''Anthem'' is a
dystopian fiction
Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal t ...
novella by Russian-American writer
Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when mankind has entered another
Dark Age
The ''Dark Ages'' is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire Middle Ages, in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that characterises it as marked by economic, intellectual and cultural decline.
The conce ...
. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of
individuality
An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own need ...
has been eliminated. A young man known as Equality 7-2521 rebels by doing secret scientific research. When his activity is discovered, he flees into the wilderness with the girl he loves. Together they plan to establish a new society based on rediscovered individualism.
Rand originally conceived of the story as a play, then decided to write for magazine publication. At her agent's suggestion, she submitted it to book publishers. The novella was first published by
Cassell in England. It was published in the United States only after Rand's next novel, ''
The Fountainhead
''The Fountainhead'' is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, her first major literary success. The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an intransigent young architect, who battles against conventional standards and refuses to comp ...
'', became a best seller. Rand revised the text for the US edition published in 1946.
Plot
Equality 7-2521, a 21-year-old man writing by candlelight in a tunnel under the earth, tells the story of his life up to that point. He exclusively uses plural pronouns ("we", "our", "they") to refer to himself and others. He was raised like all children in his society, away from his parents in collective homes: the Home of Infants from birth until five years old, then the Home of Students from five to fifteen. He believes he has a "curse" that makes him learn quickly and ask many questions. He excels at the Science of Things and dreams of becoming a Scholar, but when the Council of Vocations assigns his Life Mandate at fifteen, he is assigned to be a Street Sweeper.
Equality 7-2521 accepts his street sweeping assignment as penance for his Transgression of Preference in secretly desiring to be a Scholar. He works with the handicapped Union 5-3992 and International 4-8818, the latter of whom is Equality's only friend (which is another Transgression of Preference, because all are supposedly equal in their society). Despite International's protests that any exploration unauthorized by a Council is forbidden, Equality explores an underground tunnel near the City Theatre tent, and finds metal tracks. Equality believes the tunnel is from the Unmentionable Times of the distant past. He begins sneaking away from his community at night to use the tunnel as a laboratory for scientific experiments, using garbage he has taken from the Home of the Scholars. He is using stolen paper from the Home of the Clerks to write his journal, by candlelight, using candles stolen from the larder at the Home of the Street Sweepers.
While cleaning a road at the edge of the City, Equality meets Liberty 5-3000, a 17-year-old Peasant girl who works in the fields. He commits another transgression by thinking constantly of her, instead of waiting to be assigned a woman at the annual Time of Mating, in which men aged twenty and over, and females of eighteen and over, are assigned to each other solely for breeding. She has dark eyes and golden hair, and he names her "The Golden One". When he speaks to her, he discovers that she also thinks of him. He reveals his secret name for her, and Liberty tells Equality she has named him "The Unconquered".
Continuing his scientific work, Equality rediscovers
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...
. In the ruins of the tunnel, he finds a glass box with wires that gives off light when he passes electricity through it. He decides to take his discovery to the World Council of Scholars; he thinks such a great gift to mankind will outweigh his many transgressions and lead to him being made a Scholar. However, one night, his absence from the Home of the Street Sweepers is noticed. He is whipped and held in the Palace of Corrective Detention. The night before the World Council of Scholars is set to meet, he easily escapes; there are no guards because no one has ever attempted escape before. The next day, he presents his work to the World Council of Scholars. Horrified that he has done unauthorized research, they assail him as a "wretch" and a "gutter cleaner" and say he must be punished. They want to destroy his discovery so it will not disrupt the plans of the World Council and the Department of Candles. Equality seizes the box, cursing the council before fleeing into the Uncharted Forest that lies outside the City.
In the forest, Equality sees himself as damned for having left his fellow men, but he enjoys his freedom. No one will pursue him into this forbidden place. He only misses Liberty. On his second day of living in the forest, Liberty appears; she followed him into the forest and vows to stay with him forever. They live together in the forest and try to express their love for one another, but they lack the words to speak of love as individuals.
