读懂这本书,你就是先知

Maggie Tian-911  08/01   6886  
4.7/3 

The Fountainhead 《源泉》 此书应该跪着读
五分钟前看完这本书, 实在是激情澎湃如滔滔江水一发不可收。这本600多页的书我用了将近7天的时间看完, 一天100页左右, 天天宅在家里。 或许在未来的几年或者几十年的生活中, 我会怀念这种有时间并且有书看的奢靡的日子。
好了先介绍一下。

书名 The Fountainhead 中文翻译 〈源泉〉

作者 Ayn Rand,安·兰德

安·兰德(1905-1982),俄裔美国作家、哲学家。青年时代从苏联流亡美国,以其小说和哲学闻名于世。小说《源泉》1943年出版后立即成为畅销
书,并为她赢得了巨大的声誉,该书至今仍以每年超过10万册的数量再版。1957年《耸肩的阿特拉斯神》出版,成为美国历史上仅次于《圣经》的超级畅销
书,被誉为对美国影响最大的10本之一,累计销售超过8000万册。

安·兰德崇理性,认为人的最高美德便是理性;她不顾传统舆论的偏见,力倡个人主义,认为不能使个人利益得到最大伸张的社会,就不是理想社会。她的客观主义
哲学处20世纪50年代起风靡美国校园,影响了几代美国人,她本人也成为美国青年崇拜的偶像。安·兰德一生著述百余种,根据她的生平拍摄的记录片和故事片
曾获奥斯卡奖。1982年安·兰德去世后,美国创立了许多兰德书友会和专门研究安·兰德思想的机构。

转一点介绍:
1943年出版后总销量超过20,000,000册
  美联储主席格林斯潘最推崇的哲学家和作家,青年志气与个人精神的“圣经”。
  《源泉》之所以具有如此恒久的魅力,其中一个根本原因就在于——它是对青年志气的认可,同时它歌颂了人类的光荣,显示了人类的可能性有多大。
每一代人中,只有少数人能完全理解和完全现实人类的才能,而其余的人都背叛了它。不过这并不重要。正是这极少数人将人类推向前进,而且使生命具有了意义。
我所一贯追求的,正是向这些为数不多的人致意。其余的人与我无关:他们要背叛的不是我,也不是《源泉》。他们要背叛的是自己的灵魂。
——安·兰德,摘自《源泉》25周年再版序言
本书已经成为一本极有生命力的文学名著——它今天比1943年初版时更加流行。表面上,本书记述的是一名建筑师的霍华德·洛克,与强有力的竞争者彼得·吉
丁和报纸专栏作家托黑的斗争经过。但本书还传达了大量的时代主题:个人主义的力量,法西斯主主义的威胁,善行与邪恶的较量。这些思想观念的冲突,与兰德著
作中令人震惊的表达一起,构成了这本书持续的影响力。

书中有太多太牛B的话, 必须得从头看到尾才能体会。书中的每个人都有鲜明的个性, 完全看不到现实生活中正常人所应该表达的感情的影子, 只能见到与人物个性相符合的语言和情感。摘抄一些与小说主题相关的句子, 来自MAIN CHARACTER Howard Roark’s testimony.

"Nothing is given to man on earth. Everything he needs has to be produced. And here man faces his basic alternatives: he can survive in only one of two ways-by the independent work of his own mind or as a parasite fed by the minds of others. The creator originates. The parasite borrows. The creator faces nature alone. The parasite faces nature through an intermediary."

"The creator lives for his work. He needs no other man. His primary goal is within himself. The parasite lives second-hand. He needs others. Others become his prime motive."

"The basic need of the second-hander is to secure his ties with men in order to be fed. He places relations first. He declares that man exists in order to serve others. He preaches altruism."

"Men have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Yet one cannot give that which has not been created. Creation comes before distribution-or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement."

"Men have been taught that the ego is the synonym of evil, and selflessness the ideal of virtue. But the creator is the egotist in the absolute sense, and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel judge, or act. These are functions of the self."

"……There is no substitute for personal dignity. There is no standard of personal dignity except independence."

尽管在看完这本书之前我已经看过一些书评, 对结果有了一些了解, 但是当我看到Roark被宣判"Not guilty"和看到结尾Roark和天和海并列在一起的时候, 我还是感到了震撼, 那是人类灵魂最深处的呐喊, 是人类社会进步的不可阻挡的潮流的胜利。 正如某评论所说, 本书对感性的体现几乎没有, 所有人物的活动都过于理性,每个人都按照他们的性格严格地行动着, 缺少了正常人所应该拥有的感情。 这并没有对书的内涵的表达起到影响, 只是让人觉得这本书有些过于严肃了。

The line of the ocean cut the sky. The ocean mounted as the city descended. She passed the pinnacles of bank buildings. She passed the Crowns of courthouses. She rose above the spires of churches.

Then there was only the ocean and the sky and the figure of Howard Roark.