The Fountainhead

[faithosaurus]

Hello everyone. So, I have to read the book The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and write an essay over it for a scholarship.

I have yet to buy the book, but has anyone read it? I just want some feedback on the book so I can know what I'm getting myself into.

Thanks!

[hanzklein]

Ayn Rand is a horrible, horrible author.

Her name is universally cursed among professionals associated with literature and philosophy. She basically preached capitalism and self reliance, and "selfishness" - ie, allowing one to make ones own fortune and do whatever they please with it under a capitalistic form of government. She also carried this idea through in poorly written, shallow and multihundred page novels.

She had 0 experience with the real world and with actual history, and I would guess every other major academic field in existence if I had some concrete proof. Somehow, Ayn Rand managed to gain a 'cult' following amongst a select group of people, and I would not suggest reading that book, writing that essay, or in anyway doing anything to associate yourself with these delusional people - trust me.

[faithosaurus]

Hmm, that explains why I've never heard of her until I was introduced to this scholarship. But the sounds of it, I'll already hate the book. Especially if that's her point of view, I might end up really weighing if the scholarship is worth it.

[Dark Muse]

I absolutely loved The Fountainhead. I consider it among my favorite books. I was fascinated with it from the moment I first picked it up. Ayn Rand is one of those lover her or hate her kind of people and a lot of people don't like her because they disagree with her philosophy and her works do revolve around her philosophical ideas. But I thought The Fountainhead as brilliant and I loved the characters presented within the book.

There are a lot of strong feelings about Rand on both sides so it is one of those things which you really have to judge for yourself, though it is true that people who like her do seem to be in the minority.

[faithosaurus]

Hmm, well I guess I'll have to read it to figure out. I should probably at least test it out.

[iamnobody]

I loved The Fountainhead, it's one of my favorites. I would recommend reading the book. It offers a lot to think about, even if you don't AGREE with everything in it.

[MystyrMystyry]

The select group of people are largely psychopathic CEO's and multimillionaire bankers.

It's one I couldn't bear even imagining finishing. It's very few people's cup of coffee, but I have met a couple of less critical (but quite reasonable) types who genuinely enjoyed it for what it was.

I didn't post immediately because I hadn't finished it, and though that's generally bad form, I guess what I would tell you (if the scholarship wasn't involved) is if you can't get it from a library, free download, cheaply, don't waste your money on it.

What nature this scholarship? Who would impose such a torture?

Perhaps it's reverse psychology. They give you a book you're 99.9% certain
to hate and it inflames your essays.

But were they to choose a novel they think you'd like but don't, they run the risk of ruining your taste for literature.

But having said that, you might just belucky enough to enjoy it for what it is. I mean worse things happen at sea...

[faithosaurus]

Yeah, I'll probably end up checking it out at the library or something and read into some of it, then make a decision whether to finish it or not.

[hanzklein]

I absolutely loved The Fountainhead. I consider it among my favorite books. I was fascinated with it from the moment I first picked it up. Ayn Rand is one of those lover her or hate her kind of people and a lot of people don't like her because they disagree with her philosophy and her works do revolve around her philosophical ideas. But I thought The Fountainhead as brilliant and I loved the characters presented within the book.

There are a lot of strong feelings about Rand on both sides so it is one of those things which you really have to judge for yourself, though it is true that people who like her do seem to be in the minority.
Well, it's ok that you liked the story. Its just really infuriating for those of us who have spent some time studying what she claims to be writing about - everything is so convoluted and just flat out wrong about what she writes - i'd just like to make the comparison to talking about religion and then mentioning L. Ron Hubbard to this.


The point isn't not agreeing, by the way. Its what she wrote was fundamentally completely misguided and lacking. Im just saying this so the author of the thread knows, who is apparently young and just looking for scholarship money, to not get involved in this nonsense because her full name will first of all be associated with this politically motivated institute if she enters, and she may not know that Ayn Rand is not just a normal author.

[Drkshadow03]

I've read We, the Living (her semi-autobiographical book about a bourgeoisie family who loses everything after the success of the Russian's communist revolution) and Anthem (a dystopian novel about a culturally and technologically stagnant communist society where even the word, "I" has disappeared from human vocabulary). I thought both of them were decent enough reads for what they are, but nowhere near the best literature has to offer and extremely over-rated by Rand's more dedicated followers.

I don't entirely agree with hanzklein's comments that Rand never experienced actual history. In fact, if anything Rand's views were warped by her particular confrontations with history. Rand's ideas are clearly a product of her experiences as a bourgeoisie who saw her life severely altered by the rise of the Communists in Russia. She developed a Romanticized view of America as being about Hollywood and movie stars and rich beautiful men and the tall skyscrapers of New York.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, I haven't read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which are her two most famous works. I thought her extreme ideas about absolute individualism and selfish egoism worked well in the Dystopian format of Anthem.

The philosophy she founded was Objectivism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)). You should definitely check out the wikipedia article on it before reading the book.

[Dark Muse]

While I do not deny that the philosophy of Ayn Rand is important to her work, I thought I should say something about the story of the Fountainhead itself, which I think regardless of the philosophy and whether or not you agree with it is worth reading.

When I first picked up a copy of this book I really was not familiar with Rand or all the controversy around her, I simply thought it sounded interesting when I read the back cover of it, and so it was initially the story which drew me to the book, and thought I will admit that some of the things which she says in The Fountainhead I did agree with it, I do not think we should get too bogged down with judging the book purely on the grounds of the philosophy or our opinions about Rand.

