The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff
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Book Reviews of The Fountainhead
Book Review: Brilliant ( Long Review )
Summary: 5 Stars
Only thing that was keeping me from ever reading The Fountainhead were the dozen number of people who recommended it to me. It is a certified guaranteed winner as per most people (most of whom cannot frame a sentence without using words such as "nice" , "intelligent" ,"sweet" etc.)
The Fountainhead is impactful,precise,gigantic in it's scope, the work of a mastermind. Ayn Rand shocked me(again) with her control over character definitions and flabbergasting logic. After I had finished reading Atlas Shrugged, I felt a bit cheated and robbed of my time. Don't get me wrong, "A.S" has my favourite book character of all time in Fransisco but it is the "giving in" nature of most characters in Atlas Shrugged that made it seem a bit too harsh to me.There is a certain preachiness in the words of John Galt that didn't really sell consequence. Moving on, about Fountainhead I'd like to say that it has the best and most well conceived perception of a human brain I've read. Some of my favourite characters in the book are Peter Keating, Gail Wynand (the best), Ellsworth Toohey (never has a character been this interesting in his villain own self) and the hero, Howard Roark. One very tactful and intentional foreplay of characters is the fact that they are all unique. You will never once in the book find a flaw or loophole in any of the characters. What I'm trying so hard to say will be better explained by examples.
Howard Roark never says more than he thinks he must in this book and often says nothing when you'd expect him to talk. Gail Wynand doesn't ever give away his self respect into the hands of another and never begs anyone. Ellsworth Toohey never gets himself into trouble despite the mind riots he causes most lesser people in the book.
Ayn Rand has an astounding quantity of mind. She shocks me repeatedly in this book by adding a shape to certain thoughts every 20 something year old guy goes through. I do not like the part where there is raw love between Howard Roark and Dominique because it seems a bit too barbaric and unrealistic for me to swallow. It's surprising how boring and dull the book became for a few pages when Roark and Dominique Francon meet. There is a certain sarcasm that the book displays in paragraphs containing comments made by the local people. Fountainhead was extremely funny in it's own silent subtle way at times.
WHY IS IT BETTER THAN ATLAS SHRUGGED(to me)?
I hope I do not offend anyone by comparing the two but like many readers have pointed out, most characters of The Fountainhead grow on you and towards the last few pages your pace of reading declines(intentionally). Gail Wynand with his practicality and adaptation skills makes more of a hero than any of the much exaggerated Atlas Shrugged Characters. Atlas Shrugged is an epic in itself but it doesn't manage to grip you like The Fountainhead does. Most books ignore the character details of the villains but in Fountainhead, Ellsworth Toohey gets a whole lot of pages dedicated to him.
Gail Wynand with his "I Do" yacht was easily the most eyebrow raising thing in the book. Wynand fought a life against all odds. For him to believe in his own individual existence came as a shocker to me. Wynand is very inspiring. I won't say much because the more I talk of Gail Wynand, the more I feel I'm depriving him of a quality summary.
Ellsworth Toohey made me smile with how well knew the people around him. His attention to detail and "liquid cement memory" were both very well jotted down. Dominique Francon was a bit of a mixed bag which is why I don't mention her very often. She was almost half as bad as Dagny Taggart from Atlas Shrugged.
To end what I had to say, The Fountainhead is the best book I have read in my life. It's reassuring, almost magical touch of brilliant storywriting , flawless character defintions and the much loved irony brings me down to my knees. I do not suggest this book to everyone maybe because I do not think everyone will quite understand it. In any case, Enjoy whatever works.
I loved all reviews on this book because even the negative ones make a lot of sense come to think of it.
