Just finished Part 6 of Ayn Rand's classic dystopian novella, ANTHEM.
I can't stop reading it. I can feel myself switching into "devour" mode. As a voluntaryist, this book speaks volumes to me (no pun intended) as did Atlas Shrugged, and the metaphors, analogies and allegories linking the work to the current state of affairs in the world are immediate, profound, and unsettling.
Some of my favorite excerpts from the work so far:
(*** SPOILER WARNING *** )
- Part One:
International 4-8818 and we are friends. This is an evil thing to say, for it is a transgression, the great Transgression of Preference, to love any among men better than the others, since we must love all men and all men are our friends.
- Part Two:
There is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls, and in the air of the streets. Fear walks through the city, fear without name, without shape. All men feel it and none dare to speak.
We feel it also, when we are in the Home of the Street Sweepers. But here, in our tunnel, we feel it no longer. The air is pure under the ground. There is no odor of men. And these three hours give us strength for our hours above the ground.
- Part Three:
No single one can possess greater wisdom than the many Scholars who are elected by all men for their wisdom. Yet we can. We do. We have fought against saying it, but now it is said. We do not care. We forger all men, all laws and all things save our metals and our wires. So much is still to be learned! So long a road lies before us, and what care we if we must travel it alone!
- Part Four:
"Our dearest one," we whispered.
Never have men said this to women.
- Part Five:
We made it. We created it. We brought it forth from the night of the ages. We alone. Our hands. Our mind. Ours alone and only.
- Part Six:
When the Council of the Home questioned us, we looked upon the faces of the Council, but there was no curiosity in those faces, and no anger, and no mercy. So when the oldest of them asked us: "Where have you been?" we thought of our glass box and our light, and we forgot all else. And we answered:
"We will not tell you."
I really love the pluralization of the first person pronouns in ANTHEM.
I feel it conveys the atmosphere of a dystopian collectivist society with an almost profound immediacy. It also raises questions about the very nature of consciousness itself, and emphasizes the necessity of human community, in my view, even in the context of such an "individualist" work.
Looking forward to your posts! Remember to use the tag #kafkasbookclub, and don't post about anything past part 6 until the next and final post--next week!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DTube and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)