They find a house from the Unmentionable Times in the mountains and decide to live in it. While reading books from the house's library, Equality discovers the word "I" and tells Liberty about it. Her first words to him are, “I love you.” Having rediscovered individuality, they give themselves new names from the books: Equality becomes "
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
" and Liberty becomes "
Gaea
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes partheno ...
". Months later, Gaea is pregnant with Prometheus' child. Prometheus wonders how men in the past could have given up their individuality; he plans a future in which they will regain it.
History
Development
![Ayn Rand (1943 Talbot portrait)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Ayn_Rand_%281943_Talbot_portrait%29.jpg)
Ayn Rand initially conceived ''Anthem'' as a play when she was a teenager living in
Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
. After migrating to the United States, Rand didn't think of writing ''Anthem'', but reconsidered after reading a short story in ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
'' set in the future. Seeing that mainstream magazines would publish
speculative fiction, she decided to try submitting ''Anthem'' to them. She wrote the story in the summer of 1937, while taking a break from research she was doing for her next novel, ''
The Fountainhead
''The Fountainhead'' is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, her first major literary success. The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an intransigent young architect, who battles against conventional standards and refuses to comp ...
''.
Rand's working title was ''Ego''.
Leonard Peikoff
Leonard Sylvan Peikoff (; born October 15, 1933) is a Canadian-American philosopher. He is an Objectivist and was a close associate of Ayn Rand, who designated him heir to her estate. He is a former professor of philosophy and host of a natio ...
explains the meaning behind this title: "
and
or AND may refer to:
Logic, grammar, and computing
* Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses
* Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition
* Bitwise AND, a boolea ...
is (implicitly) upholding the central principles of her philosophy and of her heroes: reason, values, volition, individualism." Thinking that the original title was too blunt, unemotional, and would give away too much of the theme, Rand changed the title to ''Anthem''. "The present novel, in Miss Rand's mind, was from the outset an ode to man's ego. It was not difficult, therefore, to change the working title: to move from 'ego' to 'ode' or 'anthem', leaving the object celebrated by the ode to be discovered by the reader."
There are similarities between ''Anthem'' and the 1921 novel ''
We'' by
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin ( rus, Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ zɐˈmʲætʲɪn; – 10 March 1937), sometimes anglicized as Eugene Zamyatin, was a Russian author of science fictio ...
, another author who had lived in communist Russia. These include:
* A novel taking the form of a secret diary or journal.
* People are identified by codes instead of names.
* Children separated from their parents and brought up by the State.
* Individualism disposed of in favor of collective will.
* A male protagonist who discovers individuality through his relationship with a female character.
*A forest as a 'free' place outside the "dystopian" city.
* The protagonist discovers a link to the past, when people were free, in a tunnel under the Earth.
There are also a number of differences between the two stories. For example, the society of ''We'' is in no scientific or technological decay, featuring X-rays, airplanes, microphones, and so on. In contrast, the people of ''Anthem'' believe that the world is flat and the sun revolves around it, and that bleeding people is a decent form of medicine. The similarities have led to speculation about whether Rand's story was directly influenced by Zamyatin's.
However, there is little evidence that Rand was influenced by or even read Zamyatin's work, and she never mentioned it in discussions of her life in Russia.
Publication history
![Famous fantastic mysteries 195306](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Famous_fantastic_mysteries_195306.jpg)
Initially, Rand planned on publishing ''Anthem'' as a magazine story or serial, but her agent encouraged her to publish it as a book. She submitted it simultaneously to
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publ ...
in America and
Cassell in England. Both had handled her previous novel, ''
We the Living
''We the Living'' is the debut novel of the Russian American novelist Ayn Rand. It is a story of life in post-revolutionary Russia and was Rand's first statement against communism. Rand observes in the foreword that ''We the Living'' was the cl ...
