Dan Brown
Content
Dan Brown
Tuce Alin-Andrei
Table of contents
Introduction.................................................................1
Early life......................................................................2
Writing career.............................................................3
The Da Vinci Code.....................................................4
Charity work...............................................................5
Criticism.....................................................................6
Conclusion.................................................................7
Introduction
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction who is best known
for the 2003 bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels are
treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period, and feature the recurring themes
of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories.
His books have been translated into 52 languages, and as of
2012, sold over 200 million copies. Two of them, The Da Vinci
Code and Angels & Demons, have been adapted into films.
Brown's novels that feature the lead character Robert
Langdon also include historical themes and Christianity as motifs, and as
a result, have generated controversy. Brown states on his website that his
books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a 'constant spiritual journey'
himself, and says that his book The Da Vinci Code is simply "an
entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and
suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection
and exploration of our faith."
Early life
Dan Brown was born and raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, the
eldest of three children. He grew up on the campus of Phillips Exeter
Academy, where his father, Richard G. Brown, was a teacher of
mathematics and wrote textbooks from 1968 until his retirement in 1997.
Brown's parents are singers and musicians, having served as church choir
masters, with his mother, Constance serving as church organist. Brown
was raised an Episcopalian but has stated he had drifted away from
Christianity before finding a renewed interest in religion.
Brown's interest in secrets and puzzles stems from their presence in
his household as a child, where codes and ciphers were the linchpin tying
together the mathematics, music, and languages in which his parents
worked.
The young Brown spent hours working out
anagrams and crossword puzzles, and he and his siblings participated in
elaborate treasure hunts devised by their father on birthdays and holidays.
On Christmas, for example, Brown and his siblings did not find gifts under
the tree, but followed a treasure map with codes and clues throughout
their house and even around town to find the gifts. Brown's relationship
with his father inspired that of Sophie Neveu and Jacques Sauniere in The
Da Vinci Code, and Chapter 23 of that novel was inspired by one of his
childhood treasure hunts.
After graduating from Phillips Exeter, Brown
attended Amherst College, where he was a member of Psi
Upsilon fraternity. He played squash, sang in the Amherst Glee Club, and
was a writing student of visiting novelist Alan Lelchuk. Brown spent the
1985 school year abroad in Seville, Spain, where he was enrolled in an art
history course at the University of Seville. Brown graduated from Amherst
in 1986.
Writing career
While on vacation in Tahiti in 1993, Brown read Sidney Sheldon's
novel The Doomsday Conspiracy, and was inspired to become a writer of
thrillers. He started work on Digital Fortress, setting much of it in Seville,
where he had studied in 1985. He also co-wrote a humor book with his
wife, 187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated
Woman, under the pseudonym "Danielle Brown". The book's author profile
reads, "Danielle Brown currently lives in New England: teaching school,
writing books, and avoiding men." The copyright is attributed to Dan Brown.
In 1996 Brown quit teaching to become a full-time writer. Digital
Fortress was published in 1998. His wife, Blythe, did much of the book's
promotion, writing press releases, booking Brown on talk shows, and
setting up press interviews. A few months later, Brown and his wife
released The Bald Book, another humor book. It was officially credited to
his wife, though a representative of the publisher said that it was primarily
written by Brown. Brown subsequently wrote Angels &
Demons and Deception Point, released in 2000 and 2001 respectively, the
former of which was the first to feature the lead character, Harvard
symbology expert Robert Langdon.
Brown's first three novels had little success, with fewer than 10,000
copies in each of their first printings.
His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a bestseller, going to
the top of the New York Times Best Seller list during its first week of
release in 2003. It is now credited with being one of the most popular books
of all time, with 81 million copies sold worldwide as of 2009. Its success
has helped push sales of Brown's earlier books. In 2004 all four of his
novels were on the New York Times list in the same week, and in 2005 he
made Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the
year. Forbes magazine placed Brown at No. 12 on their 2005 "Celebrity
100" list, and estimated his annual income at US$76.5 million. The
Times estimated his income from Da Vinci Code sales as $250 million.
Brown's third novel featuring Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, was
released on September 15, 2009. According to the publisher, on its first
day the book sold over one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the
United S, United Kingdom and Canada, prompting the printing of 600,000
hardcover copies in addition to the five million first printing. The story takes
place in Washington D.C. over a period of 12 hours, and features
the Freemasons. Brown's promotional website states that puzzles hidden in
the book jacket of The Da Vinci Code, including two references to
the Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, give hints
about the sequel.
