Anthem is Ayn Rand’s classic tale of a dystopian future of the great “We”—a world that deprives individuals of a name or independence—that anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. They existed only to serve the state. They were conceived in controlled Palaces of Mating. They died in the Home of the Useless. From cradle to grave, the crowd was one—the great WE. In all that was left of humanity there was only one man who dared to think, seek, and love. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone. He had rediscovered the lost and holy word—I. “I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals, and I loathe humanity, for its failure to live up to these possibilities.”—Ayn Rand
H.P. Lovecraft (1890 - 1937) was an American horror fiction writer. Though he died in poverty and was only published in pulp magazines before his death, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in the genre. Lovecraft was a prodigy, reciting poetry at the age of three, and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his interest in the unusual by telling him his own original tales of gothic horror. Lovecraft's most popular book is, perhaps, At the Mountains of Madness. He also wrote The Call of Cthulhu, along with many short stories and literary correspondences. In this rare recording, he is interviewed as part of a WPA project during the New Deal.