The story is set within the 1940's and the main character Howard Roark is loosely based off the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the story is about Roark's struggles as an architect, for he is this genius visionary and has this natural talent, and has these revolutionary new ideas. He wants to produce something original, unique, to modernize architecture and make buildings that were truly fitting for the age in which he lived in, but society at large was not ready for his radical approach for they just kept reproducing the same old ideas over and over again and copying thier predecessors. And Roark was unwilling to compromise his art and his vision and to conform to what society dictated to him was simply the way things had to be done and he refused to be a sell out and make something he did not beleive in just for the sake of turning a profit.

[MystyrMystyry]

@ Dark Muse and Iamnobody

I just reread all the posts, and I want to apoogise in case you guys inferred I may be implying you were somehow less critical than everyone else. I wasn't, it was just an off-the-cuff remark. In my experience all people are intelligent in different ways, all have diferent strengths and abilities. I dodn't know you nor really how you've come to value the book, but I want to you to know I like certain books that other people think I'm crazy for liking.

This doesn't mean I think you're crazy.

Peace out

[Dark Muse]

It is really quite alright, I did not take your comments as anyway offensive against me, primarily perhaps because of my own enjoyment of the book, I just did not want faith to be scared away or altogether deterred from reading the book purely on the grounds of Rand's philosophy.

Because for me when I fisrt started reading it, it really was not about who Rand was and what her beliefs were.

I did think that the story on its own account was interesting and that the characters were truly fascinating individuals.

And I already know that I am crazy! :D

[dfloyd]

Give yourself an Ayn Rand Christmas! I have Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead, each in two volumes in full leather with gilt lettering and decorations, moire silk endpapers, and ribbon book mark. Atlas in dark blue, 2 vols.; Fountainhead in dark red, 2 vols. Both like new, never read. Published by Easton Press. PM me if interested.

[Wilde woman]

I very much agree with Dark Muse that the Fountainhead's story is interesting. But, like almost everyone here, I don't agree with her philosophy of Objectivism.


I've read We, the Living (her semi-autobiographical book about a bourgeoisie family who loses everything after the success of the Russian's communist revolution) and Anthem (a dystopian novel about a culturally and technologically stagnant communist society where even the word, "I" has disappeared from human vocabulary). I thought both of them were decent enough reads for what they are, but nowhere near the best literature has to offer and extremely over-rated by Rand's more dedicated followers.

Yes, I concur. I actually enjoyed both We, the Living and Anthem more than the Fountainhead. That's mostly because I don't enjoy philosophical works in general, and these earlier novels were more clearly dystopian.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Why not do a paper on how philosophically wrong Rand is? I'm assuming any professor who is assigning this (or, whomever is assigning it) is looking for a critical look at the novel.

[DanielBenoit]

As a writer, one must be fair to Rand for she is not mediocre. But her sensibilities and characterization (as far as her writing goes) are far too unrealistic, traditionalist and artificial to consider her novels among the best of the 20th century (as a laughable reader's poll at Modern Library showed).

Btw, as for Rand's ideas there is probably not a single idea of hers that I agree with.

[faithosaurus]

Why not do a paper on how philosophically wrong Rand is? I'm assuming any professor who is assigning this (or, whomever is assigning it) is looking for a critical look at the novel.

It's actually a scholarship sponsored by the Ayn Rand website, so I'm not sure how well that would go down haha.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Ohhhhh. Well, then I hope your pandering skills are well-honed, lol.

I guess you'll just have to decide how much the scholarship is worth. But, I wouldn't rule his whole paper out until you've at least given the book a try; who knows? maybe you'll like it. You can get opinions from all the people there are to give them, but you won't know until you give it a shot.

[Reread]

To Faithosaurus: I'm doing the same thing. I did the Anthem essay last year. You might also want to look into doing the We the Living essay if you, like me, are just in this for the money and if this is not a school assignment.

To Ayn Rand haters: I don't like her personally either, but I do enjoy her work. I think her books, particularly Fountainhead are good. I'm also not in the position to turn down $2,000 given for writing a literary analysis.

[faithosaurus]

To Faithosaurus: I'm doing the same thing. I did the Anthem essay last year. You might also want to look into doing the We the Living essay if you, like me, are just in this for the money and if this is not a school assignment.

To Ayn Rand haters: I don't like her personally either, but I do enjoy her work. I think her books, particularly Fountainhead are good. I'm also not in the position to turn down $2,000 given for writing a literary analysis.

All right, I'll definitely look into that! Thanks everyone.

[cyberbob]

For those of you who are curious, the scholarship competition is hosted by the Ayn Rand Institute.

They have the Fountainhead competition for high school seniors, the Atlas Shrugged competition for college students, and at least one more miscellaneous competition.

These are yearly essay contests where the prizes are $10,000 for 1st place, $2,000 for 2nd, and I forget the amount for 3rd.

I suggest you do try it. The Fountainhead has an interesting story so you can push through it even if you get tired of the recurring message of individualism.

I wish I had entered it last year but I was too lazy, though I had read the book. I'm a college freshman now so I can't enter the Fountainhead contest, though I hope to enter the one for Atlas Shrugged. I may even post it here for feedback and I recommend you do the same, TS, since some of us are quite familiar with Rand's philosophy.

[Syd A]

The Fountainhead is a book worth reading, whether or not you think Rand is a good author and whether or not you agree with her philosophy.

As for the contest - the Ayn Rand Institute is arguably the most vile organization in this country. You should familiarize yourself with their work before you enter the contest. Half their website is dedicated to "Nuke the Arabs" (literally!) propaganda. This is not an exaggeration - they're heinous. Google the names Leonard Peikoff, Onkar Ghate, and Yaron Brook and see for yourself. I'd rather starve than take money from them.