Since I have posted the book Anthem in its entirety, I have locked those threads. If you would like to discuss the book, please reply within this thread.

Kat

In one respect, that of style, Anthem is my favorite of Rand's fiction. It is lyrical and beautiful, and retains a remarkable consistency of style throughout. It ranks as the equal of the most beautiful of her writings in her novels -- with the "boy on the bicycle" scene and the death of the Wet Nurse. And it is in Anthem that we see the purest essence of Rand the Poet, without any of the harshness, the anger, the bitterness that came to mark her later work. Reading Anthem for the first time, many years ago, was one of the irreplaceable literary experiences of my life.

Barbara

Anthem is such a wonderful book. I love the way it is structured, as a journal. I don't know if this is a common device in fiction-writing, but having it in journal form is a great way to enable a first-person story to retain some suspense. The journal writer first gives us some background, and then once we are caught up to his present-day, he is always writing about events that have just happened. At no point in the book does our journal writer know how things are going to turn out - until the climax at Chapter 11 - "I am. I think. I will." Wow.

The very first line of the book is just perfect. "It is a sin to write this." This is a graceful way of conveying that we are reading someone's journal, and at the same time it sucks us into the story, evoking the reaction "A sin? Wow, what's going on here?"

Another thing I like is the style of writing. She captured perfectly how an intelligent person would write in a culture in which the language had shrunk back to a simplified subset.

Has anyone read "Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem" yet? Is it good?

Funny, Anthem is the only book by Rand that I've never read more than once. I didn't like it, for me it was too exalted, too religious.

When I was around twenty I read Anthem two or three times, perhaps not as many as other books of Ayn Rand. But Anthem is the only book out of which I copied something which I have kept with me to this day:

"I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned. I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold."

The original hand written copy I made when I was still in the Navy fell apart in my wallet after a few years. I don't remember how many typewritten copies I have made. I agree it is exalted, but not religious. If I were a true zealot I suppose I would have simply memorized it.

Same here. The book is such a coup of that type of writing, a type which is difficult to sustain. And I agree that it shows no signs of the later harshness, anger, and bitterness. I first read it in 1962 when I was teaching horsebackriding at a girls' summer camp in Wisconsin. I read it by moonlight -- nearly full moon -- and flashlight, sitting crosslegged on the boat dock of the canoeing department. (The camp stretched along one side of a lake large enough for sailing on with small sail boats but not so large one couldn't see the whole perimeter.) I recall the shafts of moonlight across the lake surface. The whole scene was "perfect" for the occasion -- except for the ubiquitous mosquitoes. I anticipated the word "I" in the offing; nevertheless, that first time, the effect on me when it arrived was a physical effect of my scalp lifting and shivers going down my spine. An "irreplaceable" literary experience, as you say.

Ellen

___

I simply love Anthem.

Michael

I complicatedly love Anthem. I think that covers all bases.

--Brant

What is the "boy on the bicycle" scene from? I agree that the death of the Wet Nurse was one of the most beautiful of her writings, as well as Dagny's scene with Cherryl Taggart.




Funny, my Brit lit teacher said it was "too preachy," so I suggested he read Atlas.

Kori, you asked about the “boy on the bicycle” scene. It is from *The Fountainhead*. I do not have the novel in hand at the moment, but it is in the storyline where the Monadanock (sp.?) resort is built.

It is one of my favorites.

-Ross Barlow.

It's at the beginning of book 4. That and the final chapter are my favorite passages in Rand.

Peter

Reidy and others; That is my favorite Rand passage. I have Essays on Anthem but have not read it.

Thanks!

Interesting. I've never read any of Rand's fiction more than once (I *rarely* ever re-read books). I've re-read various passages and chunks, but never read any of them all the way through more than one time.

I did love *Anthem*, and I even considered trying to adapt it to the stage (I started this task some years ago, but didn't get very far).





RCR

Anthem was the last fiction book I read by Rand. I suppose I read them in the wrong order because I started with Atlas Shrugged and so on down the line in longest to shortest order. Reading Anthem was fun for me. I was on a two hour plane ride and was able to read it in about thirty minutes between naps. The book is well written for sure. The only problem I've ever had with the book is that you can't give it to a person in order to show them the value of Objectivist philosophy because people refuse to believe that the society in Anthem is so far removed from what we experience daily.

This is a great place to repeat this post.

Michael