The Dan Brown Craze [1 ed.] 144389026X, 9781443890267

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The Dan Brown Craze

The Dan Brown Craze: An Analysis of His Formula for Thriller Fiction By

Zhenwu Zhu and Aiping Zhang

The Dan Brown Craze: An Analysis of His Formula for Thriller Fiction By Zhenwu Zhu and Aiping Zhang This book first published 2016 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2016 by Zhenwu Zhu and Aiping Zhang All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-9026-X ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9026-7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ..................................................................................... vi Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Chapter One ............................................................................................. ..21 Brown’s Journey to Fame Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 52 Decrypting the Key for Digital Fortress Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 97 Defining Angels and Demons Chapter Four ............................................................................................ 160 Exposing Deception Point Chapter Five ............................................................................................ 209 Breaking The Da Vinci Code Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 273 Searching for The Lost Symbol Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 327 Discovering Inferno Bibliography ............................................................................................ 378 Index ........................................................................................................ 386

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is the product of several years’ worth of brainstorming and development. The original idea for a book-length study on Dan Brown first occurred to Zhenwu Zhu when his Chinese translation of The Da Vinci Code became a huge hit and instantly brought the “Dan Brown Craze” to China in 2004. As he started his translation of Brown’s early novels in the following years, this idea turned into a strong desire. In 2010, during Aiping Zhang’s lecture tour at Shanghai University, we had a series of conversations about the new developments in the contemporary American novel, including the “Dan Brown Craze” that was quickly spreading around the world. To our pleasant surprise, we discovered that we both had a keen interest in Brown’s innovative thriller fiction and its mesmerizing impact upon his readers in the West as well as his non-English-speaking readers in China. We thought that a comprehensive study of all the novels that Brown had published so far would be a valuable contribution to the international criticism of Brown’s writing. Our hope was to write a book that would not only offer rich information and a luminous analysis on the wide range of subjects covered in Brown’s novels but also show readers and scholars around the world how Brown’s thriller fiction had been appreciated and studied in China. The authors could not have gotten anywhere on this project without advice and help from so many people. First, we would like to thank the editor and publisher at the People’s Literature Press in Beijing, China for their permission to use some of Zhu's Chinese writings in Decoding Dan Brown. Also, many scholars, colleagues and friends at Shanghai University in China and California State University, Chico in the United States have helped us complete the book. They gave us much more than merely intellectual assistance: they offered valuable comments, excellent suggestions and unflagging encouragement. Zhu is especially grateful to Li Li at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, You Wu and Limei Yuan at Shanghai University, Dan Li at the Zhejiang University of Industry and Commerce, Yu Guo at Fudan University, and graduate students, particularly Hongying Dong, Jitao Sun, Xiaomeng Chen, Xiujuan Xie, and Yi Zhang, for their enthusiasm and early assistance in research. Zhang would like to give special thanks to the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at CSU, Chico for the benefit of a research grant, and to Sharon DeMeyer for her thoughtful support and her untiring effort to minimize

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unexpected distractions when he was working on the project in the chair’s office. We have also benefited immeasurably from Anthony Wright, Victoria Carruthers, and Amanda Millar, the highly capable and professional editing team at Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Their wise suggestions, precise instructions and incredible patience are greatly appreciated. Without their encouragement and expertise, it would have been impossible to bring this book to fruition. Finally, we are extremely grateful to our families. We can find no words adequate to express our gratitude for their sustained understanding, support and so much more.

INTRODUCTION

In early March 2003, the world of fiction was ruled by one author, J.K. Rowling. The most well-known character in fiction was a young spectacled boy, Harry Potter, and the most coveted work was the longrunning series of fantasy novels, Harry Potter. While millions of Harry Potter fans had been waiting anxiously for the release of the fifth novel in the series ever since the fourth one came out in July 2000, in Exeter, New Hampshire, Dan Brown, the writer of two humor books and three novels, was nervously waiting for the release of his fourth novel. He had come up with his own series of thriller fiction filled with codes, mysteries, and exciting settings, but his first try, Angels & Demons, did not get off to a promising start in 2000. The following novel, Deception Point, published in 2001, did not do well, either. The income from the sale of his novels was barely enough to keep his writing career afloat.

“The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon” On March 18, 2003, the release of The Da Vinci Code, his fourth novel and the second one in his “Robert Langdon Series”, quickly changed everything. Certainly he had hoped for a big break in his writing career but it was beyond his wildest dreams that the novel would become an instant hit and take the world of fiction by storm. Within just a week or two, he and his novel had caught the attention of numerous book reviewers, critics and, more importantly, millions of readers. The novel climbed to the top of The New York Times bestseller list during the first week and dominated the list for more than two years until November 2005. For months, Brown appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, his photo appeared on the cover of dozens of magazines, hundreds of newspapers and websites carried reviews of his books, and his fiction was the hottest subject of debate on social media. Many critics and scholars of Brown, including J.B. Hixson, used the phrase “The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon” to describe the sensational success and widespread response that the novel generated after its release.1 1

J.B. Hixson, “The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon: A Brief Overview and Response,” Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society 17.33 (Autumn, 2004): 41.

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Introduction

It is a fitting characterization of the tremendous impact of Brown’s book since a slew of impressive statistics reinforces the claim: millions of copies were sold within a few months, hundreds of book reviews were published through various media outlets, and numerous translations of the book became available throughout the world. Within a year or two, dozens of books came out, cracking Brown’s codes, scrutinizing his errors, exposing his distortions of history, dismantling his mysteries, or refuting his assumptions altogether. Despite harsh criticism from many reviewers and vehement protests from various organizations, millions of readers felt unsatisfied after reading The Da Vinci Code so they went back to Brown’s previous novels for more exciting coding, suspense, and action. Soon, his first three novels, published before 2003, had to be reprinted to meet the surging demand and all appeared on the bestseller list, one after another. In his review of Brown’s The Da Vinci Code for The Telegraph, Michael Deacon writes, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, “His books were read by everyone from renowned politician President Obama to renowned musician Britney Spears. It was said that a copy of The Da Vinci Code had even found its way into the hands of renowned monarch the Queen.”1 Before long, “The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon” had turned into a bona fide “Dan Brown Craze” around the world.

The “Dan Brown Craze” No other book or author in America has generated both success and controversy at such magnitude in recent decades. Readers and scholars cannot help wondering why The Da Vinci Code “has become more than a novel.”2 Timing was certainly one of the key factors. We remember well that the months preceding March 2003 were not easy for America and the world. At home, America was still reeling from the 9/11 tragedy and trying to adapt to a new way of living, with less liberty but more fear under the unpredictable threat of terror. While the war in Afghanistan was dragging on, another war with a much more formidable foe, Iraq, seemed inevitable and imminent. Abroad, an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was raging in Asia, taking many lives there and posing a potential risk elsewhere. People desperately wanted to know what was happening in their life and where the world was heading next. 1

Michael Deacon, “Don’t Make Fun of Renowned Dan Brown,” The Telegraph, May 10, 2013. 2 Bradley Bowers, ed., The Da Vinci Code in the Academy (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), vii.

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Due to the growing dominance of the Internet and social media, and the revolutionary changes in education, communication, and dissemination of knowledge they engendered, the publishing industry was in a deep slump and interest in book reading was diminishing. True, the Harry Potter series filled a void and presented readers, old and young, with a pleasant surprise every couple of years. However, readers needed more than one juvenile fantasy novel series. They wanted something that would not only validate what they had learned and cherished in the past, such as history, art, and religion, but also resonate with what they had to cope with at present. Bradley Bowers puts it well: It is not about Brown, the novel, or Leonardo da Vinci. It is the rekindling of desire, desire to reconnect with the divine in a world which has been robbed of divine secrets and stripped of divine codes, a world which continues to erase the wisdom of the ancients, and which denies that our stories can contain truth, even a glimpse of it.1

For many, reading Brown’s novels, which were consistently written with a formula of mysteries mixed with historical wonders and realistic issues, is like discovering “alternative texts” that “may exist and may have as much, even greater, authority than the standard versions.”2 More importantly, readers have found Brown’s novels both thought-provoking and entertaining because, on the one hand, they enlighten readers by transmitting knowledge about a wide range of subjects that connect history and reality, and they delight through fascinating discoveries and endless thrills on the other. It should be pointed out, though, that the “Dan Brown Craze” is by no means a chorus of praise for the author. Since the week his book appeared on the bestseller list, Brown has been a frequent target for harsh criticism and scathing ridicule. In his review on Inferno for The Telegraph, Michael Deacon notes, “The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive. They said it was full of unnecessary tautology. They said his prose was swamped in a sea of mixed metaphors.”3 Many scholars believe that his novels are potboilers of historical anecdotes or mysteries and, therefore, belong to the low-brow popular novel category. A more contentious charge has come from Christian scholars and religious leaders, who regard Brown’s thriller fiction as outrageous heresy against Christianity. As Eric Spitznagel observes, however, “The louder the critics 1

Ibid, vii. Ibid, viii. 3 Michael Deacon, “Don’t Make Fun of Renowned Dan Brown,” The Telegraph, May 10, 2013. 2

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Introduction

declare his mediocrity, the more books he sells.”1 More than ten years later, the “Dan Brown Craze” still shows no sign of abating. The blockbuster movies adapted from two of the “Robert Langdon Series” novels, Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, have certainly helped to keep its momentum going. After all, Brown’s novels have already sold close to 200 million copies globally. “No one can be that successful without doing something right.”2

Brown’s Secrets for Success One question that Brown often has to answer in interviews is whether he has a secret formula for writing bestselling novels, or for his phenomenal success as a novelist. Naturally, he is always a bit coy, evasive, or diplomatic in answering. He has said that he wished he did have a working formula so he could write faster and produce more novels. An observant reader can certainly see the similar elements – codes, symbols, and locations – in his first six novels and the innovative way he has mixed them together seamlessly for maximum effect. It has been widely acknowledged that each of Brown’s novels not only covers a wide range of subjects, such as history, art, literature, religion, and science, but also connects them to long-standing mysteries and sensitive issues in today’s world. As many of the incidents and controversies featured in his novels are either well-documented or have been frequently debated over the years, or even centuries, the tough challenge for Brown is to be able to collect data and disseminate them in his narrative both accurately and forcefully. Brown has frequently claimed in interviews that he is a writer who values research. For him, the first step is always a ritual of indefatigable search for information. Once the outline for his novel is basically set, his research starts on different fronts simultaneously, such as posting questions on the Internet, consulting librarians and experts in different fields, checking numerous books for details, scouting sites, cities, and countries for the selection of settings, and spending long hours in museums and libraries to verify his sources. During his second “Question & Answer” session on Facebook in May 2014, someone asked him, “How many times have you been to the Louvre?” Brown answered with a smile, “Never enough!”3 1

Eric Spitznagel, “Books: Five Business Lessons from 'Inferno' Author Dan Brown,” The Bloomberg Businessweek, May 15, 2013. 2 Ibid. 3 The Official Website of Dan Brown, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.danbrown.com

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Over the years, he has counted on two reliable sources for assistance and support: one is his dedicated and resourceful wife, Blythe; the other is his circle of “expert” friends. Thanks to his growing popularity since the publication of The Da Vinci Code, he has easy access to more sources of information than before. Unlike other writers, Brown shows his confidence about the accuracy of the details in his work by placing a fact note at the beginning of all the novels in the “Robert Langdon Series”, claiming that all references, organizations, and incidents are factual. What is also essential to his success is his determination to strive for an organic textual construction of meaning, value, and excitement. He says that he writes novels that are designed not only to be “entertaining and fun to read, but also to inspire intellectual curiosity on topics that I find interesting.”1 His novels are full of elements of history, science, art, religion, anecdote, and mystery. He seldom, if ever, relies on simple citation. Instead, he prefers to revise, deconstruct, and even subvert his materials in order to facilitate what Renjing Yang called “the fusion of history and imagination”2 and offer his readers a refreshing and enlightening reading experience. The “Robert Langdon Series”, which includes Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, and Inferno, is a perfect combination of religion, suspense, art, and excitement, while Digital Fortress and Deception Point address the inevitable clash between high technology and political maneuvering in today’s world. His stories might be entangled with ancient history, obscure works of art, or mysterious legends but they are always related to the real issues we all face in life. Even his harsh critics, like Robert Price, have praised the good qualities in Brown’s writing style: Its brisk narrative is full of twists and turns, and the reader’s perseverance is frequently rewarded with deft turns of phrase, sparkling metaphors, and resonating observations, the stock in trade of an author who can show us not only what we did not know but also what we did know but were not aware of knowing.3

The ambiguity of Brown’s mystery-filled narrative has been a frequent subject of controversy. The critics see it as a result of his shaky references or troubling claims that cannot be substantiated by concrete 1

Bob Minzesheimer, “Dante’s Inferno Inspired Dan Brown’s Inferno,” USA Today, May 14, 2013. 2 Renjing Yang, The Theory of Postmodern American Novel (Qingdao: Qingdao Publishing House, 2004), 98. 3 Robert T. Price, The Leonardo de Vinci Fraud: Why the Truth Is Stranger than Fiction (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2005), 12.

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Introduction

facts. In his view, however, ambiguity contributes tremendously to the success of his novel writing. If placed strategically, ambiguity can function as an effective measure to reveal different sides of the issue and create ample space for the reader’s imagination. As a writer of thriller fiction, Brown usually does not like to give all the answers; instead, he tries to invoke opposing views and let his readers draw their own conclusions. He is more interested in exploring the paradoxical nature of intriguing and contentious issues that have been debated throughout history. His use of ambiguity attracts more attention because it often leads to a more paradoxical assumption of the theme or makes the premise of the story much vaguer. In a way, it is quite similar to a common practice in postmodernist fiction. As Randall Stevenson points out, “Postmodernism radically extends such uncertainty, often assuming reality – if it exists at all – to be quite unknowable, or inaccessible through a language grown detached from it.” This is because “in the postmodern world, nothing is central and everything seems paradoxical.”1 Mary Klages offers a more specific definition of postmodernism when she says, “Postmodernism, like modernism, follows most of these same ideas, rejecting boundaries between high and low forms of art, rejecting rigid genre distinctions, emphasizing pastiche, parody, bricolage, irony, and playfulness.”2 What she says can be easily applied to the main features of Brown’s writing. Compared to his early work, Brown’s last two novels, The Lost Symbol and Inferno, seem to have accomplished more by breaking away from the conventions in novel writing and bringing historical, cultural, and spiritual connotations into full play. Embedding thought-provoking issues about history, culture, and life in a code-filled, suspense-driven, and fun-oriented story is clearly Brown’s creative move and a key factor in his unprecedented success. He has proven himself a master of exploring different aspects of complex issues by channeling the mysteries of art, culture, and history into his narrative. His approach is consistently sensible and objective rather than imposing and heavy handed. A case in point is his treatment of the age-long conflict between science and religion. When asked about his view on the debate between science and religion, Brown said that in many cases, science and religion mean the same thing to him. In his view, both are inquiries into divinity, 1

Randall Stevenson, Modernist Fiction: An Introduction (Louisville, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1992), 196. 2 Mary Klages, Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: A&C Black, 2006), 165.

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and what sets them apart is that “religion focuses on the question itself, while science concerns itself with the search for the answer. Science and religion use two different languages to tell the same story,” and his books are a “quest to fuse those two worlds.”1

Controversies over Brown’s Novels To understand the phenomenal appeal and true value of Brown’s novels, it is imperative to look into two things – his innovative writing style and all the controversies he has generated. It is no exaggeration to say that controversy has followed him around since The Da Vinci Code earned him the title of the most popular novelist in America. As Robert Price notes, “Every time a book like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code makes waves in the religious public, one can be sure it will call forth a raft of books trying to refute it.”2 But Brown seems to have taken criticism in his stride. At first, some critics suspected wayward borrowing from other novels that had been published earlier. For instance, soon after his The Da Vinci Code came out, Brown was accused of picking up some ideas from a 1983 novel by Lewis Perdue, in which the term, the Da Vinci Codex, was used several times. Perdue’s novel was republished as The Leonardo da Vinci Legacy in 2004. Then, Brown was attacked for making “subversive” interpretations of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Many Christians found his interpretation of The Last Supper extremely disturbing. His suggestion that instead of 13 men in the painting there are 12 men and one woman, and his assumptions that Jesus Christ, the unearthly saint worshiped by people, resumed his human nature, married Mary Magdalene whom he once saved, and probably had descendants were strongly condemned. More seriously, as Rachel Wagner writes, “Critics of the novel deal quite explicitly with its implications for biblical interpretation, Christianity, and views about early Christian history. Many Christian critics of the book see its purpose as sinister, intended to destroy the credibility of the Bible and of Christianity.”3 Not surprisingly,

1

Lauren Yarger, “Dan Brown Interviewed by NPR at Mark Twain House Benefit,” Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2014. 2 Robert Price, The Leonardo de Vinci Fraud: Why the Truth Is Stranger than Fiction, 11. 3 Rachel Wagner, “The ‘Scholar’s Code’: Biblical Interpretation, Postmodernism, and The Da Vinci Code,” in The Da Vinci Code in the Academy, ed. Bradley Bowers (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), 31.

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Introduction

Brown’s hint at Jesus Christ’s bloodline has been viewed by many theologians and church leaders as an intolerable defiance. In the spring of 2014, however, an article by Jonathan Beasley, which appeared on Harvard Divinity School’s website and was soon picked up by major media outlets, reported on a scientific test on a papyrus fragment containing the words, “Jesus said to them, my wife.” It is an ancient document that has been analyzed by scholars from Harvard University, Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all of whom declared it an authentic document. Even though it “does not in any way provide evidence that the historical Jesus was married,” it affirms that “women who are mothers and wives can be disciples of Jesus – a topic that was hotly debated in early Christianity.”1 The official website of Dan Brown posted a report about this study and cited it as “the first-known reference to a married Jesus Christ” and new scientific evidence that “further supports the premise of The Da Vinci Code.” In his address to a sold-out gathering of writers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Brown said, “It is not up to me to address the controversies.” He admitted that his novel was “about big ideas, you can love them or hate them…But we’re all talking about them, and that’s really the point.”2

The “Dan Brown Craze” in China By contrast, Brown’s reception in China has been overwhelmingly favorable since his The Da Vinci Code was translated into Chinese 12 years ago. Since then, readers have swarmed to the bookstores every time a Chinese translation of his novels was released. The social media was full of chat about the reading of Brown’s novels. Many bloggers described how they found it hard to put down Brown’s novels, and would finish the reading in one sitting. Scholars caught the tidal wave of the “Dan Brown Craze” every time, offering their commentaries on TV shows and other media outlets, and presenting their evaluation of Brown’s work through book reviews, articles and presentations at scholarly conferences. The only debate among the scholars has been focused on whether Brown’s work 1

Jonathan Beasley, “Testing Indicates ‘Gospel of Jesus' Wife’ Papyrus Fragment to be Ancient,” Harvard Divinity School Website, April 10, 2014, accessed August 5, 2014. http://gospelofjesusswife.hds.harvard.edu/testing-indicates-gospel-jesuss-wifepapyrus-fragment-be-ancient 2 BBC News, “Brown Plays down Code Controversy,” Entertainment, April 24, 2006, accessed August 5, 2014. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4937754.stm

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should be defined as “serious” or “popular” American novel. But most scholars prefer to regard Brown as a writer who has brilliantly blurred the rigid line between the so-called “serious” and “popular” novels, or the “high-brow” and “low-brow” forms of novel writing, through his innovative fusion of somber themes, postmodernist techniques, and thrilling playfulness. China did not catch up with the “The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon” until February 2004 when the Chinese translation of the novel hit the bookshelves in bookstores, but it wasted no time before riding the wave of the worldwide “Dan Brown Craze.” In the past 12 years, it seems fair to say that China has been a large part of the ongoing worldwide “Dan Brown Craze” as no country, other than America, can match China’s contribution to either book sales or scholarly studies. As soon as Zhenwu Zhu, a professor of American literature and the author of several academic books on William Faulkner and Edgar Allan Poe, read about the phenomenal success of The Da Vinci Code in the West, he realized that the novel would surely become a hit in China as well. He approached the Shanghai People’s Press, one of the leading publishers in China, with a tentative plan to introduce Brown to Chinese readers. To his surprise, he did not even need to give any justification before receiving its endorsement for his plan. The Press immediately began the task of contacting Brown’s agency, and Zhu recruited a couple of his colleagues as his co-translators. In early 2004, the Chinese translation of The Da Vinci Code came out. Three hundred thousand copies were sold initially, and it ran 18 printings before the end of the year. The release of the Chinese translation of Brown’s novel was so successful that the People’s Literature Press in Beijing, the most prestigious publisher in China, decided to take over all the translating and publishing rights of Brown’s novels. It published the translation of Digital Fortress a few months later in the same year. As the sale of the first two translations shot up into the millions, the Press decided to bring all of Brown’s novels to China. Hence, the translation of Angels & Demons was published in 2005, followed by Deception Point in 2006, The Lost Symbol in 2010, and Inferno in 2013. To this day, no one knows the exact number of the total sale of Brown’s novels in China as it is considered a trade secret by the Press, but the media claims that over 3 million copies of The Da Vinci Code have been sold, and that his other novels have run many additional printings since their initial release. In a way, the “The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon” and the “Dan Brown Craze” occurred in China simultaneously and swept through the country almost overnight, creating many “firsts” in the history of Chinese

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Introduction

translation of foreign books. Twenty years ago, Qian Xiao’s Chinese translation of James Joyce’s Ulysses caused a big stir but the enthusiasm was primarily confined to the community of Chinese scholars and Joyce fans. The sale of that book was less than 1 percent of the total of Brown’s novels, and fell into oblivion shortly afterwards. So far, no other foreign author has had all his novels translated into Chinese during his lifetime; no Chinese translation of any foreign book has sold the same number of copies within a few years; no foreign author has been a hot topic for blogging by ordinary readers and a popular subject for scholarly publications at the same time. Evidently, the sale of Brown’s books has easily broken all the records of Chinese translation of foreign authors. What is more impressive and important, though, is the high output of scholarly studies of Brown’s fiction writing in recent years in China. In the past twelve years, academic research on Brown’s fiction has been steadily expanding both in number and variety. A quick search on a few major research databases, including the China National Journal Index (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), and the Abstracts of Dissertations and MA Theses in Hong Kong (KHLIS DTC), shows that by July 2014, the study of Brown’s fiction has produced 110 articles in scholarly journals, 46 MA theses, and one doctoral dissertation. A check on WorldCat, the largest book catalog in the world, finds 37 Chinese books on Brown (22 were published in mainland China and 15 in Taiwan). Among them, 23 are translations of books about Brown and cryptography and two are monographs on Brown’s writing. In addition, there have been hundreds of media reports, reviews, lectures and interviews about Brown’s work and its Chinese translation. In the meantime, his fiction has been a popular topic for presentations at various scholarly conferences.

An Overview of Dan Brown Studies in China China has been translating and introducing writers from the West since the beginning of the 20th century. True, there have been a few writers who have left a lasting impact upon Chinese literature and even culture in the past but it is absolutely unprecedented for a foreign writer to have millions of fans and generate so much scholarship in China within a relatively short period of time. No one has done that; not even Toni Morrison or J.K. Rowling. Brown is the first and only writer from the West who has done that so far. As we can imagine, a great deal of the Chinese scholarship initially focused on his The Da Vinci Code, documenting his writing of the novel, and exploring the various elements

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and reasons that enabled him to score such a sensational hit. In recent years, however, Chinese scholars have taken a holistic approach to analyzing Brown’s thriller fiction. They have paid more attention to what may be termed “the Brownian formula” of thriller fiction, his candid representation of sensitive but vital issues, his narrative modes, and his marketing strategies for promoting his novels. As Dan Burstein suggests, “In a time of growing fundamentalism and religious extremism in the world, The Da Vinci Code offers an important study of Western history.”1 Brown’s novels touch upon sensitive issues related to an essential part of Western civilization – Christianity. Despite the fact that his claims about the Christian faith have been questioned and criticized widely in America, most Chinese readers and scholars embraced Brown’s coverage of religious controversies with great interest because they found it informative, revealing and thought-provoking. Generally speaking, most Chinese readers have limited knowledge of Christianity and, therefore, are unable to comprehend the sensitivity and severity of the controversies involved. Given the growing popularity of the Christian faith in China, however, many of them read Brown’s novels with keen curiosity about the religious issues and saw the reading as a chance to learn more about Western society. At the same time, they realized that some of the issues addressed in Brown’s novels, such as overpopulation, science, technology, security, and privacy, were universal and should be addressed carefully in all countries. Although no one has openly called for any drastic reform due to the existing political and social system in China, some scholars noted that Chinese readers could learn a lot from the debate over Brown’s coverage of religious issues. They concluded that in today’s Western society, many people, those born since the 1980s in particular, have already shifted their focus from religion to technology, and that Christianity, once considered the foundational belief system in the West, is not as dominant as it used to be. A few scholars, such as Chuanqi Li, asserted that “keeping one’s faith is more important than knowing what the truth really is,” and that “faith could take different forms; it could be religious or objective as long as one knew it could empower oneself.”2 As for Brown’s writing style, most of the scholars agree that his fiction, as we can see in his last three books, is not only fascinating and well-crafted but also informative and engaging. The contentious issue among Chinese scholars is how to define the generic form of Brown’s 1

Dan Burstein, ed., Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries behind The Da Vinci Code (New York: CDS Books, 2004), xxii. 2 Chuanqin Li, “The Power of Faith in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code,” Literature (Literary Criticism) 6 (2011): 217.

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novels. Before Brown’s novels hit the market in China, Chinese scholars were already quite familiar with the terminology for various subgenres of novel writing in the West, such as “popular novel,” “bestselling novel,” “adventure novel,” and “suspense novel.” Many of them have reservations about defining Brown’s work as “thriller fiction” because they believe that Brown offers much more than the standard elements of the genre. Instead, they prefer to call Brown’s work “cultural suspense fiction.” Some like the term “gleefully erudite suspense novel” used by Janet Maslin in her review for The New York Times.1 In October 2004, Zhenwu Zhu and Yuanxiao Zhou published the first critical essay on Brown, “The Da Vinci Code: An Exemplary Fusion of High-Brow and Low-Brow Forms of Art,” in The Contemporary Foreign Literature, one of China’s leading journals on foreign literature. They used Maslin’s term, “erudite suspense novel,” for the first time.2 Other scholars have since followed suit. It is unlikely that anyone will dispute the fact that knowledge and suspense are two principal ingredients in Brown’s formula of page-turning fiction. Clearly, Brown cannot take the credit for being the first writer in America to disseminate a large amount of knowledge about a subject while telling a gripping story. Herman Melville did it in his Moby Dick; so did Upton Sinclair in The Jungle. But Brown is surely the first writer who managed to pack his titillating plot with encyclopedia-like sources of knowledge in all his novels. Meng Wang, a renowned writer and scholar in China, notes in his article on Brown, Dan Brown’s novels, such as The Da Vinci Code, preponderate on wisdom as we usually see in the traditional novel of knowledge. He does it by transmitting a large amount of references to historical facts, classical works, and scenic spots, and tapping into the knowledge of religion, history, mathematics, architecture, geography, art, and literature.3

However, incorporating copious information about different subjects or fields into his novels is neither Brown’s ultimate purpose nor his sole narrative strategy. He always finds a way to mix knowledge with his deployment of successive suspense in the plot development. The use of suspense is nothing new in conspiracy and detective stories in Western 1 Janet Maslin, “Spinning a Thriller from a Gallery at the Louvre,” The New York Times, March, 17, 2003. 2 Zhenwu Zhu and Yuanxiao Zhou, “The Da Vinci Code: An Exemplary Fusion of the High-Brow and Low-Brow Forms of Art,” The Contemporary Foreign Literature 4 (2004): 105. 3 Meng Wang, “The Temptation of Code,” China Reading Weekly, June 8, 2005.

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literature. Brown knows how to intertwine the two elements, knowledge and suspense, in a reciprocal way so as to inform us about little-known but vital facts about key issues on the one hand and entertain us with tantalizing playfulness on the other. In a way, as several Chinese scholars point out in their articles, Brown has done much more than just reviving a moribund genre fiction to its former glamor. He actually deserves the credit for breaking down generic boundaries and creating a new type of genre fiction that charms readers in the information age. Another point of contention is whether Brown’s fiction is literary enough to be classified as “serious literature.” Early commentaries in the West tended to identify Brown as a fine storyteller who is good at churning out stories with twisted plots but awkward with words and grammar. After the publication of The Lost Symbol and Inferno, critics noticed Brown’s visible improvement in prose and found his writing more literary than ever. Recent publications by Chinese scholars reflect the same kind of shift in perspective. As a result, the debate over the literary value of Brown’s fiction has intensified since the release of the Chinese translation of Inferno in October 2013. Traditionally, Chinese critics use the words “䳵” (elegant) and “؇” (popular) to distinguish “serious literature” from “popular literature.” The former refers to a work of literature that has a decent chance of being canonized after passing the test of time, whereas the latter is always associated with popular taste and a bestseller for leisure reading and, therefore, will not be elevated into the literary canon. Judging from the high sales and enduring popularity of his fiction, Brown clearly qualifies for the latter – “popular literature” – but many scholars claim that identifying Brown as another writer of popular fiction is simply a failure to recognize and appreciate the high quality of literary writing in his fiction, especially his innovative narrative schemes, his multi-faceted portrayal of characters and his use of rhetorical devices. Jiande Lu, a wellknown literary critic and the director of the Institute of Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, insists, “Brown’s fiction could be categorized as ‘intermediate and superior’ in terms of its literary value.”1 Brown’s fiction defies the conventional designation of genres as it shows a perfect integration of high-brow and low-brow forms of fiction writing and retains effective techniques and good qualities from both “serious literature” and “popular literature.” In alternating narrative mode, he is as skillful as many well-established postmodernist writers. 1

Jiande Lu, “Dan Brown: Is He a Good Model for Chinese Writers?” China Book Business Report, June 24, 2005.

