The Fountainhead

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It's a hit!

My thoughts on this book can largely be summed up in contrast to popular opinion.

I feel that The Fountainhead is Rand's best work, as opposed t... (show more)

My thoughts on this book can largely be summed up in contrast to popular opinion.

I feel that The Fountainhead is Rand's best work, as opposed to Atlas Shrugged. While the latter may do a better job of laying out Rand's philosophy I think there is a reason that Rand chose to spend a good portion of her professional life writing fiction. The Fountainhead more than makes up for whatever it lacks in political/economic posturing with a compelling story and interesting characters. This leads to my second point.

Ayn Rand was a phenomenal writer. Yes, I know this book is about capitalism. However, The Fountainhead captures the interactions between human beings in a manner few can match. She does so subtly, and for this reason, I believe, one of her greatest strengths goes overlooked. Noticed or not, the soul of each character is laid bare as Rand details their psyches and motivations without disrupting the flow of the narrative.

Anyone who sees The Fountainhead as nothing more than an environment for the author to preach the merits of her philosophy simply isn't reading very closely. (show less)

 

 

by Derek Felten

No, it's a flop!

I think Rand had it in her to be an excellent writer but was too in love with her own writing and beliefs to be, dare I say it, objective about the... (show more)

I think Rand had it in her to be an excellent writer but was too in love with her own writing and beliefs to be, dare I say it, objective about them.

She suffers terribly from diarrhea of the pen; using fifteen descriptives when five would be just as meaningful.

Her characters are black and white and are either long winded or don’t speak when they should, with some empty refrain like “knowing that he knew and it did not need to be said” being used in place of dialogue.

The choice to make the “perfect man” and “perfect woman” of the story a rapist and rape victim boggles the mind, destroys the believability of their relationship/characters, and makes one wonder if Rand understood the definition of, & the action described by, the word rape.

Rand’s descriptives are beautiful and her message of individualism is commendable but her one dimensional view and brain vomiting preachiness do not make her a good messenger. (show less)

 

 

by Tressa Lee Breen

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  3/09 - "Man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress." This is more philosophy than litertaure. I think of it as the alternate ending to "Atlas Shrugged." What would have happened if the talented, the strongest among us would have stayed and fought rather than left? I liked it more than "Atlas Shrugged," I suppose, but it falls victim to many of the same shortfalls. 1. It's preachy. Rand tells us what is right and what is wrong. While the plot is excel... (show more)

  3/09 - "Man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress." This is more philosophy than litertaure. I think of it as the alternate ending to "Atlas Shrugged." What would have happened if the talented, the strongest among us would have stayed and fought rather than left? I liked it more than "Atlas Shrugged," I suppose, but it falls victim to many of the same shortfalls. 1. It's preachy. Rand tells us what is right and what is wrong. While the plot is excellent, it doesn't leave any doubt as the what the reader is supposed to think. Rather than present a situation in which two sides can be seen an judged, one side is presented as correct and the other as stupid. 2. The characters are all strawmen. Roark can do no wrong, Keating can do no right. 3. Everything is black and white. 4. If the reader doesn't agree with Rand's philosophies, they are labeled as unhappy or stupid. 5. The novel doesn't really reflect current events. 6. The words "debauchery" and "bromide" are WAY overused. Now, keeping these points in mind, Rand does make some good, although exagerrated, points. I love Dominique's sentiments that she doesn't want to share any of the best things in the world, because when unworthy people read or see something of beauty, it has become tainted. I love Roark's final courtroom speech. Rand has some interesting ideas, but her idealized selfishness can only go so far. There is a reason that none of the characters in any of her novels have children. The characters' relationships are unbelievable as they are... the four "geniuses" of the novel able to tell each other simply by looks. To sum it up, Rand could have written this novel with just as much power in half the space. Her characters are unrealistic and hard to empathize with. Her philosophies do have some merit and warrant exploration. Recommended for anyone interested in philosophy or objectivism. (show less)

   

   

  by Brett Larsen on Mar 16, 2009 at 08:11PM

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  Ayn Rand is a name known to most, though the greater number of people will never read her work. It is a shame.

  The Fountainhead is a rich parable in which Rand creates individuals with directly conflicting modus operandi and differing ideas of what it means to be a part of the human race. It is a tale of struggle between the individual and the collective, that nameless beast which, on the face of it, seems like a positive, inclusive, humane, compassionate entity in which to belong. Ra... (show more)

  Ayn Rand is a name known to most, though the greater number of people will never read her work. It is a shame.

  The Fountainhead is a rich parable in which Rand creates individuals with directly conflicting modus operandi and differing ideas of what it means to be a part of the human race. It is a tale of struggle between the individual and the collective, that nameless beast which, on the face of it, seems like a positive, inclusive, humane, compassionate entity in which to belong. Rand masterfully argues that it is this collective mentality which serves to dilute the efficacy of the individual, lower the greater minds among us to the level of the lowest (in the name of equality and charity), and is at it's base an affront to what it is to be a human being.

  It is also more than that, however. Even though the book is an excellent examination of the relationship of man to society, it is an even greater examination of the relationship of a man to himself. It is this book in which Rand introduces her hypothesis of the virtue of selfishness. The way she uses this concept is not the same as it is commonly known today. I haven't read her philosophical works in which she explains this, but The Fountainhead does a good job in its own right.

  Admittedly, until the later part of the book's development the characters seem too direct, complex, cartoonish in their overt purpose as the bastion of whatever conceptual frame of reference Rand wished them to fulfill. Their dialogue and seeming superhuman understanding of the human condition and the psychology of themselves and each other felt as though Rand were trying a bit too hard to sound intellectual in fighting an unknown crusade, the meaning of which does not become clear until the latter half of this lengthy tome. This is the sense taken from a first reading of the earlier portions of this book. Once one ceases battling with these apparent detriments, one begins to find them endearing and even necessary in accomplishing her goal and that the intelligence found in the characters' dialogue and the examination of their feelings and motives is just a reflection of the great intellect that penned them.

  Whether you agree with her or not, the author can not be faulted for trying to lead the reader in the direction she chooses and asking them to consider her underlying views. The book itself is a challenge. It asks us to examine views we may hold without knowing why we hold them, that are merely a part of the fabric of which our particular culture is made and we have adopted unknowingly. They are to us as the air we breathe. The Fountainhead is in essence an interesting novel that can stand on its own merits as such, but simultaneously acts as a mini work of philosophy, in which the author must lay out her arguments, deduct from them further axioms, and leave the reader to determine the soundness of the underlying argument. If you are unwilling to do so and consider such an approach as "preachy", I am sorry and please do look elsewhere. (show less)

   

   

  by Jeremy Papke on Aug 24, 2009 at 05:35PM

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