This repeats a theme from some of Brown's earlier work.
Brown's fourth novel featuring Robert Langdon, Inferno is a mystery
thriller novel released on May 14, 2013, by Doubleday. It immediately
became a bestseller.
In a 2006 interview, Brown stated that he had ideas for about 12
future books featuring Robert Langdon.
Characters in Brown's books are often named after real people
in his life. Robert Langdon is named after John Langdon, the artist who
created the ambigrams used for the Angels & Demons CD and
novel. Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is named after "On A Claire Day"
cartoonist friend Carla Ventresca. In the Vatican archives, Langdon recalls
a wedding of two people named Dick and Connie, which are the names of
his parents. Robert Langdon's editor Jonas Faukman is named after
Brown's real life editor Jason Kaufman. Brown also said that characters
were based on a New Hampshire librarian, and a French teacher at
Exeter, Andre Vernet. Cardinal Aldo Baggia, in Angels & Demons, is named
after Aldo Baggia, instructor of modern languages at Phillips Exeter
Academy.
In interviews, Brown has said his wife, Blythe, is an art historian and
painter. When they met, she was the Director of Artistic Development at the
National Academy for Songwriters in Los Angeles. During the 2006 lawsuit
over alleged copyright infringement in The Da Vinci Code, information was
introduced at trial that showed that Blythe did research for the book. In one
article, she was described as "chief researcher."
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel by Dan Brown.
It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu
after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris, when they become involved
in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Deiover the possibility
of Jesus Christ having been married to Mary Magdalene.
The title of the novel refers, among other things, to the finding
of the first murder victim in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and
posed like Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, theVitruvian Man, with a
cryptic message written beside his body and a pentagram drawn on his
chest in his own blood.
The novel explores an alternative religious history, whose
central plot point is that the Merovingian kings of France were descended
from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, ideas derived from
Clive Prince's The Templar Revelation (1997) and books by Margaret
Starbird. The book also refers to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982)
though Dan Brown has stated that it was not used as research material.
The Da Vinci Code provoked a popular interest in speculation
concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene's role in thehistory
of Christianity. The book has, however, been extensively denounced by
many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church,
and consistently criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracies.
The novel nonetheless became a worldwide bestseller that sold 80
million copies as of 2009 and has been translated into 44 languages.
Combining the detective,thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, it is Brown's
second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his
2000 novelAngels & Demons.
In November 2004, Random House published a Special Illustrated
Edition with 160 illustrations. In 2006, a film adaptation was released
by Sony's Columbia Pictures.
Charity work
In October 2004, Brown and his siblings donated US$2.2 million
to Phillips Exeter Academy in honor of their father, to set up the Richard G.
Brown Technology Endowment to help "provide computers and high-tech
equipment for students in need.
Dan Brown and his wife Blythe are supporters of the New Hampshire
Charitable Foundation.
On April 14, 2011, Dan and Blythe Brown created an eponymous
scholarship fund to celebrate his 25th reunion from Amherst College, a
permanently endowed scholarship fund at the college whose income
provides financial aid to students there, with preference for incoming
students with an interest in writing.
Criticism
Dan Brown's prose style has been criticized as clumsy, with The Da
Vinci Code being described as 'committing style and word choice blunders
in almost every paragraph'.
Much of the criticism was centered on Brown's claim found in its
preface that the novel is based on fact in relation to Opus Dei and
the Priory of Sion, and that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture,
documents and secret rituals in the novel are accurate."
In an interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show in September
2009, Brown responded by saying, "I do something very intentional and
specific in these books. And that is to blend fact and fiction in a very
modern and efficient style, to tell a story. There are some people who
understand what I do, and they sort of get on the train and go for a ride and
have a great time, and there are other people who should probably just
read somebody else."
Conclusion
Dan Brown may not be a big hit with the critics, but his books have
been well received by readers across the world. With over 85 million copies
sold and two film adaptations that have earned him millions of dollars, it is
no surprise that Brown's estimated yearly net worth is over $76 million.
His fortunate childhood, which combined academic successes and
religion, have inspired much of his work, particularly Angels and Demons
and The Da Vinci Code, that feature symbols and myths. With nine more
books due to be written and published featuring Robert Langdon, it is likely
that we are going to see many more literary successes from the famous
American author.
