Examples of value-betraying (these are random examples of the things I hate most):

  The man who, in middle-life, finds the woman he could be truly in love with, and passes her up because “it would upset his whole life.”

  In the same category as above: the man who avoids any serious emotional commitment, who runs from anything that he could feel strongly about—for reasons such as: “I would be afraid to lose it” or: “It would hurt me too much to lose it,” etc.—the man who deliberately chooses the second-rate and second-best, the man who seeks dullness and mediocrity.

  The man who says: “I don’t want to be happy, I just want to be contented—happiness is too demanding, exaltation is too difficult to bear.”

  The man who says: “Don’t take anything too seriously,” and, later and more accurately: “I don’t take myself seriously.”

  The man who says: “There is no black and white. All men are gray.” (With the result that he then proceeds to a mawkish, hysterical defense of any depravity as “not wholly black”—and to a malicious resentment against any man who is wholly white, and more: against any claim that any man can be wholly white.)

  The man who excuses (and sanctions and accepts) another man’s evil action by claiming that the actor’s motives or intentions were good.

  The man who believes that ideals are “too good for this earth.” His variants are: “If it’s good, it’s doomed,” or: “If it’s successful, it can’t be good,” or: “If I want it, it’s impossible.”

  Any believer in any sort of compromise.

  Any man who believes that mankind is essentially, metaphysically evil—and proceeds to make terms with the evil. (Any “appeaser.”)

  Key points of the original “unrequited love ” story:

  Hella’s dedication to the “curse” of always seeing things “as they ought to be.” (“The Archer” prologue.)

  The Hella-Lorne romance—and breach.

  Hella learning of Lome’s engagement to Gloria at Gloria’s birthday party; Lome following Hella to her home and their scene. (“It is only my pain—and I can take care of it.”)

  Hella’s work on her book—the excruciating loneliness—the discovery of “her own world,” her “dates” with Lorne “as they should have been.”

  The publication of the book—the general fury against her—the torture scene. (“This is our wedding-night, even if such is the only form of it that I can have.”)

  The walk through the woods. (“To keep moving, just to keep moving ... just to take the next step ...”) The collapse—the enraptured rededica tion. (“No, I don’t regret it....”—the “all right, even this” answer to every past torture.) Lome joins her. (“I have not asked you to forgive me.” “To forgive you? For what?”)

  [On January 1, 1963, AR attached the following comment to these notes:]

  The above notes are totally wrong for this story. The approach in them is too broad and transforms the story into a wide-scale, social novel (by presenting the stories of all the other types, of all the variants). This turns it into a novel about men ’s attitude toward values—and not the story of one valuer. These notes may be used only as source material for the lesser characters of the supporting cast. This is not the right statement of the theme. [After twelve years of work on Atlas Shrugged, AR, it seems, had automatized the approach to a wide-scale, social novel.]

  February 10, 1959

  New statement of theme: the art of psychological survival in a malevolent world; the art of spiritual self-sufficiency.

  To think over: the principles (and definitions) of how one knows what depends on oneself, and how one reacts to existential events which are not wholly dependent on oneself; what one aims to achieve as rewards; the preservation of action and goals in the world without dependence on others (without the torture of hope) and without subjectivism.

  Hella as a dancer (projecting her view of man and of his relationship to existence, the stylized and benevolent universe).

  The real essence of the story is to be the universe of my “tiddlywink” music, of the “Traviata Overture” and “Simple Confession,” of my sense of life. [“Tiddlywink” music was AR’s name for her favorite lighthearted popular tunes from the turn of the century.]

  Use the incident of Good Copy as a psychological key. [The “incident” occurred when Good Copy was read in a 1958 fiction-writing seminar given by AR. Some of the students regarded the story as philosophically superficial or meaningless because it was lighthearted and cheerful; AR explained that such a criticism was based on the malevolent universe premise (see The Early Ayn Rand).]

  Lorne as the man who sacrifices values for the sake of “living on earth”—for the sake of action, motivated by a passionate pro-life premise, an unbreached (“Narcissus”-like) self-esteem, but thrown off by the wrong premise of taking action as a primary.

  The “above zero ” types of value-betrayers: The idealist-aspirer: the subjectivist who holds his values only as a private dream, only in his own consciousness, and betrays Hella because he comes to feel resentment against the possibility of values being achieved in reality. Starting with a “Who am I to act?” attitude, he ends up with the premise (or feeling) that “if it is in reality, it is not a value.”

  The “Byronic” idealist who builds pain into his “despair-universe” and ends up with the premise that “if no pain is involved, it is not a value nor an ideal; if it’s cheerful, it’s vulgar, superficial and inconsequential.” He ends up as a real “pain-worshipper.”

  The “glamorizer” who dares not admit to himself the existence of pain or evil in the world, who goes on pretending to himself that everything is good, because he wants the good so desperately—and ends up by letting the good perish rather than discover that evil is evil.

