Randex

A demolished student house will be the location in D.C. of 18 shipping containers to make “eye catching” rentals. Citing Ayn Rand’s novel, “The Fountainhead,” the owners are compared to the rebellious architect in the novel who fights against “evil” conformists.

…capitalism’s patron saints, Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand, going back decades. To fully understand this self-destructive lineage, simply focus your laser on the one admission Greenspan made to Congress…

I am informed, via a caption beneath a drawing of a Barbie in a pastel dress and a fitted leather jacket: architect clothing, as we all learned in The Fountainhead.

It is well known, for instance (again even to casual fans) that Neil Peart, the band’s drummer and lyricist, has long been a devout Randian. While Kelly uses “Working Man” from the first Rush album as an example of a signaled solidarity with the plight of the average Joe, Peart’s later lyrics (say, from “Tom Sawyer” or a song Kelly cites for different reasons, “Red Barchetta”) suggest that the band’s message might be better identified with Joe the Plumber – or Howard Roark.

Einen “Tempel des menschlichen Geistes” soll Howard Roark errichten in Ivo van Hoves technologisch ausladender Theaterfassung von Ayn Rands Roman “Fountainhead”, der in Deutschland unter den Titeln “Der ewige Quell” beziehungsweise “Der Ursprung” erschien.

He began by saying that his work in Washington, D.C., had him bumping up against the Ellsworth Tooheys of the world, a reference to a parasitic villain in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. But when he visited Silicon Valley he thought he was among “today’s Howard Roarks,” the individualistic, brilliant architect in the book. “You all create jobs every single day out of nothing,” he enthused.

But Paul also made it clear he doesn’t share all of Rand’s worldview. “If I had my way there would still be a safety net, but everybody would work,” he mused. “If your back hurts and you can’t lift things you could sit and make phone calls — everybody should work.”

Grace had met Kelly Davies at Catholic and traveled with her and architecture lecturer Travis Price, to Ireland, where Price had taken students on a design expedition he started decades ago. “We were building monuments, and we needed hands,” said Davies, who is now at Price’s firm. Watching her work has helped Grace see the beauty in independent-minded modern architecture. “You ever read ‘The Fountainhead’?” Grace asked, referring to the Ayn Rand novel about a rebellious architect’s fight against conformists. Price and Davies could be the protagonists. “They’re like the Howard Roark guys,” Grace said. Grace and Joiner had tried getting into real estate back when they were roommates at Catholic.

Au départ un roman relativement peu connu en Europe, d’Ayn Rand, écrivaine américaine d’origine russe qui pose deux manières de concevoir l’architecture, “sociale et utile” ou œuvre d’art “pure”, individualiste. Le roman et la pièce proposent aussi -avec quelle intensité- une réflexion philosophique sur la société des années 1920, étrangement semblable à la nôtre. Comme si un siècle plus tard on faisait machine arrière vers un libéralisme pur et dur.

I love Mark Cuban. If I were somehow to become a billionaire, I think that he is pretty much who I’d be (minus the whole Ayn Rand fan hood…though interestingly enough if he really is such a fan of The Fountainhead he certainly doesn’t act like one. What with his “helping out people below him” and his “public interactions” deal.)

Cela vaut parfois le coup de coucher avec ses ennemis. Pour Dominique Francon, l’une des héroïnes de The Foutainhead («la Source vive»), le roman d’Ayn Rand, c’est même une question de survie : les hommes de sa vie sont tous des adversaires, et ses sentiments à leur égard oscillent du mépris à la haine en passant par la peur. Coucher avec l’ennemi, c’est aussi ce que propose le spectacle d’Ivo Van Hove, directeur du Toneelgroep d’Amsterdam.

L’ennemi en question s’appelle Ayn Rand, philosophe et romancière américaine d’origine russe, née à Saint-Pétersbourg en 1905, morte à New York en 1982, égérie de la droite utralibérale aux Etats-Unis, chantre de l’individualisme et de l’égoïsme («selfishness»), contre l’altruisme.

Adapté du roman publié en 1943 par l’Américaine Ayn Rand, il raconte la confrontation entre deux architectes amis, que leur conception de leur métier va vite opposer : Peter Keating, le consensuel sans imagination, qui obéit scrupuleusement aux desiderata de ses commanditaires ; et Howard Roark, idéaliste visionnaire, en recherche permanente de formes nouvelles, quitte à choquer ses clients. Le premier connaîtra la fortune et la gloire ; le second, la misère et l’opprobre.

Mendelsohn: I think there is a little more to it than just Ayn Rand. I could understand if the title character in the 2112 suite was named John Galt, but the album’s lyrical content lifts only loose ideas from Rand’s earlier work Anthem. It wasn’t until her later novels, Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, that she really got into the Objectivism. I read Rand’s books because of 2112. I enjoyed Anthem, found Fountainhead to be entertaining if not a bit overbearing, and I contemplated suicide as I slogged through Atlas Shrugged. Having read Rand and listened to a lot of Rush, I can tell you that Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, and Lee are anything but Rand acolytes. That doesn’t mean they aren’t a bit Objectivist, especially when it comes to recording their music. After Rush’s 1975 effort Caress of Steel flopped commercially, their record label pushed the group to record something a little more radio-friendly. Instead, Rush went into the studio and put together 2112. If that isn’t a least a little self-centered, I don’t know what is. But I think that is the real stumbling block for critics when it comes to Rush — the band just does whatever they want and most of the time it takes the form of a ten-minute song with several extended solos.