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Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead

I read chapters 1-4 a few nights ago, too tired from work and other obligations to post at the time, life has such a knack for being in the way.:lol:Chapter 1 began with a great description of Howard Roarke at his favorite swimming hole. The description of the rocks and what he was thinking about coudl be molded from it was a definite strength. The environmental description in the first chapter hasn't been something that has been commented upon a lot in what I've read previously in reviews of The Fountainhead, but I'm glad to have re-discovered it in re-reading the book. Mrs. Keating's character is a common one in Rand's works. She is one of many people who while they say they want you to succeed, they are happy to see that you are just as mediocre as they are. Those are the folks who say "Oh too bad!" while jumping for joy on the inside. In this instance, she consoles Roarke for being expelled from architecture school, although he isn't tore up at all about it.

The dean of architecture at the Stantion Institute of Architecture summons Roarke to his office and gives him a deal of sorts-sit out a year or two and come back, while sucking up to the professors. It's a deal that Roarke doesn't make and acknowledges that he wishes to build as he wishes, not as he should as dictated by others.

Chapter 2 introduces the reader to some other major characters. Chief among them is Peter Keating. He is the star graduate of the Institute ane the next tapped successor to Guy Francon in regards to being revered. Francon is a member of all the prestigious organizations that operate like a guild in architecture. Keating is one who doesn't know what to do-take a job or go to school in France? He is torn by the dilemma, and seeks advice from Roarke-someone who says that only Keating can figure that out. Mrs. Keating's grandson can't make the decision at all. In Objectivism, Keating represents the worst traits a person could have-someone who lets history happen to them, as opposed to making history themselves. Someone who depends on others rather than himself in regards to determining what his future is.

I also loved chapter 3. It demonstrated how according to Rand, those revered by the state and proppsed up by awards and prestigious positions, aren't actually worth a lick. Guy Francon's office is big, but what is produced is mediocre and considered common and average-traits that are encouraged in order to preserve *civilization,* unlike modernity. Keating quickly discovers that he has sold his soul to collectivist mediocrity and that not everything is as cracked up as he thought it would be. I love the message of the "underdog" in this book and it starts out with the under dog not being able to get any lower. He is expelled and then offers himself to Henry Cameron, an architect who is the pariah of the architecture community due to thinking outside the box and his lack of desire to please others, let alone *civilization* and the rest of the collectivists.
 
Well,SFG75 i see your starting you personnal BOTM and why not,and i think i can imagine why you pick The fountainhead.
I read this book last year with a very strange view on it. My wife (for some reason of hers)told me the main caractere(the architect)was a woman in desguise,for professionnal reason.So i read the book waiting until the very last page the "coming out" of the guy.It does come.To be honest it brought a very strange twist to the book,and i don't think i had the same read as anyone else...
It's a bit of a rarety,ultar liberalisme doesn't often come with a brain,but it's one of the case where it does.The book,and Ayn Rand is not very well known in France and if known not liked,for political views mainly,i think.
I like it because working in art,it shows quite well the aspect of honesty and non compromition in it(if a bit caricatural) and the force that a genius could have against all odds.There's a bit of a candide way of presenting it but i quite enjoyed it,maybe hopping for myself!.

I think our friend Stewart is an ardent supporter of this book.:D
 
Well,SFG75 i see your starting you personnal BOTM and why not,and i think i can imagine why you pick The fountainhead.
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I noticed someone else was reading it and thought; "why not?" It's one of those books that I've been dying to post about on this forum, and I know that our Euro members won't think too much of it. So, it's the American thing to just stake out on your own and go about it independently.;):D Individualism at its greatest, I know.

Ayn Rand is not very well known in France and if known not liked,for political views mainly,i think.
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Yep, the criticism is more political than literary-perhaps because liberals recognize themselves in it as Peter Keating and other parasites.:whistling:

I like it because working in art,it shows quite well the aspect of honesty and non compromition in it(if a bit caricatural) and the force that a genius could have against all odds.There's a bit of a candide way of presenting it but i quite enjoyed it,maybe hopping for myself!.
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It does make for a compelling story in that way. It would be hard to create a "world against one man" thesis, and I don't believe that Ayn Rand gets enough credit for successfully creating that kind of story. I don't believe a lot of writers have tried such a thing again.

I've finished chapters 5-7, my reading was interrupted by bad allergies over the weekend.:sad: Peter Keating appears to be on a rise at Guy Francon's achitecture business. He even undermines two people in order to get himself promoted. Roarke only continues to slide down in the dumps with Henry. At the end of chapter 7, he takes a job under Keating at Francon's. While Keating thinks he scored a victory, Roarke rightfully views it as a time to retool and to take from his employer, the knowledge that he can in order to strike out on his own again. I did enjoy the description of how Roarke took over the welder's job and showed him how to do a difficult cult, that the welder believed the *pretty boy* college kid couldn't do.

