January 27, 1947
Mr. Alden E. Cornell
58 Susquehanna Ave.
Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania
Dear Mr. Cornell:
Thank you for your very interesting letter. I am glad that you liked “THE FOUNTAINHEAD.”
I do not quite know what you mean when you say that “genius is always impossible.” If genius were impossible, mankind would not have survived. In the printed letter which I am enclosing, you will find a fuller answer to this point.
Yes, I am opposed to everything represented by the New Deal. But you are wrong when you wonder whether this had been the inspiration of my book. A book like “THE FOUNTAINHEAD” cannot be inspired by hatred, nor by the things which one opposes. It had to be inspired by the things which I believe.
Sincerely yours,
Ayn Rand
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