Sure, Ron Howard and Brown both claim the works are "pure fiction" and not "anti-Catholic" but let's get real here. Brown sells it as 'historically' based, and if you zoned out in your history classes you may walk away thinking you learned something from Brown. If you did, it wasn't history, religion, or proper science.
Full disclosure: Sure, I'm Catholic. Big wup. Lots of people harp on my religion for all kinds of reasons, commercial and otherwise, and you don't hear me complaining. And I gave Brown a chance, I really did. I've read two or three of his novels, including Da Vinci and Angels.
Perhaps that's why Brown annoys and angers me so much: not only are his facts wrong, but I think he's a lousy writer. Angels was better than Da Vinci, but I wouldn't rank either as a work of art or even quality pop fiction. That's subjective of course, but I've read enough to recogize talent, even in books I don't care about. I don't see it in Brown.
If you click on the image above you'll be taken to a site where you can download a conversational rebuttal to some of Brown's charges. With the knowledge that very few of you will take the time to do that, let me reprint something gleamed from a different site:
Brown claims: Copernicus was murdered by the Catholic Church.
Fact: Copernicus died quietly in bed at age 70 from a stroke, and his research was supported by Church officials; he even dedicated his masterwork to the Pope.
Brown claims: “Antimatter is the ultimate energy source. It releases energy with 100% efficiency.”
Fact: CERN, the lab which plays an important role in his story, actually debunked this claim on their website: “The inefficiency of antimatter production is enormous: you get only a tenth of a billion of the invested energy back.”
Brown claims: Churchill was a “staunch Catholic.”
Fact: Any history buff could tell you that Churchill wasn’t Catholic, he was Anglican; nor was he particularly religious. The only things Churchill was staunch about were cigars, whiskey, and defending the British Empire.
Brown claims: Pope Urban VII banished Bernini’s famous statue The Ecstasy of St. Teresa “to some obscure chapel across town” because it was too racy for the Vatican.
Fact: The statue was actually commissioned by Cardinal Cornaro specifically for the Cornaro Chapel (Brown’s “obscure chapel”). Moreover, the sculpture was completed in 1652 — eight years after Urban’s death.
Brown claims: Bernini and famed scientist Galileo were members of the Illuminati.
Fact: The Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in 1776. Bernini died in 1680, while Galileo died in 1642 — more than a century before the Illuminati were first formed.
Brown's too damn popular right now for me to hold a grudge against the folks that line his pocket by buying his product, but I've got to say my piece. He's a hack and in his own way a purveyor of prejudice and division, and he'll get no money from me.
I know this is your opinion, and I'm not trying to convince you otherwise, but I have to say that I have a differing opinion. "Historically based" can mean many things, and does not equate to "historically accurate." Bram Stoker's Dracula was historically based on Vlad Tepes, but obviously historically inaccurate and a work of pure fiction. That's how I feel about Brown's books--complete fiction based upon historical figures.
ReplyDeleteI found his books very entertaining and they never struck me as poorly written. I went back and read quite a few of his earlier books, and while not masterpieces, they were certainly okay and I wasn't sorry I spent time reading them. I doubt if I'll buy his new book until it hits the sales bins, but it's because I have plenty of other books to read right now.
I've actually read all his books now...four or five of them? I can't remember. But I have to agree with Beth, I definitely wouldn't say they were poorly written and I thought they were quite entertaining.
ReplyDeleteAngels & Demons, I believe, is my favorite thus far.
I didn't realize a new one was coming out this year. I'm sure I'll be buying it...sorry, Dan. ;)
The one thing that truly let me know they were good books though? My husband HATES reading. I mean, he absolutley DETESTS books. I asked him to give The Da Vinci Code a chance...and he couldn't put it down. I kid you not, he read it in just a few days.
It was like a miracle! ;)
And THEN he picked up Angels & Demons and read it too!
[I don't think he's read any books since. Ha!]
Hey, to each their own. The man's extraordinarily popular, so he must be doing somthing right. Then again, Nixon took 49 states in '72and look how that turned out :)
ReplyDeleteBut as I wrote Beth as I was headed out the door: if a man starts a book with "FACT: BLAH BLAH. FACT: BLAH BLAH BLAH" then I believe he's forfeiting the complete suspension of disbelief and assuring the reader that his fiction will be reasonably based in fact.
I know I sound like a kook on this, but B.S. he's not pimping his own agenda.
Don't many of the zombie movies claim to be based on true events? "Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." It's a classic dramatic ploy that is used to make the story a little more intriguing. It doesn't make it true. I think that because he dared to write a fictional story based on religious figures, it created a lot more hoopla than most novels. Hard to argue with such publicity, though!
ReplyDeleteI think the zombie analogy is a stretch.
ReplyDeleteI agree tho' that it's a sore subject because it *is* a religion he's attacking. Not that a religion can't face criticism or satire; no, my issue continues to be that IMO he's masking a grudge against Catholics, and settling scores in the pages of his books.
I cannot imagine him drumming up a novel that used as plot points the false notion that Jews spread the Black Plague, sabatoged Germany in WWI, killed JFK etc. If he had, or if he'd made any other religous group the focus of such 'fictionalized history' people would be crying out in opposition.
And honestly, I'd be just as disgusted if someone wrote a novel where George Washington was made a chronic child molester or a secret British agent.
Some things, to me, just cross the line. But as usual, that's just my opinion.
There are books out there that gave true depictions of controversies in the church but they don't sell as well as Mr. Brown's works.
ReplyDeleteThis one for example: http://www.amazon.ca/Death-Pope-Piers-Paul-Read/dp/1586172956
God Bless,