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Introduction

However, some critics still have doubts about Brown’s commitment to and potential for literary writing. Brown’s fiction, as scholars like Qi Zhang insist, tends to spend “too much time and energy on the setup of word puzzles, number games, codes, and the meticulous description of the captivating code-breaking process.”1 What is missing is a coherent and indepth rendition of the central theme. The popularity and the studies of Brown’s novels have, thus, shaken the long-standing boundaries between “serious literature” and “popular literature” in China. More specifically, the debate over Brown’s proper affiliation to “serious literature” or “popular literature” has expanded to a much broader discussion of the existing definition of both categories in China’s own contemporary literature. In fact, many leading scholars of socalled “serious literature” have called for the elimination of the arbitrary division between the two. Lianke Yan, a renowned writer and the recipient of the prestigious Franz Kafka Prize in October 2014, spoke highly of Brown’s imagination and scope of knowledge, but he also proposed forming a new definition of literary genres because the conventional concept of the so-called “serious or pure literature” was already obsolete. In his view, it is not appropriate to draw a rigid line between “serious literature” and “popular literature.” That the Chinese study of Brown has been quite robust and comprehensive in coverage is another indicator of the extensive reach of the “Dan Brown Craze” in China. There have been numerous articles on Brown’s biographical experiences, writing process, interviews with media, and movie adaptations of his novels. Some scholars have done comparative studies on the different Chinese translations of Brown’s novels published in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and presented their research findings in dozens of articles as well as a monograph by Shao Fu, Vague Language in Literature and Translation: A Comparative Study of The Da Vinci Code and Its Chinese Translations (2010). The translations of Brown’s novels have been used as model texts in courses for translation programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. Other scholars conducted research on Brown’s work in connection to semiotics and narratology, using a wide range of literary theories, from mythological criticism to cultural criticism, deconstructionism, reader-response theory, new historicism, and feminism. Occasionally, even scholars from other fields presented their readings of Brown’s fiction with a focus on science, book editing, publishing, and marketing in America in a series of articles, such as, “Galileo Password in 1

Qi Zhang, “Foucault’s Pendulum and The Da Vinci Code: A Tentative Definition of the Popular Novel,” The Contemporary Foreign Literature 4 (2007): 35.

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Angels and Demons” by Yunru Qiu in Science and Culture (2011); “The Digital Aesthetics and Thinking in The Da Vinci Code” in Information Technology by Tongwen Zou (2008); “Online Promotion of Best-Sellers: A Case Study of The Da Vinci Code” by Hong Zhang and Yang Tian in Publishing Research (2005); “The Marketing Strategy of The Da Vinci Code” by Xiaodong Yin in Editors Bimonthly (2006); and “The ThreeYear Income-Earning of The Da Vinci Code” by Li Li in China Book Business Report (2006).

Brown’s Influence on Chinese Writers As the “Dan Brown Craze” swept through China, Chinese fiction writers were not content to be bystanders. They also set their keen eyes on Brown’s novels, listened attentively to the comments from the newlyminted “Dan Brown experts” on TV, and read the highly charged arguments about Brown’s fiction in newspapers and journals. A few young fledging writers were inspired by Brown’s formula for thriller fiction and encouraged by the widespread craving for suspense stories from Chinese readers. They saw an opportunity to experiment with a new genre of fiction. In his article, “Thriller Fiction: A New Experiment in Genre Fiction,” Xiping Wu writes, “Beginning with The Da Vinci Code, thriller fiction has been on a joy ride in the book publishing and reading market in China.”1 In fewer than ten years, Chinese thriller fiction has gone through a rapid transformation from inception to maturity and has secured a solid standing in the market of genre fiction. Today, books with words like “codes,” “decoding,” or “treasure hunting” in their titles are clearly displayed on the shelves and readily available in bookstores. Most city bookstores have set up special counters for thriller fiction. Many of the books have been adapted into popular TV series and blockbuster movies. A group of writers have taken the book market by storm with their sensational series of thriller fiction, such as Jia Mai’s series of espionagesuspense fiction, Covert Scheming and Encryption, Jun Cai’s series of psychological suspense fiction, The Deserted Village, Gang Cheng’s series of spiritual suspense fiction, The Man Hunter, Ma He’s Codes in Tibet, and Guigunu’s Broken Face. Their works have attracted a large following and turned the sagging Chinese market of genre fiction around completely. Some of their books have been introduced to other countries as well. In 1

Xiping Wu, “Thriller Fiction: A New Experiment in Genre Fiction,” China Writers Weekly, June 12, 2007.

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Introduction

March 2014, Jia Mai, who has been called “the Dan Brown of China,” burst into the international arena with his bestselling novel Encryption and created a craze for Chinese espionage-suspense fiction in the West. The English version of the novel broke the record for the total overseas sale of any Chinese novel in history and received rave reviews from more than 40 Western media outlets. Even though Jia Mai has stated repeatedly that his and Brown’s fiction do not have much in common, Brown’s influence and the similarity between the two writers are too apparent to miss. Many of the ingredients in Brown’s formula for thriller fiction can also be found in Mai’s work. Mai builds his stories on a fast-paced quest that is often complicated by a series of suspenseful and surprising events. Also, he is good at blending history, legends, mysteries, anecdotes, codes, and unsolved cases seamlessly into the plot and funneling bits of information on various subjects into the tight narrative. The key to his success is his conscientious effort to integrate what works well in Western thriller fiction with time-tested devices of traditional Chinese fiction. Furthermore, his innovative exploration of some classical themes that have remained popular since the 1950s has turned out to be a masterful move that mesmerizes his readers. Other writers have also acknowledged their debt to Brown. Jun Cai, for instance, admits, Brown’s The Da Vinci Code has a huge influence on me. It gave me a clear definition of thriller fiction, and it boosted my self-confidence about exploring the ‘suspense + knowledge’ model for genre fiction, which has been the strongest technique in my writing all along.1

Cai and other thriller fiction writers are quite optimistic about the future of genre fiction in China as the readership has been growing steadily, and the study of genre fiction has become a popular and, more importantly, legitimate subject in academia. But they also see daunting challenges in indigenizing thriller fiction with unique Chinese characteristics and high literary quality if they refuse to conform to old conventions and capitulate to commercial temptations. The impact of the “Dan Brown Craze” in China has fostered some unprecedented changes in the traditional circle of writers and scholars. Many well-established writers, who used to stay away from genre fiction or “popular culture” altogether, carefully studied Brown’s formula for thriller fiction and tested a few feasible techniques in their own writing. 1 Zhiqian Ren, “Cai Jun: Carry the Suspense to the End,” China Book Business Report, A3, April 8, 2005.

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Some scholars launched a new wave of comparative studies between Brown and other Western writers, or between Brown and Chinese writers both in the past and at present. There are several articles that compare Foucault’s Pendulum by the Italian author, Umberto Eco, to Brown’s The Da Vinci Code with in-depth analyses of their “knowledge + suspense” structure and their similar techniques in narrative mode and characterization. There are some comparisons between Brown and Chinese writers of genre fiction from different time periods. One comparative study shows a long list of similarities between Brown’s novel and a contemporary Chinese kung-fu novel, A Deadly Secret, by Jin Yong in narrative pattern, symbology, characters’ personality traits, use of suspense, and witty dialogue. A few scholars went back to classical Chinese novels to show how the “knowledge + suspense” model had been utilized by writers centuries ago. A good example is Zhenwu Zhu’s study on the Qing Dynasty novel, Flowers in the Mirror, in which medicine, phonology, poetry, and arts of all kinds are all synthesized, and the Qing Dynasty collection of stories, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, in which some drunkards’ betting games are quite similar to the riddles and anagrams in Brown’s novels.

A Chinese Perspective on Brown Twelve years ago, when The Da Vinci Code was first presented to Chinese readers, no one predicted that the novel would take China by storm and launch the “Dan Brown Craze” across the country. No one could have imagined that such a craze would have lasted this long and exerted a sweeping and enduring impact upon the writing, reading, studying, translating, publishing, and marketing of fiction in China. In the summer of 2013, we met after a panel discussion of Brown’s newly released novel, Inferno, and had a series of long conversations afterwards regarding the Brownian formula for thriller fiction, the magic power that has sustained the “Dan Brown Craze” in the US and China, and the latest development in the study of Brown’s novels. As our conversation shifted toward the interesting differences between American and Chinese interpretation of Brown’s novels, we instantly realized that we should present a book in English about the Chinese reception and appreciation of Brown’s novels to his followers and critics around the world because a Chinese perspective on the “code” of Brown’s success could be a valuable contribution to the ongoing global exploration of Brown’s novels.

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Introduction

As a comprehensive study of Brown’s formula for thrill fiction from a different perspective, this book starts with a long introduction, defining the major elements that have turned his novels into bestsellers, summarizing various controversies over his work, and reviewing not only the Chinese translation and study of Brown’s novels but also his tremendous impact upon the Chinese reading, publishing, and scholarship on genre fiction in the last twelve years. There are seven chapters in the book. Chapter one is a brief account of Brown’s early experience and his persistent pursuit of a successful writing career. Despite his worldwide popularity, Brown has somehow managed to maintain a low profile and live a private life. So far, only one unauthorized biography is available. He seldom, if ever, offers any information about himself, and he keeps his appearance in public to the minimum. Even when he does an interview, he will just focus on the book he is promoting and will not reveal much about his personal life voluntarily. The information in the brief account of Brown’s early years has been put together through extensive research on the publications about him, interviews over the years, reports by various media outlets, and postings on websites, including his own official website. It is our belief that Brown’s success will be much better understood once we know what kind of upbringing he had and how he embarked on his road to fame after a couple of detours. Chapters two through seven present a thorough examination of Brown’s six novels, based on the chronological order of their publication. The purpose is to offer a progressive view of his writing career. Each chapter follows a regular outline of eight sections: plot, characterization, themes, setting, codes, knowledge, institutions, and techniques. All chapters are intended as an aesthetic evaluation of Brown’s intrinsic thriller fiction through a careful textual analysis, a selective dissemination of relevant information on different subjects, and a perceptive comparison, whenever appropriate, between Brown and other writers, either Chinese or Western. Many critics have offered their divergent assessment of Brown’s representation of religious doctrine and Christian history. We have no desire to stir up controversies or disrespect other people’s views. What this book intends to offer is a unique perspective from two scholars who are not only well-immersed in both Chinese and Western history and literature but also well-seasoned in comparative studies and analysis of texts in different languages. We see this book as a worthy endeavor because we imagine that readers and scholars of Brown outside China would be interested in how his thrillers are appreciated and studied by their

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counterparts in China, and why Brown has won over millions of fans in a nation on the other side of the world. Our wish is to inform scholars and readers of Brown in the West about the discoveries, challenges, controversies, and insights that have surfaced in the Chinese appreciation of his novels. Moreover, by reading through this book, scholars and readers will also learn much about literary studies, translation and readership in China, a fast-rising country with millions of learners of English and fans of Western literature as well. When asked by an interviewer about his place in world literature, Brown hesitated for a second and then said, You know, it’s funny, I don’t know where I would place myself in the literary landscape. I really just write the book that I would want to read. I put on the blinders, and I really — it is, for me, that simple.1

After all, Brown is a writer of thriller fiction. His purpose in writing is to entertain rather than to preach. Although he has deconstructed and explored so many intriguing dichotomies, such as science and religion, humanity and divinity, good and evil, liberty and privacy, in his novels, Brown seems to have no interest in imposing his views upon his readers. What he wants to see, as he often insists in his conversations with the media, is that all readers will leave his novels with some ideas and continue their own search for threads, answers and inspirations. His rendering of all these paradoxical issues resonates well with his Chinese readers because they feel that these issues are no longer irrelevant to them. In their view, these issues are borderless and have already become new realities in their life. They see an urgent need for a revision, if not entirely a redefinition, of their existing beliefs and values in the wake of China’s fast-growing economy, large-scale urbanization, unprecedented prosperity, and increasing mobility through globalization. Since October 11, 2012, the day the Swedish Academy picked a Chinese writer, Mo Yan, for the first time in its long history as the recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, writers in China have been trying diligently to present Chinese literature to the world while people outside China have become more and more interested in discovering the new writings from the ancient civilization. But more needs to be done to 1 NPR Staff, “Dan Brown: 'Inferno' is 'The Book That I Would Want to Read',” The National Public Radio: Author Interviews, May 18, 2013, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.npr.org/2013/05/18/183902954/dan-brown-inferno-is-the-bookthat-i-would-want-to-read

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Introduction

facilitate a candid and meaningful exchange between the two sides. Hopefully, this book will be a worthy contribution to that.

CHAPTER ONE BROWN’S JOURNEY TO FAME

1. Coming of Age One day in March 2003, Dan Brown was walking on a street in Seattle. Ostensibly, he was not much different from other fast-walking pedestrians but he had so many worries on his mind. His new book, The Da Vinci Code, had just been released and how well it would be received was still unknown. He had already published three novels: Digital Fortress, Angels & Demons, and Deception Point. Sales were far below his expectations; one or two had even fared badly. Now, Brown was placing all his hopes on The Da Vinci Code. If it became a big hit, his fortunes might turn; if it ended up the same failure as his first three novels, he might have to give up his dream of a writing career and return to school, resuming his teaching job and a life accompanied by textbooks and student papers. Just then, the exciting news came: The Da Vinci Code had climbed to the top of the bestseller list! He had waited eight years for this day. As the old saying goes, light travels like an arrow, and time like a shuttle. Eight years had slipped by quietly as Brown went through all kinds of hardships, getting up at 4:00 am and starting his writing at dawn every morning. To make a living, he had to maintain his day job while keeping the writing going in his spare time. The dismal sale of his first three novels had already given him a bitter taste of failure and, at one point, sent him into total despair. Nonetheless, he had never thought of giving up his writing altogether. Finally, he was rewarded for all the sacrifices he had made. All his sufferings turned into sweet memories. Since he was walking the streets in Seattle, he could not see the smiling faces of his family or enjoy the adoring hugs from his friends but he must have had so much emotion rushing through his mind and so much joy pounding in his heart. Brown found it hard to believe that The Da Vinci Code had reached the bestseller list, but others never doubted that he would succeed someday. Book sellers raved about it after they read the advance copies; reviewers showered all kinds of praises on the book; readers responded

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Chapter One

even more enthusiastically. The novel was an instant hit and triggered a widespread craze that only Harry Potter could match in recent years. While savoring his sudden fame, Brown realized that he was deeply indebted to Exeter, New Hampshire, where he was born and raised, to the family that had nurtured him with all possible care and passion, and, particularly, to the rigorous and quality education he’d received at his school. These early experiences, as noted in many book reviews, imperceptibly facilitated his growth from a young literary prodigy to an accomplished writer. In the fall of 1962, a young couple, Richard G. Brown and his wife, Constance, came to Exeter, New Hampshire for a teaching position at the Phillips Exeter Academy, one of America’s most prestigious preparatory boarding schools for students between the 9th and 12th grades trying to enter elite universities. Founded in 1781, the school brought an elegant tradition and the fervent pursuit of knowledge to the town. Brown’s father was a teacher of mathematics and his mother a teacher of religious music. The couple decided to settle down in Exeter mainly because the town had a long history and an excellent school that could offer a first-rate education to their children. The Phillips Exeter Academy is well-known, both at home and abroad, for its outstanding faculty and sophisticated facilities, and has been ranked one of the top three private schools in America. A graceful and serene town by the sea, Exeter also has a Center of Masonic Association. Over the years, local folks have relished the rumor that the Masonic Association built all kinds of secret passages across the town. Moreover, local notables have formed various secret societies that operate in odd and mysterious ways. Members of these associations are pretty active in public when raising funds for poor citizens or charity organizations, yet their dress code, communication methods and initiation ceremony are kept secret. However, the shiny domes and exquisite wood carvings, which can be seen on both sides of Water Street across the town, testify to an ancient and mysterious past. On June 22, 1964, the couple’s first-born son, Dan Brown, came to this world and started his worry-free childhood in this old and peaceful granite state. As he grew up in this land of wonders, Brown became fascinated with the stories about the secret associations and historical anecdotes. The traditions and stories handed down from ancestors over hundreds of years were ingrained into his consciousness during his childhood so it was only natural that, years later, he started exploring cryptography and history as themes for his novel writing. Brown was a shy boy in his early years. For years, there was no TV set in his house, but he did have a dog. In summer, he and his parents took

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their vacation on the White Mountain. When he had no friends around on the mountain, he would just enjoy himself by hanging out with his dog and playing hide-and-seek with his imaginary friends. The young Brown displayed a talent for writing and even storytelling early on, as if his gift for writing had been flowing in his blood all along. Since his parents lived on campus, Brown spent almost his entire childhood at the academy. Though confined inside the walls of the school, he never felt lonely while watching his energetic parents talking and laughing with their students. Living on a beautiful campus and mingling with charming students, Brown had a privileged upbringing that prepared him well to adapt to student life when he started his study at the academy a few years later. At this ancient prep school, he was never able to spend money freely like some of his rich classmates, but he felt quite comfortable on campus as he knew the place like the back of his hand. It was an advantage that no one else could match. After his family moved out of the school, Brown commuted but he handled the two different worlds, in and outside the school, without any trouble. At the school, he was an insider; outside the school, he was always surrounded by friends and was well-liked for his wit and humor. During those years, almost all private schools pursued the same objective: educating well-rounded students with a high aptitude for both science and humanities. The Phillips Exeter Academy was no exception. The school offers a wide range of courses on natural science, humanities and fine arts, including various subjects in political science, economics, religion, and history. Brown’s course work covered many areas of studies and helped him tremendously in picking his college major and acquiring the basic skills for handling diverse subjects in his novel writing later. Like many of his classmates, Brown developed a charming and gentle temperament through his education at the academy. Whenever school was out, Brown returned to his family, a fun and nurturing haven of mathematics, music and languages. He often played, with his sister and brother, treasure-hunting games devised in minute detail by his parents. To this day, he has still fond memories of their first treasure hunt on a Christmas morning before his younger brother, Greg, was born. The holiday present from his parents was a poem instead of a nicely wrapped present like before. Based on the hints in the poem, he and his younger sister, Valerie, racked their brains before finding a card with an “E” written on it and a second poem in another room. By following the hints from the second poem, they found another card, and so on. Finally, they collected four more cards with “C,” “O,” “P,” and “T” written on them, respectively. As Lisa Rogak describes in her unauthorized

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biography of Brown, “It didn’t take long for Dan and Valerie to figure out that their present was a trip to Epcot Center at Disney World in Florida.”1 The treasure-hunting game continued for years and became a talent competition that Brown and his siblings really enjoyed. The treasure-hunt poems stimulated Brown’s imagination. Every room in his family house was shrouded in mystery, as if it could turn into an intricate treasure box at any time. What he learned from these games made an indelible contribution to his design of those fascinating codes in his novels later. Shortly after his admission to the Phillips Exeter Academy, Brown met his English teacher, Mr. Jack Heath. A man of few words and with sharp eyes, Heath was an enigmatic figure at the school. When he first learned that Heath was going to be his English teacher, Brown was delighted, assuming that a wise man who could appreciate his writing talent had finally appeared. In his first class of composition, Brown wrote a piece on the Grand Canyon in which he meticulously described the shapes, colors and cracks of the limestone. When he got it back, he found his sheet littered with many red circles. Mr. Heath had deleted about 90 percent of the adjectives and assigned a “C-” to his writing. He even jotted down three words on top of it: “Brevity is beauty.” The young Brown was slightly befuddled by this line but he began to write strictly based on Mr. Heath’s instructions. Whenever he saw the word “rewrite” on his assignment, he would work really hard on the revision. Eventually, his good work paid off. At the end of the semester, his grade moved up to “C+.” Later, he admitted that the key to The Da Vinci Code’s success was his use of the backspace key without hesitation. In fact, he deleted about 90 percent of the initial manuscript. Mr. Heath’s advice, “Brevity is beauty,” turned out to be the motto that has guided Brown’s neat and cogent prose. In the spring of 1982, Brown graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy, and in fall he entered Amherst College to pursue a double major: English and Spanish. At Amherst, he ran into a teacher who left a lasting influence on him, the visiting professor and novelist, Alan Lelchuk. Professor Lelchuk was an elegant writer and a knowledgeable teacher. In his long teaching career, he mentored many excellent students, of which Brown was just one. He taught Brown many techniques in thinking and writing. His stringent standards forced Brown to revise his writing repeatedly. Ten years later, after he’d switched from a wandering music career back to his writing, Brown offered his sincere gratitude to Professor Lelchuk in his first novel, citing the training he’d received in Professor 1

Lisa Rogak, The Man behind The Da Vinci Code: An Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown (New York: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2005), 1.

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Lelchuk’s class as the very reason why he was confident enough to resume his writing after a long hiatus. In his third year at Amherst, Brown got the opportunity to study at the University of Seville in Spain, where he took a course in art history. One day, the teacher introduced the students to Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings and sculptures, along with all the implicit codes and mysteries about them. By the time the slide of The Last Supper was displayed, the students were almost dozing off in the classroom. To recapture everyone’s attention, the teacher pointed toward the figure on the right of Jesus, saying it was not a man but a woman – Mary Magdalene. Then the teacher elaborated on a few other details that had been often overlooked, such as the absence of cups on the dinner table. As the saying goes, chance favors only the prepared mind. When a falling apple hits the head of an ordinary man, what you see there is just a bump, but when it hits someone like Newton, what you get is the theory of gravity. This seemingly routine class probably did not leave much impact upon other students as they merely laughed for a second and moved on. However, it made a big splash in Brown’s mind. He was taken aback by the remark, and his mind instantly went wild with all kinds of thoughts and assumptions. A few casual words from a teacher seem to have planted the seed of The Da Vinci Code inside him, even though he had no clue about it at the time. No one could predict that what happened in that class would change the life of the young man who had a great passion for coding and deciphering. Despite his great talent, his powerful imagination and his solid writing training, Brown did not seek a writing career right after his graduation from college. In fact, it never crossed his mind initially that he would become a professional writer. On the contrary, he’d always aspired to be a musician. His mother was a music teacher and a fine organist. His father was a teacher of mathematics but had a keen interest in singing. When he was studying at the Phillips Exeter Academy, Brown took his classmates to see the opera, The Pirates of Penzance, in which his father played the leading role. Brown has a lovely voice himself. He used to sing with a choir when he was little. After his graduation from Amherst, he ventured into the real world with a conviction that he was destined to accomplish something extraordinary in the music industry. He was unwavering about taking his chances, exploring his ambitions and pursuing his goal of a music career.

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Chapter One

2. Exploring Music on the Road After eight rigorous years at two of the most demanding private schools in America, Brown felt totally exhausted. He planned to stay in Exeter, his hometown, to recuperate for a while. The world outside the town might be exciting, but he felt he was too inexperienced and untested. He wanted to accumulate some money and experience before venturing out. Knowing that he was not a musician by training, he began to study various musical theories and work diligently on composition, soundtrack and production. He even bought a synthesizer and second-hand recording equipment in order to develop his music skills by composing a few scores. One day, he somehow tuned out a sound similar to a frog’s singing while testing his synthesizer. He soon composed a soundtrack of frogs singing in a pond and entitled it “Happy Frogs.” Later, he used his synthesizer to create sound effects from other animals and produced a series of brief tracks, such as “Suzuki Elephants,” “Cranes at Dusk” and “Flock of Mice.” He planned to make a special cassette of children’s music. To make sure his was different from other soundtracks on the market, he carefully analyzed the top 40 music CDs and incorporated some of their popular tunes into his own collection. He finished his first cassette, SynthAnimals, with a unique style that steered clear of old conventions. Unfortunately, after he sent the cassette to the local store, only a few hundred copies were sold. But he did not feel dejected; instead, he saw this as his first trial at selling his creative work. Now that he had produced a music collection for children, it was only natural he try to direct his music talent for the adult market. He invited several friends from the Phillips Exeter Academy for a brainstorming session. Among them, Chip Beckett was in charge of instruments and singing and Earl Baser played the bass and guitar. Brown set up a private virtual company called Dalliance. In 1990, his company released its first CD, which was entitled Perspective and was targeted to the adult market. He believed the lyrics were meaningful and the tunes so delicate and moving that they sounded as smooth as storytelling to the ear. He put the CD up for sale at the local store but it did not sell many copies, either. Brown was keenly aware that his singing still had many flaws compared to well-trained musicians. He figured that he had to take his CDs to producers in Hollywood and win their patronage if he ever wanted to make it in the music business. To this end, he left his hometown where he had lived for more than 20 years and flew to LA in 1991 with his two CDs. He rented a suite on Franklin Avenue, thus beginning his adventures and struggles in Hollywood. Soon, he discovered that there was no chance

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to put his rich learning to good use in the music community right away. He found his life there suffocating because it kept him on the go all day long but did not produce any tangible results. He started to realize that teaching might be the only way for him to tap into his rich knowledge about different subjects and support himself with a stable income. Once he settled in, Brown got things going quickly, promoting his CDs and looking for a suitable job at the same time. Finally, he found a job teaching Spanish at the Beverly Hills Preparatory School. For a few years, he was stuck in the same daily routine – teaching during the day and staying up late for his futile creative work every night. One day, after seeing an advertisement from Liberty & Union Recordings in a newspaper, he tentatively sent over a copy of his SynthAnimals. They thought it was pretty good and decided to include it in their publication plan. That was how he got his first beautiful spiral CD, SynthAnimals, with a mini-collection of animal poems. He’d scored his first victory but he was convinced that, for more success, he had to become a true member of the music community. At least, he figured, a formal affiliation with the industry could end other people’s exclusive stance toward him. This is a common practice in a secret association, and what happens in music industry is not much different. He joined the National Academy of Songwriters shortly afterwards. The American National Academy of Songwriters is full of big stars, and most of its members are gurus in the music business. Brown started to hone his music skills by frequently attending lectures and gatherings. Shuttling between various studios, he enjoyed talking and hanging out with other people. One day, he ran into Blythe Newlon, the director of Artist Development of the National Academy of Songwriters. She saw the great potential in Brown and offered to serve as his agent after their first meeting. From then on, she carefully orchestrated the promotion of his career. This was definitely a rare opportunity because Blythe had never had business dealings with any other member of the academy let alone offered to cooperate with them. Such a practice fell well beyond her usual duties and may have raised some eyebrows. Through Blythe’s recommendation, Brown met with well-known agents and producers in the field and this turned his music career around instantly. As his agent, Blythe managed to find a hard-to-get spot for him in the exhibition case of achievements. Most of the pieces selected for the exhibition case were folk music so Brown’s piece stood out since it was classic rock accompanied by an orchestra. After listening to his music, the National Academy of Songwriters decided to throw its full support behind

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his development. It advised him not to follow the pop music route and urged him to collaborate with a powerful producer in the music industry. Brown followed the advice and took his sample recordings and music scores to Barry Fasman, a big name in music production, hoping for a joint CD project. Fasman has produced albums for many stars and worked on many blockbuster movies, such as JFK, My Mom’s a Werewolf and Hellgate. Impressed by Brown’s creativity and singing talent, Fasman agreed to collaborate with him on an album. Everyone in the field was surprised upon hearing the news that Fasman was going to be the producer for Brown’s first CD album. The production team was extraordinary because its members included the base singer for Madonna, the percussionist of the Doyle Brothers, and the saxophone player who used to work with Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. With a strong production team like that, Brown seemed to be ready to launch his singing career. However, he was extremely stressed out by the staggering cost for the production. To raise enough funding, he had to do everything he could, such as pooling his savings together, taking a loan from others, swiping his credit cards up to their maximum credit line, and teaching extra classes. Finally, he managed to collect enough money and produced his first CD, entitled Dan Brown. All the songs in it were his own. After the release of Dan Brown, Blythe did everything in her power to promote Brown’s singing career, such as writing press releases, staging concerts and setting up interviews with the media. The agency presented him to the public as a quick-thinking, detail-oriented melancholic singer. A few lines from a famous poem by Robert Frost were printed on the back cover of the CD, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.”1 The soundtrack was a grand feast of aural enjoyment. The soft humming-like singing, accompanied by the plangent sound of the saxophone, was delicate and touching. Some of the songs were intended to project different images – sometimes his voice sounded melancholy and calm, other times pleasant or even a bit mischievous. Indeed, Dan Brown turned him into a sensation. Many radio stations played his songs but he seemed somewhat unprepared to embrace such fame. There was a practical reason for this. Being an excellent singer, Brown was quite particular about having the special sound effects mixed with the sonorous drumbeat so the soundtrack would be really celestial and flawless. Nevertheless, he knew that he had a serious weakness – he didn’t like performing at all. For a CD that goes by the singer’s name, its 1 Robert Frost, The Poetry of Robert Frost, ed. Edward Connery Lathem (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969), 105.