  The “below-zero ” types who set the values to which all the “value-betrayers” surrender:The cynic who hates values for being values, and whose sole pleasure is in destruction.

  The Babbitt: the human “ballast” who has no values and doesn’t give a damn.

  The “Uncle Ed” type: the power-luster, who wants power for the sake of power; actually, he is after nothing at all.

  The “top-average ” type: the presumptuous mediocrity who wants the unearned.

  Temporary Outline

  Lorne’s note—Hella on her way to the hotel—the flashback:

  Hella’s love for Lome—his conflict between Hella and Gloria—Hella’s conflict with the world (her “curse” of “seeing things as they ought to be”).

  Love scene between Hella and Lome—his best “passion for life.”

  The missed date—Gloria’s party—the announcement of Gloria’s engagement to Lorne. Hella’s walk home—Lome follows her, their scene. (“It is only my pain—and I can take care of it.”)

  Hella’s struggle—the senseless dance-engagements-her excruciating loneliness—Lome’s marriage.

  Hella’s practice and saving for her debut—the discovery of “her own world,” her “dates” with Lorne “as they should have been.”

  Lorne’s struggle with his precarious empire—the deterioration of his relationship with Gloria and of their marriage.

  Hella dancing in the dive. The stranger, who is Lorne’s uncle—their friendship.

  Hella’s debut—total disaster, except for the presence of Lome and of the uncle.

  The uncle’s death—the conditions of his will.

  Lorne’s trap—his conversation with the lawyer, his decision.

  Back to the present: the scene in the hotel room (which is the “torture scene”).

  Lorne’s final choice (probably in court, in connection with the will)—his reunion with Hella, their unobstructed future.

  February 11, 1959

  Approximate text of the note:Hella,

  I have to see you. It is crucially urgent. If you ever loved me, you’ll come. There is nothing to fear. No one will know. I will be waiting for you at the Hotel—room 503 tonight, 10:30.

  Lome

  December 25, 1959

  To Lorne Dieterling

  The music to be used (dance numbers):La Traviata Overture [by Giuseppe Verdi]—theme song, build the whole novel on it, in scale. First time—for the first meeting of Hella and Lome. Then—for walk through the forest.

  “Will o’ the Wisp”—for dance in the dive.

  “Reconciliation Polka.”

  “Marionetta at Midnight.”

  “Eva Overture” [by Franz Lehar] or “Simple Confession.”

  “Anima.”

  Possibly use “In the Shadows” and “Polichinelle” (from “La Source”).

  March 21, 1963

  The story of Atlas who did not go on strike. (The issue of “pronouncing moral judgment,” of not sanctioning evil. Or: “how to lead a rational life in an irrational society.”)

  What would happen if a few key people or cultural leaders maintained a “moral tone”—instead of today’s scared, social-metaphysical, cowardly surrender to any immoral assertiveness (which is the policy of letting evil set the moral terms). Why are people more afraid of me than of communism? Is it that they know I demand immediate, moral-epistemological action from them, and a long-range stand—while communism is a threat they can evade and make unreal in their own minds? Is it the issue of their guilt and lack of self-esteem, which makes physical terror or disaster more “acceptable” to them than psycho-epistemological terror, than the immediate threat to their (pseudo) self-esteem?

  (On re-reading the above:) I think it’s obvious that the issue here is: Does one want a world and a life geared to one’s best—or to one’s worst? Today’s people prefer to protect their own vices and weaknesses rather than fight for their virtues. This makes one point obvious: the “gray” people are the guiltiest and rottenest of all; they make evil possible. There is no such thing as a “mixed” moral position—it is only the evil that can profit by and win in a “mixed psychology” (or “mixed morality”)—just as in a “mixed economy.”

  What causes that? Lack of self-esteem and, therefore, of self-confidence. What is the cause of that lack? Lack of moral knowledge—but only in part; more fundamentally, it is the indulgence of emotions at the expense of reason: a basic, volitional psycho-epistemological issue which does not depend on the content of one’s knowledge.

  January 2, 1964

  To Lorne Dieterling

  Theme: Loyalty to values, as a sense of life.

  My earlier notes are all wrong. The approach I projected is too intellectual—too explicit. The novel has to deal with the generalized terms of a “sense of life”—i.e., with emotional metaphysics. The nature of the assignment (and the trick) is to concretize the story, while keeping it abstract.

  This is why Hella has to be a dancer. Convey the meaning of music and dancing as the esthetic expression of a “sense of life.”

  Key points of the story:

  Hella’s love for Lome.

  His engagement party to Gloria—and the scene between Hella and Lome on her way home.

  Her “private universe.”

  His betrayal of her (and of his values).

  Her career disaster.

  Her walk—and her triumph.

  Tentative Outline

  [The first part of the outline, through the deterioration of Lorne’s marriage to Gloria, has been omitted here because it is the same as earlier.]

  Gloria and the “playboy.” Lome’s request. The “playboy‘s” murder. Hella as witness (or suspected witness).

