Jim's Pond - Exploring the Universe of Ideas
"Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet. Then all things are at risk. It is as when a conflagration has broken out in a great city, and no man knows what is safe, or where it will end." --Ralph Waldo Emerson
Saturday, May 31, 2003

"THE FOUNTAINHEAD"

I finished "THE FOUNTAINHEAD" early this morning. It was one of those read 'til you finish, last hundred pages push. I enjoyed the book, though I find Ayn (rhymes with mine) Rands philosophy a bit jaded.

"THE FOUNTAINHEAD" is about one man, Howard Roark. It is a classic Man against Man struggle. Only I would characterize it as a Man against the Whole World conflict.

The book is nearly eight hundred pages long. So I'm not going to try to summarize it here. In brief, the last 50 pages of the book reveal the whole story. (Stop reading now if you don't want me to spoil it.)

This book is about Creators (Howard Roark and a few others) and Second-handers (everybody else). Roark is described as an egotist. (27 years after the first printing Ms. Rand admitted that she used the wrong word. A better description would have been "egoist".) He is uncompromising in his beliefs. He is true to his character throughout the book.

Every other character betrays Roark, or themself, or both, at one point or another.

The story takes place over a twenty year period. The characters and plot are well developed. For an 800 page work it moves along at a pretty good pace.

I purchased "THE FOUNTAINHEAD", in paperback, many years ago. It's taken me some time to get to it. The only other Rand work I've read, "ATLAS SHRUGGED", took me over a year to complete once I got started. "THE FOUNTAINHEAD" didn't take that long.

Still, I don't think that I would recommend "THE FOUNTAINHEAD" to the casual reader. Reading it involves way to much thinking. Not a good endorsement for a mere novel.

If you are interesting in Ayn Rand and her works, read "ATLAS SHRUGGED" first. If you enjoy Rand and haven't read "THE FOUNTAINHEAD", give it a go. I think you will enjoy it........
10:18:19 AM    comment []






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