Chapter 6 Preface to the 25th Anniversary Reprint of "The Fountainhead" (1)

Foreword to the 25th Anniversary Reprint A book has been reprinted continuously for twenty-five years, and many people have asked me how I feel about it.In addition to the satisfaction hidden in the bottom of my heart, what special feeling can I have?On this point, Victor Hugo's words best express my attitude towards my own works: "If a writer only writes for his own time, then I have to break my pen and give up writing. " Some writers do not live, think, and write in terms of their time, and I am one of them.The purpose of writing a novel, in the original sense of the word, is not to make it go unnoticed after a month or a year.This is the case with most novels these days; they are written and published, and disappear as quickly as newspapers and magazines do.This is one of the most deplorable aspects of contemporary literature, and at the same time the clearest indictment of its aesthetic philosophy: Today, in its inexpressible panic, that tedious journalistic naturalism has come to an end.

This work can survive, although not entirely, in Romanticism, a literary genre that has practically ceased to exist today.But this book is a dissertation for a monograph on romantic novels.So, for the sake of future documentation, and for the benefit of the many students who never had the chance to discover this - let me declare: Romanticism is only a 'conceptual' school of art.What it discusses is not everyday trivial matters, but eternal, fundamental, universal issues and the 'value' of human existence.It is not to faithfully record or realistically describe; it is to create or to visualize and concretize thoughts and emotions.In Aristotle's terms, it concerns not the actual state of things, but the state in which things could or should be.

At the same time, for the benefit of those who see the relevance of their time as crucial, I would add that, in our time, never has humanity been in such an urgent need for a This is an overall arrangement of things according to their 'true colors'. I am not implying: from the beginning of writing the novel, I knew it would be published continuously for twenty-five years.I'm not thinking of any specific time frame.All I know is that it's a work that 'should' survive.It survived. But I knew twenty-five years ago that it could survive—and at the time it was rejected by a dozen publishers, several of whom claimed it was too "rational," Too Controversial" wouldn't sell because it didn't have readers at all—that's the hard time it went through; it was hard enough for me.I mention it here as a memo to remind other writers of my kind—who may have to face the same battle—that it can be done.

It is impossible to talk about, or any part of, its history without mentioning the man who made this book possible--my husband, Frank R26; O'Connor. I wrote a play when I was in my early thirties: "Satisfactory".Edil, the heroine of the play, is a movie star; her lines speak to my heart: "I want to live to see that the illusion I create can be transformed into real, living glory. I want it Becoming real. I wonder, someone, somewhere, thinks the same. Otherwise, what's the use of looking at it? What's the use of agitating and toiling for an unbelievable phantom? The spirit needs fuel, too. The spirit can be exhausted by exhaustion."

Frank is my fuel.During my lifetime, he provided a realistic environment for the conception of life I created, and helped me retain it for a long period of time, when there was only a gray desert of human feelings around us. All that was given to us was contempt and disgust.The essence of our relationship was the fact that neither of us wanted to go, nor was we tempted to settle for less than the other world and be content with it.We never will. If there's a touch of the naturalist writer's use of "real-life" dialogue notes in his novels, it's about Frank's style, too.For example, some of the most impressive sentences in the book appear at the end of the second part.In response to Tohey's question "Why don't you tell me what you think of me?" Locke said, "But I don't look at you." answers given by people. "As the saying goes, 'Throw a brick to attract jade', but you throw a lot of pearls, but you can't even get a pork chop in return." Regarding my professional position, Frank told me so.I use that quote in Dominique's defense of Locke.

At the time, I wasn't depressed very often; and when I was, it didn't last the night.However, during that period of creation, there was a night when I was extremely indignant at "the actual state of things", and I felt that I no longer had the strength to take a step in the direction of "the state of things as they should be".Frank and I had a long talk for several hours that night.He made me believe why man cannot give up the world to those he despises.When he had finished speaking, my depression vanished; I never felt that violent depression again.