The Fountainhead (and a little War and Peace)

I am on page 500 something and I anticipate finishing this long weekend. I would read something else by Ayn Rand, let me admit that first. She can turn a phrase. Additionally, Rand is a fan of the lengthy sentence and sprinkles commas liberally. In my circle, punctuation is applied as generously as the herbs and spices with which we cook. Rand's sentences are not as complex as those of Robertson Davies (known best for his brilliant trio of trilogies, Salteron, Deptford, & Cornish), but her ideas are deep. The Ayn Rand Institute exists to this day to promote the concepts expressed in The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and Rand's other writings and speeches. From a practical standpoint, I can't help but wonder how Howard Roark's architecture is viewed by the reader as we get more "modern." The Fountainhead was published in 1943. Are we more apt to appreciate his vision than contemporary readers of Rand's? As I sit in my house in 2007, the sketches I conjure in my mind on behalf of Roark, are shaped by my knowledge and love of modern architecture and design. I can't decide whether Roark's designs are more Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater (1934) andTaliesen West (1937) or whether his general aesthetic is more like like the Finnish architects Saarinen and Aalto.

A Little War and Peace...
This past week on Jeopardy on of the categories was War & Peace. I was very excited. The contestant who had the category said she had never read it and Alex responded, " I don't know many people who have." If you followed the other other blog, you know I have as have a few of us. Incidentally, I got all but one question right in the category and I bet a lot on the Double Jeopardy question.