December 15, 1971
Wesley S. Hartley
114 North Ada St.
Fallon, Nevada 89406
Dear Mr. Hartley:
Thank you for your letter of September 4. I am enclosing a copy of my article “The Goal of My Writing” (from my book The Romantic Manifesto), which you may find of interest to your students.
As to your question: “How important to Miss Rand was her high school education, and is college experience necessary for creative writing?” I cannot say that my high school and college education were important to me in regard to my writing, but knowledge and proper education were certainly important. No, college experience is not necessary for creative writing, but an enormous amount of independent thinking is.
Thanking you for your interest,
Sincerely,
Ayn Rand
AR/bw
Encl.
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