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Thread: Ayn Rand's Fountain Head

  1. #11
    Moderator Platinum Hubber P_R's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ramsri
    toohey: why don't you just tell me what you think of me?
    roark: but i don't think of you!

    Read it long back when I was in college. Have never read it again.

    Quote Originally Posted by ramsri
    but then, what i like about the book itself, is the way the philosophy is brought out without too much sermonising.
    Agree. That was very conscious writing. If I am right the book was initially planned as a screenplay commissioned by Cecil B DeMille ( or atleast she was writing both the novel and the screenplay in parallel). With all due respect to Vietnam Veedu Sundaram, you can't write a movie that's all long conversations.

    In her notes you will find Ayn Rand saying "don't dialogue thoughts".

    Though she (excusably) does exceed the brief, she manages a very absorbing presentation . Just when there is a hint of a sermon it is broken into a debate and just when the debate is all volley the scene switches. Boy , I want to re-read.
    மூவா? முதல்வா! இனியெம்மைச் சோரேலே

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  3. #12
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    [quote="rajasaranam"]

    Some of my friends too have been deeply affected by her books and discussed this with me that they cant see things as normal as they were previously.
    Her usage of words and style of narrative is very powerful and contagious. Read it as a fiction and never try to apply it in your life.

    quote]

    I have to admit that I read the book when I was too young(8th std)and that it was my first novel even before R.K.Narayanan.It affected me so much that I got very deppressed about not being a Roark.The 'second-hand' image of Keating and the loser image of Wynand was all too much for me then.I didn't realise that the Roark-Dominique romance was so cliched.Even then Dominique is the one character I hated so much.
    The one tragic charater who still disturbs me is Gail Wynand, b'coz we can see so many ppl like him,ppl who save their daydreams for some sleepless nights
    Rand's obsession for genius has fast spread consiously or unconsiously(all those health drink & memory tablet ads)and is breeding many Keatings.
    Atleast I got some good medicines for this like Jeyamohan & Dostovsky!

  4. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by atomhouse
    The one tragic charater who still disturbs me is Gail Wynand, b'coz we can see so many ppl like him,ppl who save their daydreams for some sleepless nights
    ........................
    Atleast I got some good medicines for this like Jeyamohan & Dostovsky!
    Yeah those are very good medicines for sleepless nights.
    Jus kidding

    That was a nice line about Wynand.I read FH when I was in college. My friend (who read my heavily underlined copy after I was done with it) and I used to chat for hours about it. He was completely crazy about Roark and I was highly impressed with Wynand. I found him to be the best of the lot. We were seriously divided about who won the debate between Roark and Wynand on the yacht. Apart from the content it was also the element of style that Wynand had (a suave Richard Branson type), that made him all the more attractive to me (perhaps that's the very point that's supposed to suck about him !).
    மூவா? முதல்வா! இனியெம்மைச் சோரேலே

  5. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prabhu Ram
    Apart from the content it was also the element of style that Wynand had (a suave Richard Branson type), that made him all the more attractive to me (perhaps that's the very point that's supposed to suck about him !).
    That's true.Both Roark and Wynand had similar background.Roark was uncomprimising and blindly desperate but somehow got help & guidance even without much effort.Wynand fought aginst his desperation and that was his comprimise?Sadly, this dilema is ever existant

  6. #15
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    I also read FH eons ago while in college, so I dont remember much of the storyline. Except that Ayn Rand's style was unique ! Now after reading the posts here, I am recollecting the character names and the plot. Btw can anyone recommend another novel by her ?

  7. #16
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    The other most famous novel by Rand is 'Atlas shrugged' which is considered to be her magnum opus.Only recently I got the book...it is a long one!Hoping to read it soon.

  8. #17
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    atomhouse : thnx, will try to get it & read it soon !

  9. #18
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber thamizhvaanan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by atomhouse
    The other most famous novel by Rand is 'Atlas shrugged' which is considered to be her magnum opus.Only recently I got the book...it is a long one!Hoping to read it soon.
    just recently I came across "Atlas Shrugged" and I finished it in 8 days ( I am particularly proud of this stat , my friend said it took him 30 days) .

    As others have said in this thread, this book came as a rude shock for me. The new philosophy of objectivism was so compelling and thought provoking that I couldnt sleep for some nights. The story was decent and it was a nice platform for her to stage her philosophy. The dialogues were also very intellectual, not a single line that I could skip casually. Someone said Fountainhead is not that sermonising. But major portion of Atlas shrugged drags like a sermon. Towards the end, the lead character gives a speech which runs for 70 pages .
    A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.

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    TV : so may be reading Atlas Shrugged is a test of one's patience ?

  11. #20
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber thamizhvaanan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ramky
    TV : so may be reading Atlas Shrugged is a test of one's patience ?
    no ramky, I wudnt say that... it depends upon how much you can absorb. Because, Ayn Rand's style of writing itself is aimed at intellectuals, and there wont be a single line that you can read without pondering on its implications (afterall she takes arnd 7 to 9 years to write a novel). It is thought provoking but at the same time the book clouds your senses by simulating a very subjective environment. I mean, while reading the book one will feel that any ideologies that conflict those mentioned in the book cannot be true.

    I read the book not to prove my patience, but because I found it very interesting and rewarding to carry on. Infact I started off slowly and picked up speed as I read on. The last 250 pages, I finished in one day!
    A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.

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