Why Do So Many Lawyers Compose Novels?
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- March 26th, 2009 |
- Comments
Ever admiration why so many lawyers compose novels? And real booming ones at that? Just remember John Grisham and Scott Turow, both of whom have written exciting, entertaining stories that grab hold of us until the real last page.
Both men have had active legal careers in the criminal courts. Every day, they have dealt [literally] with life and death issues. Every day, they have witnessed the brutal effects of crime upon victims, families and upon the lives of the perpetrators and their families.
Often crime is a matter of fiery emotion erupting into the apparent ‘normality’ of everyday life. The law tries hard and does much to maintain that ordered calm Yet, piece we prize that peaceful modality, every one is tantalized by the prospect of what lies beneath it. The eruption of its opposite fascinates us. ‘Madness’ we call it. Of course, it exists in others but never in us, so as we are aware.
Now put a lawyer into the situation where he or she is dealing with these highly emotional bet and is at the same time is trying to maintain any kinda order. What effect does this exposure have on a human being? Of course, it can lead to burn out or the choice of another occupation. Any lawyers harden themselves and just get on with the job and hide the effects upon themselves in any dark dungeon of the psyche.
Other lawyers accompany this as an opportunity and doubtless, it fulfils a need. In fact, law practice gives him or her a fantastic pane on humanity. Every day, the lawyer deals with murder, thievery and fraud. He sees the bottom of human nature and strives to find the best and achieve a balance. How can that lawyer not entertain and comment upon that? How can she not draw conclusions from what she experiences and learns from much dramatic situations?
Most of us go from day to day in the ‘normal’ concrete class, acting as if that is all that exists. We have our families, our houses and our cars. We go to the office, the mall, the movies and out to restaurants. But deep down, we recognize someplace in us that thither is much more to life and human nature than meets the eye. Every day, the newspaper tells us so. We read that last night, a man raped an elderly Black and stole ten dollars from her purse and a mother took the life of her child. Thither must be a entire other dimension to life, but not ours.
I like to believe that thither is much more to human life than meets the eye. Joseph Campbell, an author [a mythologist, not a novelist] I greatly admire said that “The latest incarnation of Oedipus, the continued romance of Beauty and the Beast, stands this afternoon on the corner of Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue, inactivity for the stoplight to change.”
Oedipus? You know, the one who lent his name to the mother complex. What on earth could Campbell have meant? Simply this, that each and every one of us [whether or not we are conscious of it] is acting out all the great mythological themes and dramas in our lives. And the lawyer has a front row seat on the action. How could they not compose about it? Much activity is hugely popular because we like to glimpse that broadside of human nature from the safety of an armchair.
Now, I am just an estates lawyer. I have never had a murder or rape attempt. But, in my practice I have seen the inmost excavation of families. For example, when a parent dies, I have learned that thither is often far more at activity than just a tidy accounting. In other cases, I have seen almost every activity upon elder abuse, whether it is physical, financial or emotional. This is just another form of murder or rape.
An estate lawyer is attestant to and participant in every conceivable human relationship and interaction at a highly evaporable time. And so, that has been my pane on the class and the inspiration for III novels: Conduct in Question, Final Paradox and A Attempt of One, all part of the Osgoode Trilogy, in which I like to explore the effects of this dark broadside of humanity on Harry Jenkins.
Who is Harry? He is an estates lawyer and the protagonist of the trilogy, in which there’s plenty of murder and fraud in estate distribution. Indeed, I’ve tangled plenty of questions at him, much as how much money is enough? Can love and forgiveness be found amid fraud and deceit and must you be selfless to be compassionate?
And so, the question is really, how can a lawyer not be inspired to compose especially when he or she is attestant to so much of human relations?