Tuce Alin-Andrei
Table of contents
Introduction.................................................................1
Early life......................................................................2
Writing career.............................................................3
The Da Vinci Code.....................................................4
Charity work...............................................................5
Criticism.....................................................................6
Conclusion.................................................................7
Introduction
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction who is best known
for the 2003 bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels are
treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period, and feature the recurring themes
of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories.
His books have been translated into 52 languages, and as of
2012, sold over 200 million copies. Two of them, The Da Vinci
Code and Angels & Demons, have been adapted into films.
Brown's novels that feature the lead character Robert
Langdon also include historical themes and Christianity as motifs, and as
a result, have generated controversy. Brown states on his website that his
books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a 'constant spiritual journey'
himself, and says that his book The Da Vinci Code is simply "an
entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and
suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection
and exploration of our faith."
Early life
Dan Brown was born and raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, the
eldest of three children. He grew up on the campus of Phillips Exeter
Academy, where his father, Richard G. Brown, was a teacher of
mathematics and wrote textbooks from 1968 until his retirement in 1997.
Brown's parents are singers and musicians, having served as church choir
masters, with his mother, Constance serving as church organist. Brown
was raised an Episcopalian but has stated he had drifted away from
Christianity before finding a renewed interest in religion.
Brown's interest in secrets and puzzles stems from their presence in
his household as a child, where codes and ciphers were the linchpin tying
together the mathematics, music, and languages in which his parents
worked.
The young Brown spent hours working out
anagrams and crossword puzzles, and he and his siblings participated in
elaborate treasure hunts devised by their father on birthdays and holidays.
On Christmas, for example, Brown and his siblings did not find gifts under
the tree, but followed a treasure map with codes and clues throughout
their house and even around town to find the gifts. Brown's relationship
with his father inspired that of Sophie Neveu and Jacques Sauniere in The
Da Vinci Code, and Chapter 23 of that novel was inspired by one of his
childhood treasure hunts.
After graduating from Phillips Exeter, Brown
attended Amherst College, where he was a member of Psi
Upsilon fraternity. He played squash, sang in the Amherst Glee Club, and
was a writing student of visiting novelist Alan Lelchuk. Brown spent the
1985 school year abroad in Seville, Spain, where he was enrolled in an art
history course at the University of Seville. Brown graduated from Amherst
in 1986.
Writing career
While on vacation in Tahiti in 1993, Brown read Sidney Sheldon's
novel The Doomsday Conspiracy, and was inspired to become a writer of
thrillers. He started work on Digital Fortress, setting much of it in Seville,
where he had studied in 1985. He also co-wrote a humor book with his
wife, 187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated
Woman, under the pseudonym "Danielle Brown". The book's author profile
reads, "Danielle Brown currently lives in New England: teaching school,
writing books, and avoiding men." The copyright is attributed to Dan Brown.
In 1996 Brown quit teaching to become a full-time writer. Digital
Fortress was published in 1998. His wife, Blythe, did much of the book's
promotion, writing press releases, booking Brown on talk shows, and
setting up press interviews. A few months later, Brown and his wife
released The Bald Book, another humor book. It was officially credited to
his wife, though a representative of the publisher said that it was primarily
written by Brown. Brown subsequently wrote Angels &
Demons and Deception Point, released in 2000 and 2001 respectively, the
former of which was the first to feature the lead character, Harvard
symbology expert Robert Langdon.
Brown's first three novels had little success, with fewer than 10,000
copies in each of their first printings.
His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a bestseller, going to
the top of the New York Times Best Seller list during its first week of
release in 2003. It is now credited with being one of the most popular books
of all time, with 81 million copies sold worldwide as of 2009. Its success
has helped push sales of Brown's earlier books. In 2004 all four of his
novels were on the New York Times list in the same week, and in 2005 he
made Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the
year. Forbes magazine placed Brown at No. 12 on their 2005 "Celebrity
100" list, and estimated his annual income at US$76.5 million. The
Times estimated his income from Da Vinci Code sales as $250 million.
Brown's third novel featuring Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, was
released on September 15, 2009. According to the publisher, on its first
day the book sold over one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the
United S, United Kingdom and Canada, prompting the printing of 600,000
hardcover copies in addition to the five million first printing. The story takes
place in Washington D.C. over a period of 12 hours, and features
the Freemasons. Brown's promotional website states that puzzles hidden in
the book jacket of The Da Vinci Code, including two references to
the Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, give hints
about the sequel.