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best bet at charming the audience is the singer rather than its music. Many people believed that Brown’s image was irreconcilable with the popular music style at that time. He enjoyed making music but never liked living in the public eye or performing in front of a live audience. Whenever he stood at the center of a stage, he looked quite uneasy and nervous, and he was unable to sing and dance simultaneously. In other words, he simply could not perform live as well as he did in the recording studio. Brown’s dislike of the spotlight might be the result of his early conditioning in the traditional customs in New Hampshire. The official motto of the state of New Hampshire is: Live Free or Die. It is an ancient and conservative state, where life is tranquil and comfortable. Its residents have no interest in the glamor and noise of the outside world; they only care about their inner peace and liberty. He was disheartened by the measly sales and not amused by others’ criticism of his performance. He did not appreciate the reproachful comments on his songs from those who did not have the same educational credentials and experiences as he did. Moreover, he found it hard to turn himself into a totally different person just for the sake of conforming to the rules and norms in the music industry. Were he willing to do that, he could have been a big star in music early on. In effect, Brown was extremely resentful toward the insalubrious practices in the music industry. Like other traditional-minded Americans, he is a man of self-discipline and good character. He realized that many of his colleagues had limited knowledge and indulged in vulgar behavior. They often went to dubious parties to drink heavily and use drugs. Some of them were even willing to sacrifice their bodies and dignity to get a chance at fame. Brown never mentioned his decent education in front of them because it could offend those who came out to hustle and seek their fortune before graduating from high school. They took great pride in their long hair and tattoos, indulged in drinking and passed out in ditches. Brown did not have much in common with these people. He started to miss his passion for teaching, and thought about leaving the world of deception in Hollywood and returning to that pure realm inside the classroom. Returning to the classroom, where he could relish classics and talk about the great universe, would be much better than being a little clown in the music circle who had to please everyone by flaunting himself shamelessly. What was truly gratifying to him, however, was that he found his true love in this phony impetuous music circle. He and Blythe fell in love when they worked together on his first CD. The two shared a common interest not only in music but also in art history. Particularly, both of them loved

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the works of Leonardo da Vinci. In the eyes of Blythe, who had already survived in the entertainment business for more than ten years, the tall, handsome, honest, and charming Brown appeared like a fresh breeze. She detected the unusual talent, the great potential for creativity and the deeply hidden passion inside him. She would not allow him to be buried like a pearl by dust. She willingly gave up her soaring career for love and joined Brown on his new adventures. No doubt Brown was elated to know that he had finally found someone who could appreciate his talent, share his dream, and assist him in the pursuit of his long-cherished goals. In Hollywood, Brown had to comply with all the rules of the game, bury his discontent and act like a player in the circle. He was disconsolate as he felt that his talent was unrecognized but he was never totally confounded or crushed. Unlike many other young and ambitious musicians, he had an unremitting will. His training at the Exeter Academy had molded his personality with great fortitude and made him believe that he was strong enough to sustain any hit. He never saw a failure as the end of the world. Soon, Brown regained his confidence and started working on his new CD, Angels & Demons, with Blythe after they’d reenergized with a week-long vacation on Morea Island in Tahiti. While walking along the beach on the island, Brown stumbled upon an old copy of Sidney Sheldon’s novel, The Doomsday Conspiracy. A few hours later, he’d read it through and thought, “I can do that.” On the afternoon of that day, a seed was planted in his heart. Several years later, that seed grew to bear its first rich fruit. By July 1993, Brown was fed up with the noisy and glamorous Los Angeles. During his wandering days, he always heard the call from his hometown and he never stopped longing for home. He kept the beautiful granite, the sensible classmates and the kind-hearted residents of his hometown in his dreams. He and Blythe bid farewell to their music friends and colleagues, returned to his hometown in New Hampshire and married shortly after. In 1995, the CD Angels & Demons came out. That was his last CD, which is apparently filled with his disillusionment with the music industry. He tried his best but he was not willing to succumb to the rigid rules and conventions of the music industry just for fame and wealth. A better alternative for him was to leave the muddy water behind and return to the clear streams of his hometown. Later that year, he started writing his first novel, Digital Fortress.

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3. Giving up Music for Writing Before he left California, Brown had found a job at the Phillips Exeter Academy to teach literature and writing. After six years on the West Coast, nothing seemed to have changed in Exeter: modest and gentle students walked on campus; warm sunshine fell on the ancient classroom buildings; the playground was full of cheering and laughter. Once back in his hometown, he felt that his exhausted soul revived. Here, there was no need to please boastful and self-conceited people or change himself for anything. He was no longer walking with heavy steps but moving at a brisk pace instead. He went through schools at this familiar place and now he would have the opportunity to read great books with his students. That’s something he really liked to do. Teaching literature and writing was also tremendously helpful to his writing as the discussions in class gradually honed his skill at analyzing a novel. Later he even tried to incorporate some similar themes into his own works. For extra income, he took another job teaching seventh-grade Spanish at a nearby school. Every day, rain or shine, he rode his bike to work between the two schools. On a spring morning in 1995, one incident shattered the serenity at the Phillips Exeter Academy. Two agents from the National Security Agency (NSA) suddenly showed up on campus and arrested a student because he was regarded as a “potential threat” to national security. Teachers and students wondered what this poor kid had done. What actually happened was that the boy had sent an email to his friend on a school computer, complaining bitterly about the political situation in America and claiming that he was so disgusted with President Clinton that he wanted to kill him. The NSA had to stop by upon seeing this message. The matter was over only after the boy explained in a panic that he’d sent out the angry words in a moment of frustration. Brown was quite shocked upon hearing the story. He had never imagined that the American government was secretly monitoring the citizens’ every move. All the things that carry people’s private information, such as cell phones, line phones and emails, were under its surveillance. His initial reaction was as angry as that of others: residents in small towns are people at peace with the world but the NSA is constantly spying on them and violating their privacy! How can this be tolerated! That was the first time he heard about the NSA. What intrigued him more was how they could single this particular message out of millions. He was determined to get to the bottom of this and reveal the story to the public completely. Brown started to collect all the information he could about the NSA. His diligent investigation led to the stunning discovery that the NSA was a

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spy agency that employed elite specialists across America. Through a gadget-like “sniffer” installed on a supercomputer, the agency scanned emails, picked up sensitive phrases like “killing” and “Clinton,” and identified the sender of the email. That is why the agents could suddenly show up on the secluded campus to interrogate that student. Eventually, his deep understanding about the NSA inspired him to write a novel about it. The story of Digital Fortress took shape gradually. As someone who had been fascinated with code and code deciphering since childhood, Brown believed that he could write a decent novel about the NSA, the intelligence agency that employs about 25,000 people. It is not only huge in size but everything inside its organization is totally shrouded in secrecy. The idea of writing a novel like this gave him an exhilarating feeling. Despite his busy schedule and heavy workload, he managed to dedicate all his limited spare time to the completion of the novel. As one can imagine, everything regarding cryptography is abstruse and complicated. Searching through a large number of relevant books was not enough to get all the information he would need. Brown also posted his questions on the web and invited cryptography experts to share their expertise. Both Brown and his respondents knew that the government could monitor their email closely so all the questions and answers were exchanged via encrypted email anonymously. This way, no one, except the sender and receiver, could decipher their emails. Brown collected a lot of information about cryptography and the NSA through different means. Only after he immersed himself in these secrets did he realize that the cryptologists were not joking about their claims. Many people would agree that writing a novel must be quite a painful thing. Brown once joked about it himself, saying that it was the kind of pain he would not even put his arch enemy through. Before writing, he had to brainstorm on the structure of the story, the transition of the plot and the relationship among the characters with tremendous patience and endurance. Only when he had a clear idea of what the story was all about would he start writing with confidence and produce a novel with undulating plot development, vivid characterization and continuous suspense. The conventional wisdom is that relying too much on suspense might not work well for a fast-paced story. In Brown’s novelistic world, however, it is exactly the constant suspenseful twists and turns that captured the readers, who just could not put the story down until they’d finished it. To find more time for his novel, Brown got up at 4:00 am and started writing before his classes at the academy every day. Often, he was so

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anxious to write that he would rush to his desk in his pajamas. Writing in the pre-dawn tranquility in the fresh morning air, he was able to bring out his creativity at the most productive moment of the day. Whenever he had writer’s block, Brown would do some simple exercises, such as push-ups and sit-ups, to release the tension in his mind and keep his inspiration alive. If that did not work, he would try his secret weapon – space boots. He would put on his space boots, climb to the top of the rack, and hang upside down, like a bat, for five or ten minutes to stimulate his blood circulation and recharge his brain. This also gave him a chance to see the world from a different angle and sort out some issues. It might sound weird but it is an effective move that works like magic for him. When he found himself staring at the computer randomly or restlessly, he had another way of releasing the pressure – naming the characters in his story after his classmates and teachers from the Phillips Exeter Academy. Sometimes, he would use the real names but others he would merely reverse the order of the letters in their names or make a minor change with a different letter. When he first brainstormed on Digital Fortress, he believed that the NSA’s random checking of people’s emails was a violation of privacy. Nevertheless, after reading through an email from a cryptologist who used to work for the NSA, Brown came to realize that the NSA did effectively prevent a terrorist attack from happening in 1994. Upon further investigation, his outlook gradually changed. He felt that the agency was not as apathetic, hypocritical and intrusive as he had originally assumed, and that the NSA was merely trying to do its job of protecting citizens. Keeping the truth away from the public to avoid panic might not be a bad thing because the real purpose of the terrorists was not killing people but creating fear. On one occasion, the NSA had quietly disarmed a bomb planted by terrorists three seconds before it was set to go off in New York. They never released the information to the public because it could create great panic if the public knew that New York had faced imminent destruction, and it didn’t matter if the bomb actually exploded or not. Brown had sought a unique style in his music and he was just as determined to break away from conventions in novel writing. He tried to avoid imitation in any form. Once his writing was under way, he would not read the kind of books he usually liked. He wanted to write something with its own distinctive qualities rather than an appendage to other works already available on the market. In the spring of 1996, Digital Fortress was completed after a long year of hard work. Although he was still in the process of securing a publisher and a date for the publication of his debut novel, Brown felt

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pretty good about the future of his writing career. He resigned from his two teaching positions immediately because writing while teaching at two schools had become unmanageable and too exhausting. He rented a small apartment on Water Street, only a few blocks away from his home. Here, with no phone and Internet, he could concentrate on his next novel, Angels & Demons, without any distraction. Angels & Demons was inspired by a seemingly insignificant incident he experienced. One day, he and Blythe were touring the Vatican and they learned of a secret passage known as “the second passage.” Originally, it was a hiding place where the pope could evade the enemy in early years. The tour guide told them that the Vatican was afraid of a secret society called the Brotherhood of Illuminati, which was established by prominent scientists, including Galileo and Copernicus, who were persecuted by the Vatican. They swore to take revenge against the Vatican, with the Pope as their primary target. To this day, many people still believe in the existence of such a society and see it as an insurmountable force. As Brown was listening to the story, the idea for a novel dawned on him. Standing in the solemn and mysterious Vatican, he felt as if thrilling stories like this were happening right in front of his eyes. To his surprise, however, collecting data for Angels & Demons was extremely challenging. He was unable to email the high-ranking officials of the Vatican for help. To protect its secrecy, the Vatican was closely guarded. No one could find out anything about its secrets. Brown sought assistance from the experts who had already collaborated with him and asked them if they could recommend an expert in Vatican history. Someone recommended Stan Planton, the head librarian at Ohio University, Chillicothe Campus. Brown got in touch with Planton via email immediately. As their contact increased, they developed a strong working and personal relationship. Planton’s replies were most timely and useful, and his years of experience as a librarian meant he could tell Brown specifically where to find material and which book to check first. It took Brown almost a whole year to gather all the data he needed for the book project. He enjoyed the initial process of disseminating the data and brainstorming on the story outline. Everything was going smoothly until the fall of 1997 when he suffered from writer’s block shortly after he started writing the novel. Clearly, it was not because of his lack of energy or ideas. The fact that he wrote Digital Fortress while teaching at two schools shows that he had unusual inner strength and uncommon efficiency. The real reason was that, with the pre-scheduled date for Digital Fortress’s publication still months away, Brown was not sure if starting the writing of his second novel without securing a deal from a

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publisher was a wise move. He was beset with a sense of uncertainty; it was as if he was on tenterhooks and lost his touch and zeal completely. He welcomed any opportunity to get away from his computer. Eventually, a visit to an exhibition of voice recognition software in Boston quickly turned things around for him. The latest invention not only introduced him to a new way of writing but also reenergized him and set him back on the fast track of his writing. In February 1998, Digital Fortress came out. Blythe took on the task of promoting the book, writing the press releases, setting up interviews, and getting in touch with media outlets. Brown did not have the breathing room he needed to keep writing Angels & Demons and deal with the publicity surrounding Digital Fortress at the same time. Given the opposing themes in the novels, he found it hard to cover both books properly. Sometimes, even when he was stressed over a file transfer between servers, his mind was roaming the secret passages crisscrossing under the Vatican thousands of kilometers away. Many writers would put down a manuscript in progress while promoting their newly released book but Brown could not do that. He had to do both simultaneously. To the majority of people in 1998, email was still a relatively mysterious and privileged medium of communication. Many of them either had no idea or knew only a little about it. Most email users appreciated its convenience but did not know how secure the communication was, who else could peep into their email account, and what consequences they would have to face if their private information was leaked. Incidentally, Digital Fortress addressed the rapid popularity of Web technology and raised a series of issues about the use of email. In a sense, Brown became what the 18th-century satirist Jonathan Swift called “a bold man that first ate an oyster.” Since the novel touches upon various issues associated with the rapid development of Internet technology and the need for the protection of privacy, it is not surprising that its initial release attracted a lot of attention from readers as well as the media. The promotion of the book kept him running from place to place; sometimes he had to appear on four TV shows a day. Brown reveled in his sudden fame but he also took a hit from the many critics who pointed out various technical errors in his novel. Brown accepted the criticism with humbleness and fostered a close friendship with many critics and readers via their email exchange. Some readers complained that the portrayal of the beautiful smart ladies and the handsome professors working for the NSA was excessively surreal. Brown avoided the subject tactfully, claiming that his novel was intended to present a momentary escape from reality, just like other novels.

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By this time, Brown had gained a deeper understanding about being a published writer of thriller fiction with growing fame. On the one hand, he had to face accusations, and, on the other, he had to deal with the frequent inquiries and mounting pressure from the government. Given the intense publicity for Digital Fortress and its sensitive subject, the all-pervading FBI kept a close watch on him. Before long, he received a “courteous” anonymous letter of invitation from the FBI to visit the headquarters of the NSA. Brown was both thrilled and scared, but he paid the visit anyway as he knew well that no one could afford to turn down such a “must come” invitation. After a period of stumbling and fumbling, Brown got better at being more discreet in his handling of things like this. In his view, novel writing was more suitable for him than music. There was no need to perform in front of a live audience or change himself for any reason. Being interviewed by the media was not that bad since the subject was mostly about the book rather than the author himself. In other words, what was under the spotlight was not him but his book. Once everything seemed to be going smoothly, he resumed the writing of his second novel. Soon, an unexpected incident occurred – his editor, Gary Goldstein, left the publishing house. The departure of an editor occurs all the time but it is definitely bad luck for all the book manuscripts in this editor’s hands. Whenever an editor leaves, the publisher will pass the manuscripts he is working on to other editors but as these editors often have their own pile of manuscripts, they will not have time to advocate on behalf of the transferred ones. As Lisa Rogak puts it well, “Dan Brown’s new novel at this new publishing house had become an ‘orphan’.”1 There is not much a writer can do about this. In a multinational publishing house, the publisher wants profit, and the shareholders demand a high return for their shares. Each editor is sandwiched between the publisher and the shareholders. He decides which book to bring out first and how many printings it will have, and he has to make sure it will become a runaway bestseller and earn a huge profit. If he makes a wrong judgment call, he will be cold-shouldered or laid off. But editors are not fools. If a book’s prospects look dismal, he will defect to another publisher and ditch those manuscript “orphans” way before lousy sales ruin his record. Naturally, Brown felt that his second novel project had been basically “deserted.” Having worked so hard on the novel, he stressed over the 1

Lisa Rogak, The Man behind The Da Vinci Code: An Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown, 69.

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intricate relationships inside the publishing house and the bleak prospects for his manuscript. Brown became so distraught and bewildered that he could no longer concentrate on his writing. Only his agent, Jake Elwell, kept telling him to plod away at his writing and not allow himself to be sidetracked by other matters. Fortunately, Brown’s editor-less ordeal only lasted for a few months. Jason Kaufman took over as his new editor. A ten-year veteran in the publishing business, Kaufman had changed his job five times before he came to Simon Schuster, the publisher that had signed the multiple-book contract with Brown. The fact that he was put in charge of Brown’s two books proved the publisher’s trust in his experience. In April 2000, Angels & Demons hit the bookstore. Brown felt that he had learned a lot from writing this novel, and that his new novel would attract more fans. Although Angels & Demons was not as trendy as Digital Fortress in theme, he and Blythe worked on the publicity just as hard. Shortly after the novel’s release, something hilarious transpired: what was intended as an entertaining thriller fiction was being used as a guidebook for the Vatican by many tourists! Readers would often send Brown an email from a site depicted in the novel, telling him how accurate his description of a certain works of art or building is. For the promotion of the novel, Brown appeared tirelessly on numerous TV talk shows. To his surprise, some readers accused him of being hostile to Catholicism and contemptuous toward God. Others attacked him for favoring science and mocking religion. This has baffled him because he has seen the combination of the two seemingly opposing forces in his parents who live a very happy life. When asked about the conflict between science and religion during an interview after the novel had been published, Brown insisted, “I see science and religion as the same thing. Both are manifestations of man’s quest to understand the divine.” And they “seem to be two different languages attempting to tell the same story.”1 In Summer 2014, when he was answering the same question in the interview for the Mark Twain House Benefit, Brown reiterated the same statement. According to his contract with the publisher, Brown was obliged to produce one more novel so he began banging away at his third novel, 1

BookBrowse, “An Interview with Dan Brown about His Book Angels & Demons.” The interview was conducted by the publisher at the time of the novel’s publication. It was listed on this website with the publisher’s permission, accessed August 20, 2014. https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/22 6/dan-brown

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Deception Point, in his simple office. He was oblivious to the passing of time or the shifting of events outside his office. That little office was the center of his universe, in which lay the purpose of his life.

4. Improving His Craft with Tenacity In his hometown, the sky is blue, the water is clear and the breeze is soothing. Here, Brown’s writing gushed with inspiration. Occasionally, he appeared at book signing events for local citizens. Many fledging writers sought his advice on novel writing either at the events or emailed their questions to him. Brown answered their questions as much as he could. Later, he even summarized his tips in an article, “Seven Powerful Tips,” and posted it on his website (since removed from that site). His “Seven Powerful Tips” are: 1) setting – take your reader to different worlds by making a refreshing change in setting and somehow catches the reader’s eye; 2) scene building – keep scenes moving, and let the switch of scenes run like a flowing river that changes too frequently for the eye to take in; 3) a “sole dramatic question” – use a central theme as your guiding thread and build up your story around the central theme; 4) tension – create it with the passage of time, constrain your characters with heat, and deliver the promise to the reader; 5) specifics – verify all information for accuracy through research; 6) weaving of information – describe one thing but hint at another; 7) revision – tweak the initial draft carefully.1 The article is brief and informal but worth noting for two reasons. First, it helped promote the sale of his books and his reputation as a twonovel author at that time; second, it summarized his primary approach to novel writing during the planning and crafting process. His third novel, Deception Point, is a story that involves NASA and other government agencies whose operations are strictly classified. However, no matter how confidential the information was, Brown, determined and resourceful, always found a legitimate way to get what he wanted and use the information prudently in his writing. Deception Point was released in August 2001, but sales did not go well. Brown and Blythe did not know, at least initially, how to promote the new novel effectively. Digital Fortress deals with Internet security, which was an issue on everyone’s mind at the time of its publication. Angels & Demons could be sold as a guidebook for one of the top tourist sites in the world. For 1

For more detail, see Lisa Rogak’s description in her The Man behind The Da Vinci Code: An Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown, 74-75.

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Deception Point, a book about the Arctic, NASA, and an ambitious presidential candidate, it was more difficult to find a selling point. Luck never comes in twos but ill fortune always does. The release of Deception Point coincided with the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Amidst the widespread panic, patriotic sentiments were higher than ever. Democrats and Republicans put their differences on hold and united against the enemy abroad. Brown’s depiction of government corruption and misconduct in Deception Point seemed ill-timed. In fact, Brown was certainly not the only writer who was struck by bad luck. Thanks to the terrorist attack and a series of changes in publishing and retailing, the industry took a nosedive. The whole book market, especially thriller fiction, hit a big slump. The sale of Brown’s three novels went flat. More specifically, the sale of Deception Point was a total disaster. After hearing the news, Brown was at a loss and his dream of becoming a professional novelist began to falter once again; it was as if his rock-hard determination turned into a candle in the wind, flickering and wavering. He became too agitated to continue with the writing of his new novel, The Da Vinci Code. At that difficult time after an unprecedented national disaster, novel writing or novel reading seemed pointless and would not help the readers or his country in any way. Once more, it was his wife who guided him through that period of confusion and distress. Having gone through a few bumps together up to this point, Blythe and Brown shared much in their vision and resolution. She inculcated Brown to pull himself out of his confusion. She offered him all the understanding, advice and support she could as his beloved wife, his comrade and, more importantly, his confidant. A die-hard fan of Leonardo da Vinci herself, Blythe posed all kinds of questions about the artist and engaged Brown in further discussion. On several occasions, Brown admitted that Blythe’s love for and knowledge about Leonardo da Vinci inspired his writing of The Da Vinci Code. To this day, he feels overwhelmed with happiness when he recalls her encouraging words and animated questions. With her unconditional backing, Brown worked harder than ever and dedicated himself to crafting The Da Vinci Code with a fresh mindset. If someone’s mind is filled with sorrow, agony or disillusionment, one needs an outlet to release some tension. Probably, Brown hoped, his new novel might serve as the much-needed break that could relieve people of their fear and pain for a moment. The writing of his fourth novel turned out to be a daunting challenge. First of all, he had to not only collect a large amount of little-known information but also verify the specific details of every setting in the

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novel. Having finished three novels so far, he had connected himself well with some dependable experts in different fields and made quite a few friends within the writers’ circle. Sometimes, the enthusiasm from those experts and friends astonished him. They all told him what they knew and offered tips for twists and turns in the plot. Brown felt extremely grateful to them. Given the unreliable mixture of information on the Internet, he and Blythe made a special trip to Paris and checked out all the sites in the Louvre in order to ensure the accuracy of his descriptions in the novel. In Paris, the capital of the arts, he saw the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa. Pacing the halls of the art gallery where crowds of tourists walked by in succession, Brown was deep in thought about the paintings, the artists and the elusive codes hidden inside. Later, he recalled that what they learned from their trip to Paris would require several months of searching on the Internet. He felt there were too many books to read so he asked Stan Planton, the head librarian at the Ohio University Library, for help once again. Planton could offer Brown the kind of help that no one else could. An eager assistant, Planton always hashed out a workable plan for research without accepting a single penny for compensation. He took great pride in aiding an obscure but promising writer and he wanted to tell everyone what librarians could do and how an ordinary librarian like him could also help the world today. While writing The Da Vinci Code, the advice from his former writing teacher, Jack Heath, “brevity is beauty,” constantly served as a reminder. At first, Brown wrote down whatever occurred to him and then tweaked the draft till it was straight and succinct. Eventually, nearly 90 percent of the draft was deleted. Compared to the previous three novels, The Da Vinci Code was not only simpler but more fun. Although the first three novels were also fascinating stories and included enthralling action scenes, the codes in them appeared impenetrable and confusing to many readers. In his fourth novel, Brown changed his strategy by putting a lot of effort into the plot development and code deciphering. For instance, he modified the way in which he designed the codes by giving each code an explanation before presenting the next one, thus embedding them in the narrative with easy and comprehensible hints to ensure that an ordinary reader could also enjoy the fun of deciphering. Brown’s writing continued to steam along but the book market went from bad to worse. He was very fortunate to have Jason Kaufman as his editor. Since he’d read Angels & Demons, Kaufman never doubted that Brown would become a hit. With the publication of Angels & Demons and Deception Point one after another, he and Brown had developed a deep understanding of and friendship with each other. Kaufman was willing to

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take a chance on Brown, despite his obscurity, because he had unwavering confidence in the great potential of Brown’s novels. He believed Brown’s fourth novel would eventually surface like a bright gem to shine above all others. When Simon & Schuster treated this breathtaking work with indifference, Kaufman resigned in frustration and took Brown’s book manuscript with him to Doubleday. The publisher of Doubleday, Stephen Rubin, liked the novel very much after reading it through and immediately offered Brown a contract worth $40 million for The Da Vinci Code and his next novel. It was paid in full at once. Undoubtedly, such a huge investment for an unknown novelist was a high-stakes gamble. For Brown, winning the publisher’s recognition in this way was fabulous, something that many writers could only dream about. He knew that the publisher’s big endorsement, along with its commitment to an all-out promotion for the book, would bring the book to the readers, but no one could guarantee that they would actually buy it. If a huge number of books were not sold, it would be an infamous flop. By the end of 2002, just a few months before The Da Vinci Code was due to come out, every department in Doubleday was busy preparing for the release. To maximize its profit, the publisher naturally pulled out all the stops to promote his book. For the first time, the publisher took over the heavy duty of contacting the media on behalf of Brown and Blythe. Blythe felt so relieved. Doubleday printed 10,000 advance copies of the book and sent them out to book retailers, book reviewers and various agencies in the publishing industry. This time, the number of advance copies actually exceeded the number of formal editions of all his previous novels. Before the advance copies were sent out, Doubleday received the feedback from the book sellers. All of them were exceptionally enthusiastic about the book. For the first time, Brown and Blythe welcomed the release of his novel with great joy. Generally, journals and newspapers only carry reviews of a book a few weeks, even months, after it comes out, unless it is by a big-name writer or a popular writer from the local region. Many writers have complained about this practice because it often affects the sale of their books. Nevertheless, on St. Patrick’s Day in 2003, the day before The Da Vinci Code was scheduled for release, The New York Times made a departure from the norm by carrying a glowing review of the novel. The review, written by Janet Maslin, was full of praise for the “black horse” Brown. Maslin highlighted her comment on the novel with one simple but eye-catching word – “Wow.” As other media outlets followed with more

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rave reviews, the publisher and Brown stopped worrying and breathed a sigh of relief. Maslin even predicted that the popularity of The Da Vinci Code would equal that of Harry Potter. Her prediction turned out to be true eventually. Youngsters responded more enthusiastically, claiming that The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons were the stories of the grown-up “Harry Potter” because they were filled with so many ancient and mysterious elements that appeal to everyone. Brown found such comments totally unexpected and very flattering. The Da Vinci Code was officially released on March 18, 2003 with 230,000 copies for the first printing. Given their huge orders, the book sellers realized that they could not rely on the publisher for the publicity, and they had to do more to promote the book on their own. In effect, many of them did their utmost to publicize the book; it was as if they’d written The Da Vinci Code themselves. Everyone speculated that the novel might take the top spot on the bestseller list or become a sensation within a few weeks, but no one predicted that the novel would triumph and work a miracle on the book market as well. More and more people became fascinated by the novel, and such fascination grew rapidly and lasted for a long time. It is a novel that mixes education with entertainment. People who usually did not care very much for thriller fiction found it hard to put the book down because it offered them a kind of incomparable reading pleasure and knowledge no other book had ever done. Soon, The Da Vinci Code took over the No.1 spot on the bestseller list for hardcover fiction. Within the first year of its publication, 6.5 million copies were sold in America, which had jumped to 10 million by the second year, thus setting a record for an American novel. Moreover, after reading the novel, people still felt unsatisfied so they bought Brown’s early novels, Digital Fortress, Angels & Demons, and Deception Point. One after another, these novels all appeared on the bestseller’s list. Sometimes, all four novels appeared on the weekly list simultaneously. Finally, after eight years of hardship, Brown’s dream of becoming a top writer of thriller fiction came true. He felt as if all the gloom accumulated during those years had been swept away and the world was covered in sunshine again. Now that Dan Brown had become a brand name, it was only fitting to start printing his name on the book cover in the same font as the title of his novel. Also, The Da Vinci Code triggered a surge of interest in cryptology that had never been seen before. In November 2003, the ABC show, “Good Morning, America,” launched an online contest that involved deciphering the codes in The Da Vinci Code.

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One day, Brown appeared on the show with a mysterious smile like Mona Lisa’s and deciphered four codes with the audience. When he learned afterwards that more than 40,000 people had succeeded in cracking the codes and thousands more had tried but failed to crack them all, Brown was completely stunned.

5. Establishing His Fame Around the World Indeed, The Da Vinci Code received rave reviews from the critics and public alike, but Brown viewed this as insignificant. The public craze about the novel did not change much of what he was doing as a storyteller. He resumed his daily routine as a writer, writing from morning till dusk, exploring other unknown mysteries and creating more quality novels for his fans. Soon, however, he discovered that his life had actually changed altogether. For instance, he could not sit in the economy section when he was on a plane. If a passenger recognized him, he would not be left alone. He would be surrounded by people like a celebrity, and everyone would wait in a long line for his autograph. To minimize all the undesirable distractions, Brown had to use a different name or even change his travel route whenever he was out on a research trip. Often, he would put on a baseball cap and move along with a tourist group. Brown resumed his work for the next writing project, The Lost Symbol, without any delay. He still got up at 4:00 am every morning and did his writing seven days a week, even on Christmas Day. He thought he could control the pace of his writing but the endless obligations associated with his new fame and celebrity status constantly forced him away from his computer and impeded the progress of his writing project. Naturally, reporters were looking, diligently and even intrusively, for any news related to Brown, especially his next novel. As an old Chinese saying goes, rich families in the mountains always have to host relatives from afar. Although he lived in Exeter, a utopia-like small town, many struggling writers still managed to get in touch with him and asked him to leaf through their manuscripts, write a brief introduction, or say a few nice words about their books. Brown seemed unable to figure out how, all of sudden, he had made so many new friends. Since the sale of the fourth novel had gone so well, Brown’s publisher was pressing him hard for a quick completion of his next novel. He knew that he owed so much of his success so far to the publisher. Without their trust or support, the miracle that his career had become would still be out of his reach so he made himself available to various shows on TV and interviews with the media, all of which took a huge amount of his time and inevitably affected his

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writing. Shuttling between appearances on shows and his novel writing at home, Brown soon became too exhausted to keep up his writing schedule. With the interest in thriller fiction and cryptography surging in America, publishers from abroad rushed in to buy the international copyright for The Da Vinci Code. By the summer of 2005, the novel had been translated into more than 40 languages around the world, and Hollywood of course wasted no time in presenting Brown with an extremely tempting offer. Yet, Brown had serious misgivings about the movie deal and was not sure if the movie adaptation would work well at all. The reader was able to visualize a perfect image of Langdon while reading the novel and such a joyful experience might be compromised, if not entirely ruined, if this idealized character was played by an actor without the desirable charisma. Having lived in Hollywood for a few years, Brown was quite familiar with the business side of the entertainment industry. According to the rules of its game, anything sensational was nothing but a tool to make some money. What Hollywood was good at was turning stories like The Da Vinci Code into action flicks in which the characters would drive their cars like maniacs and shoot at each other on the streets. That was exactly his primary concern. However, director Ron Howard must have accepted all the author’s demands for a spectacular movie because Brown agreed to sell him the movie rights. The The Da Vinci Code movie, featuring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, hit the screens on May 19, 2006. As the old Chinese proverb goes, a tall tree catches the wind. Brown’s huge success attracted a lot of attention, and animosity as well. Some people came forward to accuse him of plagiarizing books that no one had ever heard of. Three months after the publication of The Da Vinci Code, the publisher received a letter from an English writer, Lewis Perdue, who claimed that parts of Brown’s novel were lifted from his two novels. Actually, before he became a celebrity with The Da Vinci Code, Brown had received phone calls from many bestselling writers, who congratulated him first and then warned him about the possibility that some people might attempt to capitalize on his success. Doubleday and Brown did not take Perdue seriously at first but later they worried that he might use their inaction as a pretext to launch a lawsuit against them. The publisher quickly filed a lawsuit against Perdue, demanding a “declaratory judgment” that The Da Vinci Code did not infringe the copyright of Perdue’s two novels. In response, Perdue immediately filed a countersuit against Brown and his publisher for the infringement of his novels and demanded $150 million in damage. As the movie adaptation was under way, Perdue also cited the movie company as an accomplice. Before the

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case was tried in court, Perdue attacked Brown fiercely through comments in the media and allegations posted on the Internet. Brown had never heard of this person nor read any of his novels. Perhaps, he assumed, this might be the badge of honor that every bestselling writer must carry. In the spring of 2005, the judge in charge of the case agreed that he would read the novels first and then decide if a trial would be necessary to handle this case. In August 2005, the judge reached a decision: given the radical difference between the works, there was no need to hear the case. The lawsuit ended with a victory for Brown, but still it was an unpleasant incident. It was quite annoying even though everyone knew what the truth was. Sadly, it is something that a famous writer has to deal with from time to time. Another old Chinese saying puts it well: The tree that stands above the forest faces the destruction of the wind. It was certainly beyond Brown’s wildest imagination that his The Da Vinci Code would turn into a global sensation first and then turn him into the target of harsh criticism the day after its release. He took numerous hits because of this novel. Some of the accusations were appallingly offensive. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Archbishop of Genoa, called the novel “a sack of lies.”1 Others accused him of being anti-Christian. This stunned him. As a Christian who had grown up in a pious family, Brown had always followed the Christian teaching to respect and appreciate all religions. He reiterated that he had never intended his novel to be hostile toward Christianity or the Catholic Church. Also, he had adhered to the basic tenets and history of Christianity; the only difference was that he looked at various issues from a different angle, namely, he tried to understand the Bible through his own exploration and reflection. The controversies did not have much of a negative effect on the sales of The Da Vinci Code. On the contrary, sales kept going up steadily. Before long, the first batch of critical books came out. No fewer than 20 critical books started circulating on the market. Most of them cited a few words or lines from the Bible and some like-minded scholars to dispute the descriptions in The Da Vinci Code. The response from Brown, an honest and virtuous man, was a bit surprising to people. He believed that some of their arguments sounded pretty incredible and forceful, and he supported the exchange of different opinions and even a heated debate because it would lead everyone to a much deeper understanding of God. Furthermore, Brown admitted frankly that since he had never met these writers before, he just naturally assumed that they had no ill intention. He 1

Tracy Wilkinson, “Pope Appoints Italian Cardinal, Longtime Aide as Secretary of State,” Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2006.

