安蘭德的合作者 情人布蘭登去世

Nathaniel Branden wrote Ayn Rand a fan letter when he was a teenager in Canada in the 1940s. He wanted to tell her how much he admired “The Fountainhead,” her novel about a brilliant architect’s proud resistance to what he perceived as the world’s inclination toward collectivism and mediocrity.

20世紀40年代，十幾歲的加拿大人納撒尼爾·布蘭登(Nathaniel Branden)給安·蘭德(Ayn Rand)寫了一封崇拜信，想告訴她自己有多麼熱愛她的《源泉》(The Fountainhead)，這本小說講述一個傑出的建築師意識到這個世界正在滑向集體主義與平庸，於是驕傲地與之對抗。

Ms. Rand did not respond, but Mr. Branden did not give up.

蘭德沒有回覆，但布蘭登沒有放棄。

A few years later, while attending college in California, he wrote to her again. This time she did respond, and then some.

幾年後，已經在加利福尼亞上大學的他再次給她寫信。這一次她回覆了，兩人開始通信。

In relatively short order, they became philosophical soul mates, unlikely lovers and business associates. He was 25 years younger than she and, like her, married to someone else. That hardly mattered. Both believed in “rational selfishness” and unlimited capitalism, theories Ms. Rand embraced in “The Fountainhead” (1943) and her later blockbuster, “Atlas Shrugged,” which was published in 1957 and originally dedicated to both her husband, Frank O’Connor, and Mr. Branden.

兩人很快成了哲學上的靈魂伴侶、不可思議的戀人與生意夥伴。他比她年輕25歲，兩人分別同其他人結了婚。但這不是問題。兩人都相信蘭德在《源泉》和她後來風靡一時的《阿特拉斯聳聳肩》(Atlas Shrugged)中全心信奉的“理性的自私”與不受限制的資本主義。《阿特拉斯聳聳肩》於1957年出版，最初是題獻給她的丈夫弗蘭克·奧康納(Frank O’Connor)和布蘭登這兩個人的。

Mr. Branden, who was 84 when he died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles County, would go on to change his name at Ms. Rand’s suggestion (it had been Nathan Blumenthal) and to become perhaps her most ardent disciple. In 1958 he stArted the Nathaniel Branden Institute, where he helped repackage her ideas — Objectivism, she called her philosophy — into lectures, recordings, books and articles.

布蘭登於週三在洛杉磯郡家中去世，享年84歲。認識蘭德後，他成了其最熱情的門徒，還按她的建議，把自己的名字由內森·布盧門撒爾(Nathan Blumenthal)改爲納撒尼爾·布蘭登。1958年，他創立了納撒尼爾·布蘭登學院，重新把她的思想（她把自己的哲學稱之爲“客觀主義”）包裝爲講座、錄音、書籍和文章。

For the next decade, theirs was a distinctive and largely productive collaboration — at Ms. Rand’s insistence, both of their spouses knew of their extramarital relationship, though few outside their inner circle did — and it raised both her profile and his. Founded in New York, the Nathaniel Branden Institute grew to have branches in dozens of cities. Among its speakers was Alan Greenspan, the future chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

接下來的十年裏，兩人的合作極爲獨特，而且非常高產，從而對兩人的形象都有提升。在蘭德堅持之下，兩人的伴侶都知曉了這段婚外戀，不過這段關係在他們的小圈子之外罕有人知。納撒尼爾·布蘭登學院在幾十個城市內設立了分校。後來當上美國聯邦儲備委員會主席的艾倫·格林斯潘(Alan Greenspan)也曾是學院的演講者之一。

But by the late 1960s, Mr. Branden’s relationships with Ms. Rand and with his wife, Barbara, had deteriorated. It did not help that he had begun a relationship that year with a fashion model, 15 years his junior, Patrecia Scott, who had attended his lectures (and whom he later married).

但是到了20世紀60年代末，布蘭登與蘭德和妻子芭芭拉(Barbara)之間的關係每況愈下。同時他又和來聽他講座的時裝模特帕特里西亞·斯科特(Patrecia Scott)之間開始了一段戀情，這自然更加於事無補。斯科特比他小15歲，兩人後來結婚了。

In the summer of 1968, Ms. Rand announced in an article for The Objectivist magazine that their collaboration was over, claiming that both of the Brandens had taken financial advantage of her. The Brandens publicly denied the charge.

1968年夏，蘭德在爲《客觀主義者》(The Objectivist)雜誌撰寫的文章中宣佈兩人之間的合作告終，並稱布蘭登夫婦在財務上佔她便宜。布蘭登夫婦公開否認了這一指責。

The split also caused a divide among Ms. Rand’s followers. Mr. Branden had become a draw himself, and he soon began promoting a revised version of their early ideas, shifting the emphasis from self-interest to self-esteem. He moved to Southern California, where he started a new organization, the Institute of Biocentric Psychology, and wrote a book, “The Psychology of Self-Esteem” (1969).

