Roark agrees to design the project secretly on condition that it be built strictly according to his drawings. He has to withstand not merely professional rejection, but also the enmity of Ellsworth Toohey, leading humanitarian of Gail Wynand, powerful publisher and of Dominique Francon, the beautiful columnist who loves him fervently yet, for reasons you will discover, is bent on destroying his career.Īt the climax of the novel, the untalented but successful architect Peter Keating, a college friend of his, pleads with Roark for help in designing a prestigious project that Roark himself wanted but was too unpopular to win. Expelled from a prestigious architectural school, refused work, reduced to laboring in a granite quarry, Roark is never stopped. A man whose arrogant pride in his work is fully earned, Roark is an innovator who battles against a tradition-worshipping society. The Fountainhead introduces the world to architect Howard Roark, an intransigent, egoistic hero of colossal stature. As fresh today as it was then, here is a novel about a hero-and about those who try to destroy him. This edition contains a special Afterword by Rand's literary executor, Leonard Peikoff which includes excerpts from Ayn Rand's own notes on the making of The Fountainhead. This instant classic is the story of an intransigent young architect, his violent battle against conventional standards, and his explosive love affair with a beautiful woman who struggles to defeat him. Both Roarkypoo and Rand's darling Individualism are the fountainhead in The Fountainhead.When The Fountainhead was first published, Ayn Rand's daringly original literary vision and her groundbreaking philosophy, Objectivism, won immediate worldwide interest and acclaim.

But what exactly is this titular fountainhead? Well, our protagonist Howard Roark lives an original life of own choosing, inspired by the idea of Individualism. Rand couldn't care less about sad little lives: she wanted to focus on one man living in what was, according to ol' Ayn, the perfect life.Ī fountainhead refers to an original source, like a refreshing spring-fed lake. It sounds like it's going to focus on the sad little lives of people who aren't really original.

The shift to a new title is a pretty significant one: Second-Hand Lives sounds fairly negative. Neither Roark nor Rand was a fan on the idea of buying a life at a consignment store.

This idea of living a second-hand (or conventional) life crops up near the end of the book in a scene with Roark, the protagonist, and his frenemy Gail Wynand. When she was writing the book that was to become The Fountainhead, Rand used a different title: Second-Hand Lives.

The fountainhead original book