six Pillars of Self Esteem" now, am almost done-I am finding it wonderfully intelligent and helpful-can you or anyone else recommend which of his books I should read next? Sorry for the long side note and run on sentence.)

Yes Nathaniel does have a 19th century ring to it-maybe it is just a coincidence.

Thanks for writing.

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Maybe, but I wonder where you read this and what evidence your source gave. Such claims are only as good as the documentation that backs them up. Just as plausible is the supposition that "Nathaniel" had a nineteenth-century ring to it like "Cornelius" (Vanderbilt), who was pretty clearly a source.

If you had access to the manuscript you could see if she was using the name in the parts she wrote before she met him.

Reidy-I didn't post where I got it from because the source was pretty lousy (it didn't cite where it got it's information from, I found it doing a search on Branden-I am reading "The Six Pillars of Self Esteem" now, am almost done-I am finding it wonderfully intelligent and helpful-can you or anyone else recommend which of his books I should read next? Sorry for the long side note and run on sentence.)

Yes Nathaniel does have a 19th century ring to it-maybe it is just a coincidence.

Thanks for writing.

Did you read Breaking Free?

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Did you read Breaking Free?

No this is the first Branden book I have read-I just finished it awhile ago.

You would recommend Breaking Free next?

Thanks!

Pippi:

It was, I believe, his first book. It had a major impact on me because it was a sequence of chapters from therapy sessions which dealt with different personal issues that his clients had.

I found that approach to be excellent for me. I actually started writing my first poetry while reading that book. Writing poetry was always something I thought I could not do, the book opened my awareness in a number of areas.

Adam

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Maybe, but I wonder where you read this and what evidence your source gave. Such claims are only as good as the documentation that backs them up. Just as plausible is the supposition that "Nathaniel" had a nineteenth-century ring to it like "Cornelius" (Vanderbilt), who was pretty clearly a source.

If you had access to the manuscript you could see if she was using the name in the parts she wrote before she met him.

I seem to recall that Barbara Branden mentioned Ayn adding "Nathaniel" to Taggart's name as a "gift" or tribute to Branden. I don't have the page references, but I think it is either in Who is Ayn Rand? and/or in The Passion of Ayn Rand.

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Did you read Breaking Free?

No this is the first Branden book I have read-I just finished it awhile ago.

You would recommend Breaking Free next?

Thanks!

Pippi:

It was, I believe, his first book. It had a major impact on me because it was a sequence of chapters from therapy sessions which dealt with different personal issues that his clients had.

I found that approach to be excellent for me. I actually started writing my first poetry while reading that book. Writing poetry was always something I thought I could not do, the book opened my awareness in a number of areas.

Adam

Breaking Free was Branden's third book. The first, Who is Ayn Rand? (1962), co-authored with Barbara. The second was The Psychology of Self-Esteem (1970), probably Branden's best book as it is essentially an updated version of his earlier NBI lecture course, The Principles of Objectivist Psychology.

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Jerry:

Thanks. I thought I was inaccurate.

It was the impact of Breaking Free that sits so strongly in my mind.

Adam

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Thank you Selene (and Jerry for clearing that up)-that is very neat that it got writing poetry.

I looked at the Amazon description for Breaking Free and ordered if from my library system, I would love to purchase it just not in my budget right now-plus my taxes pay for the libraries so I don't feel that guilty.

Anyway, the book looks excellent! Looking forward to it. "Pillars" has already been beneficial and this one looks even better.

Edited by pippi
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The Art of Living Consciously and Taking Responsibility are expansions of a couple of his pillars. Good detail for those of us who admire his work.

I still think fondly about Breaking Free and The Disowned Self because I found them when I was very young and much in need of their insights. My copies were paper back and wore out so I no longer have them. Sigh.

Edited by Mary Lee Harsha
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The Art of Living Consciously and Taking Responsibility are expansions of a couple of his pillars. Good detail for those of us who admire his work.

I still think fondly about Breaking Free and The Disowned Self because I found them when I was very young and much in need of their insights. My copies were paper back and wore out so I no longer have them. Sigh.

NB's work is outstanding for its sheer quantity, its excellent quality, and its guiding and healing powers.

My absolute favorite of his books is The Disowned Self. None of NB's works before or since affected me and helped me as much as that book. The only other things that came close in helping me "get my life on straight" were Tim Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis and the 12-Step program of Al-Anon.

I think the key ingredients are non-judgmental awareness of one's problems, rather than abusive and undercutting self-criticism -- and getting clear on what is and is not within your power to change. Rand mentions this latter point favorably in her essay "The Metaphysical vs. the Man-Made," but it never really clicked for me until Al-Anon.

Best to all,

REB

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I still think fondly about Breaking Free and The Disowned Self because I found them when I was very young and much in need of their insights. My copies were paper back and wore out so I no longer have them. Sigh.

NB's work is outstanding for its sheer quantity, its excellent quality, and its guiding and healing powers.

Thank you again Roger and Mary as well. I am still waiting on both of those books from my library loan request-looking forward to them.

I can already tell my reading of the "pillars" has made a change in things, look forward to reading more Branden.

Edited by pippi
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