PART 11 AND 12
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Published in England and written in 1937, Anthem, is a dystopian fiction novel that takes place at a futuristic date and place when mankind enter another dark age. This dark age was created by irrationality, collectivism, and socialistic thinking of the people. Individuality and freedom, has been completely demolished, and technology is rising up to another level.
About the Author:
As a teen, the author of this book, Ayn Rand, initially conceived Anthem as a play. She lived in Soviet Russia, but later on life migrated to the USA. Rand didn't really picture the possibility of writing and publishing Anthem, but after reading a short story in The Saturday Evening Post, she reconsidered the idea. Ayn Rand submitted Anthem to them.
"Rand's working title was Ego. Leonard Peikoff explains the meaning behind this title: "[Rand] is (implicitly) upholding the central principles of her philosophy and of her heroes: reason, values, volition, individualism." Thinking that the original title was too blunt, unemotional, and would give away too much of the theme, Rand changed the title to Anthem. "The present novel, in Miss Rand's mind, was from the outset an ode to man's ego. It was not difficult, therefore, to change the working title: to move from 'ego' to 'ode' or 'anthem', leaving the object celebrated by the ode to be discovered by the reader." (Wikipedia)
Curiosity
There are similarities between Anthem and the 1921 novel, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, another author who had lived in communist Russia. The similarities were these:
- A novel taking the form of a secret diary or journal.
- People having numbers instead of names.
- Children separated from their parents and brought up by the State
- Individualism disposed of in favor of collective will.
- A male who discovers individuality through his relationship with a female character.
- A forest as a 'free' place outside the dystopian city.
- The main character is a man.
- This character discovers a link to the past, when men were free, in a tunnel under the Earth. (Wikipedia)
Publication history
In the beginning, Ayn Rand planned on publishing Anthem as a magazine story or serial, but her agent encouraged her to publish it as a book. She did it! After the success of Rand's novel The Fountainhead, Anthem, in a revised edition, was officially published in the US in 1946 by Pamphleteers.
Awards
The Libertarian Futurist Society awarded Anthem its Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2014, Anthem was nominated for a Best Novel prize.
Adaptations:
Finally, as an initial thought, Anthem was adapted into a play in 2013 by Jeff Britting. This plays first performance, was in Denver and later opened on Broadway in September 2013.
All info searched on:
Wikipedia, Wikipedia, ed. "Anthem (novella)." Wikipedia.
Wikipedia, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_(novella)>.
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Favorite Quote:
"I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man's soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.
I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned.
I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters."
link to image PROMETHEUS
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