  The scene between Gloria and Lorne: her demand. Hella receives Lome’s note.

  Back to the present: the scene in the hotel room.

  Hella’s dismissal from the University (a kind of “trial scene”). Her debut—dancing for a single man in the audience. Her walk home—Lome follows her, their final reunion.

  April 28, 1965

  To Lorne Dieterling (“Sense of Life ”)

  Emotional abstractions. An emotional abstraction consists of all those things which have the power to make one experience a certain emotion. For instance: a heroic man, the New York skyline, flying in a plane, a sunlit “stylized” landscape, ecstatic music, an achievement of which one is proud. (These same things will give an emotion of terror and guilt to a man with the wrong premises; all except the last, which is impossible to him.) An opposite example: a humble or depraved man, an old village or ruins, “walking on the moors,” a desolate landscape, folk songs or atonal music, the failure of someone else’s achievement or ambition.

  (The root and common denominator in all these things is self-esteem or lack of it; pro-man or anti-man; pro-life or anti-life.)

  January 1, 1966

  To Lorne Dieterling

  The two basic “sense of life” music numbers are: “Will o’ the Wisp” (as the triumph, the achieved sense of life) and “La Traviata Overture” (as the way there).

  To be used as dance numbers: “La Traviata Overture ”: the first dance described—the dance of rising, without ever moving from one spot—done by means of her arms and body—ending on “Dominique’s statue” posture, as “higher than raised arms,” as the achieved, as the total surrender to a vision and, simultaneously, “This is I.” (The open, the naked, the “without armor.”) (Possibly, her first meeting with him.)

  “Will o’ the Wisp ”: the triumph—the tap dance and ballet combined—my total sense of life. (Probably, danced in a low-grade dive, with Lome present. Possibly, projected as a dance, with him, much earlier, as his sense of life, too; thus, a crucial turning point in his realization of the way he is going, the wrong distance he has traveled.)

  “Destiny Valse”: done at the worst time of her break with him—danced alone, projecting his presence.

  January 2, 1966

  To Lorne Dieterling

  Hella Maris

  Lome Dieterling

  Gloria Thornton

  Aurelius Taylor (the professor, the spiritual “intellectual”)

  Bruce Beasely (the businessman, the plain brute)

  Frieda Baker (the flat-foot dancer)

  The traitor

  The playboy

  The town—Athens, Maine.

  The notes end here.

  This story has obvious features in common with AR’s early fiction. The protagonist is a woman, as was almost always the case prior to The Fountainhead. Further, the heroine’s romantic love is unrequited, as in The Husband I Bought (see The Early Ayn Rand). And, as in The Little Street or the screenplay Ideal, the protagonist faces an “enemy world” in which most people betray their values.

  So AR has come full circle. She returned at the end to a problem that had concerned her from the beginning: how does one maintain a view of life as it could be and ought to be, while living in a culture that is predominantly hostile to rational values? At this stage, however, she knows the solution, and serenity has replaced her earlier bitterness. Despite the tragic aspects of To Lome Dieterling, the novel was to have an uplifting theme. AR’s purpose was to show that Hella, as a profoundly independent person, can be affected “only down to a certain point. ” Though she suffers as a result of the moral treason of others, she is ultimately able to preserve the exalted sense of life that is so eloquently expressed in AR’s favorite music.

  AR regarded philosophy as a means to the achievement of a unique goal: the lighthearted, joyous state of existence that she had envisioned—and experienced-from the time of her youth. It is fitting, therefore, that her lastfiction notes are about a woman like herself, who maintains such a view of life to the end, even while those around her do not.

  INDEX

  ABC of Architecture, The (Price)

  Abbott, Walter

  Absolutes

  Abstraction

  in creative process

  Adler, Heddy (character)

  Airtight, as working title for We the Living

  Akston, Hugh (character)

  Altruism,

  as a means of exploiting producers

  as incompatible with life and virtue

  history of

  hypocrisy of

  meaning of

  motive of

  See also Charity; Egoism.

  “Analysis of the Proper Approach to a Picture on the Atomic Bomb,”

  Aquinas, Thomas

  Architect’s World, The

  Architectural Composition (Curtis)

  Architecture

  Architecture and Democracy (Bragdon)

  Architectural research

  Argounova, Kira (character)

  Aristotle

  Art, entertainment vs.

  Atlas Shrugged (Rand)

  “Atlantis,” notes for scenes in

  characters, list of; see also specific characters

  plot

  outline by chapter

  research for

  theme

  Atomic bomb,

  as argument for free enterprise

  danger of

  development and history of

  See also Top Secret.

  Autobiography of an Idea (Sullivan)

  Axioms

  of morality

  See also Consciousness; Existence.

  Baker, John R.

  Balch, Earle

  Bar-Hillel, Yehoshua

  “Benevolent universe” premise

  See also Evil, as impotent.

  “Best Years of Our Lives, The”

  Beyond Good and Evil (Nietzsche)

  Bohr, Niels

  Borntrager, K. A.