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Consequently, Rand's weak characters would be weaker than ordinary people, and her strong characters would be stronger. Many criticize the novel's lack of subtlety, yet Rand stressed that this was a novel not about the world as it was (or is) but rather as the world might be.

Howard Roark's philosophy of design has much in common with Frank Lloyd Wright's principles of organic architecture. It is widely accepted that Henry Cameron was based on Louis Sullivan, considered by many to be the father of modern architecture. Rand was also inspired by the works of real architects. Rand did not choose architecture because she felt it was the most superior art, but merely because she thought that it served the symbolic purposes of the novel. At the same time, she was careful to subordinate the passages about architecture to the greater purposes of the novel. In 1937 she worked in the office of architect Ely Jacques Kahn in order to ensure that the architectural details and terminology were accurate. Rand did extensive research while writing the novel. She wanted the novel to be imbued with a spirit of individualism and to convey the idea that "man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress" ( The Fountainhead, front matter). The Fountainhead contains an undeveloped form of Rand's philosophical beliefs. That new faith is Individualism in all its deepest meaning and implications, such as has never been preached before: individualism of the spirit, of ethics, of philosophy. or the sterile, hopeless cynicism of the modern age. In her notes on The Fountainhead she writes about the book as a whole:Ī new set of values is need to combat this modern dreariness, whether it be communism. Rand took extensive preliminary notes for all of her books.

While most people consider Atlas Shrugged her most important work, The Fountainhead was responsible for Ayn Rand's sudden leap into public life. To their surprise, the work quickly became a word-of-mouth bestseller. When The Fountainhead was released in 1943, Rand's publishers did not expect much from it.