For the New Intellectual

For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand is a 1961 work by the philosopher Ayn Rand. It is her first long non-fiction book. Much of the material consists of excerpts from Rand's novels, supplemented by a long title essay that focuses on the history of philosophy. History Starting from the mid-1930s, Russian-American author Ayn Rand had worked as a writer of fiction, including plays, screenplays, and novels. Her fiction, especially her novels, contained expressions of her political and philosophical ideas, often in the form of monologues delivered by her characters. Her most successful novels, The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), had attracted a group of admirers interested in Rand's ideas. She began delivering lectures at colleges, including one at Yale University in November 1960 titled "For the New Intellectual". A revised version of the Yale speech became the title essay of For the New Intellectual, which was published by Random House in 1961. It was the first of several non-fiction volumes collecting Rand's essays and speeches. It was also the last book Rand published with Random House. She left the publisher following a dispute over her next book. In 1963, a paperback edition was published by New American Library. Summary The excerpts from Rand's novels are all speeches on various topics, with the clear majority of the speeches coming from her main novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Her novels Anthem and We the Living each contribute one excerpt. The speech from We The Living is spoken by the main female character Kira Argounova, to the communist Andrei Taganov (one of the two male lead characters).