Fountainhead

After considerable amount of procrastination I finally completed Fountainhead by Ayn Rand . Pretty voluminous , but quite one of those thought provoking books. I don’t think any kind of review is possible for this classic propounding the  philosophy of objectivism over the last 60 years . But still it won’t prevent me from expressing my views on it . I won’t say that it is a life changing book , but surely it’s the  philosophy which brought me closer to myself . It asserts the belief in idealism and the triumph of individual man and his vision over the masses or collectivism . It is the first book which openly espouses capitalism . And there are wonderful, memorable lines; one of my favorites is, “All love is exception-making.”

This is the story of  an uncompromising architect  Howard Roark and his battle against the convention which enslaves the innovational spirit . The character is completely believable  with his incredible unreal sense of self . He is completely  dispassionate about the rewards or adulation offered in creative profession . He works for his own creative satisfaction and remain completely at peace & unperturbed at being criticised and opposed by others .  He teaches us how to love one self in an amazing way . In final pages he gives excellent speech with arguments drawing contrast between the creator and secondhander or rather parasite . I just loved one of his quotes “I just wished to come here and say that i am the man who does not exist for others . ”

Peter Keating is in striking contrast with Roark with his blatant selflessness or rather spinelessness . He imitates the established conventional designs  and depends on Roark for designing his buildings . He sways in direction of social opinion and is oblivious of his own identity . Elseworth Toohey (funny name)  is connosieur of art and has firm belief in masses . In his quest for power to control the world he is inclined towards destruction of best people so that masses are confident of their capabilities . Such kind of people seem saintly from within but are embodiment of evil . I liked the conversation between Toohey and Roark where he asks him -What do you really think of me ? Roark answers – But I don’t think of you .

Gail Wyanand , this is the character i liked after Roark. He is a self made man who rises from gutter to be a media tycoon . His newspaper is  opinion forming in nature rather than reflecting convictions of people . I liked the name of his yatch ” I do ” , for this  was the answer to his most encountered sentence by people ” You don’t run things around here .” Initially misanthrope , the character turns lovable when he initiates crusade in support of Roark .

I would say it’s a philosophy with ponderable points just taken to absurd extremes . For time being its difficult to get out of Roark phenomena (aftereffects  of reading fountainhead) .