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FROM NOVELIST TO PHILOSOPHER, 1944–1957
original sin and depravity. More problematic was Rand’s willingness to
reject Catholicism whole cloth. She accused Rand of misanthropy for
her sweeping condemnation of Catholic philosophers: “Can you indict
such a considerable number of the human race, including some of the
greatest minds the human race has exhibited, without certain implications
as to the human race itself?” Rand, for her part, was unapologetic.
“Why yes, I certainly can,” she told Paterson. 80
This issue over Catholicism quickly led to more perilous territory, as
the two women began to clash over how and whether Rand had infl uenced
Paterson’s thinking on morality. The question of infl uence was a
particularly sensitive point for Rand, who now believed that Paterson
had unfairly borrowed her ideas about altruism in God of the Machine.
Prior to publication Paterson had asked Rand if she could draw on their
discussions in her work without citing Rand specifi cally. Although Rand
agreed to this arrangement, when the book was published she discovered
sentences she described as “verbatim mine” from their conversations.
Rand had never directly confronted Paterson about this, but her
letter now hinted at this past history. In reply Paterson insisted that
Rand had only helped clarify her thoughts on a specifi c application of
“enlightened self interest.” 81
Points of contention began to multiply as the two women argued
over specifi c conversations in the past, who had said what, and who had
agreed with whom. Once more letters proved a poor medium for communication.
Paterson thought the fault was Rand’s: “I read your letters
exactly, but sometimes you are not very exact.” Again a scheduled visit
helped smooth over the problems. Paterson was fi nally coming out to
California, and Rand deferred further discussion until she arrived. She
had high hopes for the visit and even agreed to pay Paterson’s travel
costs. Rand envisioned a return to the golden days of their friendship:
“I am looking forward most eagerly to staying up with you all night, if
you care to. Incidentally, the sun rises here are very beautiful, so I think
we will have a good time.” At the very least the California trip afforded a
chance to resolve the many disagreements that were piling up. 82
From the beginning Paterson’s visit was a disaster. Rand discovered
that her old friend “seemed to have lost interest in ideas. She talked
much more about personal gossip of a literary nature: who is writing
what, what authors are doing, what her old friends are doing.” Paterson
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