Anthem by
Ayn Rand 2 - Free Novelette -
Ayn Rand's
Anthem, a novelette
("Ayn" rhymes with "fine", the reader mispronounces it as "Ann")
This novelette depicts a world of the future, a society so collectivized that even the word "I" has vanished from the language. Anthem's theme is: the meaning and glory of man's ego.
Ayn Rand was a Russian-born American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is widely known for her best-selling novels The Fountainhead and
Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called
Objectivism.
She is known as a defender of objective reality, absolute reason, a morality she called rational selfishness/rational egoism, laissez-faire capitalism (please note, she WAS NOT A "LIBERTARIAN"), and romantic art.
"My
philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." --Ayn Rand
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man,
nor ask another man to live for the sake of mine." --
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Other titles of interest:
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Objectivism-Philosophy-Ayn-Rand-Library/dp/0452011019/ref=pd_sim_b_title_3Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451191145/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210319515&sr=1-3We The Living by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/We-Living-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451187849/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210319565&sr=1-1The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451163931/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210319565&sr=1-2Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Ideal-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451147952/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210319638&sr=1-1The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Manifesto-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451149165/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210319820&sr=1-1Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem by Dr. Robert Mayhew
http://www.aynrandbookstore2.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AR79BObjectivism: The
Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
http://www.amazon.com/Objectivism-Philosophy-Ayn-Rand-Library/dp/0452011019/ref=pd_sim_b_title_3 Anthem Essay contest for 9th and 10th Graders, FIRST PRIZE: $2,000:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_contests_anthemfor more info, visit
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index(Anthem is in the public domain)
Text of Anthem:
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/texts/anthem/complete.htmlBuy Anthem:
http://www.amazon.com/Anthem-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452281253/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210319218&sr=1-3Anthem's Influence on
Rush:
The title track on the 1976 concept album
2112, by progressive rock band
Rush, has a story that very strongly parallels Anthem (although, perhaps naturally, the protagonist of
2112 discovers a guitar instead of a light bulb). The liner notes of the album acknowledge "the genius of Ayn Rand."
Neil Peart, Drummer/Songwriter for Rush, said that
2112 was based on Anthem and inspired by it; though he did say that he didn't notice that they were so alike until afterwards, and so thought that it was necessary to provide a reference. Through his success as a Songwriter and drummer in pop culture,
Neil Peart has become one of the biggest popularizers of Rand's ideas, although that was not the purpose of
2112 or his song "Anthem" on their earlier album Fly by Night. (Wikipedia)
Tags: The
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Objectivist individualism Neil Peart philosophy Rush 2112
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Giver Ron Paul God Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen, freedom, liberty, USSR, soviet union