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A ROUND UNIVERSE 161
Nathan completed his master’s degree and began working as a full-time
therapist. Frank underwent the most dramatic transformation. One
evening, spurred by a philosophical disagreement, several members
of the Collective tried painting. The results quickly disproved Rand’s
assertion that artistic skills could be easily taught to anyone, for Frank
outstripped the others immediately. As his background in fl oral design
suggested, Frank was a natural. Soon he was drawing at every turn, fi lling
sketchbooks with his work.
Rand too was rejuvenated and relieved. She was fi nally prepared to
begin shopping the manuscript around, and with The Fountainhead still
selling briskly, had her pick of eager publishers. Bobbs-Merrill, which
had fi rst right of refusal on her next book, pronounced an early version
of Atlas Shrugged “unsaleable and unpublishable,” setting her free on the
market. She mentioned the book to Hiram Haydn, who had left Bobbs-
Merrill for Random House. Despite Random House’s liberal reputation,
Rand was impressed that they had published Whittaker Chambers’s
Witness and was willing to give them a hearing. She was also interested
in having her old editor, Archie Odgen, onboard. Ogden was no longer
employed by a publishing house but had agreed to work with Viking as
the editor of her novel, should they publish it. Rand was unsure if this
ad hoc arrangement would be right for her prized creation.
Haydn and his boss, the legendary Bennett Cerf, played their cards
perfectly. They proposed a lunch with Rand simply to learn more about
the book. When Rand’s agent torpedoed the plan for being unfair to
other publishers, they had another suggestion to make. What if Rand
had lunch with every seriously interested publisher? They were even
amenable to a dual submission, should Rand choose. At lunch Haydn,
Cerf, and a third editor quizzed Rand about the implications of her
book. One ventured that if the novel was an uncompromising defense of
capitalism, it would necessarily contradict Christian morality. Rand was
pleased with the observation. Random House was offering her respect
and understanding, if not agreement. By the end of the lunch she had
essentially made up her mind. It took Random House a similarly short
time to make an offer on the manuscript. Haydn himself found Rand’s
philosophy repugnant, but could tell that Atlas Shrugged had “best-seller”
stamped on it. He and Cerf were sure it would be an important and controversial
book and told Rand to name her terms. 60
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