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remembered how he used to oversell his work through the media in the past. What these writers were trying to do now was nothing more than promoting their books, just as he had done before. Richard Leigh is one of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, published in England in 1982. Brown claimed that he was deeply inspired by the book and listed it as one of his references. He even deftly incorporated the author’s last name into The Da Vinci Code by using it as the first name for one of the leading characters, Leigh Teabing. Thanks to the visible presence of his last name in The Da Vinci Code, the sales of Richard Leigh’s books went up significantly around the world. But some things in life are indeed unfair. A case in point is that an academic book can never be as sensational as a thriller no matter how original its argument. Brown was accused of one more offense: conspiracy. He rejected it peremptorily. He stated that he wrote a story like The Da Vinci Code simply because it was something that could be traced and verified. Some people labeled his story as part of a conspiracy simply because the truth he presented happened to be different from theirs. Brown also pointed out that for many theologians, religion only had one enemy; not a novel but rather people’s indifference – all of us carried such a heavy burden in life that we forget to go to church and show our gratefulness or leave a space for our faith. He felt so fortunate that his novel had initiated so much debate. In his view, this would encourage an active probe into faith and, therefore, it would definitely be a good thing for religion. The media always sees a controversy like this as a rare opportunity to play up something sensational. Soon, these attacks were out of control and eventually turned into irresponsible and irrational allegations. Despite all the allegations, animosities and even attacks, Brown took everything in his stride. He said he appreciated the people who criticized and supported him because they maintained their firm belief and never swerved from it. He wished he could also find a sort of absolute belief but he couldn’t. He had been searching for it, and The Da Vinci Code could be seen as the initial result of his search for the divine. Perhaps he would do what Kua Fu1 did while chasing the sun, namely, search persistently until he found the answer to eternity. Once the storm over the novel faded, Brown was still the same Brown; he didn’t change a bit. He was still full of drive, charm and vision, 1

Kua Fu is known as a giant in Chinese mythology who wishes to capture the sun. With each stride, he gets closer and closer to the sun but he can never catch up to it. He eventually dies from the extreme heat and exhaustion. In modern Chinese, the phrase Kua Fu chasing the sun (዁∗㏣᪥) is used to describe a person who fails to obtain his goal because he greatly overestimates himself.

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as if he was a clever college student or a professor you had not seen for a while. He kept his habit of getting up at 4:00 am, going into that office, a room without a telephone or Internet connection, and working on his next novel, The Lost Symbol, which would be the third one in the “Robert Langdon Series”. The characters in his novel did not care about his fame at all and they would not listen to him meekly and behave as he wished unless he racked his brains and exhausted all his ideas about portraying them. Brown continued to write The Lost Symbol in his hometown. He plans to produce a series of 12 novels featuring Robert Langdon. Given his great passion for music, many people have speculated that the plot for one of his subsequent novels will surely involve a musician. In addition to writing, what Brown enjoys most is teaching. To him, staying in Exeter, within the vicinity of the beautiful Phillips Exeter Academy, is like being in heaven. At the end of October 2004, Brown did something generous – out of his love for education; he donated $2.2 million to the Phillips Exeter Academy to establish the “Richard G. Brown Technology Endowment” in honor of his father, who had taught at the academy for 35 years. He dedicated his whole life to education and the improvement of textbooks. Richard co-authored a bestselling textbook for mathematics, Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus with Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis. It is still a required textbook for advanced mathematics in America to this day. The book caught the attention of the NSA, and it tried to recruit him on several occasions but he declined. Richard could not tear himself away from his students at the academy or leave his beloved family behind. Brown felt that both his father and his school had given him so much so he must do what he could for them in return. Brown did his best to turn down interview requests and public appearances so he could concentrate on his writing. The only exception was the request from the New Hampshire Writers’ Project. Brown is a famous writer now, but he used to spend countless lonely and hapless days and nights by himself. He knows how difficult it is to become a writer. When he was writing Digital Fortress, many writers from the New Hampshire Writers’ Project offered him advice and encouragement. On May 18, 2005, therefore, Brown delivered a speech at the Concord Arts Center in Concord, New Hampshire in support of this project. He thought that it would just be a discussion involving about 30 people, but to his surprise more than 800 people showed up, and many news networks dispatched their correspondents for a live report. As soon as he appeared on stage, the audience gave him a round of warm applause. Looking around the hall, Brown was unable to hide his astonishment.

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Readers waited anxiously for the completion of Brown’s third novel in the “Robert Langdon Series” for six years. The publisher also wished that Brown would wrap up his new novel in a timely fashion. Nevertheless, he asked for a delay in submitting his manuscript. Many people in the publishing business found this perplexing. Since all signs indicated that the first edition of The Lost Symbol would be in demand, why was Brown so worried? There was a lot of speculation about the real reason. Some said that he was scared by the rumors and needed a good break; others believed that he needed more time to double check every detail in order to silence those fault-finding critics – after all, the number of details in The Lost Symbol is probably ten times that figure in The Da Vinci Code. When he finished his first three novels, Brown was still anonymous and, therefore, he did not have to worry about every word he wrote or how his readers, critics, and religious organizations would feel. It was entirely different now as all eyes were now fastened on him. In the end, the only reason The Lost Symbol was delayed was simply because Brown was trying to write a novel that he would want to read himself. His goal was to make sure his readers would read the last page of his book and close it reluctantly with a sudden revelation, “Oh, my god, I have learned so much!” On September 15, 2009, Brown presented another heavy bounty, The Lost Symbol, to the world after tireless cultivation in his little office for six years. The first printing of The Lost Symbol was of 6.5 million copies. As soon as the news went out, there was a buying frenzy. Its Chinese edition was published by the People’s Literature Press on December 25, 2009. The sensational success of the novel gave the slumping publishing industry a timely boost. As a result, September 15 has been designated as “Dan Brown Day” on many websites. Brown had started work on his new novel, Inferno, long before the release of The Lost Symbol. He mentioned in several interviews that he first read Dante’s epic, Inferno, 30 years before as a senior while studying Italian at the Exeter Academy. It left a lasting impression on him as the darkest and scariest text he had ever read and was a literary masterpiece that he loved and cherished dearly. About a decade ago, Brown recalled, he got the idea for a novel that would use the Inferno, Dante’s 14thcentury poem envisioning the nine circles of Hell, as both a “catalyst and inspiration.”1 But because he’d just released The Da Vinci Code, a thriller set in Italy, and sold millions of copies, he thought it might not be a good idea to set his next novel in the same place. He decided to put the idea on 1 Bob Minzesheimer, “Dante’s Inferno Inspired Dan Brown’s Inferno,” USA Today, May 14, 2013.

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hold and bring his subsequent novel, The Lost Symbol, back to Washington, D.C. Since the idea of writing a novel with Dante’s Inferno as part of the backdrop had been stuck in his mind, brainstorming for the novel’s outline was relatively brief and easy. It was the amount of research that took up so much of his time and energy. Besides, thanks to his worldwide fame, it was a little more challenging to go out without being noticed. In spite of his assiduous effort to maintain a low profile and disguise his appearance, it was impossible to hide his identity during his research trips to museums and cities in Italy. However, he and Blythe still managed to collect the data and verify the sources of information with uttermost care. The writing went smoothly. By the beginning of 2012, the manuscript was pretty much done and we learned from news reports that the publisher had hired a team to translate the novel into 11 languages at the headquarters of the biggest publishing company in Italy, Mondadori, in Milan between February and April 2012 in order to ensure a release of 11 translations of the novel simultaneously. As expected, the publisher pulled out all the stops in promoting the novel. The title was first released on Brown’s website on January 15, 2013 via an elaborate puzzle contest, in which anyone with a social media account, such as Twitter or Facebook, could participate. The cover, depicting the famous Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore located in Florence, was revealed on February 20, 2013. The first chapter of the novel, along with a free e-book offer of The Da Vinci Code was made available to readers worldwide through online e-book stores like Amazon, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble on March 17 for a week. An official book trailer was released on YouTube by Transworld Publishers, the official UK publisher of Dan Brown’s books. After its formal release, the novel was No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Fiction and Combined Print & E-book Fiction for the first 11 weeks and remained on the list of e-book fiction for the first 17 weeks. Obviously, the list did not reflect the huge number of sales in the 11 translations of the novel released in various countries at the same time. Sony Pictures has acquired the movie rights of the novel and scheduled the release of the movie for December 18, 2015. As everyone predicted, Brown’s Inferno received mixed reviews from critics. Some praised his usual formula of codes, symbols and exotic locations for a fast-moving thriller; others accused him of whetting the public appetite for mystery with a distortion of history and art. Samra Amir of The Express Tribune was critical of the novel’s predictability and malapropism, but noted that “Brown’s art reigns over boredom. He

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manages to keep the reader glued.”1 In his harsh review for The Observer, Peter Conrad writes, “Brown panders to the mass mind with its craving for myths and monsters.”2 Despite his astounding fame and success, Brown maintains the same composure and candor every time he appears in public. Nothing except writing and cryptography in this exuberant world matters very much to him. Brown still lives in his hometown of Exeter, New Hampshire. Even though his novels have attracted numerous tourists to Paris, Rome and Florence, his hometown somehow remains as quiet as ever. No one has come up with the idea of setting up a tourist agency to take visitors to his kindergarten or high school. This is partially because this “Granite State” is both a classy town of culture and a favorite place for retiring writers. The state will not treat a celebrity with a worldwide reputation any differently. The local residents, simple and gentle, have great respect for the celebrities but do not pay much attention to their presence. Brown keeps his regular schedule, getting up at 4:00 am and writing in the office that is not equipped with a phone or Internet connection. On this comfortable home turf far away from the chaos in the world, he enjoys his solitude and peace, indulges freely in his imagination and explores the mysteries of life and the universe. To his ever-expanding following of fans, Brown is undoubtedly a great story teller. As a writer who always delivers surprises, mystery and satisfaction, Brown has brought infinite joy to his readers’ lives. Now, the readers have to wait patiently for the arrival of his next novel. It has been reported that he has about a dozen ideas for more novels in the “Robert Langdon Series”. For some stories, he has jotted down a 10page synopsis but for others he only has a paragraph-long note. One story has no more than just a title. He is already at work on a new novel but he has not said anything about it. He told NPR in an interview, “I’m always trying to keep a secret. I don’t want people to know what I’m writing about…just trying to keep people off the track of what I’m writing about.”3 When asked which city he might set his next novel in, he mentioned Prague, but then corrected himself quickly, “I’m not saying

1

Samra Amir, “Book Review: Dan Brown’s Inferno – To Hell with It,” The Express Tribune with the International New York Times, June 9, 2013. 2 Peter Conrad, “Inferno by Dan Brown – Review,” The Observer, May 18, 2013. 3 NPR Staff, “Dan Brown: 'Inferno' Is 'The Book That I Would Want To Read',” The National Public Radio: Author Interviews, May 18, 2013, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.npr.org/2013/05/18/183902954/dan-brown-inferno-is-the-bookthat-i-would-want-to-read

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that’s my next setting.”1 His answer seems to have dropped a clear hint that his next thriller will, once again, be set in a beautiful location full of history and art.

1 Bob Minzesheimer, “Dante’s Inferno Inspired Dan Brown’s Inferno,” USA Today, May 14, 2013.

CHAPTER TWO DECRYPTING THE KEY FOR DIGITAL FORTRESS

If we really want to understand a writer, a close look at his or her debut novel is imperative. Digital Fortress, Brown’s debut novel, initiated a new type of genre fiction known as “cultural thriller” in America. Though relatively rough in structure and prose compared to his later and more accomplished works, this novel is certainly essential to our study of his career and his successive innovations in novel writing. Metaphorically speaking, Digital Fortress can be seen as a “fortress” built on a combination of knowledge and suspense. It marks the beginning of Brown’s tenacious effort to establish a workable pattern, or formula, for his cultural thrillers. Since the first attempt by Edgar Allan Poe, the detective story and fiction involving case solving have evolved steadily, and reached their most incisive phase in Brown’s work. We know that there is a tradition of valuing and disseminating knowledge in the American novel. Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is an early example from the mid-19th century. In recent decades, there have been quite a few novels in which meticulous knowledge about cutting-edge science and technology becomes a driving force in the narrative. In his writing, Brown has done more than just inherit such a tradition; he has taken it to a new and more sophisticated level. In Chinese literature, writers have always been expected to build their narratives on knowledge as reading was, and still is, considered an indispensable way of learning rather than merely a pursuit of pleasure. Writers are encouraged to follow Li Ruzhen,1 the author of Flowers in the Mirror, a famous novel from the Qing Dynasty, as a role model and strive to be a writer with scholarly knowledge, who is well-versed in various subjects, ranging from history, philosophy, art and prosody to astrology. Brown seems to have the ambition to be a writer of 1

Li Ruzhen (ᮤỢ⌋, 1763 - 1830) was a Chinese novelist and phonologist in the Qing Dynasty. He is well-known for his novel, Flowers in the Mirror and Lishi Yinjian, a work of Chinese phonology. Flowers in the Mirror (completed in 1827) is a novel of fantasy and erudition in 100 chapters, featuring a Gulliver-like protagonist who travels to strange lands.

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knowledge, whose novel not only takes advantage of all well-liked ingredients in its plot, such as murder, horror, sleuth, code deciphering, chase, and drama but also instills a wide range of knowledge into the narrative so that his story can be entertaining and educational simultaneously. His initial but daring attempt at this approach is on a full display in Digital Fortress. The success of Digital Fortress begins with Brown’s courage to experiment with new concepts of creativity in writing and present a spellbinding story that directly connects to the life of his reader. In other words, his story treads a blurred line between what is true and what is false. On the one hand, it carries some clear characteristics of the latepostmodernist novel, which is known to mix a strong touch of romanticism with a new rhetorical arsenal of prose styles, such as multiplicity, fragmentation, open-endedness, and anti-form tendency. On the other hand, it takes advantage of some standard elements of the “genre fiction,” such as enticing storytelling and an action-packed plot. As a result, it breaks the boundaries between the so-called high-brow and lowbrow art forms and appeals to both refined and popular tastes. Some critics believe that Brown tries to “capitalize on fears of Internet and information security.”1 The spotlight is unquestionably on the exploration of the serious and foreshadowing topic, “national security vs. citizens’ privacy,” but it does more; it makes one ponder. At the heart of the narrative, its cogent and straightforward language lends additional effectiveness to the novel. All these non-conventional features are instrumental in turning this novel into a smashing success, establishing Brown’s new formula of genre fiction and foreshadowing his gradual push for immersion between the “serious novel” and “popular novel.” Digital Fortress received a few good reviews after its publication. Some reviewers praised it as the most realistic, shocking and mesmerizing thriller concerning high technology in recent years, but the sales of the book were quite dismal and failed to deliver the big success Brown had hoped for. As Lisa Rogak notes in her unauthorized biography of Brown, “The first printing for Digital Fortress couldn’t have been much more than a few thousand copies.”2 One reason cited by some reviewers was that the novel came out just before use of the Internet and social media expanded on a large scale. Clearly, the sensitive issue addressed in the story affected only a limited number of people, and it did not instantly 1

Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, “The Dan Brown Phenomenon: Conspiracism in Post-9.11 Popular Fiction,” Radical History Review 111 (Fall, 2011): 195. 2 Lisa Rogak, The Man behind The Da Vinci Code: An Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown, 62.

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resonate with the majority of the reading public. On the contrary, when The Da Vinci Code was released in 2003, readers immediately embraced the thriller because they saw the novel as a timely rendition targeted at the complications of cutting-edge technology and a slew of sensitive issues in the real life of the information age. In fact, many readers went back to Brown’s early books for more suspense-filled and technology-related thrills. In Digital Fortress, “Brown’s characters and plotline, seemingly far-fetched when the book was first released, are eerily similar to current events.”1 What readers discovered from their reading of the novel was a wake-up call for the new reality in their life, namely, their email and instant messages were no longer as private as they had assumed, and everything they did on the Internet could become public information. It was not surprising, therefore, that Digital Fortress and the other two earlier novels quickly climbed to the bestseller list and stayed on it for months. Since 1998, Digital Fortress has been translated into more than 20 languages and sold millions of copies around the world.

1. Plot: One Exciting Moment After Another The American NSA is a secret institution that had been kept out of public sight for years. It controls the most sensitive intelligence operation of the sole superpower in the world. The intelligence under its control relates to the US national security and even stability and peace around the world. But it is facing an unprecedented threat! After a five-year construction period and huge expenses, the NSA has built an all-purpose decoder called the TRANSLTR, “the single most expensive piece of computing equipment in the world – a machine the NSA swore did not exist.”2 The NSA sees it as “a child of necessity” for the most advanced intelligence reconnaissance after “a revolution in telecommunications” and “the arrival of e-mail” (19). It is a supercomputer with the ability to decipher all kinds of codes. It collects confidential information by intercepting the emails that people send on a regular basis. This supercomputer has helped the US deflect countless plots by terrorists, but at the same time it also invades ordinary people’s communication and threatens their privacy due to a lack of proper regulation or oversight. An NSA programmer, Ensei Tankado, is outraged by the fact that the NSA is 1

Jeff Dunn and Craig Bubeck, The Gospel According to Dan Brown (Colorado Spring, CO: David C. Cook, 2006), 94. 2 Dan Brown, Digital Fortress: A Thriller (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, revised edition, 2004), 18. All the quotes from Digital Fortress are taken from the same edition and will be indicated by page number hereafter.

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able “to open everyone’s mail and reseal it without their knowing. It was like having a bug in everyone’s phone in the world” (33). He sees it as “a gross violation of human rights” (33). He quits his job and designs a titfor-tat program called “digital fortress.” He claims it is an unbreakable algorithm. Any computer installed with this software can “send codes the NSA can’t break” (34) and therefore instantly renders the TRANSLTR nothing more than a pile of metal pieces. This claim deeply concerns the commander and deputy director of the NSA, Strathmore. Susan Fletcher, a cryptographer and a longtime protégé of Strathmore’s, and her fiancé, David Becker, get involved in the looming crisis. Strathmore sends Becker to Seville in Spain to search for a gold ring. He sends him away using his authority as Fletcher’s boss, but keeps her in the dark. In the search for the code from another channel, Fletcher moves to locate and identify Tankado’s accomplice, North Dakota, through Internet tracking. Greg Hale, also a code breaker for the NSA, inadvertently discovers the tracking program Fletcher has sent out and stealthily terminates it. So, Fletcher suspects that “Hale is North Dakota!” (145), the man who is standing right next to her. When she tries to report this shocking discovery to the deputy director, she witnesses the tragic death of an engineer, Phil Chartrukian, in the basement of the Cryptography Division. Hale is also at the scene. This further reinforces her suspicion of Hale’s involvement, but he denies it vehemently. Based on the information gleaned from the Internet tracking, Fletcher concludes that North Dakota is nothing but a fictional character Tankado created in order to lead the NSA into a trap. Later, Hale is assassinated and the beeper in the deputy director’s coat pocket reveals the whole secret. Finally, the truth is revealed in the light of day. The deputy director turns out to be responsible for all the assassinations and conspiracies. His aim is to get the “digital fortress.” He sends Becker to Spain under the pretext of taking care of Tankado’s remaining possessions, but really it is because he wants to eliminate Becker, his rival in love. However, man proposes but God disposes. The “digital fortress” that Strathmore is trying to get through his elaborate conspiracy is just a virus. Tankado assumes that the NSA will monitor his email so he deliberately creates a false trail of connecting with a non-existent third party, “North Dakota,” hoping that the NSA will not have any doubt about this code name. The deputy director turns out to be a clever man who also has an ace up his sleeve. For this non-existent encrypted software, he sets up a series of assassinations and schemes that eventually lead to his downfall and bring catastrophe to the NSA.

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In Seville, Spain, Becker embarks on an enthralling series of adventures, running through almost every narrow lane and busy street in the city in order to find Tankado’s missing gold ring and retrieve the pass-key for the “digital fortress.” While sorting through Tankado’s remaining possessions, Becker discovers that a ring is missing, and that it might contain the code. This is vital for the NSA and the safety of national intelligence. First, Becker learns from the Spanish police that the ring was taken by an old Canadian man. He finds the old man at a public clinic and somehow wins his trust. However, the old man does not have the ring. He gives Becker a clue that leads to a German tourist and his female traveling companion, Luzhu. To find their whereabouts, Becker has to phone every traveling companion company, but gains no information at all. He knows he has no more clues to follow, but his conscience and sense of duty do not allow him to give up his search. Later, Becker suddenly recollects a name, “Rossio,” mentioned by one company on the phone. In Spanish, Rossio represents all the positive qualities of a young female Catholic – purity, beauty and chastity. “Luzhu” matches the literal meaning of this name. Again, Becker sees a little glimpse of hope. Becker pretends to be a businessman when he calls Rossio’s company again and easily gets her address – The Alfonzo XIII Hotel. The person who answers the door turns out to be the German who is traveling with her. Becker claims to be a police officer, and that scares the man into total submission. Rossio, however, comes out and refuses to succumb to his authority. After a heated battle of words, Becker learns that the ring is not in Rossio’s possession either because she has already given it to a passing punk girl. Since the street is full of punk girls, the chances of Becker finding the ring based on the sketchy information Rossio gives him are quite slim. After Becker follows a crowd of punks, aimlessly, to the Male Witch Club, his luck turns once again. Inadvertently, he finds out that the name of the punk girl is Megan, and she might be on her way to catching a flight. He rushes to the airport as quickly as he can but the plane has already taken off, and his chances of finding the ring seem to be completely over. Becker then runs into a young girl in the restroom, who turns out to be Megan. As the old saying goes, the butcher looks for his knife, but it is actually in his mouth. Becker finds the ring at last in the most unlikely place! Just as he is about to let out a sigh of relief, imagining “himself handing the ring to the beaming deputy director of the NSA” so he and Fletcher could “lie in the big canopy bed at Stone Manor and make up for lost time” (217), Hulohot, the assassin sent by

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Strathmore, shows up to take him out. The two men fight. After a series of life-threatening encounters, Becker manages to escape death. As the story moves toward the end, more twists and turns build up the momentum for the climax. The virus that is the “digital fortress” has already penetrated deeply into the main databank of the NSA, and it seems all the more urgent to decipher the key. To everyone’s surprise, the ring that Becker has found after tremendous hardships and dangers does not have the key for the “digital fortress.” As the firewalls are broken through one layer after another, they all become very anxious and work feverishly to crack the code. Becker and Fletcher break the codes layer by layer with their knowledge of linguistics and cryptology. The scene before Tankado’s death is shown on the screen again. They realize that when he stretches out his hand with all the remaining strength in his body, he is actually not trying to show his ring. Instead, he is “trying to speak but could not” so he is “thrusting his fingers forward” (365). He is using his deformed finger to indicate the pass-key for the “digital fortress” – 3. As the hint suddenly dawns on her, Fletcher deciphers the code at the last moment. As a result, the NSA fends off a total disaster. Becker returns from Seville, and the lovers are reunited at the end of the story.

2. Characterization: The Gallery of Portraits A novel is often a microcosmic picture of society and a sort of mirror of the human mind in which the whole world, along with its various inhabitants, is reflected. It is not so hard to see our own shadows or those of the people around us in characters from classical literature, such as the ever-wavering and indecisive Hamlet, the selfish and stingy Goriot, the ugly but kind Hashimoto, the sentimental and delicate Lin Daiyu,1 and the firm believer in moral victory, Ah-Q.2 It is true that Digital Fortress relies more on its fast-moving narrative and eventful plot than its characterization, but still it creates a gallery of clear-cut and unblemished portraits of characters, who play out their respective roles adequately. Each of them is essential to the tight plot and sequence of events. The leading characters are not as fully developed as 1

Lin Daiyu is the heroine of a classical Chinese novel, Dream of the Red Chamber, written by Cao Xueqin in 1791. She is known as a lady who is not only beautiful, intelligent and graceful, but also vulnerable, insecure and unstable. 2 Ah-Q is a popular character portrayed by Lu Xun, an influential Chinese writer and critic in the 1920s, in his famous story, “The Real Story of Ah-Q.” Ah-Q is a comic character known for his carefree and mischievous behavior and his firm belief in the spirit of moral victory even if when he is mistreated or humiliated.

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those in other traditional novels, but they work well with the other characters in Brown’s story.

A Distinguished Linguist – David Becker David Becker is a tall, young and romantic intellectual. He is the “youngest full professor at Georgetown University and a brilliant foreignlanguage specialist,” who is “practically a celebrity in the world of academia” (7) and speaks Castilian Spanish fluently. From his wit to his appearance, Becker has all the good qualities desired in a man. Having grown up on the peaceful and elegant campus of the Phillips Exeter Academy, Brown has retained a scholarly bearing and cherished an idealized image of an “intellectual hero” over the years. In many ways, Becker appears to resemble a younger version of Brown’s more popular protagonist in his later novels, Robert Langdon. At 35, Becker is energetic and smart. He is a man with a robust, welltanned and well-built body. He loves sports, and he always defeats his opponent in squash because of his incredible speed across the court. Thanks to his well-conditioned body, his nimble steps and his resilient will, Becker manages to evade the repeated threats to his life during his treacherous adventures in Seville. He has a pair of “sharp green eyes and a wit to match” (7). That is why he can rise to any occasion and, when something goes wrong, always come up with a master plan that catches the reader by surprise. His search for the key runs into one snag after another, and fleeing from a life-threatening pursuit brings him one close call after another. However, each time he faces danger, he seems able with a flash of genius to land safely on his feet. As a foreign-language expert with a special passion for linguistics, Becker is certainly full of talent and knowledge, but he is still eager to learn and is keenly interested in cryptology. It’s hard to doubt his ability to enter the highly secretive NSA, practice his expertise effortlessly, and engage the heroine, Fletcher, with his disarming charm. What is more crucial is that Becker’s excellent expertise in language and his strong interest in cryptology are critical to a key detail in the plot development – his crucial contribution to the ultimate deciphering of the pass-key for the “digital fortress.” Speaking with full authority and passion, Becker delivers his lectures on etymology and linguistics to huge crowds of admiring students at the university. His rock-hard chin reminds one of the marble statues, and his cool demeanor fits the image of an unsmiling man. Actually, he has a very reserved sense of humor. “It seemed there was nothing Becker couldn’t twist into a joke” (11). Before she gets involved with him, Fletcher didn’t

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suspect that they would share so many laughs. To sum up, Becker is a scholar who is energetic, charming and resourceful but free from the usual pedantic bookishness. Becker’s charisma does not just come from his reputation as a star in his field, or from his wit, health, or vitality. It more likely comes from his selfless and earnest nature. Initially, the reason he travels the long distance to Spain is to put Tankado’s remaining possessions in order. He simply assumes that it is going to be a quick trip, “In and out, he told himself. In and out.” But “there was no way he could have known” (41) that his mission would be so much more complicated. When he learns that the ring on the dead man’s finger is missing, he could easily have washed his hands of the matter and wrapped up his mission so that he could return to the US and reunite with Fletcher, but he does not do that. As soon as he realizes that the ring means a lot to the NSA, Becker decides to take on the important task of looking for it. Despite the numerous complications and challenges during the investigation, he moves towards his goal with unyielding determination. While Becker is doing his best to accomplish the orders from the deputy director, the latter is working feverishly on his hideous scheme to get rid of the contender for his love interest’s heart. It is in contrast to the selfish hypocrisy of the deputy director that Becker’s selfless service shines through so luminously. Often, love touches the human heart at its deepest level and triggers the most secret human emotions. No doubt nothing reflects Becker’s sincerity better than his dedication to love. As only one of Fletcher’s admirers, he is never as slick as Hale, who makes endless advances to her and he never tries to get what he wants deviously through surreptitious schemes like Strathmore does. Becker, who is straight and honest, seems impervious to the affectionate eyes of many of his fervent and outgoing female students. He still carries the spirit of a “long-gone knight” in front of Fletcher. Every time they go out for dinner, he brings his checkbook. He never allows Fletcher to pick up the bill even though he does not have much money in his own account. To return a favor on behalf of Fletcher, he accepts the deputy director’s order to go to Seville without telling her. Becker has no desire to curry favor with others or show off, but always respects and cares about the person he loves quietly and wholeheartedly.

