Robert Ludlum: Thriller novelist with penchant for conspiracies
Robert Ludlum is an American thriller novelist who was born on May 25, 1927 in New York and spent his childhood in New Jersey. His father was a businessman and mother the daughter of a rich businessman due to which he had a financially secure childhood.
He went to ‘The Rectory School’ and the ‘Cheshire Academy’ and then for graduate studies to the Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Before starting his career in writing, he acted in various theatrical shows and also produced many of them. He acted in more than 200 dramas in TV and Stage both. Ludlum was also in the US Marine Corps before his career as an author. He was married to the actress Mary Ryducha and had three children with her.
His first novel was The Scarlatti Inheritance published in 1971. The novel instantly reached the bestselling charts. This was a book about the Nazis and international investors. His second book was published two years later titled The Osterman Weekend which also became a film later on. By the middle of the 70s, Ludlum had started writing as a full time career. The Ludlum family moved to Long Island where they had their second home. Ludlum also travelled a lot to find backgrounds for his stories.
He was best known as the creator of Jason Bourne from the original The Bourne Trilogy series. His most renowned novel is The Bourne Identity which started in the 1980s. It was a story about an American man who is a counter assassin with a memory loss and he confronts his opponents in different locations.
His books were mainly about characters that were the way they were due to economic reasons. They had to fight against governments or negative forces that were power hungry. The Aquitaine Progression (1984) and In the Matarese Circle (1979) were books with a similar story line.
Ludlum also published some books under pseudonyms. One of his pseudonyms was Jonathan Ryder which he used for his books Trevayne and The Cry of the Halidon. Another was Michael Shepherd that was used for his humorous books like The Road to Gandolpho.
In all Ludlum wrote more than 27 thriller novels. His books in print have sold between 300 to 500 million copies and have been translated in 32 languages in over 40 countries. He was one of the most successful thriller writers of the 20th century. A book that he had been writing before his death was The Tristan Betrayal and it was published in 2003. When it was published posthumously there was a note saying:
“Since his death, the Estate of Robert Ludlum has worked with a carefully selected author and editor to prepare and edit this work for publication.”
Ludlum died on March 12, 2001 due to a heart attack in his home in Florida. At the time he was recovering from injuries he had suffered due to a mysterious fire which occurred on Feb 10, 2001.
Novels to films and mini-series
Ludlum made an immense contribution to American literature. His books were mostly about conspiracies, where a good guy (the hero) had to struggle and fight against evil forces, obscure military forces and corrupt government organisations. Many of Ludlum's novels have been made into films and mini-series, including The Osterman Weekend, The Holcroft Covenant, The Apocalypse Watch, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.
Covert One: The Hades Factor, a book co-written with Gayle Lynds, was originally conceived as a mini-series; the book evolved from a short treatment Ludlum wrote for NBC. The Bourne movies, starring Matt Damon in the title role, have been commercially and critically successful (The Bourne Ultimatum won three Academy Awards in 2008), although the story lines depart significantly from the source material.
His books also depicted war against terrorism as well as feature global and geopolitical issues. They typically feature one heroic guy, or a small group of crusading individuals, in a struggle against powerful adversaries whose intentions and motivations are evil and who are capable of using political and economic mechanisms in frightening ways. The world, in his writings, is one where global corporations, shadowy military forces and government organisations all conspired to preserve (if it was evil) or undermine (if it was law-abiding) the status quo.
Ludlum's novels were often inspired by conspiracy theories, both historical and contemporary. He wrote that The Matarese Circle was inspired by rumours about the Trilateral Commission, and it was published only a few years after the commission was founded. His depictions of terrorism in books such as The Holcroft Covenant and The Matarese Circle reflected the theory that terrorists, rather than being merely isolated bands of ideologically motivated extremists, are actually pawns of governments or private organisations who are using them to facilitate the establishment of authoritarian rule.
