The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature is a non-fiction work by Ayn Rand, a collection of essays regarding the nature of art. It was first published in 1969, with a second, revised edition published in 1975. Most of the essays in the book originally appeared in The Objectivist, except for the "Introduction to Ninety-Three", which was an introduction for an edition of the Victor Hugo novel. The first edition of the book, published by The World Publishing Company in 1969, was Rand's first book to be published after her break with her former protege Nathaniel Branden, and unlike her... two previous essay collections it did not contain material by Branden or any other authors besides Rand. The revised edition in 1975 added the essay "Art and Cognition". At the base of her argument, Rand asserts that one cannot create art without infusing a given work with one's own value judgments and personal philosophy. Even if the artist attempts to withhold moral overtones, the work becomes tinged with a deterministic or naturalistic message.
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