The
story of the Fountainhead centres on and around the lives of two young architects. Howard Roark, who we meet as a virtual social pariah, is an utterly self-centred egotist, passionately devoted to the field of architecture and single-minded in his determination to create buildings that conform to his own conception of form and function. He is a man who operates like a force of nature, inviolate and relentless, driving endlessly toward this goal, and resultantly embroiled in a constant
struggle against a world determined to see this desire crushed.
In contrast, Peter Keating is the picture of success; warm and friendly with a ready smile and an easygoing boyish charm. He is defined by an overwhelming desire for prestige and superiority, which he will sacrifice anything to maintain. The top graduating student at Stanford Technical Institute, he has all the makings a bright future opening up before him. He revels in his own glory and believes the truth of that glory when he sees it reflected back in the admiration of those around him. The only person he cannot maintain his façade of confidence around is his friend Roark, who inspires an indefinable
kind of fear in him that does not wish to understand.
As the story progresses a litany of varied
characters array against and alongside these two men, each with their own agenda, each with there own conflict to be resolved, but at the same time instrumental to exploring the silent struggle and tension that exists between them. Although Keating is often the aggressor, creating the conflict between himself and Roark, both of these men are the protagonists; they are like different sides of the same coin; diametrically opposite, but in many ways fundamentally the same.
Through either the cold calculated intent of others or the constraints of their own psychological strengths and weaknesses, they are led into situations that challenge them to compromise the values they hold dear; and we are carried inexorably down the two very different paths these men choose to tread. Roark is as a rock, cold, unemotional and steadfast in his convictions, and made to suffer greatly for his inability and unwillingness to compromise his architectural vision. In parallel to him, we watch the shifting sands of Keating’s loyalty and morals adjust to people and situations, earning him the image of success he desires.
I cannot begin to sufficiently express how insightful and quite simply brilliant this
book is, it’s many layers of detail and complexity of both character and description make it the kind of book that can be
read over and over. It cannot be denied that Ayn Rand’s social and political beliefs underlie much of the content; at the heart of her beliefs are the ideal of enlightened self-interest and the right of the individual over the collective; both of which are illustrated implicitly in her descriptive style and explicitly in the words and thoughts of her characters.
Throughout the story these same themes are always present, driving motives and actions, but the characters themselves are dynamic, constantly evolving; with each interaction pushing the story forward and providing fresh insight. Conversations between characters, which vary anywhere from lengthy monologues to abrupt short responses fired down the page, are laced with undercurrents of unspoken meaning; like a second implicit conversation interwoven within the first.
Ayn Rand’s technique is uniquely her own; her descriptive and often abstract style can be a bit bewildering at times, but is none the less extremely effective. One the best devices she uses within her writing is to lead the reader along the edges of what she wants understood without directly acknowledging it within the text. Further to this, what she finally gives us is seldom what we are led to expect; often describing characters and scenes in stunningly vivid detail, slowly building a
vision in your mind, only to throw something incongruous iinto that vision in such a way that it taints everything that came before it.
There is such a sense of completeness of thought when reading this book that you can’t help but imagine that before the first word was ever committed to page, every nuance of plot and character was mapped out in fine detail in the her mind. This coupled with a devastatingly well-developed sense of the tragic and poetic, enables her to ride the rollercoaster of human emotion well past the point where other author’s would submit and bow out. In so doing she creates characters you find yourself empathising with in spite of the evils they commit. This is especially true of Peter Keating, who’s moments of clarity possess such a brutal, painful honesty that they imbue him with a kind of nobility that is unmatched by any of the other characters.
The prime purpose of this novel is not to focus so much on the series of events that occur in the lives of the characters, but to explore the impact and growth; whether negative or positive, that occurs within them as a result of choices made. It is a journey into the author’s conception of the worst and best qualities that exist in the human spirit; of how the good can become corrupted, and those who promote and take pleasure in that corruption. It is the epic struggle of heroic individuals within a society slowly being smothered under a grey pall of collective mediocrity.
Read this book.
More reviews about the The Fountainhead