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More oxford <strong>books</strong> @ www.OxfordeBook.<strong>com</strong><strong>Fore</strong> <strong>more</strong> <strong>urdu</strong> <strong>books</strong> <strong>visit</strong> <strong>www.4Urdu</strong>.<strong>com</strong>A ROUND UNIVERSE 135widened its scope significantly. It remained an adventure story, with herheroes refusing to participate in an economy dominated by the welfarestate. The main plotline drew from Rand’s own biography, particularlyher father’s reaction to the Russian Revolution. Originally she thought“it would merely show that capitalism and the proper economics reston the mind.” Her reading of Aristotle and Plato, done for the forsakennonfiction project, had sharpened her appreciation of rational philosophy.She decided her novel should demonstrate the connection betweenreason and reality. As she began making this theme concrete, a series ofquestions arose: “First of all, why is the mind important? In what particularway, what specifically does the mind do in relationship to humanexistence?” Pondering these questions, Rand realized her novel wouldbe <strong>more</strong> than just an interesting political fable. By the time she beganoutlining the novel seriously, she saw it as a large-scale project that wasprimarily metaphysical in nature. 4 Still, she had trouble understandingthe nature of the task she had shouldered.Throughout the late 1940s Rand insisted the book was almostdone. Certainly she was making progress. By July 1947 she had written247 pages; a year later, with the book at 150,000 words, she still thought itwould be shorter than The Fountainhead. When the manuscript toppedthree inches in width and five pounds in weight, Rand finally admittedit would be “bigger in scope and scale” than the earlier novel. 5 Even so,she had reason to believe the book was close to <strong>com</strong>pletion. The plottingand planning had gone faster than she could have imagined, and shehad already finished much of her research. Her heroes and heroine wereeasy to imagine, and secondary characters developed quickly out of “thephilosophical issues involved, and the generalized nature of the plot.” In1950 she convinced Hal Wallis to terminate her contract, freeing her towrite full time. It now seemed entirely possible that she could finish in amatter of months. Rand did not yet understand that Atlas Shrugged hadbe<strong>com</strong>e, as she later put it, “the underestimation of my whole life.” 6As Rand began writing seriously she continued to receive <strong>visit</strong>ors.Ruth and Buzzy Hill <strong>visit</strong>ed nearly every weekend, and a small coteriefrom nearby Los Angeles State College were regulars. Rand hadspoken to a political science class there at the invitation of the professorand invited students to <strong>visit</strong> her at home, provided they were notCommunists. Their professor remembered, “She was wel<strong>com</strong>ing and all

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