by Ayn Rand
Dec. 5, 1937
Let us decide once and for all what is a unit and what is to be only a part of the unit, subordinated to it. A building is a unit--all else in it, such as sculpture, murals, ornaments, are parts of the unit and to be subordinated to the will of the architect, as creator of the unit. No talk of "the freedom of craftsmen" for sculptors and the like here.
Also--man is a unit, not Society. So that man cannot be considered as only a subordinate part to be ruled by and to fit into the ensemble of society.
(I really believe that a building is a unit, not a city, so that city planning should not control all buildings. Because a house can be the product of one man, but a city cannot. And nothing collective can have the unity and integrity of a "unit.")
Much of the confusion in "collectivism" and "individualism" could be cleared up if men were clear on what constitutes a unit, what is to be regarded as such.
As to the rules about this--my job of the future.
Those who know Ayn Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, know how startlingly she completed this highly technical "job of the future."
In the thirties, however, Ayn Rand was concerned primarily with ethics; she wanted to define and present a proper view of man's life. Here, in a note dated January 15, 1936, is her reason for writing The Fountainhead:
This may sound naive. But--is our life ever to have any reality? Are we ever going to live on the level or is life always to be something else, something different from what it should be? A real life, simple and sincere, and even naive, is the only life where all the potential grandeur and beauty of human existence can really be found. Are there real reasons for accepting the alternative, that which we have today? No one has really shown [today's] life, as it really is, with its real meaning and its reasons. I'm going to show it. If it's not a pretty picture--what is the substitute:
I have read The Fountainhead many times since 1949, when I first found it. I read it mostly for the sheer pleasure of living in the "substitute" world Ayn Rand creates. I hope the story has given you the same pleasure.
-Leonard Peikoff, Irvine, California, March 1992