This repeats a theme from some of Brown's earlier work.
Brown's fourth novel featuring Robert Langdon, Inferno is a mystery
thriller novel released on May 14, 2013, by Doubleday. It immediately
became a bestseller.
In a 2006 interview, Brown stated that he had ideas for about 12
future books featuring Robert Langdon.
Characters in Brown's books are often named after real people
in his life. Robert Langdon is named after John Langdon, the artist who
created the ambigrams used for the Angels & Demons CD and
novel. Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is named after "On A Claire Day"
cartoonist friend Carla Ventresca. In the Vatican archives, Langdon recalls
a wedding of two people named Dick and Connie, which are the names of
his parents. Robert Langdon's editor Jonas Faukman is named after
Brown's real life editor Jason Kaufman. Brown also said that characters
were based on a New Hampshire librarian, and a French teacher at
Exeter, Andre Vernet. Cardinal Aldo Baggia, in Angels & Demons, is named
after Aldo Baggia, instructor of modern languages at Phillips Exeter
Academy.
In interviews, Brown has said his wife, Blythe, is an art historian and
painter. When they met, she was the Director of Artistic Development at the
National Academy for Songwriters in Los Angeles. During the 2006 lawsuit
over alleged copyright infringement in The Da Vinci Code, information was
introduced at trial that showed that Blythe did research for the book. In one
article, she was described as "chief researcher."
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel by Dan Brown.
It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu
after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris, when they become involved
in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Deiover the possibility
of Jesus Christ having been married to Mary Magdalene.
The title of the novel refers, among other things, to the finding
of the first murder victim in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and
posed like Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, theVitruvian Man, with a
cryptic message written beside his body and a pentagram drawn on his
chest in his own blood.
The novel explores an alternative religious history, whose
central plot point is that the Merovingian kings of France were descended
from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, ideas derived from
Clive Prince's The Templar Revelation (1997) and books by Margaret
Starbird. The book also refers to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982)
though Dan Brown has stated that it was not used as research material.
The Da Vinci Code provoked a popular interest in speculation
concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene's role in thehistory
of Christianity. The book has, however, been extensively denounced by
many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church,
and consistently criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracies.
The novel nonetheless became a worldwide bestseller that sold 80
million copies as of 2009 and has been translated into 44 languages.
Combining the detective,thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, it is Brown's
second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his
2000 novelAngels & Demons.
In November 2004, Random House published a Special Illustrated
Edition with 160 illustrations. In 2006, a film adaptation was released
by Sony's Columbia Pictures.
Charity work
In October 2004, Brown and his siblings donated US$2.2 million
to Phillips Exeter Academy in honor of their father, to set up the Richard G.
Brown Technology Endowment to help "provide computers and high-tech
equipment for students in need.
Dan Brown and his wife Blythe are supporters of the New Hampshire
Charitable Foundation.
On April 14, 2011, Dan and Blythe Brown created an eponymous
scholarship fund to celebrate his 25th reunion from Amherst College, a
permanently endowed scholarship fund at the college whose income
provides financial aid to students there, with preference for incoming
students with an interest in writing.
Criticism
Dan Brown's prose style has been criticized as clumsy, with The Da
Vinci Code being described as 'committing style and word choice blunders
in almost every paragraph'.
Much of the criticism was centered on Brown's claim found in its
preface that the novel is based on fact in relation to Opus Dei and
the Priory of Sion, and that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture,
documents and secret rituals in the novel are accurate."
In an interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show in September
2009, Brown responded by saying, "I do something very intentional and
specific in these books. And that is to blend fact and fiction in a very
modern and efficient style, to tell a story. There are some people who
understand what I do, and they sort of get on the train and go for a ride and
have a great time, and there are other people who should probably just
read somebody else."
Conclusion
Dan Brown may not be a big hit with the critics, but his books have
been well received by readers across the world. With over 85 million copies
sold and two film adaptations that have earned him millions of dollars, it is
no surprise that Brown's estimated yearly net worth is over $76 million.
His fortunate childhood, which combined academic successes and
religion, have inspired much of his work, particularly Angels and Demons
and The Da Vinci Code, that feature symbols and myths. With nine more
books due to be written and published featuring Robert Langdon, it is likely
that we are going to see many more literary successes from the famous
American author.
