The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff
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Book Reviews of The Fountainhead
Book Review: Egos of the World, Unite!
Summary: 5 Stars
In a macroscopic sense, The Fountainhead is about the struggle of the exceptional mind (innovators and geniuses) versus the mediocre mind (intellectual leeches and society-at-large). In a microscopic sense, this novel is about the relationship of Howard Roark (the exceptional) with his contemporary, Peter Keating (the mediocre), and his nemesis, Ellsworth M. Toohey and the rest of society (the unthinking herd).
The Exceptional: Howard Roark is an architect who has not only pushed the envelope, but has broken the mold. Reviled and undermined by his architectural peers, Roark, despite being the most brilliant, innovative, and cost effective architect of the time, is left to scrounge for any work he can get. Since his work IS his happiness and highest ideal, this doesn't bother him, because he knows the day will come when superlative achievement and action, not masks of prestige and back-room deals, rule the day.
The Mediocre: Peter Keating is loved by all and is called the greatest architect of his time. Yet he has attained his celebrity and prestige not by standing on the shoulders of giants, but by stealing the shoulders himself. Peter is a shell of a man and has no talent. He is actually reliant on Roark for his architectural renderings. Peter is a product of what OTHER people want, and his life and subsequent downfall represents the travesty of complete sacrifice of self.
The Rat: Actively working against what Roark stands for is Ellsworth M. Toohey. Toohey is a "meek" man, but he doesn't want to inherit the earth, he wants to drain it of the superlative, and replace the void with the ordinary, the mundane, and the mediocre. Why? Because these are the easiest people to control. Toohey endorses the "average" and promulgates self-sacrifice for the betterment of others. These are his tools he uses to gain immense social power; Toohey is an up-and-coming dictator.
Roark represents the highest virtue of man: unadulterated, egotistical achievement. It is through the self-centered, egotistical achievements of men and women, like him, that society prospers through laissez faire economics, though "altruistic" power mongers (Ellsworth M. Toohey) want to usurp those thinking, reasoning minds in order to corral society into the grips of a collectivist dictatorship, all in the name of the "social good."
This book is easier to digest in that the storyline utilizes more plausible occurrences as opposed to Atlas Shrugged; the Fountainhead is easier to believe. The Fountainhead is also more of a scary parallel of what is beginning to emerge in the United States as well.
The overall "take-home" message of the novel is simple: the combination of multiple individuals acting in their own self-interest (NOT self-sacrifice) add up to create the social good (good ole' Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations)
Book Review: Fast paced, tight and thought-provoking
Summary: 5 Stars
Whether you agree with the ideas Rand presents or think she is one with the devil, "The Fountainhead" is a powerful and moving book that I highly recommend. Although it is long, it is very tightly written. There are no unnecessary scenes, no irrelevant characters and no ad nauseum descriptions of sunsets and waterfalls.
There are several reasons I love this book, none having to do with the controversial philosophies of the author. The first is the amazing characterization. There were several people in the book that could have been drawn directly from people in my life: the social worker who works more out of self-righteousness than pure altruism, the over-blown academic who can read meaning and symbolism in tripe, the professional who cares more about where his work takes him than the quality of the work itself. Rand doesn't draw these as flat characters. Instead we actually see their flaws and motivations in all their beauty and terror.
I also love the idealism of Roark. Several previous reviews have termed him "egotistical" with a "superiority complex", but that isn't how I see him at all. Would a professional who meets those descriptions lower himself to working as a common laborer at a quarry? Roark doesn't care if his work is good or not, let alone that it is superior. All that matters is that it pleases him. He might work a menial job, but he wouldn't debase himself to produce anything but the kind of art that pleases him, whatever anyone else says about its quality.
The insight of the book into the power of the press and the country's growing socialization is another drawing point. I crack up whenever I read the Banner's editorial on parenthood in modern times. It describes how parents need to be just as loving toward and concerned about other children as they are of their own. It reads remarkably like Hillary Clinton's "It Takes a Village". In an age where talentless performers are at the top of the chart because of the right buzz, I can understand the idea that he who controls the media, controls the tastes of the masses.
A common criticism of "The Fountainhead" is the rape of Dominique by the hero. Like so much of the book, it is not something that can be understood if you only view it in a vacuum. Roark and Dominique have an almost transcendental bond. Throughout the book they start in the middle of conversations and understand each other as if they were one. Their violent first sexual encounter is not indicative of Roark's character or of their relationship.
There are some simplistic parts of the book: all capitalists are good, all socialists are bad, wanting to help people and do good is described as an excuse, not a noble motive. Still, there is so much good in this beautiful book that I consider it one that everyone should read.
Book Review: I OVERCAME MY ADDICTION TO READING AMAZON.COM REVIEWS OF THE WORKS OF AYN RAN!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ayn Rand's life, works, and philosophy still remain mired in dispute 23 years after her death. But you if you are reading this review page you are already knew that.
My review will try to focus on the actual work in question instead of judging Rand's personality, affairs, intellectual ability, The Ayn Rand Institute, or gasp! Even her smoking (I have yet to meet somebody who had a problem with Sartre smoking). But this course of action is unlikely.
This book along with Anthem and Atlas Shrugged are morality plays. Just like The Scarlet Letter, Everyman, or even The Jungle (yes Virginia, socialists have morality too.). That fact that this is a morality play is what turns some people off.
The prose and plot structure turn off many people who demand "realism". I put realism in quotes because I really don't believe that this book is totally detached from reality as its detractors claim, each character is a moral abstraction. Taking bits of realistic human behavior and taking it to its logical and often ridiculous extremes. Keating is a bumbling everyman, Wynard is a Nietzschen/Stirnerien overman, Dominique is the depressed existentialist, and Howard is the Randian ideal. The only character that I would agree is totally unrealistic is Toohey, who is an abstraction for everything Rand views as evil.
