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/r...
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451191145/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=U...
We The Living by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/We-Living-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451187849/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF...
The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451163931/ref=pd_bbs_2?...
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Ideal-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451147952/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1...
The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Manifesto-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451149165/ref=pd_bbs_sr...
Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem by Dr. Robert Mayhew
http://www.aynrandbookstore2.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AR79B
Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
http://www.amazon.com/Objectivism-Philosophy-Ayn-Rand-Library/dp/0452011019/r...


Anthem Essay contest for 9th and 10th Graders, FIRST PRIZE: $2,000:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_contests_anthem

for 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.html

Buy Anthem:
http://www.amazon.com/Anthem-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452281253/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&a...

Anthem'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 Giver by Lois Lowry, dystopian, dystopia science-fiction novella, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel We, Neil Peart, collectivism, communism, collectivism,Ayn Rand Anthem Objectivism Objectivist individualism Neil Peart philosophy Rush 2112 communism The Giver Ron Paul God Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen, freedom, liberty, USSR, soviet union

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Ayn
• Rand
• Anthem
• Objectivism
• Objectivist
• individualism
• Neil
• Peart
• philosophy
• Rush
• 2112
• communism
• The
• Giver
• atlas
• shrugged

[boffa994]

Thanks for posting this. Do you have the rest of the book? Id be intersted in hearing the rest of it. Thanks again.

[shovelcharge]

I actually can't get the rest of it.

[ChaChing86]

i hate how he exhales before the completion of each sentence. i cant even focus on what hes saying. this not a movie, wtf is this?

[shovelcharge]

It is a reading of a book

[neven01]

Our children and their children's children may yet be forced to eek out an existence in a world like that

Research what rights you have and use em or lose em, give me liberty or give me death!

[earthshine2k]

i think you might have missed the point. Rand's philosophy is not about the 'we', but, in fact, is "egoism", a discovery of the power of the individual, "I", is the driving force behind Rand's vision. Certainly, the idea of going against the establishment "government" is a prevailing theme, but it's the INDIVIDUAL vs. the establishment that Rand is getting at. Great book, though.

[theDigitalInvestor]

How do objectivist principles mesh with the new ideals and opportunities that social media present?

[KeithMcElwain]

Am I a clown? Yes.

But, isn't comedy where we learn most of our life : )

[ProRanting]

Science Fiction made piss poor. Comformist characters break away from comformity and have the potential to become smart and rational. (Something the fictional govt. was not). Instead they become over bearing selfish sould dead impassionate robots. Hell Bent on putting economic efficency over morals and aid. It's a paranoid book without Plot or any coherant ideals expresssed besides selfishness. The whole second half the book is a No Plot/Anti-Climatic walk in the woods babbling on about freedom.

[pitbull103]

The pronoun usage drove me crazy when I first read this so many years ago. No "I" and only "us or we."

[mustang607]

WE can't find the rest. Can WE?

[timthecop]

It is really a very short read.  I sat down and read it in an afternoon.

[duvaldallas]

yea this is definitely a great book

its the only book ive read by her

and i just read it like last week

but it makes you think thats for sure