Book Review: An American Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on recommendations of several friends, I picked up Atlas Shrugged - but also Ayn Rand's earlier book, The Fountainhead. In the interest of easing into these large books, I picked the shorter, earlier work. A few weeks after finishing the book, I am still turning the ideas over in the back of my mind. As The Fountainhead is a novel written by Rand to explain her philosophy of objectivism, it is both entertaining and thought-provoking. All the while one reads this book, it helps to remember the historical setting. Published in 1943, socialism/collectivism as a philosophy of government and society were ascendant; capitalism/individualism was unfashionable in the aftermath of the Great Depression and World War I, and in the turmoil the ongoing Second World War. To those without the experience of collectivism and seeking to make sense of the tumultuous 20th century, this new philosophy had a broad appeal. Rand had a first hand taste of collectivism when her family's St. Petersburg pharmacy was confiscated by the Bolsheviks around 1920. She arrived in New York in 1926, having already developed a lifelong hatred of collectivism in all its forms.
The Fountainhead was written by Rand to explain her philosophy of objectivism. So while it is a good story, it is also (primarily) a book of ideas. The story centers around four main characters: Howard Roark & Peter Keating who travel dramatically different roads to grow from architecture students to become very different men; Ellsworth Toohey, a cynical and scheming leader/manipulater of men whose life goal is to further the cause of socialism/collectivism in the United States with himself as leader; Gail Wynand, a seedy newspaper mogul who possesses a surprisingly strong conscience and intellect in contrast to his flagship tabloid publication.
Roark is Rand's ideal: a man equally unbending in his principles in the face of vicious public criticism or lavish support, moreover he is almost entirely unaffected by his detractors. Keating is precisely the opposite, a man who only lives to beg, borrow or steal the affections and praise of others. Keating manages to be highly successful in a leading architectural firm, while secretly turning to Roark for help on his greatest projects. The inner conflict that naturally arises from his double life makes him a lackey (friend in Keating's mind) of Toohey. Toohey makes Keating feel good about himself while lavishly praising his mediocre architectural achievements in an influential column that Toohey writes in Wynand's newspaper. Toohey purposely supports the mediocrity of Keating and others because he aims to deny - even destroy - the existence of surpassing individual achievements that are the antithesis of a collectivist society. Toohey masterfully uses Wynand's newspaper as a platform for his views, yet in such a manner that few realize the eventual implications before it's too late - least of all Wynand. Finally, Dominique Francon is a singularly beautiful and brilliant woman who plays her own critical role in the lives of each of these men. Dominique's character experiences the most changes of any of the characters in the story. Her complicated relationships with each of them are variously based on love and hate, principle and expediency.
All aspects of The Fountainhead serve to illuminate ideas; as a result, readers may note the lack of change and growth in main characters whose largely static identities are necessary to the story. Further, these ideas are presented forcefully in black and white, leaving little room for real world shades of gray. The treatment of love and sex in the story will strike many readers as cynical or even offensive, while Rand's atheism is particularly strong. Readers who can set aside personal differences (such as they exist) with the author, however, will enjoy a book that inspires through its praise of achievement over mediocrity, and will also have an opportunity to reexamine their own beliefs on relationships, culture and society. The Fountainhead is an American literary classic, as relevant to our lives today as it was almost 65 years ago.
Book Review: Fantastic book
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a hard time putting this book down. Considering the length of it, this shows how interesting it was. There were 5 main characters, Howard Roark, Dominique Francon, Peter Keating, Gail Wynand and Ellsworth Toohey. Each character was well developed in a sense that once you were in their head you knew what they were going to do next, with one exception. I felt Dominique Francon's character was frequently inconsistent and her motivations at times pretty muddy.
The book takes you from before Howard and Peter finish college until about 20 years later. The story parallels these two men's careers as architects. They covered the architecture aspect just enough so you could see where the argument was but, not to the point where it would lose the readers. In this aspect, you are under no doubt that Howard is passionate about his craft and Peter is merely giving it lip service. Peter is into architecture as an end to a means. It has the pontential of making him popular. Most of the disputes in architecture center around the traditional versus modernistic view point. Traditional meaning keeping to the Greek Porticos and decorative features of the past versus a style more centered on function. Howard is dedicated to the fact that form should fit function.
Mostly this book centers on the inner lives of the characters and the forces that affect their personal decisions.