The Heroine in the Field of Cryptography – Susan Fletcher Brown has a special interest in wise characters. In his early novels, the intellectual hero is always accompanied by a heroine who is equally professional and sophisticated. In Digital Fortress, the heroine is Susan

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Fletcher. With bright eyes, a delicate face, a beautiful body, and an IQ of 170, it is no exaggeration to say that Fletcher is beautiful on the outside and possesses remarkable wisdom inside. A clever girl since her childhood, Fletcher is one of the few female experts in the NSA and holds a key position as the director of the Cryptography Division. When the hero and heroine, “two highly analytic minds” (11), meet for the first time, Becker senses that Fletcher is one of the smartest women he has ever met. Once they start discussing codes and code-breaking issues, Becker feels that he has to think quickly in order to keep up with the train of Fletcher’s thoughts. As they talk, “they felt like a couple of teenagers – everything was fireworks” (11). The deputy director mentions Tankado’s plan for the “digital fortress” and hints that the situation is extremely grave as TRANSLTR has hit a snag, “an unbreakable code.” However, Fletcher’s instinct tells her that it is nothing but a trap deliberately set by Tankado, and that North Dakota is merely Tankado’s bait to lure the NSA. If we revisit this episode after reading through the whole novel, we have to admire Fletcher’s excellent judgment. Her insight into the truth is much deeper than that of the seasoned deputy director. The pity is that she respects the deputy director as her superior and her elder. As a result, she lets her feelings compromise her judgment at first and lacks the courage to confront the deputy director early on. As an independent and self-reliant woman, she talks straight and has a clear-cut stand on what to love or hate. She has a lot of admirers around her. Becker is just one of them; even the guard at the front door of the NSA has a strong crush on her. Nevertheless, Fletcher isn’t conceited; instead, she is persistently down to earth and unyielding in pursuing the cause she loves so dearly, cryptology. The love between Fletcher and Becker is based on equality, mutual respect, and a deep connection in their feelings and hearts. The slick Hale has expressed his love for Fletcher dozens of times, but she rejects him again and again. As soon as she learns that Strathmore has sent Becker to Spain, a move that obviously puts the person she loves so dearly in harm’s way, she expresses her indignation explicitly: “That’s a dirty trick!” (52). That is Fletcher, a woman who is compassionate and daring enough to show her resentment, without any hesitation, in front of her superior who is “apparently not accustomed to being yelled at” (51). A beautiful, smart and individualistic heroine teams up with a healthy, brave and sincere hero in a perfect partnership. They complement each other and form an inseparable pair. They connect with mutual affinity in spite of the long distance between them. One is an expert in linguistics

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while the other is the top female specialist in the field of cryptology. Becker and Fletcher lead the two main threads in the novel – the showdown with the TRANSLTR at the NSA and the journey to Seville, respectively. At the point where the two threads converge, the novel reaches its climax. At the end, the two of them decrypt the code for the “digital fortress” and avert the crisis by using their professional expertise collaboratively. In his subsequent novel series, Brown basically retains the same man-woman partnership with great chemistry, which naturally reminds us of the first man and first woman of humankind – Adam and Eve. Here, one cannot help wondering whether the author is hinting at something profound, that is, that harmony and unity between the genders may create and sustain peace for the whole of humankind.

The Schemer Behind the Scenes – Strathmore Strathmore, lean and muscular, is the deputy director of the NSA. He is a man of few words but an impulsive desire for perfection is hidden beneath his low-key demeanor. He used to be a prominent figure and has achieved a lot in his career. To score more glory before his retirement, he tries to orchestrate a series of plots and murders in an attempt to get the “exit control” (the convenient exit route the software designer created for himself) for the “digital fortress.” He transports the “digital fortress” into the main databank by bypassing the “gauntlet,” the virus screener, without proper authority. This almost brings disaster to the NSA. Strathmore is clever and cautious. Given his impeccable reputation within the NSA, no one could imagine that he would do something so hideous. However, no one is perfect. This time the deputy director is indeed making a mistake, a gigantic one, which stems from wrong judgment. It might seem accidental but something accidental often leads to something inevitable. His self-confidence, built up due to his past successes, does not allow him to cast any doubt on his decision, let alone change it. When Fletcher questions the authenticity of the “digital fortress,” Strathmore rejects her instantly; Phil Chartrukian, who works in the department of system security, discovers the virus and brings the news to Strathmore right away, but he does not take it seriously and sticks stubbornly to his plan. More and more people see the looming crisis but Strathmore chooses to do nothing about it. Consequently, the virus penetrates the main databank and almost causes a leak of all the confidential information it contains. The close call seems to reinforce people’s belief that when the authority is excessively centralized and no oversight is in place, the man in charge tends to be self-centered, and he

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can stumble into making a big mistake. Incidents like this are nothing new in history. As the mastermind of all the schemes behind the scenes, Strathmore is naturally an unmitigated demonic figure. Brown does not portray Strathmore that way though. On the contrary, he presents the despicable but pitiful Strathmore from different angles. As a devoted and fanatic patriot, Strathmore attempts to turn the NSA into a well-protected fortress. “There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Strathmore loved his country. He was known to his colleagues as a patriot and a visionary… a decent man in a world of lies” (24). But he is hungry for glory. Although he is already in semi-retirement, he tries desperately to perform deeds of merit once again. Like Tankado, Strathmore is firm, brave and resourceful. Both of them adhere to the principle of “maintaining social safety” but the showdown between them spins out of control. Strathmore is thirsty for love. For more than ten years, he trained a young skinny girl as she turned into a pretty, mature and intellectual woman, with whom he has subconsciously fallen in love. Fletcher knows that “Strathmore would be lost without her; the purity of her love for cryptography seemed to be an emotional lifeline to Strathmore” (108). Fletcher relies on him, too, as “her shelter in a world of power-hungry men, nurturing her career, protecting her, and, as he often joked, making all her dreams come true” (108). Even though waves of emotions run wild in his heart, Strathmore has managed to bury his love deep inside. He has won a daughterly respect and admiration from Fletcher, which could very well have continued if Becker hadn’t shown up. Strathmore is the most complicated character in Digital Fortress. His image reminds us of Claude Frollo, the archbishop with a split personality, in Victor Hugo’s well-known novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The difference is that Strathmore is loyal to national security while Frollo is dedicated to his religious cause. Both of them are rational and disciplined, and their dedication to their beloved cause is so fixated that it almost borders on fanaticism. Both of them fall in love with a much younger woman. Strathmore has been married for a long time, and, as a cardinal, Claude Frollo is not supposed to indulge in such feelings. Both struggle with the conflict between emotion and rationale, elevation and degeneration, self and society. It is inevitable that both fall into the whirlpool of their emotions. Compared to other characters, the portrayal of Strathmore appears to be more dimensional, complete and lifelike. E.M. Forster once said, “No English novelist is as great as Tolstoy – that is to say has given so complete a picture of man’s life, both on its domestic and heroic side. No English novelist has explored man’s soul as deeply as

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Dostoevsky. And no novelist anywhere has analyzed the modern consciousness as successfully as Marcel Proust.”1 It might be a bit farfetched to claim that the characterization of Strathmore has met Forster’s high standards but Brown’s gradual revelation of Strathmore’s tormented soul is both realistic and credible.

The Creator of “Digital Fortress” - Ensei Tankado Often, the difference among the characters and the different way in which they appear in a novel imply the well-conceived intention of the author. The character Wang Xifeng from Dream of the Red Chamber, who is “always heard way before she is actually seen,” is a good example of a character’s perfect entrance. Her words before her actual appearance in the scene, “I am late, and failed to greet the guest from afar,” instantly show Wang as an impetuous and shrewd woman.2 A good entrance for characters may define their distinctive roles on the one hand and, on the other, set things up for plot development, thus conveying the author’s preconceived intentions in characterization. Brown seems to practice this tactic pretty well. In Digital Fortress, the entry of Tankado in the brief prologue proves to be an effective move by the author. The story opens with Tankado’s sudden death abroad and presents the reader with a long series of foggy suspense scenes. Interestingly, Tankado’s last breath signifies the end of his life but it also serves as the beginning of the novel. The “digital fortress” conjured by Tankado is the blasting fuse for a string of well-plotted murders. In WWII, Tankado’s mother was hit by the radiation from the atom bomb while serving as a volunteer in Hiroshima, thus becoming “one of the hibakusha – the radiated people” (31). Having suffered so much from the radiation, she died of complications during Tankado’s birth and Tankado was born deformed. His father disappeared without even taking a look at him and never returned. However, Tankado is gifted and has shown an astonishing talent for computers since his childhood. He was known as “the crippled genius” of computer science (32). Given his great talent and creative potential, he is soon picked up by NSA as one of the participants in the manufacturing of the TRANSLTR. After the decoder is completed, the NSA changes its original plan and uses it as a stand-alone decoding equipment. What this implies is that NSA may read anybody’s email at will, and there won’t be any privacy for anybody. The decision angers Tankado and he is determined to reveal to 1

E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel (New York: Rosetta Books, 2010), 19. Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber, ed. Wei Li (Changsha: Yulu Books, 2008), 22.

2

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the public how this secret machine allows NSA to intrude into people’s privacy. Consequently, NSA has to fire him and then, later, stop him. Despite the loss of his job, Tankado dedicates himself to exposing the TRANSLTR. He claims to have created the “digital fortress” – an unbreakable algorithm – that will reduce the ultimate anti-intelligence weapon to a pile of useless metal pieces. Tankado knows well that NSA will use the TRANSLTR to check his emails so he pretends to get in touch with a non-existent third party – North Dakota – as bait. Indeed, Strathmore falls right into the trap and sends someone to kill Tankado. Tankado appears to have predicted that the virus program, “digital fortress,” might be entered into the main databank of NSA. Without a pass-key, the consequence will be uncontainable. Moments before his death, he “raised his left hand and held his fingers outward” (1) as if he was trying to offer a hint about the pass-key for the fortress. Tankado is sincere, kind, and introverted. He regards moral perfection as his ultimate goal. His colleagues respect him very much. The question “who is going to monitor the monitors?” lingers in his mind. Tankado would not take on this risk if he did not have a strong sense of justice and the courage to defy authorities. He would not create the “digital fortress” and split from NSA if NSA’s move did not cross the red line of his moral conscience. Even though he is smeared with vicious slander, he has no intention to take revenge. Since he predicted early on that the virus software, “digital fortress,” will somehow penetrate NSA’s databank, Tankado has the fear before his death that the pass-key might be buried underground along with his body and no one will be able to stop the virus from destroying the databank. He musters all the strength he has before dying to stretch out his hand in order to drop a hint. His perceptive insight and strong sense of social responsibility are truly admirable. Pitting himself against NSA, Tankado fights courageously for public freedom but is tragically murdered. There is no doubt that the author has a highly sympathetic attitude toward this character.

“Rock Salt” Becomes an Innocent Pawn – Greg Hale Often, the appearance of some minor characters is intended as a lead for some of the details in plot development. In Digital Fortress, major characters carry the main threads of the story forward while a few minor but indispensable characters play an essential role in connecting all the dots in the novel and propel the plot forward. Hale is one of them. Hale is tall and muscular, with blonde hair and a deep groove on his chin. He has a loud voice, a heavy-set body, and the nickname of “Rock

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salt.” Rock salt is a mineral, namely, a kind of salty residue left after seawater evaporates. Hale mistakes it for a precious stone and takes great pride in his nickname. As a code breaker for the NSA, Hale has a relatively indecent past. His big mouth and irresponsible behavior often trigger resentment from others. He likes Fletcher, yet he always approaches her in a flirtatious manner. She finds his advances undesirable and despicable. In her eyes, Hale is “obnoxious and arrogant – but he wasn’t a traitor” (138). Since Hale terminates the program that Fletcher sent out in pursuit of North Dakota, she suspects that Hale and Tankado are co-conspirators in sabotaging the NSA. When Fletcher and Hale are stuck at Node 3, Fletcher assumes that Hale will make a move on her. However, he is only using her as a hostage to free himself from Strathmore’s evil talons because he realizes that he is a man who knows too many secrets, and the deputy director will not let him off the hook so easily. Just as he predicted, Hale dies by the deputy director’s gun in the end. If Strathmore’s beeper had not gone off and so revealed the secret, Hale might have had to take the big fall for the deputy director. Hale had no intention of getting involved in the conspiracy; he is just a pawn, a senseless sacrifice. Strictly speaking, he is not the antagonist in the novel and his appearance is not directly related to the pass-key for the “digital fortress” but he creates a large amount of suspense in the novel. Without a character like Hale, the story would surely lose much of its subtlety and flavor. In addition to Hale, the novel also features other characters, including the killer Hulohot, Director Fontaine, and other personnel from the NSA. All of them are instrumental in connecting the dots and moving the plot forward continuously. The way in which the Digital Fortress maneuvers through twists and turns is impeccable, but some believe that the characters in the novel appear one-dimensional because of the overemphasis on the titillating plot. Such an observation appears implausible. Plot and characterization may move forward side by side and complement each other. Although the story of Digital Fortress takes place within a short span of time and at a quick pace, the author is able to present many contrasting characters with their distinctive features amidst the ephemeral lights and shadows. One of them is Strathmore, who is a fanatic patriot; the other is Tankado, who is willing to sacrifice his life for the freedom of the public. The two men represent the two opposing sides of the conflict: national security vs. public freedom. They square off over the “digital fortress.” Becker, specialized in linguistics, and Fletcher, good at cryptography, play a crucial role in breaking the code for the “digital fortress.” They manage to avert many imminent dangers and survive several life-threatening

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encounters, thus the theme of the novel seamlessly unfolds through the minute details of the plot. Hale, the killer Hulohot and other characters function as go-betweens and further intensify the sinuosity of the plot by enhancing the narrative element and brilliance of the story. It is clear that all characters in Digital Fortress have been deftly created for their specific roles. None has merely a nominal presence in the story. They form a loyal supporting cast for the novel and, symbolically, represent the different walks of life in the world through their different traits and functions.

3. Themes: Different Spaces The Information Age and the Crisis over Privacy Digital Fortress is a story about the complications arising from the use of high technology. Its plot unfolds with the so-called information age as its backdrop. Thanks to the rapid advancement of computer science, the Internet has brought us limitless convenience. Our work and life depend more and more on Internet-based technologies yet few Americans realize that the Internet has turned out to be a double-edged sword. One of its drawbacks is the constant and often unavoidable breach of citizens’ confidentiality. All our private information on email, Facebook, Twitter and other social media can be either accessed by governmental agencies without our consent or stolen by anonymous hackers. The American people have enjoyed the easy access to advanced technologies but they have found themselves caught in a dilemma they have never experienced before. For instance, when you are shopping, the store will register your detailed shopping list so as to sell it to marketing companies; when you withdraw money from the teller machine or make a payment with your credit card, the teller machine and the credit card reader will automatically record your personal information; your boss has the right to know all the medicines you purchase with the health insurance coverage provided by your company. At home, you cannot escape from ubiquitous intrusion into your privacy, either. The “mini-maggot,” a sort of tiny remote-controlled electronic bug, may fly into your house stealthily and eavesdrop; for $100, others may tap your cell phone by getting your phone line crossed and, when you visit a website, the server can record the content that you have searched and downloaded, and the time you did it as well. Google collaborated with the US government to establish a website called Intellipedia, which was first established as a pilot project in late 2005 and formally announced in 2006. At this site, the FBI, CIA and other

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intelligence agencies may collect intelligence from different parts of the world. There is no doubt that Intellipedia has opened a convenient channel for intelligence gathering in America, but it has also triggered users’ worries about their privacy. In this information-packed web space, there is absolutely no measure that prevents the leak of privacy.

Behind the “Mysterious Net” – What Is Important? In chapter 7 of Digital Fortress, there is a reference to a terrorist plot coded “Sherwood Forest,” which is targeted directly at the New York Stock Exchange with an aim of “redistributing the wealth” (35). This antigovernment organization spent six days planting 27 non-explosive flux pods in buildings surrounding the Exchange. The consequence would be truly unthinkable if they were all detonated. It would create a blast of magnetism powerful enough to erase all the magnetic media at the Exchange. Such a detail seems familiar as it easily reminds one of the 9/11 incident that shocked the entire world. On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists hijacked four American civilian aircrafts and launched a terrorist attack on landmark buildings and government facilities, such as the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It was the gravest terrorist attack in the history of mankind, and it was an attack that brought America the heaviest loss since the Pearl Harbor bombing in WWII. On September 20, 2002, just days after the first anniversary of the 9/11 incident, President Bush sent the Congress a report, “The National Security Strategy of the United States,” which defined the fight against terrorism and the non-proliferation of weapons of massive destruction as the most important tasks for American national security. The report addresses some serious potential threats to the national security of America, the three security strategies in response to these threats, and the three ways to execute these strategies. One of the key steps is to intensify the collection and analysis of intelligence. At present, there are 16 intelligence agencies in America, and the National Intelligence Board is the body of senior intelligence community leaders headed by the Director of National Intelligence. The agency most visible to people is the well-known FBI, the Federal Bureau of Intelligence of the United States. The one that runs covert operations and remains essentially unknown to most is the NSA. This agency, as featured in Brown’s Digital Fortress, has been “gathering global electronic intelligence data and protecting US classified information for over half a century. Only 3 percent of Americans were even aware it existed” (8). In

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the novel, the NSA relies on the powerful TRANSLTR to thwart countless plots by terrorists. These intelligence agencies weave a gigantic spying network that functions like eyes behind the scenes, monitoring every move of suspects both at home and abroad. After the 9/11 incident, the American government further strengthened the investment in and management of intelligence gathering. The adoption of the new laws regarding the regulation of the Internet, The Patriot Act and The Homeland Security Act, is clear evidence of that. The Patriot Act authorizes the law enforcement agencies to conduct covert searches of citizens’ houses without a warrant. Also, it allows the government to not only collect a list of the books that citizens borrow or buy but also ask the Internet and telecommunication companies to provide detailed information about their clients unconditionally. According to The Homeland Security Act, Internet companies are obliged to provide the government with all sorts of information about their clients, while the police are authorized to monitor citizens’ online activities, including the exchange of emails. To a certain extent, these regulatory articles have indeed prevented terrorist crimes from emerging or spreading, but at the same time they have also triggered people’s concern over their personal privacy and freedom. Are national security and citizens’ privacy as irreconcilable as water and fire? Is there an acceptable balance between the two? If not, then who can stipulate with authority which one is more important than the other behind the ubiquitous network?

4. Setting: The World in Montage Like a great photographer, Brown attaches great value to the visual effect of his settings. In Digital Fortress, the narrative alternates between the two main settings of the headquarters of the NSA in America and the city of Seville in Spain, and shifts its focus back and forth through a montage-like approach. Such a changing perspective creates a sense of immediacy and makes readers feel as if they were constantly shuttling between the scenes and closely following the characters in action.

Seville, Spain Seville, the fourth-largest city in Spain, is the center of art, culture and finance in the southern region of the country. It hosted The World Expo successfully in 1992. It is an ancient city with a history of approximately 2,000 years. Between the 8th and 13th centuries, Seville had seen better

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days as the then capital for the kings of Umayyad Caliphate was taken by the Moors. In 1519, the well-known navigator, Magellan, departed from here to complete his epoch-making journey – circumnavigating the globe for the first time in the history of humankind. Starting from the 15th and 16th centuries, Seville moved into its golden age. Columbus’ discovery of the new continent turned Seville into a top port city, a gateway for maritime trade, and through it came a fortune for Spain. In 1588, the British Navy defeated Spain’s so-called Invincible Armada and seized Europe’s hegemony on the sea from Spain. Soon, Seville lost its superiority in the trade and traffic to the New World as its river silted up and obstructed the sailing of ships. Without its competitive advantage as a port city, Seville’s fortune went gradually downhill. It is in Seville, a charming city for tourists today, that one of the main characters, Becker, embarks on an action-packed quest to search for Tankado’s gold ring.

Scene One: The Spanish Square The Spanish Square is spacious and magnificent, and has been said to be the most attractive square in Spain. In 1992, the square was the meeting site for the World Expo. Built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929, the square is an emblematical landmark for the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish architecture. The architect, Anibal Gonzalez, presided over the design. Known for its distinctive features and long history, the square attracts thousands of tourists all year round. People come to see its buildings with their creative styles and enjoy the rich culture in its surroundings. Many world-renowned writers used to live in the area. Within the vicinity, there are museums featuring English poets such as Keats and Shelley and displaying their manuscripts, letters, and other relics. Everyone’s favorite movie, Lawrence of Arabia, selected the Spanish Square as its filming location. Also, the building there was used as a location in the Star War movie series Star Wars: Episode II – Attacks of the Clones (2002) and in The Dictator (2012).

Scene Two: Hotel Alfonso XIII Hotel Alfonso XIII was built in 1928. The “small four-star hotel” (113) was named after King Alfonso XIII, who commissioned the architect, José Espiau y Muñoz, to build it. It has a great geographic location because it is right in the center of Seville and close to the Spanish

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Square. The hotel reflects the architectural trend during the avant-garde artistic movement of Europe in the early 20th century. To this day it enjoys a great reputation for its unique artistry and romantic style, and it bustles with a constant stream of visitors from all over the world. In 2004 and 2005, Hotel Alfonso XIII was ranked number one on the list of the most famous tourist sites in the world. The hotel was built with the most luxurious standards at that time. Unlike the usual first-rate hotel, it does not have any skyscrapers around it or any sign of modernity represented by reinforced concrete. Instead, it has an unusual but elegant layout. “Spain’s Golden Age had long since passed, but for a while in the mid-1600s, this small nation had ruled the world” (112). Standing in front of this building of exquisite architectural artistry, one cannot help but wonder about the glory of Spain during the colonial period.

Scene Three: The Seville Cathedral The Seville Cathedral may be considered the best Gothic building in the world. It is the third-largest cathedral, right after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The cathedral, built in the early 15th century, has a history of hundreds of years. It, “like all great cathedrals of Europe, is laid out in the shape of a cross” (279). Inside the cathedral, it is bleak and gloomy as “the warmth of the day turns to damp coolness” (279), but it keeps many precious relics: a cross (legend says that it was built with the first load of gold shipped back from the New World by Columbus), the manuscripts of the Bible, books of hymns, luxurious jewelry, and large paintings by legendary artists. What is most noticeable is the mausoleum of the navigator and explorer Columbus in the grand hall. Even though whether or not it is actually the burial site of Columbus remains unsettled, the Spanish people revere the mausoleum and Columbus, along with the maps, manuscripts and documents about the Indians from other explorers of the New World, as their national treasures. In an ancient city like Seville, traces of history may be found in every corner. In Brown’s narrative of Digital Fortress, every scene in Seville marks a crucial stage of Becker’s breathtaking quest. While reading, the reader gets to enjoy the cinematic representation of the wonders in the historical city and experience the unpredictable encounters and surprises among the characters.

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5. Codes: The Labyrinth of Numbers The plot of Digital Fortress relies heavily on the long process of discovering and deciphering various codes. As we indulge in touring the narrative “fortress,” we may pick up a few clues about the labyrinth of codes built on numbers and letters. Here is a fascinating riddle of codes: BEVUERESCLSAKOSN (hint: it contains two names). These letters might seem random but they definitely mean something special. After reading Digital Fortress, you will certainly see that the novel not only sets up multiple labyrinths of codes but also offers us the guides that will lead us out of them, such as “Perfect Square Cipher Box,” “Replacement Method,” and “Brute-Force Attack.” To reveal the secret of the 16 letters, we have to enter Digital Fortress and search.

Perfect Square Cipher Box It is mentioned in chapter 3 that the “perfect square cipher box” was invented by Julius Caesar, “the first code-writer in history” (15). After his confidential documents were seized from his foot-messengers a few times, the great militarist devised a set of encryptions to protect the safety of his directives. He rearranged his messages in a way that appeared to be completely random and meaningless but actually contained traceable clues. The letter count in each scrambled message is a perfect square, such as 16, 25 and 100, or longer if he had more to say. Only he and his top generals knew how to decipher the encryption and understand the message in the letter. Once they received his letters, his generals would first copy the letters on a square grid neatly and then read them from the top to the bottom. Instantly, the message in the letters could be clearly seen between the lines. Caesar’s concept of encryption through the rearrangement of letters has remained in practice to this day. To compound the difficulty of decryption, the users have modified it over time. During WWII, the Nazis invented a mind-boggling encryption machine called Enigma. It looked very much like an old-fashioned typewriter, with brass interlocking rotors inside that could rotate and mix up letters in senseless alphabetic combinations. Only the receiver of the message, who had another Enigma machine of the same kind, could break the hidden code. In the last few chapters of the novel, the situation becomes absolutely crucial as the clock is ticking and disaster is nigh. Everyone is holding their breath and trying to break the pass-key for the “digital fortress” but

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what they see in front of them is a series of senseless alphabetical groupings: PFEESESNRETMPFHAIRWEOOIGMEENNRMAENETSHASDCNSIIAAI EERBRNKFBLELODI

However, Fletcher flashes a smile of understanding as the “perfect square cipher box” presents her with the answer. Here, there are 64 letters – a perfect square. Once they are arranged in an 8x8 square grid, the patterns can be detected: P R I M E D I F

F E R E N C E B

E T W E E N E L

E M E N T S R E

S P O N S I B L

E F O R H I R O

S H I M A A N D

N A G A S A K I

If you read left to right first and then top to bottom, these random lines of letters will instantly form a message: PRIME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELEMENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI. The pass-key for the “digital fortress” had baffled everyone for a long time but the clue was finally emerging. Now, let’s go back to the coding riddle mentioned earlier. You might think you are smart enough to break the code. It is a similar application of the “perfect square cipher box” with a “perfect square” of 4x4=16. Here’s the square grid of the letters: B E C K

E R L O

V E S S

U S A N

If you read top to bottom first and then left to right, the message, “BECKER LOVES SUSAN,” appears instantly. With this clue, you can certainly figure out how to design an encrypted love letter to convey your own deep feelings for someone.

Replacement Method If you feel this is fun, let’s try to decrypt another code:

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A: HL FKZC VD LDS B: LD SNN

This is the message exchanged between Fletcher and Becker during a university performance of The Nutcracker. Becker worked hard on this 11-letter code during the entire intermission. Actually, this is a short exchange that occurs frequently in our daily life. Anyone who has read through Digital Fortress will probably smile knowingly after seeing the two lines because the encrypted message can be easily deciphered with the replacement method. Such a method allows you to replace each letter in the message with the letter either preceding or following it as you wish. The code breaker may crack the code by tracing a certain pattern. The way the replacement method works is by replacing each letter with the one right after it in the alphabet. It has a simple formula: c=m+k; where c stands for the cleartext; m means the encrypted text; k is the key or the replacement method, namely, the actual position of the letter used for replacement. To decipher the code, all we need to do is replace all the letters with the ones right behind them. For instance, by using the key here, K=1, B=A+1, D=B+1… I=H+1, M=L+1, the cleartext appears: A: I AM GLAD WE MET B: ME TOO

After breaking the simple code with the replacement method, Becker could not believe how these letters could make him so happy and Fletcher “beamed” (16) after seeing Becker’s short response.

Brute-Force Attack Brute-Force Attack is another code-breaking approach but is relatively more complicated than the first two. Here we try to explain it by comparing the following concepts. a. Public-Key Encryption: The US government claims the authority to intercept and read its citizens’ private emails by citing the need to safeguard the national security. The Internet program developers come up with countermeasures by creating the public-key encryption. What it can do is shuffle the frequency of radio and television so that the email cannot be transmitted openly. As long as the user encrypts the message before sending it out, he or she does not have to worry about its interception because, without the key, the third party will only see some random garble. Such an encryption may be executed with some easy-to-use

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software on a family computer. No doubt it is a gigantic obstacle to the NSA, the agency that is keen on snooping into citizens’ private correspondences. b. Pass-Key: This is a series of long and complicated codes. The function is the same as the password that people need to use the teller machine. What it actually does is restore the original information through mathematical calculation. c. Bergofsky Principle: “The principle clearly stated that if a computer tried enough keys, it was mathematically guaranteed to find the right one” (28). In reality, such a principle does not exist. Nobody had ever heard about it before the book came out. It is Brown’s invention. Actually, Brown named the so-called principle after his math teacher back at the Exeter Academy. So far, naming his characters after his teachers has been a special feature in his novel writing. Nearly ten teachers from his old school have been named for different roles in his novels, and they all liked the “unexpected fame.” What is the Brute-Force Attack, then? According to the description in the novel, it is a decryption method that is mainly based on the so-called Bergofsky Principle, looking for the correct key by testing every possible key. At first, the pass-key that users relied on was too short. The NSA could break their codes with the public-key encryption without much trouble. However, as the users’ pass-keys grew longer and more complex, it became more and more difficult to crack the codes using Brute-Force Attack. “If a desired pass-key had 10 digits, a computer was programmed to try every possibility between 0000000000 and 9999999999” (20). The decryption definitely became a daunting task. d. TRANSLTR: Due to the challenge of the increasing sophistication of the users’ pass-keys, the usual Brute-Force Attack method was no longer able to do the job; at least not efficiently or in a timely manner. To solve this problem, the NSA decides to build the first universal codebreaking machine, TRANSLTR. It also operates based on the Bergofsky Principle but takes the application of the Brute-Force Attack to a higher level. Running 3 million processors in parallel at the amazing speed of quantum computing, TRANSLTR tests every permutation of code with pass-keys at a “blinding speed” (21) and accomplishes a high-level of efficiency in decryption.

