A review of the world’s best-seller for the MOOCH magazine (CSV Media, Manchester, April 2005)
(First published at Exzibit.net on 05 May 2005)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown begins with a murder of a curator of the Parisian Louvre. As Robert Langdon, an American professor of religious symbology, investigates the case, curious details about Christ and his legacy come to surface. First, we’re told that for ages the Catholic Church has been concealing the fact that Christ was married to Mary Magdalene. Secondly, Mary was never a prostitute, but the aptest disciple and a gospeller. Thirdly, the two had born a child, and provided he/she had lived long enough to become a parent, it may well be that you’re sitting next to Christ’s offspring, as you’re reading this text. Finally, the Truth was protected for ages by various people and groups, including the genuine Leonardo.
It’s fairly easy to see why The Code is so popular. On the one hand, it’s a THRILLER, albeit boring at times. The further the book goes, the tenser it becomes, partly because Brown makes you wait for several chapters before finally releasing you from one and throwing into another ‘waiting’ turmoil. However, the message that everything the book talks about regarding Christ, Leonardo and the Church is a true historical fact is perhaps what drew attention to it in the first place. With those facts in his pocket, Brown potentially undermines our idea of who Christ was. And so I decided to summarise the public perception of this mind-blowing controversial message.
Vatican and the faithful are not amused. The Church has already been attacked in the 1980s, when a book The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail was first published, on which Brown relies heavily. But that was an academic study, scrapped from the reading (or misreading) of the sources (purportedly forged). The Code is quite different: based on the study of the images, which are always seen from the point of view; and it’s an easy-to-read repercussion of a medieval legend of a quest for the Grail. And, while Vatican condemns the book, it looks that the Church is being slowly encircled by its critics – the 1980s’ battalion came from the historical side, and The Code encroaches from the flank of the history of art.
Being an historian myself, I happily join my sceptical colleagues. I am very grateful to Tony Robinson for his wonderful programme, which elegantly unveiled the fictional character of most “historical” facts that Brown filled The Code up with. The only problem is, again, that people tend to read more for pleasure than for knowledge. I can’t ever remember anyone reading a history book in the street. But I do remember London last November, all beige with The Code covers. And now, in Manchester, I’ve recently run into a man with The Digital Fortress instead of a head.
Finally, as an avid reader and writer, and having spoken to some well-read friends of mine, I have to say that Brown’s book is far from being a masterpiece. Most of methods he uses in The Code have already been used in his other books. And although there may be nothing wrong with that, I nonetheless think that it’s essential for a good writer to vary in his style and technique. Surely, Brown’s literary career is by no means finished, but I doubt he’ll surprise me.
So, while Vatican frowns, and scholars dismiss, people carry on consuming the age-old tales. I expect this frenzy to reach its peak with a film release in 2006. Tom Hanks stars as Robert Langdon. I’d introduce a new anti-Oscar nomination for him, say, ‘A Remarkable On-Screen Thrust’. Indeed, what a progress: from Forrest Gump to a professor of religious symbology… It only happens in the films, you’d say.
Putting all minuses and pluses together, what did Dan Brown give to us? Well, admittedly, he gave us a myth, a doubt, a hope, and we’re all free to use it at our wish. A recent example comes from Canberra, Australia, where a man was arrested. He cut pages of The Code to smuggle drugs. So, in the end of the day, it’s not just a “hidden Code” – it’s also a hiding one.