Howard is an end to himself, where Peter does not exist unless someone else is in the room. These two characters choices are about as opposite as can be found.
Ellsworth Toohey, whom is mentioned in passing early on, gets further developed later in the book and provides a manipulating force in Peter's life & that of many others. This character early in his life discovered the two extremes of personalities as Howard and Peter and has discovered the secret of using the "Peter Keatings" of the world.
Gail Wynand is an even more complex character than Ellsworth in the sense that he at one point in time stood alone, but at some point due to some various situations in his youth, became power hungry and decided on a similar path as Ellsworth Toohey. However, he never quite consciously made this choice and really was almost unaware of the path he chose & his dependency on the people he controlled.
Dominique Francon, never really gets developed to the same point as the male characters. Early on as a co-worker to Ellsworth Toohey and the daughter of Peter's employer, she is shiftless and comes across as just spiteful. You are not sure if she is a Toohey disciple or worse. Later on in her dealing with Howard, Peter and Gail, her motives and logic are still a bit ill defined. I think Ayn Rand was negligent in giving her female character's the necessary development in the book for her to be understood. Considering that she wrote this in the 1930s and 40s and the fact that the character had 3 husbands, this may have been the furthest she dared to go, lest the reading audience would unnecessarily focus on that.
Much of this book is dialogue between the characters, you have to follow it closely. Some of Ellsworth Toohey's one on ones with the various characters make you think of the many political speeches we hear every day. Then, when you consider the black heart of the character, it is frightening.
I think a person in their teens and 20s would walk away from this book with a different take than one in their 40s, as I am. An idealistic 20 year old still believes there are these singular characters out there like Howard and Peter, etc. They would get quickly discouraged with others and themselves, when they walked away from this book. An older person would recognize that most people have of blend of characters and these change with time. Then, one can only hope that we have more Howard than Peter & hope we are not deluding ourselves like Gail Wynand.
An excellent book, I am under no doubt why it is a classic.
Book Review: A powerful artistic statement.
Summary: 5 Stars
While I am by no means an objectivist, The Fountainhead is one of my favorite books. Why? Because its theme reflects and glorifies my deepest values of art.This is the story about two architects. One, Howard Roark, is a brilliant yet radical artist who wishes to design buildings strictly to satisfy his own desire to create. His uncompromising and unusual designs get him kicked out of school, and he heads to New York to start a career. Roark is pensive man, impossibly confident, proud, and never sees himself or his work in relation to others. He judges himself strictly according to his own values. Truly an independent man. He endeavors to please no one but himself.
The other architect is Peter Keating. Keating is also a brilliant young man, but he lacks Roark's sense of assurance and individuality. Lacking self-confidence, he feeds on the flattery and can only exist on others' opinions. His designs are unoriginal menageries of past architectural conventions, and he must compromise artistic integrity for satisfying everyone else.
The book spends much of its time following these two men and their careers. Keating meets with easy success thanks to his mainstream designs that make everyone happy. Roark often struggles to find work with his atypical designs, and his refusal to accommodate the desires of the client makes things tricky. The Fountainhead's objective is to show why Roark is the hero and Keating is the "bad guy." (There's other "bad guys" that come into the plot later with their own complexities, but let's keep the review simple.)
One problem is already evident. Architecture is largely comparable to any other business...it's about serving the customer. If someone wants a "lame" Greek- or Renaissance-style home, an architect isn't necessarily inferior as a person because he's trying to do good business.
But this book is not about architecture. To me, it's about a heroic artist. Architecture is just the vehicle with which Roark's story is told (Rand could have made Roark a musician, or something). In any case, The Fountainhead makes Rand's case (that man's ego generates the desire to create) in a striking manner. I think the ideas in this novel have tremendous impact, especially today.
...
