EQ and Robert Ludlum
...l, who wanted to demand a dollar off every Catholic. This was in Road to Gandolfo, Ludlum’s successful foray into comedy. The years have a way of making the mind forget the details but I still distinctly remember my impression of Ludlum, the person, based on the few novels I read. Mystery and suspense fascinated him. He had a penchant for violence, intrigues, betrayal. He weaved plots and sub-plots that have a way of trapping people. But what made Ludlum different from other authors of the same genre is that amidst all the violence, the betrayal, hatred, amidst everything that is ugly and dangerous, is the presence of redeeming forces, that of hope, faith and most of all, love. In most of his works, the main protagonist seems to be a dark, evil person, but always with hope for redemption, akin to Darth Vader in the Star Wars series. This is a recurring theme in all Ludlum books. In Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne is an international assassin, the only one in fact who can match the infamous and dreaded Carlos pound by pound. He kills swiftly and without mercy. His whole body is trained in the art and science of assassination. He is a human killing machine. Yet, Jason loses his memory and in order to start anew, he has to delve into his very being and found a soul craving for salvation. He found this with the help of a woman who has offered him mercy, and true love. It was a love that was so intense and powerful that it humbled everything that is violent and ugly in Jason’s world. If I may attempt to surmise Ludlum’s make-up gleaning from his works, he is an extremely complex man whose psyche seems to be filled with thoughts of conspiracy against himself or society as a whole. He could be an extremely paranoid person with tendencies for violent outbursts, and could be searching for his own redemption. I sense that Ludlum is searching for something, perhaps a way out of whatever misery he seems to be in. Either this or he has suffered all those and has found his own redemption. Artists usually have an uncanny ability to use their own experiences in their work, in the process having their own predicaments get reflected. Usually the most emotionally disturbed or most emotionally affected ones are likewise the most successful ones because they can vividly communicate their feelings and thoughts to the readers. Likewise Ludlum’s emphasis on love as a source of redem...