Now for the part you all have been waiting for, the commentary on the rape scene! My first comment will be totally off the record and totally not intellectual. "That's hot". Its no secret Rand liked to have her heroines get smacked around when they were having sex. As a male who would like his girlfriend to smack him around in bed I have no problem with this scene.
Since Howard is the Randian moral ideal and he did commit rape many people assume this means that Rand supported rape. Rand also didn't help herself when she said she was a "male supremacist" and that no healthily woman would want to be President. (Well so much for not discussing Rand's beliefs). But on the same flip of the coin Atlas Shrugged main protagonist is a woman and Rand's newspaper endorsed The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Eh I have gotten sidetracked, check out the book The Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand if this stuff interests you.
Well my review has gotten rather long I will end with some advice
1) Take all reviews on this book, including this one, with a grain of salt and read the damn book anyway.
2) Counting reading philosophy once you're done with the book. If you don't like Rand there are more fish in the sea. Try Camus, Sartre, Nietzsche, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, Popper, Ayer, Foucault, Thoreau, Plato, Aristotle, etc. I don't care just read some philosophy. You might learn something about yourself and the world you happen to live in.
Book Review: Altruist vs. Egotist
Summary: 5 Stars
Ms. Rand has created a wonderful novel in The Fountainhead. Its a beautiful symphony of a struggle of a man facing the beliefs of a modern world while still standing by his own ideals. Howard Roark is a man who mankind should take after. I really dont know how to put it, but he is everything that most people aren't.Throughout the book, Howard's strengths are enveloped with drastic comparison (if thats what you would call it) with his "friend" Peter Keating. Peter will do what ever his client wants from him as a young architect and he has done everything in his power to make sure that he succeeds, even at the price of others. Howard on the other hand will not sacrifice what be believes in, and thats what brings him down.
Howard loved the work of the architect Henry Cameron, and when he was expelled from art school by not making traditional Gothic or Greek homes, he went strait to work for Henry Cameron. Cameron was a once famous architect who believed that whatever has been done in the past, should never be done again, so he designed totally modernistic structures. This came under much scrutiny and praise as he was called "untraditional." He was eventually destroyed because "Men hate passion, any great passion. Henry Cameron made a mistake: he loved his work. That was why he lost."
When Howard applied the same principals, people werent sure what to think, and he reclined great comissions for the most wealthiest people. However, man didnt see his great line of ideals and he was labeled as an egotist, and people set out to destroy him.
As the story progresses, we see Howard as a man who doesnt hate. He cant particularily, but he does have his beliefs. And that is what makes this book wonderful. The entire story is philosophical, and it becomes slightly overwhelming at times, but Ms. Rand makes a wonderful story of it. The story ends in a dramtic climax at a trial where Howard testifys everything he believes in. He brings up the case of Altruist vs. Egotist. An egotist is one who gives up others for self. He creates, and is a creator, he made the wheel and everything else that has allowed the others to succeed. An altruist is a person who gives up self for others. He is the parasite, and doesnt use his brain, he punishes the egotist for making that wheel, and then uses it himself for personal gain.
Again, this book really broadened my outlook upon society. I have been quite interested in philosophy and this book really helped me see what man can be like. This is one of my favorite books of all time and i highly recommend it. The afterword is also quite interesting, before or after you start reading of the book. I loved this book and its highly recommended to all who can actually read the 700+ pages without being frightened.
Book Review: The Fountainhead morally explains the Garden of Eden story.
Summary: 5 Stars
I write here a review of The Fountainhead and also refer to the review I am writing online of Atlas Shrugged. It is no secret that Ayn Rand intended to challenge Judeo-Christian ethics by her writings and philosophy. Most of her followers have interpreted this to mean than she was anti-religious. but this is not so. Her books are actually intensely religious but not at all Judeo-Christian in emphasis or perspective. In the Biblical Garden of Eden story, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was in fact not a Tree of information or of any useful knowledge but rather of Judgment, and as such could only work for its rightful Owner who also created and owned the Garden. Judeo-Christianity emphasizes only that Adam and Eve disobeyed and therefore sinned. In fact they violated a Divine Property Right. The Fountainhead emphasizes this. In The Fountainhead, Roark can be juxtaposed as having the same Divine Right in regard to his own intellectual property and work. with Toohey as the Serpent who instigated the violation, etc. In the end, we have Ayn Rand elevating all mankind, with the exception of Toohey et al, completely out of the confines of the "sin" which Judeo-Christianity still levies upon the descendants of Adam and Eve, through a thoughtful and philosophic appreciation of property rights rather than through some mystifying emphasis on mere obedience. This is a book which should be read before one reads Atlas Shrugged, which takes this philosophic approach to religion even further. The reader should also notice that, in both of these books, Ayn Rand refers to the Garden of Eden "Tree of Knowledge" incorrectly ... as if it is in fact a tree of information ... and therefore herself always defended "disobedience" by advocating that it was always intended to be eaten. This was not a ploy on her part. Despite all of her intense philosophic precision inclusive of religious study, Ayn Rand misread the clear meaning of the forbidden Tree ... thus proving she never ate of "it" herself! So, rather than waste time reading hearsay regarding her alleged "instability" or wondering why a woman who would not keep a dime she did not earn and who would therefore have had to invent an empathy test-tube "affair" and take transcription notes to be of real help to the myriad of broken hearted divorcees who flocked to the Branden Institute for paid counselling, we can all instead think of Ayn Rand as a provable Immaculate Evolution ... and completely above the suspicions currently being implied. There is even a Biblical analogy appropriate for this brilliant and honorable writer which i will refer to more precisely in my review of Atlas Shrugged.