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Original poster

Dan Brown 'wins' his Da Vinci Code court case

16 replies

cupcakes · 07/04/2006 14:43

\link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4886234.stm"claim utterly without merit"}
They can release the film now.

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CarolinaMooncup · 07/04/2006 14:49

it would have been bonkers if they'd won - the end of researched fiction. Utterly mad.

It's a teensy bit difficult to believe Dan Brown didn't read that very well-known book about the Holy Grail while researching the Da Vinci Code though (alledgedly, m'lud...)

Original poster
cupcakes · 07/04/2006 14:54

He did read it - in one of the chapters he refers to it by title as one of the best books on the subject.

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SenoraPostrophe · 07/04/2006 14:57

the other book is number 5 in the bestsellers list now isn't it? everybody wins, I think

CarolinaMooncup · 07/04/2006 15:04

it says \link{http://books.guardian.co.uk/danbrown/story/0,,1731183,00.html\here} he didn't read it till after he'd submitted his synopsis to the publishers.

Original poster
cupcakes · 07/04/2006 15:10

on pg 340 of my edition Teabing shows Sophie books on the subject incl Holy Blood, Holy Grail:
"This caused quite a stir back in the nineteen eighties. To my taste, the authors made some dubious leaps of faith in their analysis, but their fundamental premise is sound, and to their credit, they finally brought the idea of Christ's bloodline into the mainstream."

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Original poster
cupcakes · 07/04/2006 15:11

I wonder if he read other books based on HBHG.

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CarolinaMooncup · 07/04/2006 15:15

yeah, but if he did his synopsis (i.e. the whole structure of the book) without reading it, the HBHG people couldn't argue DVC was a copy of their book. He admitted he read it later on before DVC was finished.

Pruni · 07/04/2006 15:33

I'd be really surprised if he hadn't read it (or had help from someone who had) before submitting his synopsis. Having read both.

CarolinaMooncup · 07/04/2006 15:37

I kept reading Teabing as Teabag the whole way through DVC, it was really off-putting (that and the shockingly lame prose style Grin)

Original poster
cupcakes · 07/04/2006 15:40

agree about the prose - flicking through it again now it really stands out as being dire.
Do you think his publishers made him put in that ref to HBHG to try and keep them sweet?

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Pruni · 07/04/2006 15:43

The edition I read had spelling mistakes too.
He is a creative writing "professor" apparently Shock

CarolinaMooncup · 07/04/2006 15:49

I guess so, cupcakes. There are loads of references not-very-subtly crowbarred into the book though, maybe it's just one of those.

I did actually enjoy reading it Blush, it was unputdownable even though it was so crap. Angels and Demons is the same (although the plotting techniques - esp the whodunnit element - are irritatingly similar).

Original poster
cupcakes · 07/04/2006 16:10

I got very caught up in Angels and Demons too. Didn't like his other two books though. Formulaic drivel.

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CarolinaMooncup · 07/04/2006 16:14

I was rather embarrassed to find myself fancying the young priest (the stand-in pope with the unpronounceable job title) BlushBlush. Oh dear.

Original poster
cupcakes · 07/04/2006 18:25

ooh yes. I felt something there too. I think we were supposed to take a shine to him. Makes the plot less predictable.
But still. A man of the cloth!

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CarolinaMooncup · 07/04/2006 21:00

but that's the attraction isn't it? All that repressed desire, so unnattainable...

And not aged 60+ like all real life priests Smile.

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