Anthem is a novella by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand. This dystopian fiction was written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the UK. The story takes place at an undesignated future date when mankind has entered another Dark Age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated. Equality 7-2521, a 21-year-old man, rebels by doing secret scientific research. He commits several transgressions. But his activity is discovered. He flees into the wilderness with the girl ...
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Anthem is a novella by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand. This dystopian fiction was written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the UK. The story takes place at an undesignated future date when mankind has entered another Dark Age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated. Equality 7-2521, a 21-year-old man, rebels by doing secret scientific research. He commits several transgressions. But his activity is discovered. He flees into the wilderness with the girl he loves and both plan to establish a new society based on rediscovered individualism. The plot of the novella revolves around this young man who exclusively uses plural pronouns such as 'we', 'our' and 'they' to refer to himself and others. The girl he meets is Liberty 5-3000, a 17-year-old Peasant girl who works in the fields. When he speaks to her, he discovers that she also thinks of him. Anthem was published in the US only after author's next novel, The Fountainhead, became a best seller.
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Add this copy of Anthem to cart. $17.58, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2023 by Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd.
Add this copy of Anthem to cart. $17.89, new condition, Sold by Media Smart rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hawthorne, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd.
I bought this with Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, on a whim. It was a pleasant surprise! A nice jewell of a book. An easy read, really different than anything I've read before.
PubliusMinor
Jul 10, 2008
1984 Light?
I didn't know what to expect of Ayn Rand. When I was young, her books were considered rather risque. Today I see them mentioned in libertarian blogs. I decided to see what they were all about, and ordered every title I could find. Anthem is a short work of speculative fiction set in a post-Apocalyptic world. Rand, who left the Soviet Union as a young woman, had experienced the sacrifice of the individual to the collective will at first hand. An easy read reminiscent of the Star Trek episode about Landru and of Soylent Green -- or perhaps I should say that they are reminiscent of Anthem, since Anthem was published in 1938.
taekwondoqueen
Jun 10, 2007
Anthem: The Power of Ego
They exist only to serve the greater good. From bundle to ashes their whole lives are controlled, from the Palace of Mating to the Home of the Useless. There is no individual ?I? only the great ?WE?. In her 3rd novel, Ayn Rand fills Anthem to the brim with enough oppression and forced cohesion to your fellow comrade to start another USSR. After a devastation that destroys most of humanity, Equality 7-2521, just one man in the great ?WE?, is sent to work as a Street Sweeper. He is unlike his brothers. Equality 7-2521 is different, a despicable crime in this world of the possible future. But Equality 7-2521 goes about his day, endeavoring to be like his role-model Union 5-3992, a boy with half a brain. As Equality 7-2521 thoroughly sweeps his assigned portion of a street, he stumbles upon ??an old iron grill over a black hole?, within this aperture are remains of the Unmentionable Times. Here Equality 7-2521 learns things of science with a child-like curiosity, all leading up to his discovery of electricity. However without his noticing, he discovered another force, the blasphemy of individuality. In this The Island-like adventure, Equality 7-2521, like Lincoln Six-Echo, falls for Liberty 5-3000, or the Golden One as she will become known. In this late teenage rebellion of sorts, Equality 7-2521 decides to leave, after the Council of Scholars rejects his discovery of electricity, and takes his ?dearest one?? with him. In the forest they discover a home that had survived the Unmentionable Times and that is where they relearn the lost skills of men. With adventure, drama, and challenging philosophy, this novel is for the philosophical reader, the advanced reader or a person just looking for a rousing read. As Ayn Rand delivers another powerful, magnificent novel, she proves the power of ?the word which will not die? which can never die on this earth?? the word from which ego springs.
