THE INSPIRATION IN FICTION I began to read novels since adolescence, and still do. From Pacesetters to James Hadley Chase on to bestselling authors: Sidney Sheldon, Jacqueline Susan, Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steele, Jack Higgins, Jackie Collins, Leon Uris,Harold Robbins, Enid Blyton, Dean Koontz, Alex Pushkins, Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, James Patterson, John Grisham, Jeffrey Archer, Dan Brown, Michael Crichton, Gerald de Villiers, David Baldacci,Anne Rice, Wilbur Smith, Denise Robins, and several others I cannot remember firsthand. Books from these writers had played a vital role in changing my orientation in life, made me wiser and provided sources of inspiration. The best of the lot Ive ever read was Seven Minutes by the late American novelist and screen-writer Irving Wallace. It was a masterpiece thriller, an account of the fight against censorship and the related arguments about freedom of speech and expression. It also showcased how dogged ideology can be emancipating. The plot, criticised by many reviewers as obscene, was vastly inspirational and arguably the most controversial and explosive novel to date. The main character, Michael Barret, a jobless lawyer, was given a chance by a friend seeking for favour in a major case involved with protection of free speech which centred around a censor placed on the explicit book The Seven Minutes. On the other hand, one of the protagonists to the censorship offered Barret a place in the board of his multinational enterprise on the insistence of his daughter, Barrets fiancee. When the future father-in-law learned of Barrets involvement in the case, he asked his daughter to threaten her fiancé to either withdraw or lose both her and the proposed offer. Mike Barrets response was inspirational. He refused to budge, chose to forfeit the lucrative offer and the woman he loves to pursue the case against freedom of speech. As he walked away from his perplexed fiancee, he recalled Samuel Taylor Coleridge Mariner (a line of poetry that became my standpoint in life): (A man of integrity was) Like one, That on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread And having once turned round Walks on And turn no more his head; Because he knows, A frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 12:15:12 +0000
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