See James Valliant's The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics.

Good point. I agree that Brandon profited from the association. I speculate that he had some admiration for her as well.
I like your pointing out that what kind of spouse would agree to this arrangement? My sense of self would not allow me to do so.
If I were married to one man, even if I loved him, if I wanted to have an ongoing meaningful affair with another man, I would get a divorce.

Rand and Brandon were honest. I believe any fault is with their spouses who willingly agreed to the arrangement. Rand did the right thing. The spouses signed on to the arrangement. I wouldn't. Imagine the internal sense of ethics one must have to be that honest and risk everything. She put her value system to use on this. I always felt Brandon took advantage of her and profited off Rand. Barbara's book put her down about not be able to drive and on and on.
Sorry I am back and I quit. I just thought this was an interesting subject.

Because she could

She can love more than one male.

I wonder if she gave it much thought. Perhaps her attraction to him was keeping her preoccupied and she thought that by acting on it, maybe she could get past it. And then she simply lost track of time. Life is funny that way. Lord knows I have a past, but I'll never regret it.

Hello, X,

Would it not be better to ask the author if they are implying something, rather than assert with certainty that you can read their mind? Just asking.

I read some years ago that Mountbatten (the last Viceroy and governor general of India) was amused and joked about his wife Edwina's affair with Nehru. Whether the story is true or not, there was no speculation that the jokes were hiding some deeper feelings or pain.

It is, indeed, hard to truly understand many, if not most, people. I tend to think that this is because we virtually never know many, much less most of other people's thoughts and feelings. Way too many people are parented in a way that teaches them that hiding one's thoughts and feelings is necessary in life. I think that it causes serious damage.

I went off on a tangent, as usual. Sorry!

I don't think so. Her sex scenes were rough, and made fun of her possible motives. No hatred.

You seem to confuse the concepts of humor and hatred in your own mind.

Hello, EWV,

Thanks for the clear-cut response and explanation.

I have a question. My copy of the documentary (2-disc DVD set, which I bought a few years ago) does not have any books in it. Is the book you mention a separate publication? A quick search did not find a book with that title. Can you help me, please?

All the best to you.

Sincerely,
Maritimus

I gather you have no sense of humor when discussing Rand and her potential fantasies. In any event, her sex scenes were rough---to put it politely.

Meaning you dispute at least some of the narrative. I imagine you dispute the narrative behind the "To Whom It May Concern" essay of, I believe, 28 September 1968.

Here is an interesting fact: Nathaniel Branden declined to address the subject at all. He said he didn't know enough about it, having had no experience with it.

Are you saying Rand did not say, "Get him down here, get that [blackguard] down here, get him down here, get that [blackguard] down here or I'll drag him down myself"? Nor launch into a diatribe: "You--to whom I offered the world--to whom I gave my love and the name I'd earned through an unspeakable battle--you did this to me...!"?

Ayn Rand's life style and sense of life is not characterized by her affair with Branden, which as bizarre and inappropriate as it seems to us, had nothing to do with either the motives of Rearden and the nature of his wife Lillian or an "open marriage do anything for fun" notion.

For an excellent presentation on how Ayn Rand lived see Michael Paxton's documentary film Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life and the companion book.

https://estore.aynrand.org/p/292/ayn-...

At the end of Atlas Shrugged she wrote:

"My personal life is a postscript to my novels; it consists of the sentence: 'And I mean it.' I have always lived by the philosophy I present in my books—and it has worked for me, as it works for my characters. The concretes differ, the abstractions are the same."

You will find several mentions of connections in different respects between her life and specific characters scattered through her writing and speaking, such as the character Dominique in The Fountainhead as Ayn Rand "in a bad mood", but the Paxton film and companion book is the most biographically comprehensive source directly on this subject.

I'm not sure I see the connection between Ayn Rand's lifestyle and the heroes in her books. Granted, I've only read Atlas Shrugged, but Hank Reardan was the only "hero" guilty of adultery and he divorced his wife in the end.

From what I understand of Ayn Rand's adultery, she still loved her husband, but simply took on another lover. Maybe there is much more to that story than what I've read,

No it did not. That was the Branden story line. See James Valliant's The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics based on her own personal journals.

She seemed to find it embarrassing to even have to address in public.

It's hard to understand how she could not see that it had to hurt him.

Barbara Branden's hatchet job is useless.

Ýour speculations and accusations are bizarre and baseless.

Ayn Rand did live the "lifestyle", i.e., the sense of life, projected by the heroes in her books, and like the heroic characters she projected she did not confuse fantasy with reality.