The Fountainhead

Not having been able to fulfill the desire of being an architect, I was always told not to read “The Fountainhead”, because everyone thought I may want to move back to my first love. 6 years after first hearing about the magnum opus and a master’s degree in Computer Science (presently realizing software architectures), I settled down to read the book.

The book that took 7 years to write is primarily the story of Howard Roark and his persona. Published in 1943, it was rejected by 12 publishers stating that it was too intellectual.

I always relate to a certain character in a novel as I read along. In this mesmerizing 700-odd page book written by Ayn Rand, a self taught writer, I followed the character of Peter Keating.

Peter Keating and Howard Roark attend the same prestigious architectural school. Keating graduates at the top of his class (with scornful assistance from Roark). Roark, however, is expelled from the school for refusing to allow the curriculum to dictate how he should create, and refusing to sacrifice effectiveness for the sake of tradition.

Rand magically projects Howard Roark as a paragon of Objectivism. Objectivism, according to Rand, whose claims to be inspired by Aristotle, Happiness is man’s moral purpose of life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason as his only absolute.

This is the only book I have read which portrayed a characters nature and psyche. Every character in the book is truly three dimensional. The story moves ahead in chronological fashion.

Supposed to be her greatest work, it is written in simple yet convincing fashion. I would like to quote a part of a paragraph “The mind is the attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective mind. There is no such thing as a collective thought. An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts”.

In the sixty-plus years since it was published, The Fountain head has sold six million copies, and continues to sell about 100,000 copies per year. The book exhorts readers to think big about themselves, build big and earn big.

I took comfort in and related to Keating’s character, though he is not the protagonist, because Roarks exist only in books and people’s imagination. Soon, I got an opportunity to consult for a building. I had not realized how much I had internalized the character of Howard Roark. I had the same uncompromising belief in my own design; unwilling to average out my artistic and personal vision, only to over-power the designs of the professional architect. I think I too have been bit by the Howard Roark syndrome.

Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

I totally recommend the book and is a must read.