Roark took the man's gloves and goggles, took the acetylene torch, knelt, and sent a thin jet of blue fire at the center of the beam. The man stood watching him. Roark's arm was steady, holding the tense, hissing streak of flame in leash, shuddering faintly with its violence, but holding it aimed straight. Ther was no strain, no effort in the easy posture of his body, only in his arm. And it seemed as if the blue tension eating slowly through metal came not from the flame but from the hand holding it.
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Vivid and awesome-almost makes me want to take a class and learn how to do that kind of stuff.
 
SFG75, I like your go-get-em spirit. You've inspired me to start my own Short-Story-of-the-Week threads, which I alluded to several weeks ago. I may be the only one though in my threads, LOL!

I wish I could start The Fountainhead myself. But I'm tied up with Enduring Love for the next few days, and then Embers (this forum's July BOTM) and finally, The Handmaid's Tale (another forum's July BOTM).
 
LOL-Thanks guys. By all means Seoul-go for it! Who knows?, someone is probably dying to post about the book that you've read.

Read chapters 7-12 last night. I love the progression of the story and how Howard Roark finally catches a break from a businessman who is into "modern" art. I found especially poignant, Cameron's warning to Roark about his success:

It's a challenge in the face of something so vast and so dark, that all the pain on earth-and do you know how much suffering there is on earth?-all the pain comes from that thing you are going to face. I don't know what it is, I don't knwo why it should be unleashed against you. I know only that it will be. And I know that if youcarry these words through to the end, it wil be a victory, Howard, not just for you, but for something that should win, that moves the world-and never wins acknowledgment. It will vindicate so many who have fallen before you, who have suffered as you will suffer.
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In an odd way, the setbacks that Roark faces has you cheering for him. You get hooked into the character and against the parasitic collectivists, much like you sympathize with Jimmy Stewart in A Christmas Story.

One big note of criticism-the characters speak roughly the same. They don't have their own distinctive voice and are easily interchangeable with one another. In this regard, Rand had nothing on lefty writers such as Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, and John Steinbeck. Looking forward to reading more tonight........
 
saliotthomas said:
I think our friend Stewart is an ardent supporter of this book.:D
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I really enjoyed the film, starring Gary Cooper, when I was young. But it's been so long, I've grown up, and, while I've forgotten most of the film, I have no desire to read Rand.
 
You've got me going back to my college copy of this book. I remember it well. I think the power of Rand's story in The Foutainhead (and her other works) is her ability to separate the producers from the parasites. She does this with a heavy hand, but no heavier than those writing in some other genres at the present time. She grants Roark god-like powers but derives these powers from the ability of mankind to reason, apply reason to the world, and then reap the benefits. It is also refreshing to note that her characters take setbacks, punishment, and outright abuse much differently than characters I read today. This might be a sign of how attitudes have changed. Roark has the uncanny ability to turn his "enemies" against themselves as he reinvents himself in one role after the other. I'd like to see this done in a recent work. I'm looking... and taking any suggestions.
 
Excellent comments writer. What makes it so compelling, is that the story isn't just your typical intro, build up to climax, climax, and then gradual slope down to the ending. It reads more like an EKG with high points of Roark getting jobs and beating the collectivists, followed by dry spells where he has to close his business and work as a hired hand. With each valley, you just find it so infuriating in the world that he lives in prevents him from being the best, as no one can be the best, so everyone has to be mediocre. I'm at the "valley" point right now where his construction friend has hired him on.

It is also refreshing to note that her characters take setbacks, punishment, and outright abuse much differently than characters I read today.
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And that is why she is vastly underrated, while people like Sinclair and Steinbeck get their fame. Perhaps they are the Peter Keatings of writing?:D Of those writers, the characters in The Jungle come close to setbacks and the like-though in Sinclair's book, the people are always oppressed and never benefit from their labor.

On a sidenote, I clicked on one of the ads above this thread and it featured a book that billed itself as: "Dr. Seuss meets Ayn Rand.":lol: From the blurbbie-

Follow the trials of bright Bridget Blodgett as she struggles to produce her widgets and wodgets in the face of increasing taxation! Find out what happens when the islanders and their businesses can no longer support the bureaucracy that has somehow grown from the best of intentions! This beautifully illustrated hard-bound book extols the virtues of free markets, and shows what can go wrong when government bureaucracy gets out of control! For free market advocates of all ages!
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An Island Called Liberty

I'm away from my book this weekend, went to visit family in Kansas and left the book behind-will be posting again soon.

On a further note, here are some cool youtube videos of Ayn Rand.

Mike Wallace interviews Ayn Rand, 1959
 
SFG,

Your points about Sinclair and Steinbeck are well taken. I think we're delving into literary theory here when it comes to the progress or lack thereof that characters make over the course of the story. As you say, Rand doesn't follow the typical arc of plot development but rather imbeds several arcs along the way. In another writer's hands, the Roark character would not take the actions he does because another writer probably wouldn't have the philosophical goals that Rand had and wanted to convey in her story. I think (maybe I'm wrong) that Rand wanted to show it is better to retreat and stick to your principles than to become like the enemy for the sake of fame, fortune, or some other lesser goals that only sacrifice the individual. Sinclair and Steinbeck were both great writers, although of a different political will. They're characters are not capable of doing what Roark does because they have a different restrictive philosophy. Rand allows her characters to go to either side and face the consequences there of, which may be more based in reality than many may be willing to accept.

