Loves history, gardens, travel, and words in general. AKA LovesTravel on dooyoo.
Loves history, gardens, travel, and words in general. AKA LovesTravel on dooyoo.
Member since:06.04.2003
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Dan Brown's latest effort, The Da Vinci Code, isn't a great book. All things considered, very few literary works merit such a distinction. Nonetheless, The Da Vinci Code is a highly readable volume based on a myriad of ancient and often mysterious themes. Brown does a credible job of intertwining those themes into a thoroughly modern adventure novel cum murder mystery, and at the same time he focuses a fair measure of intelligent discussion on the public's rising fascination with the "sacred feminine." All this has made for what is truly an exciting book, not to mention a thought-provoking compendium of possibilities.
The Da Vinci Code is not apt to find a sympathetic hearing among Christian fundamentalists. This book is based squarely on a series of premises hardly designed to curry favor either in Vatican City or in the Bible Belt of the American South. These include such delectable heresies as the notion that Jesus was mortal, not divine; speculation that the Four Gospels of the New Testament were canonized because of their political usefulness rather than the religious truths they might contain; and the argument that Jesus actually intended his
wife, Mary Magdalene, to guide his movement in the event of his untimely death.
Largely through his main character--Robert Langdon, a respected Harvard symbologist--Brown presents credible evidence that the tradition of the sacred feminine, which was (and is) so feared by the church fathers and by many fundamentalist Protestants, went into decline but never quite disappeared. If The Da Vinci Code does not represent an outright proselytization in favor of the Mother Goddess, it is clearly, whole-heartedly, and unapologetically a dissent from the Western religious mainstream.
Within the pages of this book, Brown argues that the Templar Knights, the nature and disposition of the Holy Grail (or Sangreal), the paintings of Da Vinci and his collection of carefully coded notebooks, the shadowy Priory of Sion, the Merovingian Heresy, the Inquisition, and the pervasive Christian fear of witchcraft all have a common history. To find out how this could possibly be so, you'll simply have to read for yourself.
Brown's abilities as a novelist are best demonstrated through his talent for weaving the cultural fragments (some might say detritus) of the past into an apparently whole tapestry and for his skill in creating a ripping good story. Readers of this novel are treated to fast-paced escapades through Paris, the French countryside, and London, all culminating in a sojourn to a quiet corner of Scotland.
Brown's skill in the area of character development is less keen. For all his accomplishments and the power of his intellect, Langdon, the novel's main character, falls a bit flat. Sophie Neveu comes across as more than somewhat shallow, and other key characters--including French Police Captain Bezu Fache, the British Grail hunter Sir Leigh Teabing, and Silas the albino monk--are more truly caricatures than characters.
As a historian on the fragments of dissenting thought left behind after the conversion of Constantine to Christianity, Brown proves a good--and one presumes, honest--purveyor of the facts, partial facts, and the ever-present rumors of history. For my part, I take exception to his effort to thrust the Nag Hammidi manuscripts and the Dead Sea Scrolls (the latter of which were pre-Christian in origin) into the same historical basket. Still, given that both are ancient sources of religious dissent, one can understand, if not quite excuse, the pairing.
To appreciate this novel to its fullest, consider it as only one of several offerings in recent years to address our growing knowledge of the distant past and our increasing fascination with understanding and explaining issues of faith. Mind you, I recognize (as does Brown) the inherent disconnect between faith and reason. Nonetheless, as inheritors of both the Age of Faith and the Age of Reason, we poor mortals here at the dawn of 21st century seem determined to find ways to reconcile the two.
Thus, The Da Vinci Code belongs in the company of Jean Auel's books on humankind's prehistoric past, Anita Diamant's The Red Tent, Wilton Barnhardt's Gospel, and a growing number of theological tomes dedicated to recovering the feminine aspect of God (She Who Dwells Within by Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb comes to mind). All these works are complementary in that each is, in its way, a protest against the near-monopoly on Western religious thought held by the Roman Church in particular and by Christianity in general, plus a few askance glances at the detrimental impact of Jewish notions of patriarchy in giving rise to masculine dominance in all aspects of Western religion.
As a final bit of contemporary cultural relevancy, consider The Da Vinci Code in contrast to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. If Brown tilts unrepentantly toward the ideal of the scared feminine, Gibson is the standard bearer for the masculine prerogative ensconced in traditional Roman theology. Taken together, these two latter-day cultural phenomena speak volumes about the spiritual schizophrenia of our times.
If this was the year 1300 this book would be incredible romance, but we are not and though I praise Mr. Brown for resurrecting unknowingly this style of fake reality. It is a little poor
lazuli77 22.12.2004 02:01
Brilliant review. I finished this book recently and apart from enjoying reading your review I particularly liked the comparison with Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. I'd heard of all these theories before in Laurence Gardner books so the content wasn't a surprise, yet it was an enjoyable read despite the evident flaws.
FC_Goat 11.08.2004 15:02
Great review. I read this on holiday and although I thought that it was poorly written and a bit unbelievable at times I full support the idea of the sacred feminine! I'm not a Christian so I didn't have a problem with the ideas that challenged the church and overall found it really interesting. Probably something people should read. xxxx
Advantages: Excellent flow to the story, superb settings, thought-provoking concept, action-packed Disadvantages: Sometimes goes off-track to explain symbolic and religious references in detail, some slightly predictable elements towards the end
Mar 6th, 2004
(Apr 3rd, 2004)
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