here you go: your one-stop, all-purpose blog entry on dan brown's best-selling novel THE DA VINCI CODE.
for those of you who have not yet read it -- indeed, for those who have, as well -- here's the WIKIPEDIA entry on the novel. [note that the article contains plot spoilers, so if you intend to read the book or see the movie, and want to be surprised, now is not yet the time to read the entirety of this wikipedia entry.']
speaking of the internet, i think it's noteworthy that this print-format book has not only a feature film based on it, but also a very significant 'web presence.' there is, for example, an 'official website' for the fictional protagonist robert langdon, and other websites such as thedavincicode.com and seekthecodes.com which [potentially] dramatically increase the interactive nature of the reader's/viewer's experience of the book [and presumably of the film].
rather than say anything more about this phenomenon -- arguably as big a 'splash' in the publishing world as the advent of the novel DRACULA itself -- i'll just open the floor for you. add your comments below! jk
8 comments:
Well... I liked it. I guess it helped that it hadn't been overhyped for me, which I think is what turns a lot of people off. I've also read something similar, Carlos Ruiz Zafón's Shadow of the Wind, which I think I liked better. I tried to start The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco - I think he's actually a professor of Semiotics, which we were talking about today, in Milan) once in middle school, but I felt like the guy was being intentionally obfuscatory and I gave up. I've told myself I'll give it another try this summer, though. Anyone heard of either?
To tell the truth I LOVED the DaVinci Code! I was so enthralled with the book that I actually read to the end, which is a phenomenon for me...but in analisys of this book we have to keep in mind that it, even though the blending of fact in fiction in the book is so awesome and tricks us into believing that it's real, is still FICTION. It's an extrordinary feat of combining fact and fiction to come up with a story that people travel all over to explore and uncover. For that I have to give it not only literary kudos but also the kind of kudos I give to Harry Potter for making not normally literate people read. I don't think we should devalue Dan Brown's works because they A) Defame Christianity and B) Meld fact with fiction.
I've updated my facebook archive with pictures specifically of the places I went that were in the DaVinci Code (as well as some other awesome Paris pictures) So come check them out at
http://purdue.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034409
I'll update the identitys of the pictures later, it just dumped them on me so I need to get up the energy to type it all out again. Enjoy!
Being slightly obsessive about doing things in order, I read Angels and Demons before The DaVinci Code. Sadly, it made The DaVinci Code somewhat predicatble, as far as the mystery aspect of it goes. However, the book was worth reading just for all the interesting information about art history and religious tie-ins. Whether it was all entirely true or not doesn't matter as much as that it made people think- which is always a rare feat. It also returned to the forefront of literature (for a time, anyway) older books that have been written on the subject of the holy grail. The book has its merits (particularly if you can get hold of the illustrated edition) and it's a good beginning for people who are curious as to the topic.
I must first admit that I have not read the Da Vinci code, and I almost certainly never will . It is not because I have an aversion to the subject matter or controversial nature of the book, my book tastes just tend to run in a slightly different direction. I in fact have no idea what the book is about, so if anyone would like to give it a quick gloss over, that would be nice. But any book that is controversial (especially when this controversy involves religon) and makes people think intellectually is ok by me!
steven, i'm glad you asked for a precis of the novel. i've beefed up my original posting somewhat -- enough for one to get one's feet wet in the information, even if one has not read a word of the novel. i suggest you start with the wikipedia entry -- navigating carefully round the 'spoilers' if you don't want the book or film spoilt for you.
ian, i am glad you are willing to give umberto eco another try. he is arguably one of the smartest people alive today. certainly one of the cleverest. it's my opinion that, in NAME OF THE ROSE, he is trying to achieve in narrative terms what he does in scholarly terms in his semiotic treatises. in fact i have devoted an entire chapter to NAME OF THE ROSE in SECRET OF THE MUSES RETOLD, which you might enjoy reading after you've read the eco novel.
Reading the Wikipedia entry certainly cleared several things up for me. I can now see why the Catholic Church really dislikes the book, and why the want to censor the movie. Unfortunately, I think this strategy of theirs will really backfire on them. I think if the movie is censored that it will only serve to convince many people that there is something to cover up (which I don't think is necesarily true)! This just makes me think about how sometimes passionately religous people or organizations can sometimes grossly over-react to works of FICTION. Children being forbidden from reading harry Potter (and other works of fantasy) because they contain witchcraft and sorcery? Ridiculous I say!
And I put these examples of Harry Potter and the Da Vinci code side by side on purpose, for I truly think they hold about the same amount of truth and merit. While the da Vinci code does incorporate many true facts and historical information, it is ultimately a work of fiction. I feel the historical aspect of the book is there more to enhance the thrill aspect to it and give it some measure of believeability, not to convince people of its absolute truth.
I am against censorship in general, and I think it is especiallly silly when it is applied to a work of fiction that is merely supposed to be exciting and intellectually stimulating.
And now we see that the man himself is in court for allegedly lifting some of the material in "The Da Vinci Code" from a previous work.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4382824.stm
The way I understood CNN's take on it, Dan's wife Blythe Brown did a lot of note-taking, photocopying, etc. and might be to blame. Nothing's proven yet, of course, and I'm inclined to give Brown the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully this doesn't hold up the movie, to which I look forward.
If you're interested in secret societies and vast conspiracies, I highly suggest "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. That book will put your brain through the mental equivalent of a washing machine's spin cycle.
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