Dan Brown - the inevitable has happened
As is inevitable with best sellers (well, nearly all of them), there are finally claims and counter claims have emerged about the originality of Dan Brown's classic: Da Vinci Code.
It was only to be expected, perhaps. After all Brown was merely deconstructing one of the oldest tales ever told. In fact, it is part of legend (in some limited quarters) that a friend of mine
got thrown out of St.Stephens, Mumbai for writing a thesis that claimed that the Bible was written by a group of bored Arabs who stopped for a while at an oasis and told the story to entertain themselves. (O.k. maybe he wasnt thrown out, but certain censure followed!)
But all the same, it is slightly disconcerting that such brilliance (Brown, of course, not my friend) should be tainted with such claims. For those of you who have not got an insight yet, check this out - how some people say Brown did not write his code first.
Brilliant is right! The man's knowledge of things gone by is awesome.
Apart from people claiming that he 'stole' from them, there's also the inevitable bunch who think that he's pulling a fast one on his readers. I was flipping through an issue of The Week a couple of weeks ago and I came across this article about a Kerala based historian who claims to have successfully debunked Brown's entire theory about MM being present at The Last Supper. Will see if I can get you the link.
In the meantime, here's a link you might find interesting: http://www.lisashea.com/hobbies/art/index.html
Have you read Angels & Demons? Was rather disappointed after The DVC. Not a patch on the latter.
Later :-).
http://drive.blogs.com
10:58 am
Thanks drive blogger. am waiting for the kerala imput still... wd love to read that. no hassle, take your time, but keep me in mind...
Cheers!
4:59 pm
Whew! That was quick response.....the intention was not to sub-edit but merely an expression of reader's anguish, having to now put up with supplementary ,free and compulsory editions af newspapers called Blogs!
5:03 pm
yes, da vinci code is an absolute classic... read it just a few days back and just could not keep it down till i had finished it...
lisa shea's site has really debunked brown's theories... it seems she spend as much time on researching vinci n his painting for disparaging brown as he spent for writing it ;)
8:56 pm