This week focuses on Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. Both look at the perception of The Architect, as a mythical God like figure, a recluse, detached from society. Yet both Roark and Silenus are crucial to the story. Perhaps the fact that we are comparing two stories set in such different contexts – Rand in the USA, and Waugh in class-driven Britain – is significant of the globalized society we live in.
Silenus is a remote mysterious character, appearing only at brief intervals. He is supremely confident in his ideas and mannerisms, yet unconcerned with society. His appearance at the end of the book in the chapter Resurrection, where he meets Paul who is about to go and study theology, boarders on the biblical. Silenus explains the meaning of life, insisting that he has found peace, and that Paul never will, embodying the stereotypical arrogant architect too important to even be able to sleep.[1]
Roark is just as aloof as Silenus, but whilst Silenus is all talk, Roark has some kind of integrity. He believes so much in himself that he won’t compromise on his style. In The Fountainhead everything is black and white, Roark is the clear hero, building for a better future, whilst the press is the enemy, corrupting the minds of the citizens.
We can also see this in our society, where the press hold a great deal of power, particularly over politicians – whoever The Sun backs will win the general election. It can still be hard to convince those in charge to build modern ideas – for example The Chelsea Barracks Scheme. And the architect is proved right at the end when of course everyone loves Roarke’s building, and he has become the creator of these fabulous modern appartments.
A running theme in these course texts is that of fame - making a name for yourself, to be remembered. Hadid, Faust, and Roark are all guilty of this. And it is perhaps Roark’s insult to Toohey that sums this up best:
Toohey: Why don’t you tell me what you think of me?
Roark: But I don’t think of you
Roark can be further compared to Goethe’s Faust. Like Faust he goes through a series of transformations from The Dreamer (at architecture school), to The Lover (Dominique who he loses to society), and The Developer (insisting that he knows best and believing so strongly that he can redesign the cityscape).
The architect as a God-like figure can be seen throughout history. In building churches and cathedrals, the architect was showing god’s work. As previously discussed, Le Corbusier certainly had a Faust like instinct, aspiring to leave his mark on the world. Hadid’s irritation at being asked to explain how she arrives at a concept can be interpreted as a subconscious desire to appear as a Goddess of Architecture who can instantly invent a new design. All these aloof figures who want to be remembered as The Genius, but in being so driven perhaps they have forgotten the bigger picture.
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