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“Digital Fortress” The novel uses “digital fortress” as its title and presents the search for its decryption as the plot of the story. What kind of software is the “digital fortress” after all? Does it really have the magical power to be the ultimate destroyer of TANSLTR? There are some key details we need to look at. First of all, let’s get to know the rotating cleartext. The computer deciphers codes mostly by checking the cleartext for identifiable word patterns. Josef Harne, a fictional Hungarian mathematician in the novel, comes up with a new encryption algorithm – the rotating cleartext. In addition to encryption, this program also rotates the decrypted cleartext at different times. Theoretically, the decrypted cleartext is in constant rotation, and such perpetual shift makes it impossible for the codebreaking computer to find the identifiable word patterns. Even if it finds the correct key, it cannot tell. The concept is somewhat similar to the idea of colonizing Mars – certainly applicable in theory but far beyond human ability at this point. Now, let’s check out Biggleman’s safe, “a hypothetical cryptography scenario in which a safe builder wrote blueprints for an unbreakable safe. He wanted to keep the blueprints a secret, so he built the safe and locked the blueprints inside” (37). In other words, the creator locks the only clue inside the safe so no one could open it. Tankado has used more or less the same trick for “digital fortress”. Actually, the “digital fortress” is a kind of unfinished virus software. Tankado openly claims that it is the ultimate anti-spy weapon, which works like the revolving cleartext and has the ability to resist any codebreaking program, including TRANSLTR, the universal code-breaking machine that relies on the Brute-Force Attack method. “Fletcher marveled at Ensei Tankado’s ingenuity” (37). The gurus at the NSA believe it is real. Tankado asks others to download the software but those who do just cannot open it. The deputy director assumes that the “digital fortress” has imitated Biggleman’s safe and encrypted itself with the program. In fact, the “digital fortress” that causes the deputy director such trepidation is nothing more than a trap set by Tankado.

Word Games While passing through the labyrinth that is Digital Fortress, what we see is not only a mixture of codes in numbers and letters but also a mishmash of mysterious word games. Among them, the use of puns and the replacement of letters need to be examined carefully.

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Puns: as mentioned earlier, the clue to the pass-key of the “digital fortress” starts to emerge after Fletcher breaks a code with the Perfect Square Cipher Box – PRIME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELEMENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI. This line of words seems to have nothing to do with numbers, but the code indicator on the computer screen is a number. It is the linguist, Becker, who comes up with the answer. Actually, “difference” could also mean “margin”; “prime” could also mean “prime number” in mathematics; “elements” could also mean “prime numbers.” The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki used different isotopes of the same element of uranium. Therefore, this is what Tankado’s encryption implies: the margin between the prime numbers of the two bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, namely, the margin between the atom of U-238 and the atom of U-235 is exactly 3! “It was as if David Becker had been hit by the stun gun all over again. His world slowed to stop. Three…three…three. 238 minus 235! The difference is three!” (366). Clearly, a pun is intended. Tankado chose the obscure definitions of these words over the common ones for his encryption and set up a strenuous challenge for any attempt at decryption. Replacement of Letters: to strengthen the NSA’s firm belief in the existence of the “digital fortress,” Tankado deliberately establishes contact with the non-existent “Dakota” (Ndakota). The name, “Dakota,” is merely a word game played by Tankado. The two names, “Ndakota” and “Tankado,” consist of the same seven letters; the only difference is the sequence of these letters. “Ndakota” is actually a word coined from the replacement of the letters in “Tankado.” Clearly, North Dakota and Tankado are the same person!

The Ultimate Code Once you have found your way through the labyrinth in Digital Fortress, you have gained a thorough understanding of the various grids of codes. How about a quick test of your code-breaking skill? At the end of the novel, the author attaches the ultimate encryption: 128-10-93-85-10-128-98-112-6-6-25-126-39-1-68-78

As long as we line up, one after another, the first letter from the chapter in Digital Fortress indicated by each number, we will find the solution. For instance, chapter 128 begins with “When Fletcher awoke,” so we pick the first letter, “W.” After we do the same thing for all the

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chapters indicated by these numbers, we collect a line of letters: WECGEWHYAAIORTNU. Using the Perfect Square Cipher Box method, we place the letters in a square grid: W E A R

E W A T

C H I N

G Y O U

After reading from top to bottom first and then left to right, we will see the formation of a new line: WEAREWATCHINGYOU. With proper spacing between the letters, a line of cleartext instantly appears. Finding a return route for misplaced letters, restoring the proper sequence among the letters, turning fragmentary ideas into a clear train of thought, and replacing complication with clarity – this is what the three guides, namely, Perfect Square Cipher Box, the Replacement Method, and Brute-Force Attack, can do for you. Open the door of wisdom and you will easily find what you need in the code-breaking charts in Digital Fortress.

6. Knowledge: A Skylight In a rare moment of leisure, nothing is more pleasant than sitting by the window with a cup of fresh tea and reading a good book. Digital Fortress is a popular choice because it is a charming story full of fresh ideas. It is also a novel in which various cultural symbols and high-tech elements are incorporated organically to set up a skylight of knowledge, delivering comprehensible information on cryptology, mathematics, computer science, history, and culture, and rewarding readers from all walks of life with inspiration and playfulness.

Living with Codes Digital Fortress begins with a reference to secret codes. The hero, Becker, and the heroine, Fletcher, become intimately attached to each other because of cryptography, which is a method or study of codes. The entire story is centered on the search for the pass-keys of the “digital fortress”. As John Schwartz noted in his report on a new encryption technique for The New York Times back in 2000, “Once an arcane science employed chiefly by wartime code makers, cryptography has emerged as a key tool for ensuring security and privacy in the information age. The equations,

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known as algorithms, scramble and unscramble messages and data for computer users.”1 For government agencies and businesses, it is an indispensable tool for intelligence, communication, and data storage. For the common people, using a code, or a password, has become routine, such as when withdrawing money from the bank, starting up the computer, logging in for email and social media accounts, opening a safe, or setting up a passcode for a cell phone. All these functions require the use of a code. But we must understand that such codes are not as complicated as encryption. They are merely special passwords or commands consisting of random letters and numbers. Now, let’s find out how real encryption works. Encryption is programmed through a special pattern to convert the exchange of information between two parties from cleartext to ciphertext. In other words, an encryption may only be used between designated people because it is a garble of symbols encoded with a real message. Encryption has two categories, cleartext and ciphertext. Cleartext is the original legible text while the ciphertext is illegible. The cleartext is converted into ciphertext based on the pass-key rules (random long- number segment of the bit sequence) and calculation (the mathematic calculation that shows how the pass-key is inserted into the cleartext). The process in which a cleartext is converted into a ciphertext is called encryption, and the process in which a ciphertext is restored to its cleartext is called decryption. In this information age, all information in a computer is indicated by binary codes, so all the encoded information and pass-keys on the Internet are numeral codes. One calculation contains one space for a key (the range where the information value of a key may be inserted). The greater the key space is, the more pass-keys may be inserted and, as a result, the more difficult it is to crack the pass-key, and the information is much safer. In Digital Fortress, as the pass-keys set up by computer users become longer and longer, the traditional code-breaking power of the Brute-Force Attack method has reached its limits. That is the very reason why the NSA is forced to spend tons of money to build TRANSLTR. Cryptography may be traced to ancient times. Legend has it that during the Peloponnesian War, around 405 BC, Athens and Sparta were getting ready for the final showdown. Sparta was gradually but surely gaining the upper hand but just as it had the final victory in sight, its longtime supporter, Persia, switched sides without any warning. So, Sparta desperately needed to find out the real motive behind the Persians’ change of heart in order to take necessary countermeasures. By pure accident, the 1

John Schwartz, “Technology: U.S. Selects a New Encryption Technique,” The New York Times, October 3, 2000.

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Spartan army captured a messenger traveling between Persia and Athens. They did not find any secret messages after searching the body of the messenger, yet a girdle covered with green letters raised suspicion. The commander of the Spartan army inspected it very carefully and rearranged the letters back and forth for clues. Still, he could not figure out the mystery and he gradually lost his confidence. As he aimlessly wrapped the girdle around the sheath of his sword, a miracle occurred – he somehow noticed that the unreadable garble of letters formed a series of phrases. Through these phrases, Sparta managed to learn Persia’s war strategies, take proper measures, and score a big victory in the war. The girdle wrapped around the body of Athenian messenger contained the earliest encrypted intelligence in the world. The two corresponding parties selected the deciphering key for each other first. To exchange messages, the sender needed to arrange the letters on the girdle and wrap it around a wooden stick of a predetermined length; the receiving party retrieved the information from the words encrypted on the girdle after wrapping it around a wooden stick of the same length. Allegedly, such a simple form of encryption inspired the creation of the modern encoded telegram. Cryptography evolved at its own pace alongside human history. In the world today, coding is used not only in transmitting intelligence and fighting wars but also in calculating diplomatic maneuvers and business transactions. As Keith Martin points out, The rise in significance of information security has brought with it an increase in the importance and widespread use of cryptography. … As a result, cryptography has become something that most people use in everyday applications. Once largely the domain of government and the military, cryptography is now deployed on devices that can be found in the pockets of almost every consumer of technology.1

The application of the technology of cryptography has made some great strides in all spheres of life, from the electric signature and security recognition for data and information processing to more and more personalized services. For instance, we may set up a code on a bank check to avoid financial fraud; we may set up a passcode for our cell phone to ensure the safety of our communication; we may also use cryptography for online shopping to confirm the other party’s identity and commercial credit.

1

Keith Martin, Everyday Cryptography: Fundamental Principles & Applications (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 3.

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Cryptography might seem a bit complicated and unnerving for someone who has not received any proper training, but by sheer persistence you will discover a lot of fun in the study and application of cryptography. The more you explore it, the more likely you will become irrevocably addicted to it and fall in love with it just like Fletcher, the heroine in Digital Fortress.

A Real Story from The Arabian Nights Legends about master keys and cure-all medicines are pretty common in different cultures, but have you ever heard about the amazing power of the universal code-breaking machine? It sounds like a story from The Arabian Nights. In Digital Fortress, though, the story seems so real. In the novel, the universal code-breaking machine, TRANSLTR, is said to be unprecedented and the most expensive computer in the world. We learn in the novel that it took 500,000 man hours in five years and $1.9 billion to build. With 3 million central processors working in concurrence and the application of advanced quantum computation, the machine has an unmatched code-breaking capability. Some readers might find it too good to be true; others will simply see it as something fabricated by the author. Could a powerful machine like this be built in reality? Our search for the answer starts with a quick review of the modern history of cryptography. Evidently, the current application of cryptography is inseparable from the development of computer science. After WWII, the NSA was equipped with two special code-breaking machines known as speed analyzers, which may be regarded as the predecessors of computers. The two machines were huge in size, and each of them cost approximately $1 million to build. Their productivity was as efficient as 200,000 people working manually in the “dark room.” Later, the NSA built another machine with greater efficiency. Its capacity, experts estimated, matched the collective productivity of 5 million cryptographers. Although the efficiency of the code-breaking machine was improved tremendously, it still had its mortal limitations – it required a huge budget and worked well only on certain encryption systems. If the encryption system was changed or discarded, the machine would be useless. To solve this problem, the NSA had its eyes on the computer of that time, known as a “multifunctional code-breaking machine.” In December 1950, a parallel computer equipped with a magnetic drum memory was built. The gigantic machine had many bulb-like radio tubes and a 15-ton cooling system installed inside. In 1959, a top-secret group of specialists conducted an

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investigation on the computers in America and the former Soviet Union. The report showed that the American government had about 3,000 high quality computers that were worth over $1 million each, while the Soviet Union only had fewer than 400 computers, of which only 50 were supercomputers. By the 1980s, the industry of supercomputers was falling apart. In order to design its own secret computers, the NSA established a clandestine research center. In 1984, The Research Center for Supercomputers was founded at The Center of Science and Technology of the University of Maryland. It cost $12 million and took up 20 acres. The NSA used these high-speed computers to decipher the increasingly long codes from foreign countries. Later, the research institute changed its name to The Research Center for Communication and Computers, with the intention of covering up its connection with the NSA so that it could better conduct its covert studies of cryptography and wiretapping. That the NSA had the fastest and most powerful computers in the world was hardly a secret but nobody ever knew anything about what it did with them. With the rapid development of science and technology in 1990s, supercomputers were reduced to the size of a domestic refrigerator, and their running speed had been enhanced significantly. At the same time, the application of cryptography was growing by leaps and bounds. By 2001, the decrypting speed of the supercomputers had reached 1012 (ten to the 12th power), and 1015 or even 1018 by 2010. To reach that astonishing speed, the parts had to be minimized to the size of an atom or even a subatom. To this end, scientists have turned their attention to the quantum computer, a machine that could run multiple high-speed calculations simultaneously. When you use the quantum computer for encryption or decryption, you can open or lock a complicated cryptosystem at the same time, and you do not have to test thousands of pass-keys as you did in the past. The immediate result is that its operating speed is several times faster than the original computer. It only needs half an hour to search through every server in all corners of the Internet and enables the operator to find desirable and crucial information. Evidently, TRANSLTR is not just fiction after all. It is the product of the developments in electronic communication in the last few decades and the inevitable outcome of scientific progress. By the time Digital Fortress came out in 1998, a high-speed advanced code-breaking machine was already operational in the application of cryptography. It might seem safe to say that it is a story from The Arabian Nights, but instead it is a real story in real life.

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The Everlasting Mystery of an “Illustrious and Distinguished Man” Cryptography is not the only knowledge revealed in Digital Fortress. In fact, the quest in the novel, a key part of its narrative, is not limited to code-breaking, either. Often the quest involves the discovery and clarification of conflicting stories regarding a certain legendary figure in history. In Digital Fortress, there is an episode about Becker’s investigation of an “illustrious and distinguished man,” a man who has affected the evolution of human civilization. His life is full of legends; even the burial of his dead body has been shrouded in bewildering mysteries. People have been coming up with various assumptions and speculations about him for centuries. He is none other than Christopher Columbus, the explorer who claimed to be the first to discover the New World. No doubt Columbus was a famous navigator and a pioneer in colonization. For centuries, historians have offered us different accounts of his life in history books. Some people believe that he was an ordinary man from Genoa, Italy, the son of a wool weaver; some insist that he came from an aristocratic family in Catalonia, Spain; others claim that he was a Jew trying to avoid religious persecution in Spain. A firm believer in the Copernican heliocentric, Columbus assumed that he could reach his longcherished East by traveling westward along the Atlantic shoreline in Europe. In August 1492, Columbus crossed the Atlantic with 87 sailors aboard three ships. After an arduous journey of over 70 days, he finally arrived at San Salvador Island of the Bahamas and became the first European explorer to discover the New World. He made three more trips there in 1493, 1498, and 1502, but he believed that the place he’d landed in was India, and so he called the local residents “Indians.” On May 20, 1506, Columbus passed away in Spain. People buried him in Valladolid first and later moved him to Seville’s Carthusian monastery. His eldest son, Diego, died in 1526 and was buried beside his father. In 1537, the remains of Columbus and his son were moved to the San Dominic Cathedral in the Dominican Republic at the request of his family. In 1795, France took over rule of the Republic from Spain. Naturally, Spain would not give away the body of the highly esteemed Columbus so it decided to move his body to another of its colonies– Havana, Cuba. Unfortunately, Cuba was occupied by the US in 1898. Spain had no choice but to ship Columbus’ body back to Seville. Normally, there would be no doubt that the body of Columbus was buried in the Seville Cathedral. However, in 1877, construction workers stumbled upon a mysterious box at the San Dominican Cathedral and

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triggered off a controversy that has been going on for more than a century. The workers found a clear inscription on the box: “Illustrious and Distinguished Man Columbus.” Inside, there were 41 pieces of bone and a bullet. Since it was widely known that Columbus had sustained a gun wound when he was young, researchers concluded that these were probably Columbus’ remains. If this conclusion is valid, the remains on public display at the Seville Cathedral must be those of Diego rather than Columbus. The assumption is that their graves in Dominic were so close that the grave diggers could have inadvertently removed the body out of Diego’s grave. Where is Columbus buried then? The answer is as elusive as his mysterious past. Spanish and Dominican historians have challenged each other over this issue, and both sides have claimed that Columbus is buried in their country. Their dispute has continued for over a century. On the eve of Columbus’ 500th birthday, both sides agreed to reveal the truth through a DNA test. The researchers found the body of Diego first, and then collected the samples of Columbus’ remains from the cathedrals in Seville and Dominic. In September, 2003, the scientists used the DNA technique to examine these remains. They tried to determine the identity of the remains with an analysis of the mitochondrial gene. However, the DNA test was not as simple as they had assumed. The scientists’ explanation was that once the body was over 60 years old, the accuracy of the DNA test could be drastically compromised, and the remains of Columbus had already been preserved for hundreds of years. Furthermore, his remains were incomplete. Sacrum, a crucial part of DNA testing, was nowhere to be found. Besides, the loss of most of the teeth and other parts caused some extra problems in testing and, therefore, the findings were inconclusive. In recent years, however, there has been some gratifying progress. Spanish archeologists discovered in their tests that the remains at the Seville Cathedral belonged to a young skinny man who probably died around the age of 45. According to historical accounts, Columbus was a large, muscular, and overpowering man, who probably died between the ages of 55 and 60. The scientists surmised that the remains at Seville Cathedral did not belong to Columbus. By contrast, the remains preserved in Dominic are believed to belong to a man of about 60 years of age and match Columbus’ physical characteristics. To this day, scientists still do not have a clear picture about the actual burial ground of Columbus’ remains. In chapter 12 of Digital Fortress, Becker remembers that Columbus is buried in Dominic, but a Spanish police officer says, “He’s buried in our cathedral” (56). The officer claims that the church has distributed some of Columbus’ remains in its

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possession to various cathedrals so that everyone could look at him, and that the Spanish Cathedral keeps his scrotum. As a matter of fact, what the police officer says in the novel is not entirely true. Columbus’ remains were not buried in different Spanish churches. All this is nothing but a speculation, or merely an interesting anecdote used by the author in the novel. What is the answer to the century-long riddle left behind by the “Illustrious and Distinguished Man”? Perhaps only history can tell.

7. Institutions: Jostling over Spying The Security Agents Behind the Scenes The little-known government agency NSA is featured conspicuously in Digital Fortress. It is almost as big as the CIA. “Everyone in cryptography knew about the NSA” (13) but away from the field, only a few American citizens had heard about it until recently. Brown learned about its existence by pure chance. In reality, the NSA is the largest intelligence agency in America. It was founded under the secret orders of President Truman on November 4, 1952. Its headquarters is located in Fort Meade, Maryland. From the outside, the building seems pretty ordinary but inside the building, many first-rate mathematicians and cryptographers are working on the most advanced computers. “It was home to the best cryptographic minds on the planet” (13). The NSA is under the command of the Pentagon. Its main responsibility is to collect and analyze communication data from other countries. With its control over the spying satellite network in America and the monitor stations around the world, the NSA coordinates the electronic espionage operations among the intelligence agencies in the federal government and protects the security of communication at home. At the same time, it cooperates with the member states of NATO in radio reconnaissance and electronic espionage through all kinds of land, sea, and air devices for the purpose of collecting intelligence from foreign countries. The reliable intelligence provided by the NSA has made the operation of government agencies much easier and played an instrumental role in uncovering major terrorist plots and criminal cases. In addition, the NSA deciphers the encryptions coming out of all corners of the globe and handles the programming and protection of the encryption for various government agencies. People have jokingly defined the agency’s English acronym, NSA, as “No Such Agency” (8). Before the Cold War ended, the government

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refused to acknowledge the existence of the agency. That is why such a huge institution was little known to the public. Only in recent years has the NSA occasionally caught the attention of the public, but its level of secrecy remains as high as ever. We get a glimpse of its true face only when its staff issues a public statement or it opens its doors to public visitors on rare occasions.

The Guards of Civil Liberty The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is another organization featured in Digital Fortress. A worldwide association of computer users, its aim is to support the freedom of speech online and inform people about the real issues and risk factors in cyberspace. All the institutions featured in Brown’s novel are based on reality, and the EFF is no exception. Founded in the US in 1990, this foundation has its headquarters in San Francisco but its managerial team is mostly stationed in Washington, D.C. As a non-profit international information agency and a legal organization, it mostly relies on private donations for its operation. By working with institutions in education and news media, policy makers, and ordinary folks, it promotes the understanding of the technical issues related to civil liberty and hence nurtures a deep and widespread appreciation for the ideal of liberty. As we enter the digital age, protecting digital copyright has become a new task for the EFF. In Digital Fortress, Tankado is a staunch supporter of this foundation. Due to his strong resentment toward the NSA’s use of TRANSLTR to invade people’s privacy, Tankado introduces “digital fortress” as a threat to force the NSA to share its secret with the public. This is what triggers off a series of heart-stirring actions in Digital Fortress.

8. Techniques: So Many and So Effective The scenes in Digital Fortress shift one after another. A new passage suddenly opens up in a mountain or by a river; the sun shines in the blue sky after the wind sweeps away the rolling clouds. Brown’s sophisticated techniques in driving his narrative and arranging his sequence of actions make the shifts in setting so smooth that we are totally captivated by the distinctive scene that accompanies every thread of the plot development throughout the novel. We can’t help relishing, subconsciously, our excitement about the illusory world in the story while watching the characters try to survive under frantic circumstances and admiring the

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genuine compassion between the hero and heroine. Upon closing the book, all we feel is veneration of the author’s superb craft and ingenuity. Needless to say, what facilitates such an engaging and rewarding reading experience is Brown’s huge arsenal of impeccable writing techniques. All his moves in Digital Fortress, from constructing the plot to alternating the narrative point of view, blending history with legends, and interweaving seemingly insignificant details, are orchestrated by a conscientious effort to accomplish an organic fusion of refined and popular tastes as well as a natural integration between the old and new.

Two Flowers, Blossoming on Their Own In a way, a novel is very much like a tree. Its structure stands as its trunk; its plot unfolds like its branches; characters, settings, images, and details serve as its leaves. If the trunk is not straight or strong enough, no matter how robust the branches are, the tree will only grow like a shrub, and it will never turn into a towering tree. In traditional Chinese literary writing, building a solid structure has always been the first priority. It is more so in novel writing. Often, as ancient Chinese writers advised, an author should start writing only when the book is fully conceived in his mind. Judging from the tight structure of Digital Fortress, it is safe to assume that Brown has the narrative fully conceived before writing because we can easily follow the main threads in the novel, even if we do not entirely comprehend everything in the story at first. The phrase “two flowers, blossoming on their own” originated from the storytelling performance in Song Dynasty, a pet phrase that a story teller used to describe two events unfolding simultaneously in the same story. Later, this type of double or multi-layered narrative structure, in which two or more stories are developed in parallel based on different but consistent patterns and threads, appeared in many novels. The storyteller presents one thread first, and then shifts to another by saying, “two flowers, blossoming on their own,” or “let’s leave this part of the story for now,” or “let’s pick up where we left off earlier.” The purpose is to indicate the transition or junction in the narrative, contextual clues that offer more clarity about fuzzy content. The narrative structure in Digital Fortress is essentially similar to the tradition of “two flowers, blossoming on their own” in Chinese storytelling and novel writing. First, the phrase “two flowers” refers to the two primary threads in the novel: one is the intellectual and psychological showdown between Fletcher and the NSA, the deputy director, Hale, and others over the “digital fortress”; the other is Becker’s dangerous

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adventures while locating the gold ring in Seville and running for his life from the assassin. The loving relationship between Becker and Fletcher functions as the link between the two threads. It is through a distinctive delineation for each and a smooth connection in between that Brown propels the plot forward by developing the two threads side by side. On the secondary level of the narrative, there are two minor threads, which also seem to have been built on the device of “two flowers, blossoming on their own”: one is Tankado’s plan to blackmail the NSA with “digital fortress”; the other is the deputy director’s hideous double scheme. His explicit scheme is to find the key to the “digital fortress,” whereas his implicit scheme is to take Becker out in order to win Fletcher. If the relationship between Fletcher and Becker counts as another thread in the plot, the novel has five threads altogether – all laid out respectively in primary, secondary, implicit, and explicit fashion, and interwoven around the looming crisis from the “digital fortress”. While Fletcher is still relishing her sweet dream in “the smoky mountains” (3), her superior, Strathmore, sends Becker to Spain to take care of Tankado’s belongings. Shortly afterwards, Fletcher is summoned to the Crypto of the NSA by Strathmore. Thus, the two primary threads are set in motion. In sunny and sultry Seville, Becker shifts his attention from handling Tankado’s belongings to searching for his gold ring. His whole journey is full of twists and turns as he has successive encounters with the Spanish police, an old Canadian man, a red-haired female tour guide, and a weirdly dressed punk. In the meantime, he plays cat and mouse with the assassin in the streets and lanes all over Seville. Meanwhile, at the dark and ghastly headquarters of NSA, Fletcher is involved in her own hair-raising games with the invisible man, North Dakota, her colleague, Hale, and Strathmore in their search for the pass-key of the “digital fortress”. As the narrative proceeds, these two threads intersperse and weave into each other, thus enabling the author to switch the setting back and forth between Seville in Spain and the headquarters of the NSA in the US. Eventually, Fletcher, who has managed to overcome various schemes, assassinations, and lies, and Becker, who has found the gold ring and run away from the killer, unite via video conference to crack the pass-key of the “digital fortress” along with other NSA personnel. Henceforth, the two primary threads merge and the momentum gradually builds up to the climax of the novel. The two secondary threads, which are embedded in the primary ones, often surface through flashbacks by or conversations between the leading characters. The first, the one about Tankado’s threat to blackmail the NSA over the secret of TRANSLTR by releasing his “digital fortress,” initially

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unfolds in the dialogue between Fletcher and Strathmore when he warns her about Tankado’s threat. However, contrary to Strathmore’s persistent caution, the “digital fortress” created by Tankado is actually nothing but a hoax. Still, Strathmore launches a series of moves to counter it. His maneuvering, in turn, sets up the execution of his own scheme: his overt plan is to bring the “digital fortress” into the NSA’s main databank himself in order to change the program, replace the original “digital fortress,” and leave the back door of the NSA open; his covert plan is to send Becker on an official assignment to retrieve Tankado’s belongings in Seville, where an assassin working under his direct orders will follow Becker around stealthily and eliminate him, the rival of Strathmore’s love interest. It is quite similar to the old trick in Chinese folktales—“lure the tiger away from the mountain”—a move that a seasoned schemer always makes when dealing with formidable opponents. At the outset of the novel, when Becker first leaves for Seville, this plan is well concealed. As the novel moves forward, it gradually rises to the surface and ultimately the whole conspiracy is revealed in an abrupt incident: the beeper in Strathmore’s coat divulges his entire hideous secret. This implicit thread at once winds and coincides with other threads in the plot. Toward the end of the novel, all threads converge one after another and set up the climax together. Everyone, from the personnel at the Crypto of the NSA to Becker in distant Spain, holds his or her breath and tries to decipher the pass-key of the “digital fortress” before disaster hits. Just as the situation turns critical and reaches the moment of extreme peril, the pass-key is decrypted through the brilliant collaboration, timely analysis, and resolute decisions of the hero and heroine. Finally, Becker returns to the side of Fletcher, and the NSA remains intact and regains its silence as if nothing happened. All the threads in the novel converged and were worked out seamlessly.

Manifold Enigmas The artful ingenuity in Digital Fortress is also convincingly reflected in its arrangement of multiple enigmas. The author sets up the misty atmosphere in its plot from the very beginning. Only when we reach the end of the novel can we dispel the clouds and see the sun. A good thriller relies heavily on a sequence of suspense. The master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, produced his thrillers with the “elements of the extraordinary

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flow – mystery, memory, suspense, ambivalence, terror.”1 In plot development, suspense is the pivotal element that sparks the reader’s burning curiosity and high expectations by adding intensity to the events and cultivating new artistic terrains. Such an approach achieves the same effect as a gimmick in the traditional Chinese novel, “আ‫ޣ‬ᆀ- mai guan zi” (“play the reader along”) or “if you want to know what happens next, read on!” Digital Fortress moves along with recurrent and interlocking suspense and overwhelms the reader with brilliant and thrilling excitement, just like a Hollywood blockbuster. At the beginning of the novel, suspense is embedded in the first two sentences: “It is said that in death, all things become clear; Tankado now knew it was true. As he clutched his chest and fell to the ground in pain, he realized the horror of his mistake” (1). Who is Ensei Tankado? What kind of horrible mistake did he make? How did he die so suddenly? Did he commit suicide or was he murdered? If he was murdered, who did it, and what was the motive? The novel starts without any superfluous words or a lengthy presentation of the circumstances. Instead, the narrative comes right to the crucial point with references to the time, place, and setting, which almost appear to be as specific as a news report. It instantly creates a mysterious and jittery atmosphere and a thick haze of ambiguity and confusion in the reader’s mind. Brown moves on in his usual nonchalant manner with no intention of dropping any hints at all. On the contrary, he deliberately shifts his narrative to another character, Susan Fletcher, who receives a hasty and evasive phone call from her fiancé, Becker, and an urgent order from her boss, Strathmore, the deputy director of the NSA, one after another. Becker is already on his way to distant Spain as Fletcher drives to the NSA as ordered. Instantly, more questions pop up in the reader’s mind. Why is Becker going to Seville? What is going to happen to him there? Why would the deputy director tell Fletcher to go to work on her day off? What kind of emergency is taking place on this day? When Fletcher arrives at the Cryptography Division, Strathmore briefs her on the issue of the “digital fortress”. It turns out that the dead man, Tankado, who was first mentioned at the outset of the novel, is tied to the “digital fortress” in all kinds of ways. What kind of connection is it? The first question remains unresolved but more are already coming in. Is the “digital fortress” really an unbreakable encryption? Will the evervictorious universal code-breaking machine, TRANSLTR, turn into a pile 1

John Orr, “Hitch as Matrix-Figure: Hitchcock and Twentieth-Century Cinema,” in A Hitchcock Reader, eds. Marshall Deutelbaum and Leland Poague (New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 53.

