Ayn Rand Interviewed with Mickey Spillane by Mike Wallace

Learn more about Ayn Rand and her philosophy: aynrand.org/lea...
Mike Wallace interviews Ayn Rand and Mickey Spillane on their reasons for becoming authors, their view of what makes a hero, and why, despite being viciously denounced by critics, they both maintain a large popular appeal. Hear Ayn Rand’s straight-to-the-point analysis of her own and Mickey Spillane’s work in this 1961 interview.
Audio licensed courtesy of The Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
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[@EduardoHernandez-jl5qt]

"The fact is that men do not live in order to be concerned with death. The live in order to enjoy life. That we are going to die is of no importance to anyone who is actually living his life to the full. The people who are so concerned with death simply confess that they have never lived properly." Amazing quote and great interview! Thank you for sharing ! ! !

[@ANascente]

I never heard, or read, someone who speaks with the same clarity like Ayn Rand does. Magnificent!

[@maryahhaidery7986]

In that case, you probably need to read more books and listen to more people.

[@samscherer9291]

@@maryahhaidery7986 you sound fun

[@do123go]

@@maryahhaidery7986 I am intrigued. Can you please mention five or ten of those people (who speak with more clarity than Ayn Rand)? I am seriously interested in getting to know them.

[@tennoio1392]

Just recently read "I, the Jury". To hear analysis of the final scene from Ayn Rand is something incredible! Didn't expect that.

[@larryparker8677]

Mike Wallace did a great interview. We need more people like him in today's interview room.

[@Avidcomp]

Amazing upload. First time hearing this recording. Thanks ARI.

[@Cirnenric]

So much content to listen to and go over again. Thank you!

[@selfishJohn]

Wonderful interview of these Wonderful Men. Best regards to ARI.

[@kirkalex5257]

Loved the interview. Great writers in their own right. Further proof really, that critics should be taken with a grain of salt.

[@mughat]

Great interview. Makes me want to be a writer.

[@RogerFusselman]

Nothing's stopping you.

[@TheTrueforeigner]

Please do!! Our universe needs more! All the best

[@TheTrueforeigner]

This is the most exhilarating soul meal I have had today, thank you for uploading, it was the most perfect moment before bed🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@Jazzper79]

Her analysis of the murder scene was wonderful! - It is understanding on an extremely high level.

[@GiovanniH91]

What a fantastic interview!!!

[@jafco9]

Wow, this is one of the greatest things I have ever heard! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@julianhermanubis6800]

It always amuses me that Spillane and Rand were such buddies.

[@jubalcalif9100]

It's a shame Mickey couldn't persuade Ayn to join him in those "Miller Lite" TV commercials.....

[@julianhermanubis6800]

@@jubalcalif9100 That would have been epic.

[@Botmoot]

Awesome to hear a new (for me) interview released!

[@SM6184-y3f]

Oh damn, I didn't know she did another interview with Mike Wallace

[@JA-mq3os]

Wow this is brilliant!

[@davidlang6511]

Rand and Spillane each have their merits, but they both limit literature by insisting that the only literature worth reading is that which reflects a "heroic sense of life." Because of this, both seem to want to push fiction into a narrow type of style, and both avoid many key aspects of human existence. And both Rand and Spillane completely misread Hemingway: In his work, Hemingway's characters are often heroic and never defeated--sometimes, in his words, destroyed but never defeated.

[@science212]

Great interview.

[@bingbong3643]

The juxtaposition between Rand and Micky’s way of speaking was really fascinating. Rand really gets the core of the issue.

[@kirkalex5257]

Hemingway? Wrote his share of good stuff. Old Man and the Sea may not be one of 'em, but i thought highly of Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms; some other things like Fifty Grand, The Killers, others, etc.

[@jem27]

Never heard this one. Wonderful. 🙏

[@jubalcalif9100]

With that Russian accent, Ayn Rand could have made some side money voicing Natasha on TV's "Rocky & Bullwinkle" !

[@michaelvonahnen3050]

Thanks Mike Wallace for a great interview , wow !

[@DareToWonder]

i should read more Mikey Spillane books

[@nairobi203]

They are available on Google Books.

[@nancycesarano5919]

Gem of an interview. Rand at her best.

[@ogfrostman]

Loved it!

[@samscherer9291]

So Rand carried the hell out of this interview 😂 Brilliant as always

[@anthonydecarvalho652]

Excellent.

[@booni5114]

It’s good to see there are other giants in the valley

[@brayanzabala3982]

Were Rand and Spillane close friends?

[@maxragno9881]

They were friendly and enjoyed each other’s company.

[@splynch1980]

I wish you guys left the old commercials in.

[@jubalcalif9100]

Indeed. I remember seeing Mike do commercials on his show for its sponsor somewhere here on YT years ago (I think it was a cigarette brand).

[@danielrizzo4927]

Brilliant.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

" Kiss Me Deadly", was also a good movie.Great twist ending.😮

[@kirkalex5257]

Critics can be a funny lot. They knocked Spillane, yet praise Lee Child. Huh? Reacher is nothing more than Mike Hammer with a toothbrush (who travels the country by bus). Hypocrisy anyone? Oh wait. Comes down to politics. One writer wears the letter "L" on his forehead, while the other was partial to the letter "C." Are critics loony? YES. Exactly why we learned a long time ago to stop paying attention to them.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Is this a radio interview?

[@clairerobsin]

1961

[@science212]

Emil Cioran was one of dark writers.

[@science212]

Ayn Rand later repudiated Tiger Mann stories.

[@davidblankenau]

Not sure about "repudiated", but she apparently WAS disappointed with his later works (which did not live up to the earlier novels, in Rand's estimation).

[@diligentsun1154]

A thoroughly impressive woman, by every measure.

[@denisenoe7746]

Ayn Rand thought Mickey Spillane was the best at plot structure.

[@nairobi203]

Unfortunately mediocrity and Idiocy of humans has further increased since then...

[@ogfrostman]

Ayn Rand would be disgusted by the the current Woke nonsense.

[@denisenoe7746]

She would indeed.

[@davidlang6511]

I personally think she would be disgusted by the use of the term "woke" which remains a vague, undefined term somewhat on the level of Orwell's "thought crime."

[@liammcooper]

hilarious

[@yodrewyt]

Listen to Mike Wallace nearly burst with sleaze and Ayn Rand and Mickey Spillane surf on its would-be waves.

[@jonharrison9222]

How ridiculous.

[@coffeewleibniz]

This is great! Shame on Flannery O'Connor for insulting both of them. She was always so vulgar and digusting in her literature.

[@kirkalex5257]

Flannery? I could never read Flannery.

[@nunyabidness4220]

Love Mickey Spillane, but Ayn Rand can't write at all. She's incompetent. But it's good she can appreciate a far better writer.

[@tragickingdom15]

I’m surprised Ayn didn’t say she was obviously the best writer alive. Glad to know she was objective about it.

[@davidblankenau]

I’m not surprised; Ayn Rand was objective about virtually EVERYTHING! 🙂

[@tomdechaine1086]

I don't know what is objective about not praising oneself when deserved.

[@mughat]

If you notice she says: "The best living writer from the aspect of originality, imagination, color, sense of drama & plotstructure...". If it was simply the "best writer alive" she might have picked herself. But the context did not call for that.

[@tragickingdom15]

@@davidblankenau it was just really meant as a joke.

[@jafco9]

@@tragickingdom15 an ugly joke that is better taken to be serious. Taken seriously would only indicate your acceptance of altruism, taken as a joke exposes you to the envy of hating the good for being good, which is much worse.