The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead is philosophical novel about a gifted architect who refuses to compromise his artistic integrity for work contracts.

Fast Facts

1. Author: Ayn Rand
2. Genre: Fiction
3. Publication date: December, 1943
4. Publisher: Bobbs Merrill
5. Pages: 752
6. ISBN 9780452273337
7. Adaptations: 1949 film starring Gary Cooper
8. Rejected 12 times before publication

Synopsis

The story follows Howard Roark, an architect, who after a series of complex romantic, platonic and profesional relationship issues winds up designing a building for his friend Peter Keating. After Keating breaks promise of allowing Roark complete creative control over the project, Roark blows up the building before it can be finished. The rest of the book details Roark's trial and as his defense he presents his personal moral philosphy, which happens to mirror Rand's personal philosophy of Objectivism.

Critical Reception

"Ayn Rand is a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly." - Lorine Purette, New York Times

Howard Roark Quotes

1. "And isn't that the root of every despicable action? Not selfishness, but precisely the absence of a self."
2. "Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value. What a man is and makes of himself; not what he has or hasn't done for others. There is no substitute for personal dignity. There is no standard of personal dignity except independence."
3. "But you see, I have, let's say, sixty years to live. Most of that time will be spent working. I've chosen the work I want to do. If I find no joy in it, then I'm only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me. But the best is a matter of standards--and I set my own standards. I inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may, perhaps, stand at the beginning of one."

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