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of useless metal as Tankado has threatened? Who is Tankado’s accomplice, North Dakota, anyway? Is Hale, the man working in the Cryptography Division, actually North working for Tankado? Just as he is about to get Tankado’s belongings in order and leave Seville, Becker discovers that the dead man’s ring is missing. Looking for the ring immediately makes his mission more challenging. Who has the ring with a special mark? Is it the fat man from Germany or the female tour guide? All the people who were involved with the ring have been tragically murdered. What is the motive behind the killings? Who is the killer with the wire-rimmed glasses? Who is the mastermind behind the scenes? Before we can draw breath, we are promptly drawn into another whirlwind – the “digital fortress” has already penetrated the main databank of the NSA. Once the firewall protection for the databank becomes ineffective, every Internet user on Earth can access America’s “most classified information stored at the NSA: military communication protocols, SIGINT confirmation codes, identities of foreign spies, blueprints for advanced weaponry, digitized documents, trade documents – the list was unending” (265). The NSA is on the verge of collapse, so breaking the pass-key of the “digital fortress” becomes the most pressing task. At this point, all the threads in the novel are entangled and all eyes are fixated on the NSA. The symbol on the gold ring is considered a major clue in breaking the pass-key, but nobody is able to figure out what the symbol means. Where is the pass-key? As the ciphering attempt reaches its crucial phase, a video clip of Tankado just a moment before his death appears on the screen once again. Suddenly, Fletcher notices the fingers he was stretching out, the three deformed fingers: “Three! The difference between 235 and 238 is three!” Instantly, everyone in the room looked up and “suddenly realized the crippled genius had been giving them the answer all the time” (367). What Tankado was struggling to tell everyone was the number of his fingers; it had nothing to do with the ring. The reader, along with the characters in the novel, is totally astonished by this final revelation. Early in the novel, the author spread lots of suspense, major and minor, up in the air like a bunch of colorful pearls but now, after spinning and rolling in the sky, they all fall back on the jade plate. The theme of the novel – the conflict between individual privacy and national security – has been condensed into the sharpest focal point. In essence, this is the “general suspense” that runs through the entire narrative and frames the major actions in the narrative. It proceeds with a succession of twists and

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turns while dropping imperceptible hints along the way. The revelation of the ultimate truth comes at the well-measured pace depicted in a classical Chinese poem by Bai Juyi,1 “It took a thousand pleases and ten thousand invitations before she appeared, / though with her lute she still hid half her face” [ॳબз୔࿻ࠪᶕˈ⣩ᣡ⩥⩦ॺઘ䶒].2 The truth is not fully revealed until the very end of the novel. The novel opens with general suspense that gradually proliferates a string of secondary suspense-like innuendos one over the other. Each of them contributes, in one way or another, to the progression of the general suspense and builds up the momentum for the final revelation. While reading through the novel, we feel as if we are wandering through multiple labyrinths. We pause from time to time, pondering, speculating, and experiencing a great deal of anxiety and admiration until the final wave of shock and delight hits us tempestuously.

No Coincidence, No Story “Coincidence” is everywhere in Digital Fortress. Legend has it that truth shows in rarity, but secret leaks out in coincidence. Coincidence is often used as a catalyst or a turning point in plot development. It might be an incidental link between events or a casual encounter between characters, but it has the potential to generate unexpected artistic effect. Like an antelope hanging on a tree by its horns, a brilliant use of coincidence leaves no trace of contrition and often wins our total admiration once we comprehend how it works. More coincidence generates more quirky twists and wonders in a story. With coincidence, we get away from our boring life for a moment and enjoy long-desired adventures. The “coincidence” in Digital Fortress either involves adventures without danger or produces surprises at crucial moments, triggering different reactions and emotions from the reader. Sometimes, it renders us speechless or leaves us babbling with praise; sometimes, it makes us mewl over the twist of fate or lament over the mix of happiness and misfortune in life. 1

Bai Juyi (772-846), or Bo Juyi, was a famous Chinese poet in the Middle Tang Dynasty. He is known for his simple, subtle, and rich style. The two lines are from his well-known poem, “Song of the Lute,” and have been regarded as the best expression about one’s anxious expectation for the ultimate truth. 2 Tony Barnstone and Ping Chou, eds., The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary, the Full 3000-Year Tradition (New York: Anchor Books, 2005), 175.

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The first encounter between Fletcher and Becker, for instance, is a mere coincidence. Becker works for the NSA as an interim translator for extra income. Fletcher is the head cryptographer. If she did not phone the guard in time to stop Becker from leaving, they might still be strangers passing each other by. Again, when Fletcher tries to peep into Hale’s email, he somehow returns to the office. She runs over, as quickly as possible, to the food cabinet as if she was looking for some food but she forgets to dim the computer screen, which clearly shows Hale that she has checked his email. At this crucial moment, the chief system technician and programmer, Chartrukian, appears and calls Hale away. In the second half of the novel, Strathmore, who makes persistent passes at Fletcher, gives her his jacket but he forgets about his beeper in the pocket. “In a simple act of chivalry, he had given Susan his jacket. And with it, his Sky Pager” (309). It is the beeper that Strathmore uses to maintain contact with the assassin. When she hears the beeping of the pager, Fletcher takes it out and reads the messages. What she discovers is that Strathmore has been the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy. Another coincidence occurs in Becker’s search for the old man from Canada. Becker goes to find the old man at the public clinic, which is crowded with people. He phones the staff inside in an attempt to get some information about him, but his request is turned down. Just as he is figuring out what to do next, he sees the old man right in front of him. Also, when “he needed to make a longoverdue trip to a rest room” (200), he runs into Megan, the very girl he is looking for. She was supposed to have made the flight out of Seville. The novel seems to have countless coincidences inserted at different phases of the story. Each of them baffles us first but brings us a pleasant surprise eventually. Coincidence is mostly fortuitous yet it may be an effective device in propelling and enhancing the plot. As Eileen Chang, one of the leading Chinese novelists in the 1940s, puts it well, “Seeing the person you want to see among thousands of people out of the wilderness of time in thousands of years, not too early and not too late, either, that is coincidence.”1 When things happen out of the norm, people tend to experience a spiritual shock or an unexpected revelation. It could be a shock of happiness, pain, elation, or dejection. No art would be available without coincidence on this earth since life itself is full of coincidences. Similarly, no novel could be enticing without coincidence. It is coincidence that has not only enriched our experience in life but also created numerous dramatic stories. 1 Eileen Chang and Lancheng Hu, Zhang Likes Hu’s Talk (Shanghai: Wenhui Press, 2003), 266.

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Voices and Eyes The style of Digital Fortress integrates various elements from literary traditions. It is as entertaining as traditional thriller fiction and as openended as postmodernist fiction. Also, it has a good combination of literary readability and movie-like visual esthetics. In today’s novel writing, it is quite common to feature an omniscient and know-it-all narrator, who tends to adopt a laissez-faire approach to unfolding the story on different fronts and allowing the characters to do whatever they please. In addition, the narrator relies on non-traditional storytelling modes such as the stream-of-consciousness narrative, inner monologue, flashback, aside, and montage to bring in multiple voices and eyes into the narrative and create panoramic perspectives from all sides. At the outset of the novel, as Jeff Dunn and Craig Bubeck note, “Dan Brown starts Digital Fortress with an emphasis on urgency and action.”1 The narrator shocks readers with an awe-inspiring murder scene. He tells us authoritatively that Tankado has died in Seville, Spain, and that Fletcher and Becker have received urgent orders from Strathmore and are on the way to carry out their respective assignments. Then, the narrator yields to Fletcher’s stream-of-consciousness recollections of the past. In Fletcher’s recollection, we learn how the male and female leading characters met, got to know, and fell in love with each other. As soon as the beeping of the Crypto door wakes Fletcher “from her depressing reverie” (18), her mind returns to the Cryptography Division. Here, the narrator resumes his duty again, leading us to follow Fletcher through the opening door and describing the interior of the NSA and enormous TRANSLTR for us. The narrator not only enjoys momentary “slacking” but also likes to wander around. The narrative is not merely fixed on the NSA, where Fletcher and Strathmore work; from time to time, he wanders off to other scenes and places. That is how the lens of the novel keeps shifting between the two main settings, the headquarters of the NSA in America and the city of Seville in Spain. In his description of Becker’s adventures, the narrator mostly directs the progression of the story and the actions of the characters with proper pace and authority. Occasionally, however, he loosens up his narrative grip by inserting some inner monologues from his characters. From time to time, for example, we get to see the inner world of Becker. “I may go home soon,” Becker murmurs silently to himself again and again. After getting the ring from Megan, “his spirits were soaring. It was over. Truly 1

Dunn and Bubeck, The Gospel According to Dan Brown, 105.

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over. He was on his way home. The ring on his finger was the grail he’d been seeking” (246). He feels so energized whenever he realizes that he will soon reunite with Fletcher after finishing his assignment. Whenever the story needs to move forward, the omniscient narrator exercises total control over the flow of the narrative. Along the way, the narrator pauses frequently and shares his duties with other voices and eyes. It is these voices and eyes that brief readers about the relevant events and institutions and provide us with ample knowledge about the leading characters’ early experiences and hidden emotions.

Dance on the Wire The Chinese writer, editor, and critic in the Qing Dynasty, Jin Shengtan, once said, “I believe that reading is full of pleasures, and the first one is to worry for others,” and in his view, “Writing is no fun without thrill; the greater the thrill is, the more interesting it becomes.”1 Classical Chinese novels always attach a lot of value to the tradition of building the plot on thrilling scenes and events. “In The Water Margin,” Jin Shengtan continues, “when one thrill is almost over, a new one begins; before one thrill completely settles down, another one is looming large.”2 It is a perfect example of such a practice. The use of thrills has been a lasting charm in novel writing since the ancient times. It is more so in novels that are keen on telling stories. No story can have a powerful artistic grip without the use of thrills. Like dancing on a wire, it gives the reader a sense that everything is teetering on the brink of an abyss, but somehow the situation suddenly improves at every moment of crisis. Consequently, the novel turns into a real cliffhanger and the story is more intriguing and stimulating. Evidently, the plot of Digital Fortress is full of thrills. In chapter 107, TANSLTR explodes. The frightened Fletcher finds the elevator, which is the only way out, but operating the elevator requires a five-digit password. In a moment of panic, it is certainly an unnerving task to find the accurate combination of five letters between A and Z on the encryption key panel. Normally, it takes 19 weeks to run through 11,881,376 possible combinations at a pace of “one guess every second” (316). At this point, the oxygen was almost exhausted and the situation was worsening by the second. Suddenly, the pitiful confession of Strathmore resounds in Fletcher’s mind, “I love you, Susan! I’ve always loved you! Susan! Susan! 1

Jin Shengtan, Commentary on The Water Margin by Shi Naian, ed. Jing Du (Beijing: Guangming Daily Press, 2007), 298. 2 Ibid, 465.

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Susan…” With trembling fingers, Fletcher types the five letters on the keypad, “S…U…S…A…N” (316-17). The doors of the elevator open slowly. At the end of the novel, the virus has already penetrated the main databank and accelerated its circulation. With the firewall breached and collapsing altogether, the fate of the NSA is hanging by a thread. Everyone seems to have stopped breathing, focused as they are on the cracking of the pass-key. But the pass-key of the “digital fortress” is still out of reach. Three minutes, two minutes, one minute, 45 seconds, 30 seconds… The most critical moment has arrived. Hackers around the world will pounce, and all the secret information kept by the American government is on the brink of destruction. No doubt it will be devastating for the NSA. When the final countdown reaches the last three seconds, Fletcher suddenly stares at Tankado’s outstretched fingers on the screen – “Three fingers. Three! She shouted over the deafening cacophony of sirens and technicians. She pointed to the screen” (366). Fletcher quickly keys in the number, 3. Seconds later, a message shows up on the wall screen, “KILL CODE CONFIRMED” (367). The pass-key of the “digital fortress” is finally decrypted. The novel has plenty of dances on the wire like this. These thrilling scenes keep us on the edge or even frighten us out of our wits, but thanks to a series of unexpected but perfectly timed “coincidences,” these thrilling moments turn into harmless false alarms or near misses. Watching these dances on the wire is almost like playing a horror game on the web to our heart’s content. It is more exhilarating and delightful than anything else. What generates the artistic creativity in Digital Fortress is the building of the narrative structure on the tradition of “two flowers, blossoming on their own” and its organic infusion of various traditional and non-traditional narrative strategies, including suspense, thrills, coincidences, twists and turns, flashbacks, and alternating perspectives. Such a high integration between refined and popular devices and tastes enriches the story in all aspects and renovates a whole array of artistic techniques. As an old Chinese saying goes, “A sharp sword comes from tenacious sharpening, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold.” Brown’s artistic accomplishment in this novel did not come easily. It comes from his painstaking construction of the narrative structure, his tireless collection of information, and his unflagging patience in revision. His later novels, Angels & Demons, Deception Point, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, and Inferno, demonstrate a progressive perfecting of his novelistic skills. They document Brown’s

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steady growth as a writer and earn him greater appreciation from more and more readers both at home and abroad.

CHAPTER THREE DEFINING ANGELS AND DEMONS

Angels & Demons is Brown’s second novel (2000). Since his The Da Vinci Code became a sensational success in 2003, Angels & Demons has been regarded as the first novel in his four-book ““Robert Langdon Series”,” all featuring the same protagonist, Robert Langdon. Brown’s fame resurrected his first three novels and sent all of them to the bestseller list within a few months. Angels & Demons was ranked No. 3 in sales out of all the books sold in America in 2004, below the widely read and sharply debated The Da Vinci Code and a book of recipes. So far, Angels & Demons has been translated into more than 20 languages around the world and was adapted into a major thriller film in 2009. Angels & Demons was inspired by the author’s visit to the Vatican. While touring the secret passages underneath the Vatican, Brown learned that the enemy the Vatican feared most several hundred years ago was a secret society known as the Illuminati. To this day, many contemporary historians believe in the existence of this shadowy organization, and regard it as one of the most formidable global organizations that has penetrated every corner of the world without much public awareness. As he was deeply intrigued by this story, Brown decided to write a thriller novel with the relationship between science and religion as its main theme. By using the death of the Pope and the election of his successor as the premise of the story, as Greg Tobin notes, “Brown writes with brio about ideas and institutions that have been fascinating subjects for people around the world.” Though written with “a mix of fact and fiction,” his novel “raises important questions about the structure and internal governance of the Roman Catholic Church and the influences that the church faces in the early years of the twenty-first century.”1 In her New York Times review, Janet Maslin states that Brown “is drawn to the place where empirical 1

Greg Tobin, “Conclave 101: The Past, Present, and Future of the Papal Elections,” in Inside Angels and Demons: The Story Behind the International Bestseller, eds. Daniel Burstein and Arne De Keijzer (New York: CDS Books, 2009), 13.

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evidence and religious faith collide. And he creates a bracing exploration of this realm, one that is by no means sacrilegious, though it sharply challenges Vatican’s policy.”1 The debate between science and religion has lasted for centuries. In his “Witness Statement” for “The Da Vinci Code Case” in 2006, Brown writes about how he grew up with “opposing views” – “the paradoxical philosophies of science and religion” and how he “had a hard time reconciling the two.”2 Also, he explains that he wrote Angels & Demons simply because he was deeply fascinated by “the ongoing battle between science and religion, and the faint hope of reconciliation.”3 It seems obvious that “Angels & Demons is Brown’s earnest attempt to reconcile these two forces – science and religion – that in today’s culture are seen as diametrically opposed.”4 To confront this long-standing controversy, Brown articulates his independent perspective and presents his interpretation in the novel. His insight is like a breath of fresh air flowing into the agelong debate over the issue. Angels & Demons reveals concern over the loss of faith and the omnipotence of science. Mankind’s scientific capacity is growing incessantly but its spiritual and moral development is lagging behind. Once the imbalance between the two reaches a certain level, the consequence could cause anxiety in us all. “We might be tempted to leap to a conclusion as to which force is the ‘angel’ and which is the ‘demon,’ but it isn’t that simple.”5 Between science and religion, which is right and which is wrong is still far from being settled. In his novel, Brown seems to have found an equilibrium point for resolving the relationship between the two. After all, angels and demons are sometimes just a step away from each other. Brown’s aim is to entertain his readers and engage them in further contemplation. Clearly, as Stephan Schaffrath notes, Brown’s novel is not intended to promote any “truth value as a well-researched non-fiction book would have or should have.”6 1

Janet Maslin, “Spinning a Thriller from a Gallery at the Louvre,” The New York Times, March 17, 2003. 2 Dan Brown, “Dan Brown Witness Statement to the High Court in The Da Vinci Code Case,” Paragraph 39, March 14, 2006, accessed August 18, 2014. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2085827_1,00.html 3 Ibid, paragraph 41. 4 Dunn and Bubeck, The Gospel According to Dan Brown, 136. 5 Ibid, 136. 6 Stephan Schaffrath, “Comparing Brown and Eco: Knights Templar in The Da Vinci Code and Foucault’s Pendulum,” Midwest Quarterly 52.1 (Autumn, 2010), 73.

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Angels & Demon has broken, to the largest extent, the boundaries within genre fiction. It cohesively mixes the traditional narrative style of detective stories, science fiction, and the Gothic novel with the standard ingredients from popular fiction, such as horror, suspense, mysteries, and manners. In many ways, Brown’s approach to novel writing is quite similar to the strategy, “absorb different elements but synthesize them into one,” that has been commonly practiced in Chinese novels since the 19th century. In his essay, “Good Readers and Good Writers,” Vladimir Nabokov points out, “We should always remember that the work of art is invariably the creation of a new world, so that the first thing we should do is to study that new world as closely as possible, approaching it as something brand new, having no obvious connection with the worlds we already know.”1 Through a fusion of elements that appeal to both refined and popular tastes, Angels & Demons is an exemplary work of art that has created a fascinating world of suspense and thrills. It successfully established the popular image of the leading character, Robert Langdon, the Harvard professor; moreover, it paved the way for Brown’s writing and consecutive success of The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, and Inferno, and launched his “Robert Langdon Series”. More importantly, the publishing craze for thriller fiction and cryptography novels after The Da Vinci Code actually started from Angels & Demons, so its impact on novel writing and marketing in America should not be overlooked.

1. Plot: Both Ends of the Scale Demon’s Appearance and the Mystifying Murder In the opening scene, a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, is viciously murdered at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. His neck bones are broken and “jutting out,” one of his eyeballs is missing, and the word “Illuminati” has been burned onto his chest. The director-general of CERN, Maximilian Kohler, phones the well-known Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon at 5:18 am and asks for help then faxes him an image of Vetra’s burned chest. After he has rushed over on a one-hour superfast flight to the lab of CERN, Langdon tells Kohler that the brand on Vetra’s chest is the symbol of an ancient organization known as Illuminati, whose primary goal is to eliminate the Catholic Church. The members of Illuminati have kept their symbol 1

Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Literature, ed. Fredson Bowers (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980), 1.

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secret, claiming that once the symbol appears, it is time to accomplish their ultimate goal. All the members of the organization are first-rate world scientists. “They controlled banks. They owned gold bullion.”1 They gather at a secret place – they call it the Church of Illumination – on a regular basis and fight against the church through the power of science. Kohler assumes that Vetra’s death is related to his research. Vetra’s adopted daughter and research partner, Vittoria Vetra, has just come back from her travels. She is “a Bio Entanglement Physicist. She studies the interconnectivity of life systems. Her work ties closely with her father’s work in particle physics” (49). She lifts the mysterious veil over Vera’s research – the truth is that Vetra has created “antimatter” and verified God’s existence through his scientific methods. However, the antimatter, which has the power to destroy everything within half a mile, has been stolen. It will surely explode after 24 hours. At this moment, Kohler receives the news: the antimatter is at the Vatican. “Langdon’s better judgment had screamed at him to return to Boston. Nonetheless, academic astonishment had somehow vetoed prudence” (107). Langdon’s conscience will not let him quit either as the world’s “largest art collection was now sitting on a time bomb” (107). Kohler suddenly gets sick so only Langdon and Vittoria Vetra rush over to the Vatican. The commander of the Swiss Guard, Olivetti, shows them the antimatter, which was picked up by the anti-theft surveillance video. There are fewer than six hours left on the time indicator – the Vatican will be eliminated by midnight if the antimatter is not found and neutralized. Quite coincidentally, it is the day on which the Roman Church is holding the conclave to select its new pope, but four cardinals, the most likely candidates for the papacy, have mysteriously disappeared.

Angel’s Guidance in Deciphering the Codes The killer, Hassassin, who has been hired by Janus, the mastermind behind the scenes, calls the office of the Pope, claiming that he has kidnapped the cardinals and threatening that, beginning at eight o’clock, he will kill a cardinal every hour and place him as a pure sacrifice on the altar of science. Now, the problem is that the conclave cannot stop, the detector won’t help, and there is not enough time or manpower for a search – then Langdon finds a clue. 1

Dan Brown, Angels & Demons (New York: Atria Books, 2000), 92. All the quotes from Angels & Demons are taken from the same edition and will be indicated by page number hereafter.

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The anonymous master of the Illuminati has hidden a clue in the four statues he has made. Ostensibly, all four have religious connotations, but actually they represent earth, air, fire, and water, which are the four key elements of the Illuminati. The altar of science mentioned by the killer is the guide to the Church of the Illumination based on the four indicators. The clue is hidden within Galileo’s Diagram of Truth. Inside the Vatican’s Secret Archives, Langdon and his partner discover a poem full of clues. Based on the clues, they arrive at the first altar of science, Santa Maria del Popolo, but it is too late. The first cardinal has been suffocated, “his mouth had been jammed open and packed solid with dirt” (276), and the word “Earth” has been branded on his chest. The good news is that Langdon figures out the identity of the sculptor – Bernini, “the Illuminati’s unknown master” (284) – and from the sculpture, Habakkuk and the Angel, in the chapel he verifies the location of the second altar of science, that of “Air” – the West Ponente wind rose tile located on the west side of the base of the Vatican obelisk in the center of St. Peter’s Square. They get there in time, but still fail to stop the tragic killing of the second cardinal. To secure his target quickly, Langdon goes back to the Secret Archives and locates the third altar of science, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa in the Cornaro Chapel at St. Mary’s Church of Vittoria Vera. In the meantime, the news about the tragic death of the cardinals is reported on the TV. Also, the rumor about the former pope’s death from poison is spreading. As the conclave has failed to reach a decision after three ballots and there has been no development in the investigation of the antimatter, the Pope’s private secretary decides to call off the conclave and reveal the situation to the public. At the same time, Kohler has recovered and arrives at the Vatican. The rescue mission is still under way. Langdon and his companions rush to the third altar of science. This time, Langdon confronts the killer in the church, which has been set on fire, but after fighting a few rounds, Langdon ends up “scrambling for his life beneath the pews” (371) while the killer runs away. After the fire is put out, Langdon is rescued, but Olivetti is dead and Vittoria has disappeared. The only thing Langdon can do now is find the fourth altar of science as quickly as he can. It is the Fountain of the Four Rivers right at the center of Navona Square. Once again, Langdon is no match for the killer beside the fountain. He pins his final hope on the Church of the Illumination, the St. Angelo Castle. Inside the castle, Vittoria Vetra and Langdon push the Hassassin over the balcony: “Eye for an eye…The Hassassin’s body sailed backward over the banister into the night” (445). During their fight, Langdon learns that the leader of the Illuminati will brand the last marker on the camerlengo of

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the Pope, Carlo Ventresca, and that the leader is none other than Kohler! When they rush into the Pope’s office, the Pope’s private secretary is lying by Kohler’s feet and Kohler is pointing his handgun at the camerlengo. The guards shoot Kohler on their way in and tackle him down to the floor. While everyone’s attention is focused on the camerlengo, Kohler gives Langdon his ultraminiature palm-held camcorder before dying. The camerlengo appears in St. Peter’s Square. The Vatican symbol branded into his chest is clearly visible. Then, he has a hallucination, claiming that he has received a hint from God and knows where the antimatter is. He teeters back to the back of the church and retrieves it. However, the battery for the antimatter is about to die. The only way to avoid a catastrophe is to take it high up in the sky. After the camerlengo and Langdon board a helicopter, taking the antimatter with them, it explodes at the pre-set time. “The concussion was deep and hollow – a thunderous shock wave from above” (500).

Truth Is In But Judgment Is Out People spot Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca on the rooftop terrace of St. Peter’s Basilica, and they expect him to become the new pope because he has acted remarkably during this crisis and “God has sent a miraculous sign!” (518). Many cardinals have also selected him, but Mortati, who is in charge of the conclave, rejects their endorsement. He insists on seeking the camerlengo’s explanation before making a decision. At this point, Langdon, who has just survived the explosion in the air, has arrived at St. Peter’s Basilica. He plays the clip in the camcorder. It turns out that the camerlengo is actually the mastermind behind the scenes! The deeply religious camerlengo cannot tolerate the conciliation between science and religion, let alone support the Pope’s endorsement for the study of antimatter, a study that threatens the existence of humankind. Besides, he has learned that the Pope has even fathered a child. All this has convinced Carlo Ventresca that the Pope has betrayed the Church. Nevertheless, this is not the whole truth. Mortati reveals the final riddle: the Pope has a son through artificial insemination so he feels deeply indebted to science. And the boy is Carlo! The truth has finally come out. The camerlengo walks onto the terrace in total despair and turns himself into a burning stake in “the light of the ninety-nine oil lanterns” (552). In St. Peter’s Square, the reporters try to be the first to send out the news that Cardinal Mortati has been selected as the new pope by the College of Cardinals.

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After an intense and dangerous quest for clues and truth, Langdon and Vittoria Vetra fall in love with each other. “They sipped Dolcetto wine and talked late into the night” (567).

2. Characterization: The Gallery of Portraits Angels and demons, religion and science: which end of the scale is really more important? The story of Angels & Demons captures the longstanding debate quite well. Some people believe firmly in God while others trust science; some wish that they could just follow their own beliefs while more hope to see nothing but co-existence between the two. No matter what they choose to believe in, none of the characters in the novel shows any hesitation when they find themselves at the crossroads between faith and science. They all move forward by following their conscience. Literary historians like to claim that literature is both a reflection of life and a study of humanity. No matter what the genre, the representation of characters is always a key part. Aleid Fokkema once said, “For a long time nothing seemed more natural than to take it for granted that characters represented human beings, that novels were about people, and that psychological motives sustained plots.”1 Often writers handle characterization either by tapping into their personal experiences or by modeling their characters after the people around them – in fact, Brown has repeatedly named some of his characters after his former teachers at the Exeter Academy. His approach cannot be easily classified as conventional or postmodern because his characters appear in a variety of categories, from “flat” to “round,” “heroic,” and “flawed.” This is exactly what makes this novel so rich and appealing. In Fokkema’s judgment, “The author of a work of fiction mediates and interprets human experience.”2 Brown seems to have done both well in this novel. Characters Who Straddle Between Religion and Science: Robert Langdon, Leonardo Vetra, the Pope, Gunther Glick, and Chinita Macri.

1

Aleid Fokkema, Postmodern Characters: A Study of Characterization in British and American Postmodern Fiction (Atlanta, GA/Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1991), 18. 2 Ibid, 19.

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An obsession with religious cryptography does not necessarily make one a believer – Robert Langdon Langdon is a symbologist at Harvard University. He has published three books on cryptography. In the eyes of his female colleagues, he is not a typical classy gentleman but he is uniquely attractive due to his talent. Symbology, water polo, and celibacy are the top three interests in his life. They serve as the premise for his career of cryptography in the first place. His knowledge of symbology endows him with the ability to decipher codes, and the publication of his books has repeatedly gotten him involved in the controversy over secret societies. Because of his hobby, water polo, he is in great shape and has the strong health “of a swimmer, a toned six-foot physique” (5). That’s why he was able to escape after losing the fight with the Hassassin even though he is already 40 years old. As to his celibacy, it seems a bit redundant to offer the reader any explanation. But if one thinks about it, one might discover that it is purposefully arranged for some subtle reasons. Being a bachelor allows him to devote all his time to reading and obtaining the knowledge he needs, venture into dangerous places without worries, and ignite sparks of love with heroines. In addition, being a college professor, Langdon gets in touch with experts of various fields. He needs some basic knowledge about different subjects, and he has opportunities to leave his hometown and travel around. All this prompted him to give up the thought of going back to Boston and join the quest for the Illuminati at the Vatican instead. During his non-stop deciphering of codes, Langdon’s expertise and resilience are truly amazing. Nevertheless, Brown does not attempt to portray Langdon as a noble and perfect hero. Despite his good health and strong will, Langdon still has moments of vulnerability. For instance, he “had been haunted his whole life by a mild case of claustrophobia – the vestige of a childhood incident he had never quite overcome” (11). Whenever he is in a narrow and confined space, Langdon becomes restless; for example, sitting in the windowless cabin of a Boeing X-33 makes him uneasy during the flight. In order to solve the case and thwart disaster, Langdon manages to contain his fear of closed spaces as a momentary frustration instead of a debilitating force. While racing against time and the killer, he loses track of time occasionally due to his passion for art, but thanks to Vittoria’s reminders he never really lags behind. In spite of his Harvard credentials, erudite charisma, and genteel demeanor, readers find him sincere, approachable, and credible. Langdon impresses the reader greatly with his versatile talent and unusual resourcefulness. Since the incidents in the novel happen within a

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day, as a member of the investigation team on the case, Langdon seems more like a man of clues. Compared to the camerlengo, Langdon’s image is not dimensional. Instead, he is a flat character, whose personality never develops or changes. A case in point is that he always appears to be the most well-informed and quick-witted man in the novel. However, we need to understand that like Balzac’s Goriot and Conan Doyle’s Holmes, Langdon will not lose literary significance because of his “flatness.” On the contrary, this makes him more current and trustworthy. In many ways, he is very much an iconic figure that Brown has added to the gallery of portraits in contemporary literature. The novel facilitates a discussion about religion and science. Although its characters are extremely diverse in their opinions as they make controversial and often unsubstantiated claims about historical events and figures, it should be noted that the undisputed hero, Langdon, never clearly indicates which side he is on. Readers often like to figure out the author’s perspective through the characters, especially the leading ones. This time, they might be disappointed. Brown’s intention in raising issues without offering any solutions is precisely to avoid revealing his own views. Sometimes having no authorial view may be the best approach. It could open up more space for the readers’ imagination and encourage them to make their own judgment. Clearly, Langdon’s role is not merely a carrier of certain views; more importantly, he serves as a facilitator among different views and groups.

