The Fountainhead | Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff

The Fountainhead | Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff | Fairy Tale

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The Fountainhead

	The Fountainhead Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff Signet, 1996 - 720 pages average customer review:based on 966 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Howard Roark is an architect whose genius and integrity will not be comprised. He has ideas that work against conventional standards.

"But I don't think of you"

I'm not quite sure how she pulled it off, but with The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand managed to forge a literary masterpiece out of reheated libertarianism, stone age sexual politics, and dialogue that's so full of grandiose monologuing it would make William Shakespeare blush. I'm not being tongue-in-cheek here; I really do love this novel. I really do think that it's a jaw-dropping monument to the might of the individual, a symphonic ode to mankind's potential. Its seven-hundred pages see Rand laying waste to conventional standards, inverting all of society's most cherished values, and dropping more than a few subtle hints about the potential dangers of good intentions. Critics of Rand's work seem to miss out on the difference between quality and agreeability; they attack The Fountainhead for its philosophical underpinnings, calling it a piece of trash for no other reason than that they don't see things in quite the same way as Ayn Rand. They don't seem to care about its literary merit. Either that, or they just can't see the novel for what it is. They're completely oblivious to its ecstatic drama, angular poetry, remorseless tension, and epic scope. When they call Rand humorless, I have a hard time believing that they're missing out on the smirking satire and bruising irony that lurk beneath The Fountainhead's surface. When they call Rand inhuman, I wonder what they make of the dizzying panoply of characters that populate her work. Are they aware of the care she takes in evoking sympathy, even for her antagonists? Are they aware that she goes out of her way to remind us that Peter Keating, Alvah Scarret, and the Dean really are human beings? Even when she's depicting pure evil, Ayn Rand understands the importance of complexity, vision, and dimension; indeed, the novel's arch villain is every bit as masterful a creation as Shakespeare's Iago. Critics don't seem to appreciate the protagonist, either. I mean, do they really need to be told that Howard Roark is the very opposite of a soulless automaton, that he's the personification of struggle, of ambition, of hope, of everything that is pure and honest and noble about humanity? No, I don't sympathize with Rand's atheism (or with Roark's). I don't think that selfishness is as clear-cut a virtue as it's made out to be in her work. I am, for the most part (and I say this somewhat grudgingly), a liberal. I'm certainly not an objectivist, and I only have libertarian sympathies if you squint hard enough and ignore my views on our healthcare system. But that's beside the point; I'm not a Christian and I still like the Bible. I'm not an objectivist, and I absolutely adore The Fountainhead.

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Fairy Tale

Ayn Rand created a real, modern fairy tale with The Fountainhead. It is hard to find a more honorable literary figure than Rand's creation of Howard Roark. The focus of the novel is mainly set on the true natures of people. You find those who manipulate, those who bully, those who parasite, and one who stands only for purity in how he sees the world. You will also surely be able to point out appropriate figures in your own life as the are archetyped here.

The relationships among the players are complicated and seem at times to be become completely contradictory. The result is that those who need to build a common concept of purity ultimately lose out to those who bravely and independently create their own.

You may come away from this book actually believing in the fairy tale that honesty and purity (in purpose) can truly lead to poverty, but happiness.

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Fountainhead

One of my favorites. Have read it twice. A must read for today's world.

Why Was This Book Written?

Why did Ayn Rand write this book? That's a fair question to pose of any author, but with this particular author and with this particular book, it's an essential question. Was the purpose of the book its entertainment value, which is substantial, or was it to serve as a platform for objectivism, the philosophy prevalent throughout the book?

My personal feelings are it's probably about a 60/40 ratio with the bulk on the side of the philosophy. She makes such an effort to separate her main character, Howard Roark, from the rest of mankind and to show his lack of concern for anything outside of his own individual motivations, that he appears at times to be a little two dimensional. How else then could he hope to find happiness in his personal life except with a woman who is equally as unconcerned with rest of humanity as he is? While one bounces from one unfulfilling relationship to another, the other appears determined to destroy his own career in the pursuit of uncompromising ownership of the creative process. Still, you root for the hero and hold tight to the hope that substance and raw talent will win out over style and high society. But you're a cheering section of one, because not even the main character cares enough to join in.

The Fountainhead has substantial entertainment value however. Ayn Rand is a master of the descriptive scene as she focuses your attention to the most minute details such as the arch of Dominique's back in order to portray an atmosphere in a scene. In many cases, you may feel as though you're viewing a performance on stage rather than reading a book.

So, which is it? Entertainment or a thought-provoking examination? A little of both probably. I mean, isn't that what most great books offer?

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