What restriction, if any, should there be on what an author writes ?
An author writes in various ways on various things. An author may be a poet, novelist, dramatist or a critic. A journalist is also an author in his own right but usually when we generalize one as an author, the journalist is not included. If a journalist writes in journals which can stand the test of time as in the case of great writers like Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith they can become classics.
So an author whatever category he belongs to writes and lives by his pen. He may write for pleasure or for his livelihood. A few write seriously because they think they have a mission to fulfill, to cleanse the society or to propagate their own philosophy. Still another category of authors write biographies of the heroes of their choice. There have been and still there are a few who write their own autobiographies. This is not the end of it. There is a wide field which authors can choose to write about.
Whatever one writes it must not be defamatory; in other words, one must not write ill of others. To write that way requires a lot of courage because the consequences may not be pleasant. Sometimes authors indulge in this sort of writing once they feel they have the material on hand to prove or vouch what they write. These things have happened and poor authors have been dragged to the court. Cheap journals alone indulge in this cheap tactics. By doing so they think they arc exposing the wrong-doer to the public view but they should also be aware of the consequences. So defamatory writing must be avoided.
Then there is the fiery writing where the feelings of the people are roused to the boiling point. Some of the writings during the pre-revolution in France were of this kind. Hugo's "Les Miserable" is a good example. The first part of the story speaks of the very harsh French Laws then. Simply because a poor man stole a loaf of bread to save a child he was put behind bars for a long time. During a turbulent period in the history of a land such fiery writings are common. But there is a great risk for the author because the government of the day and sometimes people may not stand for such hot stuff.
This type of writing may include critical views of the author about people's manners and customs. If this is not written in a forth right fashion, this writing pays good dividends. A lot of examples could be found in the novels of Charles Dickens who was critical about the nineteenth century Industrial England. The author makes his creations his mouth piece and through them he broadcasts his views about people's manners, customs and foibles. This requires a lot of observation and a dexterity of the pen on the part of the author. Here the author must not make things appear personal but what he writes must be indicative and easily identifiable.
An author must avoid obscene writing. But unfortunately such things do happen and books containing writings which cannot be mouthed by any civilized person are being published. Even great authors indulge in such undesirable stuff. So it is for the public to treat such writings with contempt and not to encourage such writers.
An author must not be too critical of the government of the day. The government will try to get the man away from mischief. In fact, in turbulent times governments bring forth laws prohibiting such writings. So an author to avoid defamation, public anger and being blacklisted must write prudently.
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What restriction, if any, should there be on what an author writes ?
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