introducing readers to writers since 1995
April 27, 2004
Dan Brown, Agent of Satan?
by Ron HoganThe NYT reports on the efforts of Christian soliders in the cultural wars against the bestselling The Da Vinci Code. Says one San Diego minister:
I don't think it's just an innocent novel with a fascinating plot. I think it's out there to win people over to an incorrect and historically inaccurate view, and it's succeeding. People are buying into the notion that Jesus is not divine, he is not the son of God.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's amazing to me that people would pay this much attention to warmed-over conspiracy theories Umberto Eco already took a crack at, but Dan Brown's sold 6 million copies and I haven't, so clearly I need to rethink my strategy. Oh, and by the way, not all the DVC critics are necessarily trying to salvage Christianity; Disinfo has just put out Da Vinci Code Decoded, the author of which, Martin Lunn, is also Grand Master of an outfit called the Dragon Society that sounds like it could give the Priory of Sion a run for their money in the fraternal order of kooks competition.
Ahh, Foucault's Pendulum ... I still remember with fondness the delicious, perverse difficulty of that book. I was visiting my then-girlfriend's family in Chicago for the (very cold) holidays and hating every minute of them. I'd take refuge in Eco, with a dictionary to my right and an encyclopedia to my left. Loved every minute of that monstrosity and think it's the greater achievement than The Name of the Rose.
Me gavta la nata ...
Posted by: Mark at April 27, 2004 02:41 PMAnd in what's got set something of a high watermark for both copyright infringement and anal retention, the entire text of FP can be found here:
http://textz.gnutenberg.net/textz/eco_umberto_foucault-s_pendulum.txt
Posted by: Mark at April 27, 2004 02:44 PMThere is a hilarious quote from THE DA VINCI CODE, where someone speaks "chillingly close" to a character... then it's revealed that "chillingly" close is "only fifteen feet away".
Only FIFTEEN FEET! Shock! Horror! No, please don't laugh at the distinguished Mr. Brown's proximity phobia.... I regularly stay at least 30 feet away from people I talk to, so they won't sneak up fifteen feet closer.
My God... fifteen feet! The horror!
;-P
Jokes aside... I think there's a "Zeitgeist" thing going on here. When a bad book becomes a smash hit (soon to be a movie, for sure), it's because it reflects something in the cultural climate... namely, the wish to blame all problems on a convenient scapegoat.
How much easier life is, when we can blame the economy, Iraq, terrorism, and all things depressing on an Evil Papist Plot.
Here's my capsule review of THE DA VINCI CODE:
"Jesus wept."
-A.R. Yngve
http://yngve.bravehost.com
your PayPal donation
can contribute towards its ongoing publication.
