Anthem: Expanded 50th Anniversary Edition - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451185323 ISBN 13: 9780451185327

Publisher: Penguin, 1995

Synopsis

It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven! But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime, and for this crime there is no name. What punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has come in the memory of men and there are no laws to provide for it. It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand on the paper. We are alone here under the earth. It is a fearful word, alone. The laws say that none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for this is the great transgression and the root of all evil. But we have broken many laws. And now there is nothing here save our one body, and it is strange to see only two legs stretched on the ground, and on the wall before us the shadow of our one head.

About this title

Review

A writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly. ("The New York Times")

From the Back Cover

In this classic novel that anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand examines a frightening future in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values.

Equality 7-2521 lives in the Dark Ages of the future, where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, all traces of individualism have been wiped out. But the spark of individual thought and freedom still burns in Equality 7-2521, a passion which he has been taught to call sinful. In a purely egalitarian world, he dares to stand forth from the herd -- to think and choose for himself, to discover electricity, and to love the woman of his choice. Now he has been marked for death for committing the ultimate sin: in a world where the great "we" reign supreme, he has rediscovered the lost and holy word "I".

This provocative book is an anthem sung in praise of man's ego.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0451185323
• ISBN 13: 9780451185327
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256