''. Cassell agreed to publish ''Anthem'', but Macmillan declined it. According to Peikoff, "
acmillan'scomment was: the author does not understand socialism." Another American publisher also turned it down, and Rand's agent was unable to sell it as a magazine serial. Cassell published it in England in 1938.
After the success of ''The Fountainhead'', a revised edition of ''Anthem'' was published in the US in 1946 by Pamphleteers, Inc., a small
libertarian-oriented publishing house owned by Rand's friends
Leonard Read
Leonard Edward Read (September 26, 1898 – May 14, 1983) was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), one of the first free market think tanks in the United States. He wrote 29 books and numerous essays, including the well-k ...
and William C. Mullendore. A 50th Anniversary Edition was published in 1995, including an appendix which reproduces the Cassell edition with Rand's handwritten editorial changes.
Since its publication in 1946, the revised version of ''Anthem'' has sold more than 3.5 million copies.
Reception
Critical response
The original UK edition received mostly positive reviews; several praised Rand's imagination and her support of individualism.
[Berliner, Michael S. "Reviews of ''Anthem''". In ] In ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'', reviewer
Dilys Powell
Elizabeth Dilys Powell, CBE (20 July 1901 – 3 June 1995) was a British film critic and travel writer who contributed to ''The Sunday Times'' for more than 50 years. Powell was known for her receptiveness to cultural change in the cinema and ...
complimented its "simplicity and sincerity". Anti-communist journalist
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was an English journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, in Essex). In ...
gave a mixed review in ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'', saying it had appeal, but its dystopia was not believable.
A short review by
Maurice Richardson in ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' said it was "highly unconvincing, in spite of some extremely eloquent writing".
Reviewing the 1953 American first hardcover edition for a genre audience,
Anthony Boucher
William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...
and
J. Francis McComas were unsympathetic. Saying that "Rand implies that a sinister conspiracy of purveyors of brotherhood has prevented its American publication until now", they ironically concluded, "One can only regret that the conspiracy finally broke down." (Caxton Press offered this first U.S. edition in boards in 1953, while the
pulp magazine ''
Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' included reprints of both
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
's "
The Metamorphosis
''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...
" and ''Anthem'' in the magazine's final, June 1953 issue.)
Awards and nominations
The Libertarian Futurist Society awarded ''Anthem'' its
Hall of Fame Award in 1987. In 2014, ''Anthem'' was nominated for a
Retrospective Hugo Award for "Best Novella".
Legacy
Adaptations
Following the release of ''Anthem'' in the United States, Rand explored opportunities for having it adapted to other media. She had discussions about potential film, opera, and ballet adaptations, but these projects were never realized. In 1946, Rand wrote to
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
that if a screen adaptation were possible, "I would like to see it done in stylized drawings, rather than with living actors."
In 1950, a radio adaptation was done for ''The Freedom Story'', a weekly radio program produced by Spiritual Mobilization, a Christian libertarian group.
In 2011, it was released as an unabridged audiobook by ABN, the narration by Jason McCoy described as 'stirring and evocative'.
In 1991,
Michael Paxton wrote, directed, and co-produced a stage adaptation of ''Anthem'', which appeared at the Lex Theater in
Hollywood. The book was adapted into a stage play in 2013 by
Jeff Britting, the department manager of the Ayn Rand Archives at the
Ayn Rand Institute
The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism, commonly known as the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank in Santa Ana, California, that promotes Objectivism, the philosophy developed by Ayn Rand ...
. First performed in Denver, it opened
Off-Broadway in September 2013 at the
Jerome Robbins Theater. ''The New York Times'' review stated, "For a play that celebrates the individual, ''Anthem'' sure doesn’t trust its audience. Instead of illustrating ideas, this sporadically interesting show too often delivers exposition, desperate to overexplain rather than risk a moment of misunderstanding." The novella also inspired a spoof rock musical, premiering Off-Broadway at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre in May 2014. The cast included Randy Jones of
The Village People
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, Jason Gotay, Jenna Leigh Green, Remy Zaken, and Ashley Kate Adams. The review in ''The New York Times'' criticized the acting of the leads, but called the show "exuberant" and better than a straight adaptation.