You see, The Fountainhead, despite the faults of Ayn Rand's philosophy (more completely explored in Atlas Shrugged, another good book), is a powerful story because of its credo on art and some other themes that can be extrapolated through Roark. And Roark is a fantastic hero. Yes, in standard terms he's a self-absorbed sociopath (although he does get friends later), but he has many great qualities. He's honest, he knows what he wants, he's a genius, he's individualistic, and perfectly happy with himself. Is he the perfect man (as Rand would have it)? Probably not, but in The Fountainhead he's the perfect hero.
Many have faulted The Fountainhead for being a naive projection of ideals, for its unrealistically black and white characters, and didactic writing. The didactic thing bothered me -- later in the book there's parts where Rand loses that narrative objectivity and gets a bit pushy instead of just letting the character convey the ideas and letting the reader see things himself. But as for the romantic and black & white elements, I think those are part of makes the book so much more powerful. The message would have been suffocated by characters possessing a mix of good and bad qualities. With Roark being "white" and Keating and Ellsworth Toohey being unambiguously "black," Rand makes her message remarkably powerful.
And I also think Rand's a great writer. She can get more out of a person's physical description than any author I've read, and the way she captures that lucid sense of greatness in Roark's buildings is pretty magnificent. As for Roark...I wouldn't want to be him, but he is a great hero. One that I'll never forget.
Book Review: Ayn Rand's solution to the problem of alienation
Summary: 5 Stars
The individualist has always had an ambivalent relationship with the market. On the one hand, the market is an inevitable consequence of the individual right to own and trade property. On the other hand, the market is the physical embodiment of the opinions of other persons about how artifacts and activities are to be valued, and the individualist insists upon deciding these values for himself.
Ayn Rand's education in Soviet Russia made her intimately familiar with Marx's writings, including his theory of alienation. Her response to this theory is represented by the character Howard Roark in _The Fountainhead_, who insists upon maintaining a non-alienated relationship to his work as an architect. Roark is unwilling to compromise his artistic integrity and independence, even when his tenacity leads to dire hardship.
The joy of owning material things is small in comparison to the joy of genuinely self-directed creative work, of forming and developing one's own vision and bringing it to realization. To sacrifice the joy of self-directed work for the joy of ownership is a very imprudent--and yet also very common--decision. This sort of imprudence is represented in _The Fountainhead_ by the character Peter Keating. Keating recognizes the market as the highest arbiter of value. He does whatever it takes to bring in client revenue. The consequence is that he becomes extravagantly wealthy--and miserably unhappy.
In a world populated only by men like Peter Keating, free market capitalism might still be the most just way to organize society, but it would still be an aesthetically repulsive and psychologically disastrous way to organize society. It is the possibility of an uncompromisingly self-directed man like Howard Roark that vindicates capitalism in the aesthetic and psychological realm as well as in the realm of justice.
Ayn Rand is able to make an unequivocal recommendation for a universal free market because she believes she has solved the problem of alienation. It would seem, however, that although her recommendations for government policies of laissez-faire capitalism have had a not entirely insignificant political influence, the ethic of non-alienated work upon which this recommendation is predicated has had comparatively little influence. The leaders of contemporary commercial enterprises are unabashed in their insistence upon recognizing the market as the ultimate arbiter and director of all their decisions and activities. What should be recognized as a vice--spineless submission to public opinion as it is embodied in the marketplace--comes to be thought of as a virtue: to call an enterprise "market driven" is almost universally recognized as unequivocal praise.
The principle which Roark puts into practice is summarized in his maxim, "I don't build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build." In other words, Roark's practice is not "market-driven." It is driven by his own need to realize his artistic vision.
One might question whether it would be possible for an individual employee in a contemporary commercial enterprise to adopt a self-realization-centered approach to his work when the primary goal of his employer is to fulfill market needs, which will certainly not always coincide with the employee's needs for self-realization. The inevitable conflicts might in the end make the employee who insists upon self-realization unemployable, consigning him to work in the rock quarry. But it also just might be the case that a tenacious perseverance and insistence upon doing his work in a manner that is fulfilling could eventually pay off--as it does for Roark in _The Fountainhead_.