Beschreibung:

RAND, Ayn (1905-1982). Typed and autograph manuscript draft of "Vandalism," the installment of "The Ayn Rand Column" for the 16 December 1962 issue of the Los Angeles Times . Together five pages, 4to, three pages typescript, 2 pages autograph manuscript in blue ink, both with corrections and additions in pencil . Blue quarter morocco folding case, morocco label on front cover. A FINE MANUSCRIPT REVEALING THE CORE OF RAND'S PHILOSOPHY: "'CYRANO DE BERGERAC'... IS A HYMN TO MAN'S INTEGRITY" "AN ACT OF VANDALISM WAS TELEVISED BY NBC ON DEC. 6; THE VICTIM WAS ROSTAND'S 'CYRANO DE BERGERAC.'" A copiously edited manuscript by Rand, criticizing the "ineptitude displayed by this show," but more importantly providing an early distillation of her entire philosophy. Considering the play "the greatest play in world literature" (deleted by her), Rand celebrates Cyrano's "joyously brilliant humor" and "intellectual virtuosity." "'Cyrano de Bergerac'... is a hymn to man's integrity, independence, and self-esteem--a magnificent view of man's heroic spirit that remains untouched by suffering and tragedy. That such a view is alien to modern culture, is obvious; that today's 'artists' could not project such values successfully, would not be astonishing... In Rostand's play, Cyrano's joyously brilliant humor is the expression of a man who enjoys his own intellectual virtuosity and makes life colorful wherever he goes, whatever he does, for life's sake and his own." In celebrating Cyrano, Rand expresses the core of her own philosophy: that of the ideal individual against society. She had explored this idea in all her works, most notably The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), but also throughout the many essays she published in newspapers and in her Objectivist magazine. Rand's tenure at the Los Angeles Times lasted from June through mid-December 1962. As evident in the present piece on Cyrano, Rand used the column to address topical issues from an Objectivist viewpoint. Her 2-page autograph conclusion to the column boldly summarizes this perspective: "There is a state of cultural-esthetic disintegration lower than the modern intellectuals' worship of human depravity and their antagonism to Romantic literature, with its projection of man's intellect, integrity, heroism, self-esteem. There is a state lower than that of men who prefer Tennessee Williams to Edmond Rostand: the state of those who see no difference between them."