In 2011, ''Anthem'' was adapted into a
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
by Charles Santino, with artwork by
Joe Staton
Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of ...
. In 2018, a second graphic novel adaptation was produced, unrelated to the 2011 adaptation, adapted by Jennifer Grossman and
Dan Parsons.
Influence
The work has inspired many
musical pieces, including full-length albums. According to
Enzo Stuarti
Enzo Stuarti (born Lorenzo Scapone; March 3, 1919 – December 16, 2005) was an Italian American tenor and musical theater performer. After performing on Broadway under the stage names Larry Laurence and Larry Stuart, he changed his name again a ...
,
Pat Boone
Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...
composed the music and his friend
Frank Lovejoy
Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir '' The Hitch-Hiker'' and for starring in the radio drama '' Night Beat ...
wrote the lyrics of "The Exodus Song", featured in the album ''Stuarti Arrives at Carnegie Hall''. The song begins with a line right out of ''Anthem''. In another point of the song it reads: "...I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my land, and my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom." In ''Anthem'', it reads: "...I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my land, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom." A memo to Rand dated May 4, 1964, mentions the unauthorized adaptation, but there is no indication that she took any legal action.
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Gr ...
's 1971 novel ''
A Time of Changes'' also depicts a society where ''I'' is a forbidden word and where the protagonist rebels against this prohibition. In a 2009 preface to a reprint edition of his novel, Silverberg said he had read ''Anthem'' in 1953, but had long forgotten it when he wrote ''A Time of Changes''. He was surprised to see the similarities when he rediscovered Rand's story, but said overall the two books are very different.
''Anthem'' is also credited by
Neil Peart
Neil Ellwood Peart OC (; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an ...
for influencing
Rush's "
2112" with strong parallels to the plot, structure, and theme of ''Anthem''. Peart has said that although he read ''Anthem'', he was not consciously thinking of the story when he wrote the song; however when he recognized there were similarities, he gave credit to "the genius of Ayn Rand" in the liner notes. The band also released a song called "Anthem" on their ''
Fly by Night'' album, and their Canadian record label (co-founded by Rush manager
Ray Danniels
Ray Danniels is a Canadian music executive, record producer, and talent manager. He's the founder of SRO (Standing Room Only) Management group, as well as independent record labels Moon Records and Anthem Records. He first rose to prominence ...
) is
Anthem Records
Anthem Records is an independent record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company was formed in May 1977 by Ray Danniels and Vic Wilson with initial recording artists Rush, Max Webster, Liverpool and A Foot in Coldwater. The three ...
.
Among Rand's works, ''Anthem'' is one of the most commonly assigned as secondary school reading. The Ayn Rand Institute provides free copies of the novel for use in schools, and holds an annual ''Anthem'' essay contest for students.
[Berliner, Michael S. "Reviews of ''Anthem''". In ]
See also
*
Linguistic relativity
*
''We'' (1982 film)
*
We (novel)
''We'' (russian: link=no, Мы, translit=My) is a dystopian novel by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin, written 1920–1921. It was first published as an English translation by Gregory Zilboorg in 1924 by E. P. Dutton in New York, with the orig ...
Notes
References
Works cited
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Further reading
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External links
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Page images of 1953 editionfrom
HathiTrust
''Anthem''study guide from
CliffsNotes
CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides. The guides present and create literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. The company clai ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthem (Novella)
1938 American novels
1938 science fiction novels
American science fiction novels
American novellas
Cassell (publisher) books
Dystopian novels
English-language books
American novels adapted into plays
Novels adapted into radio programs
Novels by Ayn Rand
Philosophical novels
Russian-American novels
Russian novellas
Novels set in the future
Totalitarianism in fiction