Thrown out of Stanton School of Architecture for his refusal to adhere to the standards of the past (the dean views Roark as a rebel who opposes all the rules of architecture and his society’s view of art that is representation of what has been revered in the past) and for turning in assignments that represented a complete break from the past. The Fountainhead tells the story of Howard Roark, an architect. Her biography revealed a complex and very interesting individual, so it was time to dig into her works personally. Obviously another case of what I call the “De Toqueville syndrome,” where everyone pretends to have read a famous book and to know what the author stood for, but has no firsthand reading knowledge. Show More ascribed beliefs to Rand that were at opposite poles of the spectrum, from conservative to radical, individualist to Nazi fascist. But no other writer can make you burn like she can. And if that's what you're looking for, there are precious few other places to get it.Īyn Rand will annoy, offend, and sometimes bore you. She describes the ecstasy of creation like God on the first day. For Rand (like Thomas Mann, but much more viscerally), to do was to be. Not the monotonous grind of day to day labor, but the vital and sometimes violent act of creative work. No one writes about work the way that Rand does.

There are romantic acts and declarations that are shocking for their brutality, both physical and emotional.īut her real genius was in her passion for accomplishment. She gained notoriety for the intense (and sometimes bizzare) encounters between her characters.

And if you can get past whatever offends you in her best novels (and there is something for everyone), you may find that she knew more about passion, in all of its forms, than anyone who ever wrote. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly.This is the only novel of ideas written by an American woman that I can recall.But what is undeniable is that Rand was passionate. As fresh today as it was then, Rand's provocative novel presents one of the most challenging ideas in all of fiction-that man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress. This modern classic is the story of intransigent young architect Howard Roark, whose integrity was as unyielding as granite.of Dominique Francon, the exquisitely beautiful woman who loved Roark passionately, but married his worst enemy.and of the fanatic denunciation unleashed by an enraged society against a great creator. The revolutionary literary vision that sowed the seeds of Objectivism, Ayn Rand's groundbreaking philosophy, and brought her immediate worldwide acclaim.

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