There is was reading Pg: 120 of The Fountainhead. 23 hours and 25 minutes from that time, i cannot come out of it. I do not have the courage to proceed further, at least not now.
24 Hours onward, I picked up the courage to read further. Though i knew that i d be consumed by the book, and couldn't do any other work, i still went forward. Now i stand in Page 185.
What was on that page? Also, could you please remove word verification? It poses more than ordinary problems for readers like me posting comments through their cell phone. Thanks! TC.
ReplyDeleteI dunno if you have the same copy as i do, but it had a conversation between Dominique Francon and her boss Alvah, after the work Dominique did for the article of "The Banner" on the slums..
ReplyDeleteMore Details.. it contains a dialogue wherein Dominique explains how she views life, society and everything else in general.. Could not help but notice the similarities in many respects between her view and mine. For your information, I however found even more similarities between GSM sir and her...
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the word verification thingie,I didn't realise that i had it on, since the word verification thing does not show up for the blog owner. Removed it for the time being. I usually do not get many spam comments..
Take Care
Go on dude... More interesting pages coming up..
ReplyDeleteYeah i m studying a page or two every day to get myself away from theory (which after fifteen days of theory feels close to solitary imprisonment!!!)
ReplyDeleteAfter you finish the book, you'd be thoughtful for a while, you'd look at what the author had to say and try and apply it to your own life. Then slowly, you'd be convinced by your peers that the author's philosophy is an impractical one, well-limited to books. Would you agree? I think you would.
ReplyDeleteMr Lacoste, I do not know how you think to have figured me out despite no interactions in the past, but i can tell you this - even i do not know myself that well to predict what i'd feel / conclude at the end of A book. Do not judge a person (at least me) with generalisations. And i do not think from what i v read so far that the book deals with a singular philosophy.
ReplyDeleteme...,
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time you're reading 'The Fountainhead'? I thought you've read it before, too.
Partly in response to what Rene has said above, Ayn Rand has made it very clear in her preface for both her books (that I've read) that these stories are not about how people are, but how they ought to be. It was her dream to see a world where everyone would be like that. I too have shared that vision, even before I read them. And again, even before I read them, I knew such a world is not possible. All her characters have afterall had above-average luck! Yes, it does seem like they faced a lot of hardship, but yet, it's actually less than what we face (at least in India). What I could gather from her novels was not that they were meant to be some kind of 'self-help' books (though, unfortunately, that's how a vast majority of readers read them--as a template for life), but rather they're beautiful dreams of the world could be narrated aloud for the benefit of her readers, but yet fiercely personal in their value to her. When someone describes their dream, their aspiration, they need not know how to realize them. They just become a part of a certain vacuum that comes to define our material being! And that's what those novels mean to me.
I've know right from the outset, world would never be prepared to become what Ayn Rand wished it to be, and in my daily life, I yearn to find people capable of living like that. And the hope of finding such people and someday getting to live amidst them are things of greatest joy and beauty that keep me going to lead this otherwise quite infertile life.
Dominique, if you'll be able to look at her character that way, stands for the highest devotion possible in love, and an infinite sense of justice that doesn't even spare herself and inflicts most painful punishment on the self. Yes, I could worship her dedication in love, and also state quite comfortably, that I don't have capacity to love like her.
Your comment about GSM made me wonder yet again, despite my fondness of him, how little I know of him (and you)!
TC.
Ketan, I v haven't read the book for about thirty days now and have stopped at Page 200. Dominique is the character who has intrigued me till now. A perspective of independence that i too had had been aware of sub-consciously but as GSM sir had put it in one of his posts, it sort of refined whatever thoughts i had.
ReplyDeleteI believe that whoever has the opportunity can follow / adopt the normative theories that have been laid out, nothing wrong in that. Not all people tend to think about such stuff, and for those who have surely it would be a reassurance that they are not eccentrics. I believe this thought process on how to lead life is very important to every person irrespective of their stage in life, and any source which leads to such thought can only be good as long as the person has an independent mind which makes its own conclusions and judgements.
I always have admired a commitment to give great efforts in getting your thoughts across very clearly and in detail. The beauty being articulate, i v learnt from you. Thanks for that.
Take Care.
Oh thanks me, for the compliment! I think we were somewhat in dispute over this point about clear articulation v/s mysticism! Though, it sounds good to me, I'd like to point out you cannot have learnt to articulate clearly from me as you never learned articulation from me, at the most, noticed its value through our communication. You must have definitely possessed the ability priorly, only now you might be consciously invoking it.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, I've loved your latest piece of fiction about the convict. The ones I wouldn't like would be the ones serving as a constant tease--your post set in the railway station, and the one about friends' meeting on a rainy evening! They would be constant reminders of a certain kind of failure. It induces a kind of helplessness. It could be very peculiar to me--but, I don't like it when I cannot understand things even after greatest possible mental effort. But here, it would be worsened by the fact that someone would know the answer--only not tell me whether the 'answer' I know would be right or wrong! That's a bit sadistic on the part of the writer... to torment their reader thus! ;)
So, I take it that this is the first time you're reading Fountainhead. Is it that you've already read Atlas Shrugged?
For the rest of your comment, I agree with all you say. Though in my life, I'm going to depart a lot from Ayn Rand's (and my) idea of how people should be. Partly because for many things, say, research it's not possible to progress unless and until you get right kind of funds and right kind of colleagues. Research, nowadays, is a team activity. It's possible that only a few researchers (usually, designation-wise, the senior ones) get glorified, but the fact remains, whenever someone succeeds, there's a lot many others' hardwork that's not apparent. Any (research) team is as strong as its weakest link. And funding (which depends on 'networking') and right colleagues, are hugely matters of luck. It is upon examination of such practical situations, that one realizes practicing what Rand teaches is not possible. But yes, in most personal domains say, morality, interpersonal relations, making choices, etc., it's possible to follow those ideas.
Take care.
Yeah but even as i said there in your blog, i do maintain that i do not intend to make all my posts "non-mystic". Such mystic posts are for my own self satisfaction and a selfish literally excercise as you said your 55 ers are (by the way some of them are pretty good). I really am not spending a lot of time writing these days and therefore i intend to keep my posts very short. These are not the clearest / fullest expression of my capabilities or literary orientations but they more of a joy ride which you could equate to a the phrase - "flexing one's muscles". More detailed posts you could expect in a short span of time where my other commitments will be much less.
ReplyDeleteAs usual thanks for the care in getting your views across