Anthem

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by the Russian-born American writer Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the United Kingdom. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when humankind has entered another Dark Age.

The society is one in which technological advancement is planned centrally and the concept of individuality has been eliminated, so the plot's conflict is a matter of permitted behaviour rather than of resources. A young man known as Equality 7-2521 does secret scientific research, which places him outside what the society allows. The society has no word for the individual, and the names its members are given, such as Equality 7-2521, state that condition outright, so the hero's offence is a matter of permitted behaviour rather than of resources.

When his work is discovered he flees into the wilderness and is followed by Liberty 5-3000, the woman he loves, and together they plan to establish a new society on principles they choose. The novella was written in the 1930s and published in Britain before appearing in the United States.