Evan
Ok ayn rand, now write a book where the all the industrialists try to seize power for evil reasons and the socialists are actually good people. then we'll see how both extremes are not good.
I like her writing style still, but she really could've made this shorter. JG's over 50 page speech was just way too much. like, we got it girl, the whole book you've been saying the same shit.
A good bedtime book that put me sleep in only a few minutes countless times.
Here are some quotes I like:
“I teach you the friend and his overflowing heart. But one must know how to be a sponge, if one would be loved by overflowing hearts.”
“And if a friend doeth thee wrong, then say: “I forgive what thou hast done unto me; that thou hast done it unto thyself, however—how could I forgive that!”
“‘That would be the highest thing for me'—so saith your lying spirit unto itself—‘to gaze upon life without desire, and not like the dog, with hanging-out tongue”
“Where is beauty? Where I must will with my whole Will; where i will love and perish, that an image may not remain merely an image. Loving and perishing: these have rhymed from eternity Will to love: that is to be ready also for death.”
“This however, do all poets believe: that whoever pricketh up his ears when lying in the grass or on lonely slopes, learneth something of the things that are betwixt heaven and earth.”
“They cough when I speak:they think coughing an objection to strong winds—they divine nothing of the boisterousness of my happiness!”
“One must learn to love oneself—thus do I teach—with a wholesome and healthy love: that one may endure to be with oneself, and not go roving about.”
“‘Now do I die and disappear,' wouldst thou say, ‘and in a moment I am nothing. Souls are as mortal as bodies.”
“Said ye ever Yea to one joy? O my friends, then said ye Yea also unto all woe. All things are enlinked, enlaced and enamored”
As I read this, 80% of Albert's writing went way over my head. But of the 20% I did slightly understand, it was really interesting.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of these trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we had clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise” page 14
“This very heart which is mine will forever remain undefinable to me” page 19
“These scents of grass and stars at night, certain evenings when the heart relaxes—how shall I negate this world whose power and strength I feel? Yet all the knowledge on the earth will give me nothing to assure me that this world is mine.” page 19
“So that science that was to teach me everything ends up in a hypothesis, that lucidity founders in a metaphor, that uncertainty is resolved in a work of art” page 20
“In my indisputable capacity of plaintiff and defendant, of judge and accused, I condemn that nature which, with such impudent nerve, brought me into being in order to suffer— I condemn it to be annihilated with me.” Page 105
“‘If God does not exist, I am god.' To become god is merely to be free on this earth, not to serve an immortal being.” - page 108
“Performing these two tasks simultaneously, negating on the one hand and magnifying on the other, is the way open to the absurd creator. He must give the void its colors.” Page 114
“Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him?” Page 121
And of course...
“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
I started reading this over a year ago, got two thirds of the way through after a few months, and then stopped reading it for whatever reason. But I wanted to finish it this spring and I thought that it was good enough that I wanted to start from the beginning again. And I'm really glad I did that. This time around, I finished the book in two weeks.
Ayn's theory of objectivism seems sound to me. As far as the objectivistic individual's thoughts and motivations, I think they're good. E.g. live for oneself completely, and a person is only that which they create and do by themselves (Roark's speech in the trial sounded perfect to me). I think that part of Ayn's objectivism is good, but I think the limit she puts on the amount people can work together or for each other is too far (very Ellsworth Toohey of me). There are different types of socialist societies. I think the one Ayn imagines is far different from what most leftists imagine as being an optimal society nowadays. So I think there's just some confusion on the naming of things (as the book also mentions quiet a number of times).
And even if you despise Ayn's ideas, at the very least this book serves as a great opening point for discussions on where we as a society should balance ourselves on the spectrum.
But enough with the boring theories. I LOVE Ayn Rand's writing style so much. I read the book so fast that sometimes the descriptions felt a little repetitive (angular, straight lines of Roark, Dominique and nearly every one of Roark's buildings), but even in a 700 page novel, there were so many new ways of describing places, objects, people, and of course... buildings. I often found myself confused with the descriptions because Ayn has such an amazing ability to describe common things in creative, confusing/exciting ways. But I was just happy to have more reason to reread the book.
Ellsworth Toohey: there were a few rare moments where I really wanted to punch Ellsworth because of how much of a manipulator he is. But it's just a book, and he's just a character used to illustrate the extreme of what collectivism can lead to. Plus, Roark's victory despite all the people in the world Toohey had in his pocket was even better than getting to punch him.
Side note: I really thought Toohey was going to win and the world was going to become exactly like anthem. In fact I thought this might be the prequel at some points! But I get that Ayn wanted an uplifting story of what humanity is at its best, and not it's worst.
And the way Ayn unfolded Toohey's character was great. I'm sure I was always right where Ayn wanted me to be on my views of Toohey. At first I thought it was good for Peter to get in with an influential guy, just another step for him, then in the second part (Toohey's part) I saw his methods in some form, but I still didn't know his motivations, then I saw more and more how obviously it was being pointed out his repetitive nature and how much of a second-hander (I didn't realize it was that term at the time) he was, and then when Dominque told Gail, “He wants control of the world” it clicked, and I was like, “oh my gosh, this is way bigger than I thought!!”
Sidenote: Also loved how casual he was about controlling everyone once he really became powerful, and how he told Peter everything straight up multiple times.
One of my very favorite things about this book was the characters of Roark and Keating, among others. I think I can best sum it up with how happy it made me when Keating rubbed Roark's unbreakable spirit in Toohey's face even when he himself was completely ruined, or when he said, “I know who will be sure!” To Francon when he wasn't sure if it had been worth it. Just the nature of Keating's competition with Roark despite Roark not caring and even helping Peter was so fun to read.
Henry Cameron was great for the few chapters he was in, I think Ayn used him perfectly, not as motivation for Roark, but almost as motivation for the reader. And his interactions with Roark were just the best. R.I.P. Henry, gone too soon to see the tallest piece of metal in the world :'(
Gail Wynand/Dominque Francon: I haven't quite figured what to make of these characters. I get that Gail is the man who could have been Roark but wasn't, but I was mainly indifferent to him. Maybe that's because he wasn't mentioned much early on so I didn't have a build up to who the head of The banner, the most powerful man in the city was, but he just seemed like another “big powerful businessman” to me at times. And Dominque is the biggest puzzle I have still. I understood that she was putting herself through the pain of not being with Roark, but after she married Gail I became pretty lost on what her goal was and what her actions were doing for her, Roark, and Gail.
I understand that a lot of people aren't going to like this book. I liked Ayn's style enough that I could read almost anything she wrote about. But I do think the plot here is really good and no matter what your standpoint is on the theories presented in the book, it's a great book for reading and/or discussion.
I just read the end of the book not knowing how/when Carl died, and man did that hurt. I couldn't help crying when his wife wrote about when he saw his daughter from his deathbed. What an inspiration this man is.
It's been a while since I started reading this book, but from the beginning to the end there's been so many topics that i'm glad he talked about. It's honestly weird to read it over 20 years after he wrote it since so much has changed on the issues and problems he talks about, but it also feels like, at least fundamentally, a lot hasn't changed in the minds and actions people tend to take on the issues if that makes any sense.