這一分裂也在蘭德的支持者中造成了分歧。布蘭登本人也成了重要人物，很快就開始宣傳兩人早期觀點的修訂版，重點從自利轉向自尊。他移居南加利福尼亞，開創了新機構：生物中心心理學學院(the Institute of Biocentric Psychology)，並於1969年出版著作《自尊心理學》(The Psychology of Self-Esteem)。

He was well established in private practice when the extent of his early relationship with Ms. Rand became public. In 1986, his first wife, Barbara, told the story in the book “The Passion of Ayn Rand.” That book also divided Ms. Rand’s followers, but Ms. Branden received generally favorable reviews for what critics said appeared to be her clear effort to be fair to Ms. Rand. The book was made into a 1999 Showtime movie starring Helen Mirren as Ms. Rand and Eric Stoltz as Mr. Branden.

與蘭德的早年關係曝光之時，布蘭登的個人事業已經獲得相當大的成功。1986年，他的第一任妻子芭芭拉在《安·蘭德的熱情》(The Passion of Ayn Rand)一書中披露了他們之間的故事。這本書再次在蘭德的追隨者之間造成了分裂。但是芭芭拉的書獲得了普遍好評，評論家都認爲她顯然很努力地去公平對待蘭德。1999年，這本書被映時影業搬上銀幕，由海倫·米倫(Helen Mirren)飾演蘭德，艾瑞克·斯托羅茲(Eric Stoltz)飾演布蘭登。

In 1989, Mr. Branden offered his own version of the relationship in “Judgment Day: My Years With Ayn Rand.” It was not as well received as his wife’s account.

1989年，布蘭登出版了《審判日：我與安·蘭德共度的歲月》(Judgment Day: My Years With Ayn Rand)，從自己的角度講述了這段關係，不過獲得的評價卻不如他前妻的那本書。

Reviewing the book in The New York Times, the feminist writer Susan Brownmiller called “Judgment Day” “an embarrassing venture.”

女性主義作家蘇珊·布朗米勒(Susan Brownmiller)在爲《紐約時報》撰寫的書評中稱《審判日》是“令人尷尬的冒險”。

“Renegades from extremist movements are seldom likable in their new incarnations: their justifications ring hollow, their demands for sympathy tend to sound whiny,” Ms. Brownmiller wrote. “Mr. Branden compounds this inherent problem by replacing his Objectivist rhetoric with a massive dose of psychobabble from the California human-potential movement, in whose therapeutic vineyards he has fashioned a second, and apparently successful, career.”

“極端主義行動中的叛徒如果有了新的化身，也很難被人喜愛：他們的辯解空洞無力，他們要求同情的呼聲聽上去似乎只是牢騷而已，”布朗米勒寫道，“爲了調和這個固有的問題，布蘭登把自己的客觀主義修辭替換成大堆加利福尼亞人類潛能運動中的心理學囈語，在該運動的治療場所中，他爲自己重塑了事業第二春，顯然還很成功。”

Nathan Blumenthal was born on April 9, 1930, in Brampton, Ontario, and grew up in Toronto. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, before following Ms. Rand to New York, where he earned a master’s degree at New York University. He later received a doctorate from the California Graduate Institute, where he also taught.

內森·布盧門撒爾於1930年4月9日出生於安大略省的布蘭普敦，在多倫多長大。他曾在洛杉磯的加利福尼亞大學就讀，後追隨蘭德來到紐約，在紐約大學獲得碩士學位。後來他在加利福尼亞研究生院獲得博士學位，並在那裏任教。

His wife, Laurie, also known as Leigh, whom he married in 2006, said the cause of his death was complications of Parkinson’s disease. His survivors also include a sister, Elayne Kalberman. Barbara Branden died in 2013. Among Mr. Branden’s many other books are “The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem” (1994), “Taking Responsibility” (1996) and “The Art of Living Consciously” (1997).

他於2006年再次結婚，妻子勞裏(Laurie)又名利(Leigh)，她宣佈他的死因是帕金森症引發的併發症。他的姊妹伊雷恩·考博曼(Elayne Kalberman)尚在人世。芭芭拉·布蘭登於2013年逝世。納撒尼爾·布蘭登生前有很多著作，包括《自尊的六大支柱》(The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem,1994)、《承擔責任》(Taking Responsibility, 1996)和《好奇生活的藝術》(The Art of Living Consciously, 1997)。