More later....
 
I agree with the statements about philosophy. Rand's belief was that every author was a philosopher, whether they chose to admit it or not. This admission, denial or neglect does impact characterizations and plots. She chose to admit it and use it as a basis for her works. Knowing the political, philosophical, religious, or other views of an author prior to reading a book can either damage or heighten the experience based on a persons own values. I believe Rand is known for her ideas more than her characters which, I'm sure, sways the opinions of many potential readers that are so caught up in their own moral code they are unwilling to venture out to understand the code of another. The Fountainhead is, in my opinion, a book that is much more than the story and is near the top of my list of books where the ideas are so well conveyed, whether or not you agree with the philosophy, the reader can easily have a strong respect for the ideas.

I am not interested in a lot of emotion or emotional dialogue in my reading. Rand's characters are either easy to hate or easy to admire. There's not much room for trying to save the weak here.
 
Excellent discussion that you started here Scott! I have only just discovered it.
I read The Fountainhead among my earliest novels long long ago and loved it. Since then I have encountered only negative criticism of it and her work, so I have found this thread invigorating to read. More recently, I read Anthem and found that she can still evoke my emotions, even though I suppose most might again negatively label it as simple characters in a simple story. Perhaps her style of writing has echoes of olden morality plays, where characters are indeed deliberately single-faceted and are named Virtue, Lust, Greed, Honor and so forth. That is a style not at all in vogue today, so I especially appreciate this thread for showing where her strengths might lie.
Excellent contributions, all, and good early morning reading as well. :flowers:
 
Given the current economic times, Rand's works are ever more relevant. I doubt that Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged will be consulted, but they should be. Her foresight is eerily accurate.

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Writer44 said:
Given the current economic times, Rand's works are ever more relevant. I doubt that Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged will be consulted, but they should be. Her foresight is eerily accurate.

44
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A slight detour from The Fountainhead but an illustration of what you will find with Rand.

This is a brief cut from Atlas Shrugged, which I recommend reading just after finishing The Fountainhead.

"Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot."
 
Outlaw,

Thank you for the excerpt. I wish it was printed on the front page of every newspaper tomorrow.

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I just finished The Fountainhead... Here is the review I put on my Visual Bookshelf on Facebook:

What can I say about The Fountainhead? It's amazing and eye-opening, and an accurate picture of what's going on in our country today (even though it takes place in the early decades of the 1900s). I got this book at one of those stores where everything is $1, and I thought it was just some crappy, cheap story that was in the $1 store because it was crappy and cheap. Was I ever wrong... This book is an American classic (unbeknownst to me until I actually read about Ayn Rand on Wikipedia), and anyone who is disgruntled with the nation's march toward socialism should read it.

Strangely enough, none of the characters in this book were particularly likeable, but I greatly admired Howard Roark's staunch adherence to his own principles. He wanted to do things HIS way and wouldn't be guilted into thinking he owed anything to anyone else - because he didn't. He mirrors the many Americans who are angry with increased government control of their lives. He represents America, and the pride and fierce protectiveness we should have of it - and of ourselves as Americans.

Ellsworth Toohey is hands down the most disgusting character I have EVER read about, in all my years of reading. He is known as a great humanitarian and orator, but he is a power hungry hypocrite who believes people have no right to personal happiness or even their own thoughts. For some reason, I always pictured him as looking like Barney Frank and talking in the same stupid voice as Barney Frank. Which is fitting, since they represent the same wing of society that wants to destroy our country as we know it.
 
For some reason, I always pictured him as looking like Barney Frank and talking in the same stupid voice as Barney Frank. Which is fitting, since they represent the same wing of society that wants to destroy our country as we know it.
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:lol::lol::lol:

I like your spirit Miranda, very wise indeed.

On to Atlas Shrugged?:whistling:
 
SFG75 said:
:lol::lol::lol:

I like your spirit Miranda, very wise indeed.

On to Atlas Shrugged?:whistling:
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SFG75, I'm planning to read Atlas Shrugged soon... I have a few other books backed up, but I may put them off to read Atlas Shrugged.

I'd like to see Ellsworth Toohey moderate a town hall meeting on health care right now! :lol:
 
Writer44 said:
Given the current economic times, Rand's works are ever more relevant. I doubt that Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged will be consulted, but they should be. Her foresight is eerily accurate.

44
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Foresight indeed, but also the situation at the time. Rand had the fortune (from a writer's standpoint) to be born in Russia under communist rule. America was a land of capitalist opportunity, but that capitalism was being corrupted by socialist ideologies.

As someone else mentioned, Rand's work is often associated with negative ideas, in my opinion because her work produces ideas, rather than emotional responses to characters and situations, although there is that too. I loved all her characters, in both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I believe her biggest strength with her characters is their consistency. While not one-dimensional, she maintains each character's integrity and ideology thorough each lengthy novel - I wish life was like that!
 
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