Rand again, oh and Amsterdam
Well, I finally took up The Fountainhead. I'm only to chapter 7, but already it's twice the book Atlas Shrugged was.
I think I know why Rand calls AS her best work, and for the same reasons I think The Fountainhead is better. AS is "pure" which is to say it is completely two-dimensional. As I've complained before, all the characters are either fully "good" (as Rand defines it) or fully "evil." Good characters are always brilliant and truthful. Evil characters are always sniveling and dull. Only the Union boss is a vague kind of gray that we could learn from, but I doubt there are 200 words devoted to him in the whole book. In photography, if you push the contrast too far, the image becomes meaningless, and so it is with Atlas Shrugged.
The Fountainhead, however, is filled with characters throughout the Randian spectrum, from Francon on one end to Roark on the other. Hanging between them is Peter Keating who is the kind of character sorely missing in AS. Keating (at least at my place in chapter 7) could go either way. He has a sense of (Randian) goodness, but does not know how yet to obey that sense. And so far Catherine seems to match Randian evil (in that she is selfless), yet she is strong and does not use selflessness as a weapon (as it always is in AS). These are not simple, two-dimensional characters like Hank Rearden or James Taggart. And the questions raised even early in the book are more interesting. If you believe your art is perfect but no one wants to buy it, what does it mean and what should you do? Hank Rearden never has to face such questions; his patents make him a fortune until a few evil men prevent him from selling his products. Rearden never has to face any hard questions.
I've got a long way to go on this book (I'm maybe 1/8 of the way through), so I may have a much dimmer view later, but so far it's a much better book. More reviews when I actually finish the book.
And as an aside, I've been doing most of my listening to the Fountainhead audiobook while sitting outside cafes around Amsterdam in excellent weather drinking white coffee and white beer. I highly recommend this manner of experiencing any book. Most recommended is to order the chorizo omelet at St Paul's on Gravenstraat near Dam Square. It is perfect with a white coffee and one sugar.
I think I know why Rand calls AS her best work, and for the same reasons I think The Fountainhead is better. AS is "pure" which is to say it is completely two-dimensional. As I've complained before, all the characters are either fully "good" (as Rand defines it) or fully "evil." Good characters are always brilliant and truthful. Evil characters are always sniveling and dull. Only the Union boss is a vague kind of gray that we could learn from, but I doubt there are 200 words devoted to him in the whole book. In photography, if you push the contrast too far, the image becomes meaningless, and so it is with Atlas Shrugged.
The Fountainhead, however, is filled with characters throughout the Randian spectrum, from Francon on one end to Roark on the other. Hanging between them is Peter Keating who is the kind of character sorely missing in AS. Keating (at least at my place in chapter 7) could go either way. He has a sense of (Randian) goodness, but does not know how yet to obey that sense. And so far Catherine seems to match Randian evil (in that she is selfless), yet she is strong and does not use selflessness as a weapon (as it always is in AS). These are not simple, two-dimensional characters like Hank Rearden or James Taggart. And the questions raised even early in the book are more interesting. If you believe your art is perfect but no one wants to buy it, what does it mean and what should you do? Hank Rearden never has to face such questions; his patents make him a fortune until a few evil men prevent him from selling his products. Rearden never has to face any hard questions.
I've got a long way to go on this book (I'm maybe 1/8 of the way through), so I may have a much dimmer view later, but so far it's a much better book. More reviews when I actually finish the book.
And as an aside, I've been doing most of my listening to the Fountainhead audiobook while sitting outside cafes around Amsterdam in excellent weather drinking white coffee and white beer. I highly recommend this manner of experiencing any book. Most recommended is to order the chorizo omelet at St Paul's on Gravenstraat near Dam Square. It is perfect with a white coffee and one sugar.