Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Russian–American writer Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the United Kingdom.

Equality 7-2521 accepts his street sweeping assignment as penance for his Transgression of Preference in secretly desiring to be a Scholar.

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.

While cleaning a road at the edge of the city, Equality 7-2521 meets Liberty 5-3000, a 17-year-old Peasant girl who works in the fields.

[1] After migrating to the United States, Rand did not plan to write Anthem, but she reconsidered after reading a short story in The Saturday Evening Post set in the future.

Leonard Peikoff explains the meaning behind this title: "[Rand] is (implicitly) upholding the central principles of her philosophy and of her heroes: reason, values, volition, individualism."

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.

[5][6] 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.

[12] The original UK edition received mostly positive reviews; several praised Rand's imagination and her support of individualism.

Anti-communist journalist Malcolm Muggeridge gave a mixed review in The Daily Telegraph, saying it had appeal, but its dystopia was not believable.

[13] A short review by Maurice Richardson in The Observer said it was "highly unconvincing, in spite of some extremely eloquent writing".

[14] Reviewing the 1953 American first hardcover edition for a genre audience, Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas were unsympathetic.

[18] In 1946, Rand wrote to Walt Disney that if a screen adaptation were possible, "I would like to see it done in stylized drawings, rather than with living actors.

[21] In 1991, Michael Paxton wrote, directed, and co-produced a stage adaptation of Anthem, which appeared at the Lex Theater in Hollywood.

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 cast included Randy Jones of The Village People, Jason Gotay, Jenna Leigh Green, Remy Zaken, and Ashley Kate Adams.

[24] The review in The New York Times criticized the acting of the leads, but called the show "exuberant" and better than a straight adaptation.

[28] Robert Silverberg'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.

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.

[31] The Ayn Rand Institute provides free copies of the novel for use in schools, and holds an annual Anthem essay contest for students.