Russian Writings on Hollywood [Paperback]

Ayn Rand (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 1999

Ten years before her first novel, We the Living, was published in the West, a teenaged Ayn Rand wrote two booklets in the Russia about the American film industry, "Pola Negri" and "Hollywood: American City of Movies." These recently discovered wo rks are published in English for the first time. Facisilies of the original Russian material are followed by complete English translations. Also included in this book is Ayn Rand's "movie diary," in which she recorded details of her viewing of hundreds of films in Soviet Russia, Europe and the United States during the 1920's.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and many other fiction and non-fiction works, is the originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. More than 20,000,000 copies of her books have be en sold. Born is St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905, she decided at age 9 to become a writer and was able to get out of the USSR in 1926 and came to the United States to pursue her writing. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943 she became a best selling author. After publication of her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, in 1957 she spent the last 25 years of her life lecturing and writing on philosophy. In 1998 a documentary film on her life, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, was nominated for an academy aw ard. The United States Postal Service has announced a stamp in tribute to Ayn Rand available in April, 1999.

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Ayn Rand Inst (February 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962533637
• ISBN-13: 978-0962533631
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,184,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living, was published in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved spectacular and enduring success. Through her novels and nonfiction writings, which express her unique philosophy, Objectivism, Rand maintains a lasting influence on popular thought.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ayn Rand collectors will want it, June 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Russian Writings on Hollywood (Paperback)

The book description Amazon provides is accurate. Do not expect much philosophy, controversy, or excitement from this book. It contains two papers written by Miss Rand before she left Russia, most likely for school assignments. It will probably only be of interest to hard-core Rand fanatics such as myself. Buy it if you are a collector of Ayn Rand memorabilia, or want to support the Ayn Rand Institute.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little more than I expected, December 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Russian Writings on Hollywood (Paperback)

You are probably reading this to get some information on the content of this book. The gem of the book is Ayn Rand's essay, Hollywood: American City of Movies. This is a tribute to a city built on the art form of movies. Most of the actors she pays tribute to are from the silent movie era, like Charlie Chaplin. This essay is excellent. A section of the book is entitled Ayn Rand's Movie Diary. Ayn Rand's movie reviews are all from the 1920's and consist of giving only a 1-5 point rating with no analysis. A very limited amount of movies looked at. Some of the pages are taken up by the Russian translation of Ayn Rands writing. This book should not be your first, or even your second, Ayn Rand book.

1.0 out of 5 stars BY ALISA ROSENBAUM--NOT AYN RAND, August 5, 2011

By 

jayeldee (WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Russian Writings on Hollywood (Paperback)

I don't enjoy proffering negative criticism of any writing attributed to Ayn Rand, but this "book" is really beyond the pale. It has approximately one star of redeeming value about it, in its listing of silent movies (most, I think, long forgotten--and probably deservedly so) that Miss Rand viewed during her adolescence, and her rating of each, on a scale of 0-5; but there is precious little explanation of the reasons for her ratings, and so the lot must be taken as simply arbitrary.

Beyond that--or rather, beneath that--the book consists of two embarrassingly sophomoric "essays" on early Hollywood and its stars, by Alisa Rosenbaum (who was not, at that juncture, anywhere close to the Ayn Rand that I know), including one piece exclusively on the actress Pola Negri, as well as editorial "introductions" to the various pieces. None of the text, including the introductions, contains any original or even faintly interesting insights, and none of it is actually worth reading. This insubstantial pap is padded with about 100 additional pages--constituting nearly half the publication--of poor reproductions of "the original documents" (written in Russian); if there was any reason to include the latter, beyond trying to turn the publication into a "book" with a 20-dollar price tag, it is surely beyond me.

Publishing stuff like this does absolutely nothing for the reputation of Ayn Rand, and does nothing to advance her philosophy; and I cannot believe that Miss Rand, herself, would ever have authorized its release. Nor, I will add, does it do anything for the reputation of the Ayn Rand Institute, which did authorize its release. Potential purchasers of this should save their money for her real books.