Not all scientific researchers oppose religion: Leonardo Vetra If Langdon, who never speaks his mind about the issue, prefers to be a silent centrist, then the scientist at CERN, Leonardo Vetra, has definitely made himself known as a centrist. He is both a physicist and a Catholic priest. His double identity has allowed him to explore the integration between religion and science all his life. He sees himself as “a theophysicist” and calls the subject of his study the “new physics” (44). “He was starting to fuse science and religion” (45). He hopes to verify God’s existence through scientific methods and prove science and religion as two approaches that mutually complement each other and merge in the pursuit of truth. The discovery of the antimatter is his dream come true, but such success in his scientific research has brought him profound distress instead of happiness because he has produced a material that carries the lethal power of destruction. Its moral implication has deeply disturbed him as he is a pious Catholic, and he is searching desperately for some spiritual guidance. To free himself from such a dilemma, Leonardo Vetra decides

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to break his appointment with Vittoria, his adopted daughter, and go to the Vatican secretly to share the news about the antimatter with the Pope and his camerlengo. This turns out to be the very reason for his murder. As the first victim of the conspiracy, Vetra’s tragic death effectively unfolds the story. The ancient symbol on his body sends Langdon on his code-deciphering journey to the Vatican. However, Vetra has a more important function beyond narrative development. His role as the embodiment of the integration between science and religion urges people to not only redefine science and religion but also reconsider the “polarizing theory” that has been established for hundreds of years. At this point we remember his message on a laser-printed memo: SCIENCE AND RELIGION ARE NOT AT ODDS. SCIENCE IS SIMPLY TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND. (70)

Vittoria Vetra tells Langdon that her father “wanted to bring science to a higher level where science supported the concept of God” (70). Human nature is complicated and diverse. It is quite natural to see an alternating display of conflicting emotions and beliefs in one person. In real life, the differences among people are common but they can also be murky from time to time.

Not all firm believers would reject science – the Pope Like Leonardo Vetra, the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in the novel belongs to one side, but he still cares about the other at all times. The reason the Pope, who serves as the spokesman and the spiritual leader of all Catholics around the world, holds such a scientific view toward religion must be examined from his unusual personal experience. When he was a young priest, he fell in love with a young nun who shared his faith. However, “both of them had taken vows of celibacy and never considered breaking their covenant with God” (543). Instead, they could only have a son – Carlo, the camerlengo – through the latest technology of test-tube babies through artificial insemination. That is why he “had an affection for the science,” and he felt “he owed a debt to science” (544). Having benefited from the “grace” of science, the Pope decided to dedicate himself to the effort of bridging the gap between science and religion. In his view, science could help people gain comfort in the physical world whereas religion allowed people to enjoy happiness in the spiritual world. Evidently, the purpose of science and religion are fundamentally similar. Nonetheless, the Pope’s good intent is not properly understood. The

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camerlengo somehow discovers the secret between the Pope and nun and decides to kill the Pope as a traitor of the Church. The death of the Pope makes one wonder about many issues. It relates to the controversies over science and religion and the complications of good and evil. Christianity is intended to nurture the goodness in human nature, but it is a pious believer who has killed the Pope, His Holiness. Such an absurd act urges us to think again about how we can handle religion more rationally. In addition, readers may try to understand the Pope and Vetra through comparison because there are many similarities and differences between them. To assess their similarities and differences, the Chinese approach of “recognizing the difference in similarities” (⣟ѝ㿱䚯- fan zhong jian bi), one of our traditional and individualistic aesthetic standards, might work very well. “Fan” means “repetition” and “similarity”; “bi” means “difference” and “variation.” This is the same point that Jin Shengtan makes in his commentary on The Water Margin.1 In other words, if you want to delineate the individualistic traits of the characters, the best way is to recognize their differences amidst their similarities. Brown has accomplished this in his characterization of the Pope and Vetra. Although both wish for a harmonious co-existence between religion and science, they are motivated by different factors. The Pope advocates for an equal status for religion and science because he has benefited from science. By contrast, Vetra has a double identity, praying as a Catholic priest while working as a scientist. His belief is much stronger than the Pope’s. He insists that science and religion are similar in nature, and that they are two different roads toward the same destination. Stay Away from the Demon in Science Vittoria Vetra, the Hassassin, and Maximilian Kohler

A woman who loves science – Vittoria Vetra Vittoria Vetra, the adopted daughter of Leonardo Vetra, also works at CERN. Individualistic and strong-willed, she is “a woman of tremendous personal strength” (50). She is not only a strict vegetarian but also the resident Yoga coach at CERN. As a scientist, she is quick, cool-headed, and tenacious. She is the only one who can help Langdon break the codes successfully. As a Yoga coach, she has a very flexible body and a special skill, escapology, which turns out to be a tremendous asset during 1

Jin Shengtan, Commentary on The Water Margin by Shi Naian, 88.

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Langdon’s life-and-death fight with the Hassassin. Her outstanding qualities turn her into a charming lady and an indispensable partner for Langdon. She can not only overcome all kinds of difficulties and dangers during her pursuit of her father’s murderer but also offer timely and effective assistance to Langdon in resolving all the mysteries. As the heroine and one of the few female characters in the novel, Vittoria Vetra appears to function as Langdon’s sidekick, a carrier of the novel’s main theme, and a key element in the overall scheme of the narrative. In Angels & Demons, a detective novel loaded with suspense and cultural implications, the coverage of passion is insignificant but it is undeniably indispensable. Without it, the story will not be so entertaining; in other words, without Vittoria, Langdon’s enthusiasm for solving the case might be slightly less. Moreover, Vittoria’s resolute determination to face the risks comes from her deep compassion for her foster father, Leonardo Vetra. The young Vittoria was still at the orphanage when they first met each other. They “became unlikely best friends in the lonely world of nuns and regulations. Vittoria made Leonardo laugh, and he took her under his wing, teaching her that beautiful things like rainbows and rivers had many explanations. He told her about light, planets, stars, and all of nature through the eyes of both God and science” (60-61). After getting to know each other well, Leonardo Vetra adopted her at the age of nine. For her early education, he always took extra care to teach Vittoria both science and religion. Under his guidance, Vittoria, who was very talented and anxious to learn, gradually made her way into the world of science. Without her adopted father, she would not have had a childhood full of joy and happiness, and she would not have been able to accomplish so much in her career today. She has become a cross-disciplinary expert on the research of biology and physics and a partner in her father’s study of the antimatter. It was her persistence that prompted Leonardo Vetra to agree, reluctantly, to produce a heavy dosage of the antimatter, which ultimately cost him his life. “She had imagined her father calling CERN’s top scientists to his lab, showing them his discovery, watching their awestruck faces…But here she was alone” (62-63). Vittoria feels deeply guilty about all this, believing that she is indirectly responsible for her father’s death, so she is unwavering in her determination to find the killer and seek revenge on his behalf. While being deeply touched by the genuine compassion between the father and daughter, the reader cannot help but think about the rich implications of Leonardo Vetra’s murder. Vittoria’s purpose in producing the antimatter on a large scale is to discover a new source of highly-

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efficient energy for the good of the mankind. Her intent is good. To her surprise, nevertheless, the antimatter becomes a byword for disaster and destruction way before it can show any of its potential for good. As its creator, she feels like a criminal who has manufactured a weapon of mass destruction. Thus, the double-edged nature of science is thoroughly manifested through her feelings about the tragic death of her father due to their joint discovery of the antimatter. Once again, as Brown subtly cautions us in the novel, how advanced technology should be utilized becomes a sensitive topic for careful consideration.

A killer who sacrifices himself for science – Hassassin As the first villain in the novel, the Hassassin, the killer working for the Illuminati, leaves the reader with quite an astonishing impression. His original name is Benvenuto but he claims to be the descendant of the “Hassassin – literally ‘the followers of hashish’” and “synonymous with death in almost every language on earth” (14) as he relates his killing spree to the secret Muslim society involved in the assassination of the crusaders in the 11th century. His aim is to prove his actions as noble and pure. He is truly “noble” as he has never raised the issue of compensation for his dangerous work, and he is offering his service to his brothers of the Illuminati with total dedication. However, he is also rather pathetic because he has no clue, even at the time of his death, that he has been nothing but a pawn in the hands of the camerlengo. What he does not realize is that he is not actually serving the Illuminati but its arch rival – the Church – instead. As a professional killer, the Hassassin is undoubtedly superb. He succeeds in killing all his targets as required and capturing public attention through the media. At the same time, he is able to control his own desires during the process, which shows his professionalism, but his craving to kill his sexual partner, a “subhuman, a vehicle of only pleasure and service” (65), is abhorrent to the reader. Besides, he never attempts to find out the real identity of the mastermind, Janus, but carries out his orders out of admiration for the society. He is happy to “be their hands and their voice” (66). He has no complaints about his inability to meet with the Star of the Illuminati since he knows that he does not have such a privilege. Instead, he is willing to wait for such an honor after he proves his loyalty and ability. Given such a mixture of good and evil traits, the Hassassin becomes less repulsive. His viciousness is disgusting and repugnant but his willingness to sacrifice himself selflessly for the Illuminati makes him appear less ruthless and turns him into a pitiful and believable character.

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By setting up one obstacle after another during the leading characters’ attempts to rescue the cardinals, including a few traps that almost kill them, the Hassassin is essential to the author’s calculated build-up of thought-provoking suspense and advance of the action-packed plot.

A director who appreciates science – Maximilian Kohler Maximilian Kohler is the director of CERN. He is known for his strictness and indifference toward other people’s feelings. Kohler runs CERN from his wheelchair and everyone calls him “King Kohler,” but “there were few there who blamed him for his bitterness…nor for his sworn dedication to pure science” (19). As a representative figure for the atheist scientists in the novel, he believes that science prevails over everything. Such a firm belief is the result of an incident in his childhood. At 11, Kohler was seriously ill but his religious parents refused to let the doctors treat him and pinned all their hopes on God. Sadly, their sincere prayers were not good enough to help cure Kohler and he almost died. At the end, the doctors saved his life but his legs remained paralyzed forever as the best time for treatment had passed. This experience changed Kohler’s life and made him hostile toward religion. In his mind, the highest compendium of human wisdom – science – was the only religion worth believing in. As a subplot in the novel, Kohler’s actions are mysterious all along. It is very likely that for a time the reader might suspect him of being the mastermind of the entire conspiracy. At first, Kohler’s sudden illness prevents him from going to the Vatican with Langdon and Vittoria to investigate the murder case, but then he discovers the truth of the matter in Geneva and, in a crucial moment at the end, exposes the camerlengo’s scheme at the expense of his own life. His covert maneuvering reflects his calm and wisdom as a scientist. For instance, he hides the handgun and palm-held camcorder beneath his wheelchair, using his physical disability as a convenient cover. As is common in many other thrillers, a secondary character pops out unexpectedly like a hidden stream gushing up from the underground in the nick of time and initiates a drastic shift in plot development. Looking for the Angel in the Church: The camerlengo, Cardinal Mortati, Commander Olivetti, Captain Rocher, and Lieutenant Chartrand

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All the frantic actions for the faith in heart – Carlo Ventresca Undoubtedly, the major flip-flop character in the novel is no other than the Pope’s chamberlain, the camerlengo. He is the private assistant to the former pope and serves as the administrator with “complete autonomous power” (135) during the conclave. He appears to be a good character. The way in which he conducts himself, with candor and calm during every crisis and disaster, shows he has the qualities of an excellent leader and deserves admiration. We adore him like a godly figure. To our astonishment, however, we discover that the mastermind of the whole scheme, Janus, turns out to be none other than the camerlengo. The Pope, Vetra, and the four cardinals all die because of him, and his only reason for their assassinations is to preserve a religion that is supposed to instill kindness in people. “Which is the greater sin?” he asks the people in the chapel. “Killing one’s enemy? Or standing idle while your true love is strangled?” He declares, “I could no longer stand by” simply because for centuries “the church has stood by while science picked away at religion bit by bit” and “presumed to harness the power of God himself!” (534). One might see the camerlengo as a demented, fanatic Catholic, but for him it was a sacred duty to do what he could to restore the purity and integrity of the Church. For a clear understanding of the camerlengo, one must go back to his childhood to search for clues. Carlo, the sole survivor of a terrorist bombing, lost his mother at a young age. Since then, he started hating science because it was science that created destructive weapons and took away his mother, the only loved one left in his life. His mother’s piety and his miraculous survival convinced him that it was God who’d blessed him hence he became a loyal follower of religion and a staunch opponent of science. Carlo’s extreme paranoia does not allow him to condone the Pope’s decision to fund scientific research. In his view, the integration between religion and science constitutes the greatest betrayal of religion. Besides, the fact that the Pope has fathered a child leads him to his conclusion that the Pope has betrayed the Church shamelessly. To this end, he poisons the Pope, even though the latter has treated him like a father over the years, creating a scheme that shakes the whole world. Carlo hopes his scheme will bring unity back to the Church and demonstrate the power of faith. Brown’s use of “Janus” as the code for the camerlengo has a deep meaning. It is associated with two images. One is the god of gates, passages, and arches in the street; the other is a figure with two faces. The second image has been passed on to represent a double-faced person or someone who is never what he appears to be. The use of this term is

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intended to imply the camerlengo’s duality of good and evil. He commits a lot of evil for the sake of good. In doing so, he not only inadvertently kills his biological father but also destroys himself. It is not his purpose to satisfy his own desire for power through the random killing of innocent people and the spread of terror. Instead, he only aims to protect the faith that he has been cherishing and striving for all along. When he learns the true story of his birth and his parents’ lifelong dedication to God, he is utterly devastated. He “covered his ears, trying to block out the words. He stood paralyzed on the altar. Then, with his world yanked from beneath him, he fell violently to his knees and let out a wail of anguish” (545). As the most important flip-flop character, he takes the reader through one abrupt shift after another in the plot and increases the readability of the novel immensely.

A rational resolution to answer his destiny – Mortati The 79-year-old Mortati is the oldest among the cardinals who attend the conclave and he has been authorized to oversee the whole process. At the unexpected disappearance of four cardinals, he stays clear-headed and manages to calmly contain the situation. Later, when laypeople and the other cardinals anxiously expect the camerlengo to be promoted to the papacy though it is a break from convention, Mortati is the only one who disagrees because he wants to take dutiful measures for the election. He cautions others to be prudent and listen to Carlo’s explanation before making up their mind. In the Sistine Chapel, when the camerlengo’s scheme is exposed, it is Mortati again who offers the answer to the riddle by revealing the father-son relationship between the former pope and Carlo. When the former pope was a preferit, Mortati, who served as one of the referendaries, chose to remain silent about the fact that he had a child simply because he believed that he was the most promising preferit for the papacy, and because the revelation of such a scandal would cause disastrous damage to the Church. Besides, although he had a child, the former pope had never broken his sacred vow of celibacy. It was only just and reasonable not to hold him accountable for that. To this end, Mortati decided to cover it up for him. Nevertheless, the truth is still brought to light at the end. While wading through one event after another, Mortati appears to be quite wise and sensible, and he performs well, like a great leader would. As a result, he is selected by the College of Cardinals as the new pope of the Vatican despite the fact that he is not even one of the preferiti.

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Despite his limited appearance in the novel, Mortati is an indispensable character due to his crucial role in uncovering the secret at the end of the story. Without him, the characterization of the camerlengo and the Pope would not be so complete and the plot would not be so exciting or articulate. Anyone who is familiar with the theory of ancient Greek aesthetics knows that Brown’s portrayal of the three characters – Kohler, the camerlengo, and Mortati – coincides with the famous Aristotle’s idea about plot. In his view, the plot “creates soul-stirring effect mainly through sudden shift and discovery.” The phrase “sudden shift” means “a move in an opposite direction based on our principle…proceeding from probable to inevitable”; the word “discovery” signifies “the transition from not knowing to knowing, thus prompting the characters in woe or weal to discover the kinship or rivalry between their opponents and themselves.”1 The way in which the suspected culprit changes from Kohler to the camerlengo is a telling example of a “sudden shift” in the novel. After he kills the Pope, the camerlengo discovers that he was not a traitor of the Church at all, and that he is actually his biological father. Such an arrangement achieves the same effect as demonstrated in one of the three great Greek tragedies, Oedipus the King, through a perfect combination of “sudden shift” and “discovery” in plot development. What has made it possible is the portrayal of these three characters with their distinctive features.

Unregretful sacrifice for duties – the Swiss Guard Commander Olivetti, Captain Rocher, and Lieutenant Chartrand are members of the Swiss Guard. As officers from different ranks of the Swiss Guard, they all protect the safety of the Vatican and the Church dutifully. They do everything to ensure the Pope’s safety, for which Commander Olivetti and Captain Rocher eventually sacrifice their lives. Initially Commander Olivetti neither believes in the power of the antimatter nor trusts Langdon and Vittoria; he even puts them under house arrest. During their joint investigation, however, he gradually comes to realize that Langdon and Vittoria are right. He cooperates with them as much as he can until he is gunned down by the Hassassin. The true identity of Captain Rocher is bewildering for a while, and he is even mistaken as an accomplice of Janus, but he remains loyal to the Church and Vatican all along. It is through Rocher’s assistance that Kohler gets to meet with the camerlengo and videotape the critical evidence. 1

Aristotle, Poetics, trans. Zhongmei Chen (Beijing: Commerce Press, 2009), 89.

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Also, Rocher’s loyalty to his faith does not allow him to condone the actions of the camerlengo. When he is about to fire at the camerlengo, the real mastermind behind the scenes, Rocher is shot dead because of a misunderstanding and thus becomes another victim in this conspiracy. Lieutenant Chartrand, the man who kills Captain Rocher by mistake, is not an accomplice of the camerlengo. He acts out of piety and conviction toward his faith. In his review of the significance of comparison in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zonggang Mao cites two examples. He says, “For a description of a national beauty, one may compare it to an ugly woman, but comparing it to a beautiful woman might make it even more beautiful. For a description of an undaunted general, one may compare him to a coward, but comparing him to a brave soldier might make him look more heroic.”1 What he means is that comparing the good to the bad is not as effective as setting up a contrast between two good entities. Brown’s portrayal of Chartrand is quite similar to this approach. A devout Catholic, Chartrand seems to have more respect for the camerlengo. It is the author’s attempt to enhance the camerlengo’s positive image as a believer through Chartrand’s perspective. Once he sees the camerlengo as the spokesman of God, Chartrand believes that he is not merely protecting the camerlengo but, more importantly, safeguarding his faith. Thanks to the team of Swiss Guards, who are sincere in their faith, loyal to the Church, and dedicated to its safety, the Vatican has been able to remain safe and sound on the Apennine Peninsula, accepting worship from Catholics around the world. These well-disciplined and well-trained guards protect the Vatican City quietly. In them, you may see the perfect combination of rational order, strong faith, and a union of science and religion. The story of these three characters ends here, but they leave us with a lot to think about. Whether science and religion should exclude or integrate with each other is not something that can be easily resolved overnight. All we can do is re-establish the truth and search for a solution through evidence.

3. Themes: The Other Side of the Mystery “Illuminati” and “conclave” are the two terms that appear frequently in Angels & Demons because both are crucial to establishing the backdrop 1

Zonggang Mao, “Commentary,” in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, eds. Zhaolian Meng, Qingbo Bian and Lin Wang (Changsha: Yulu Books, 2005), 355.

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and major themes of the story. In Brown’s imaginative representation, the pro-science Illuminati and the pro-religion Roman Catholic Church appear to be at once enigmatic and capricious. Is all this blurry, like illusions, or genuine, like facts? Now, let’s follow the tracks of history to explore what each really stands for and how the conflict between the two has lasted over the centuries.

Look at Science with the Left Eye – “Illuminati” Since the first sighting of the branded mark at the murder scene, the reader is full of dreadful suspicions toward the Illuminati. We learn from Langdon that the word “Illuminati” means “enlightened” and is the name of an ancient and long-forgotten society. Its history can be traced back to Rome in the 16th century, and its members were all first-rate scientists. Unfortunately, as Langdon tells Kohler in the novel, “Since the beginning of history, a deep rift has existed between science and religion” (31). Given the long-standing misgivings between science and religion and constant persecution by the Church, scientists established an organization to fight against the Church. “They feared that the church’s monopoly on ‘truth’ threatened academic enlightenment around the world” (32). The Illuminati had the elimination of the Catholic Church as its platform and held regular meetings at a secret site in Rome – a place they called the Church of Illumination. The Church soon tracked them down. With the Church in close pursuit, the Illuminati went gradually underground, but grew steadily. All this caused so much uneasiness within the Church that the Vatican declaimed the Illuminati as Satan, regarded it as the top antiChristian organization in the world, and tried to catch and kill its members. Among its prominent members, Copernicus was murdered and Galileo was arrested and almost executed. In the 18th century, another secret society, Freemasonry – a fraternal organization established by some rich Bavarian masons – took in the fugitive scientists of the Illuminati, who had fled Rome and “traveled across Europe looking for a safe place to regroup” (38), and virtually became its shelter. The Illuminati continued to expand within Freemasonry and, as time went by, took over its key positions of power. They secretly reestablished the Illuminati inside Freemasonry, thus becoming a secret society within a secret organization. Then, by taking advantage of Freemasonry’s worldwide network, the Illuminati expanded its influence and raised funds for its ultimate goal to unite the whole world and create a new world order based on scientific enlightenment. The bloody murder case in the novel seems to imply that the Illuminati has re-

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emerged. At the end of the novel, however, the author notes that the Illuminati has not had a resurgence but has been used merely as a tool in the conspiracy. Is Langdon’s information accurate? How much artistic license has been used in the novel? What kind of relationship is there between the Illuminati and Freemasonry? Is the Illuminati really dead? The answers to these questions must be found in history. As a matter of fact, historical records tell us that many irrelevant organizations have used the title “Illuminati” from time to time. The earliest record is of a man by the name of Montanus who set up a group of Illuminati in the second century. Soon after launching his pagan movement, he decided to convert to the Christian Church again. The members of his group exhibited the enchanted, frenzied nature of their religious experience, which they firmly regarded as inspiration from the Holy Spirit. They pursued their own moral codes and received harsh criticism from the Church because of it. The group managed to survive in Asia Minor and North Africa till the ninth century, but it was ultimately doomed to elimination. For years, the Illuminati remained totally out of sight until it surfaced again in the 16th century. This time its organizers were Spanish. They called themselves Alumbrados (the Alumbrados group), namely, “Illuminati” or “enlightened.” This group of Illuminati rendered the worshiping rituals and religious practices unimportant and even redundant. They insisted that men could reach the state of perfection directly. Since their claims were in contradiction of the Church’s teachings, the Spanish Inquisition issued decrees in 1568, 1574, and 1623 to wipe them out. Reportedly, the Spanish Illuminati ran away from the persecution to France because a pagan organization surfaced in France in 1623, claiming to be the Illuminati from Spain. By the second half of the eighteenth century, the Illuminati had established contact with Freemasonry. Here, one person is really worth mentioning: Adam Weishaupt. He was educated as a Jesuit priest yet he set up an anti-Jesuit organization when he was in college. In 1777, Weishaupt was invited to become a member of the Freemasons. It is said that he founded the most famous group of Illuminati in history in what is known today as the Bavarian region in South Germany. In 1784, the Bavarian government, which was under the rule of the Roman Catholic Church, banned the activities by all secret societies, which led the Illuminati and Freemasonry to disintegrate. Since the emergence of Weishaupt’s group, the information about the Illuminati has been a mixture of truth and fantasy. People with ulterior motives started using the rumors and stories about the Illuminati to demur Freemasonry and the

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Illuminati, but their conspiracy did not succeed. Hyped by the numerous rumors, the Illuminati attracted more supporters instead, and its power reached the entire Europe. Despite its inability to sustain a systematic existence, the Illuminati has a far-reaching influence, and it has been a popular topic for discussion among historians and conspiracy lovers. True, there is not much firsthand material to introduce the Illuminati directly but all the accusations against it have been retained. They could offer us some glimpses of its history and facilitate various approaches to the study of the Illuminati. There have been some conspiracy theories regarding the Illuminati yet they all seem to be conjectural rather than factual. One must admit, though, that the various rumors have penetrated cultural spheres and elicited new suppositions. Angels & Demons is a perfect case in point. Some of the references to the Illuminati in the novel, such as its origin and development, are made without verifiable sources. “At the very end of Angels & Demons,” Mark Dice notes, “in a very dramatic twist, Dan Brown writes that there is actually no such thing as the Illuminati, and that a demented Vatican official who holds the position of the Camerlengo had concocted the story and was actually behind the plot himself.”1 However, we ought to realize that this is not the key to the issue. What is crucial is how the author calls for an in-depth consideration of the Illuminati and the serious issue of the conflict between science and religion. Its significance is far greater than anything else. If we are only interested in finding out whether the novel’s representation of the Illuminati (or other incidents) is authentic or not, we will make the silly mistake of buying the glittering casket without the jewels.

Understand the Church with the Right Eye – the Conclave In the novel, the other key part of the backdrop is the conclave that is being conducted by the Roman Catholic Church, the adversary of the Illuminati. The story becomes more suspenseful and astounding because of this subplot, which is deeply shrouded in the infinite mysteries of an ancient ritual. The conclave is the ritual through which a new pope of the Vatican is selected (the Catholics call him “The Pontiff”). As Langdon explains, “It was one of the oldest traditions in Christendom” (185). The conclave is convened in accordance with religious traditions 15 days after the death of the Pope. But it is “not an election”; it is actually “an ancient, mystic 1 Mark Dice, The Illuminati: Facts & Fiction (San Diego, CA: The Resistance, 2009), 316.

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transference of power” (185). Cardinals from around the world gather at the Vatican City State to select a new pope. All the windows in the Church are covered by black velvet and rooms will be illuminated with candles rather than electric lights in order to ensure that no one inside can communicate with or leak any information to anyone outside. At 7:00 pm, the Papal Master of Ceremonies arrives to offer the opening prayer and then he leaves. The Swiss Guard seals all the doors and locks all the cardinals inside. Thus, the oldest and most secretive ritual in the world starts. The cardinals are kept inside until a new pope is elected. During the transition between the two papacies, all church authority is transferred to the former pope’s camerlengo, who serves as the Pope’s private secretary. He assumes the charge of overseeing the procedure of the conclave until the cardinals choose a new pope. In fact, the selection of the Pope is much more complicated than what Langdon tells us. Let’s start from the death of a pope. The papacy of the Roman Catholic Church is a lifelong appointment. The conclave will only take place when the impeachment, or resignation, or death of the Pope occurs. After the death of the Pope, all officials of the Church will immediately surrender their authority to the camerlengo. He will be in charge of the Pope’s funeral and the election of a new pope through the conclave. Before burial, the body of the Pope is placed in a hearse inside St. Peter’s Basilica. After a brief rite of burial, his remains are sealed in the coffin forever. That is the very reason why Vittoria’s request to examine the Pope’s remains meets stiff resistance; it is not just because an autopsy of his body is not permissible as described in the novel. The burial is usually administered by the camerlengo with all cardinals holding various positions in attendance. The nine-day mass is one of the rituals that must be conducted afterwards. The conclave starts two weeks after the Pope’s death, and it cannot be delayed beyond the twentieth day. The conclave begins at 10:00 am with a sermon for the College of Cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica. At 4:30 pm, the cardinal electors assemble in the Pauline Chapel, a palace inside the Vatican, and from there they proceed to the Sistine Chapel to conduct their conclave. Generally speaking, the election of the Pope, which is executed through secret ballots, will take at least two days and not last more than five. The rule stipulates that only those cardinals under the age of 80 can vote. The maximum number of voters is set at 120. All cardinals may cast their vote four times a day until a new pope is elected by two-thirds of the votes. No cardinal may vote for himself, which is clearly incompatible with the details of the scene in Angels & Demons where the cardinals

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attempt to drag out the process by casting votes for themselves. No attempt to canvass votes will be allowed. Serious offenders will be dispelled from the conclave instantly. The last revision of the electoral rules was made in 1996 under the supervision of Pope John Paul II. The changes of the conclave rules were written into the apostolic constitution. The most important change is that in case no one is elected by receiving two-thirds of the supportive votes after 30 ballots, the election may be determined by the absolute majority of votes over 50 percent. During the conclave, voting cardinals stay at the Domus Sanctae Marthae (which was the Apostolic Palace before 2005); they are warned against communicating with anyone and they all take a solemn oath to observe secrecy about the election. In 2005, in order to ensure a smooth election, the Vatican set up electronic surveillance equipment around the voting site, the Sistine Chapel, and conducted a careful sweep for electronic devices in the Domus Sanctae Marthae so no one could divulge any information electronically. Once the conclave is officially underway, cardinals write down the names of their ideal candidates on their ballots and put them in the ballot urn. After the vote counting is done, all ballots are burned in the fireplace. People can tell whether or not a new pope has been elected by checking the color of the smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney. If the election is finished, some chemical powder is added to the burning ballots to send out white smoke; if not, a different kind of chemical powder is added to create black smoke. The description in the novel matches this completely. When the new pope is chosen, he will be asked if he is willing to serve. In fact, not everyone has been anxious to be in that position. For instance, a cardinal from Milan, Italy turned down his nomination in 1978. If the Pope-elect agrees to serve, he will become the spokesman of Jesus for all Catholics around the world. Shortly thereafter, the dean of the College of Cardinals appears on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and announces the election of the new pope to the waiting crowd, “I would like to tell you great news: we have a new pope!” Then, the new pope will appear on the balcony and bless all Catholics. Back in ancient times, the successor for the papacy was picked by the Pope himself. Later, the rule was changed into a joint appointment by church officials and secular rulers. Beginning from the eleventh century, the rule was changed into an election by the College of Cardinals. Sometimes, disagreement among the cardinals dragged the election for a long time; for instance, the papacy was open for a year and half between 1241 and 1243. The longer the Church went without a pope, the more likely it would face possible disintegration. Because of this, the electoral process was slightly modified in 1271. Cardinals were locked inside a

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room without a roof and provided with limited water and bread. The purpose was to elect a new pope as soon as possible. Hundreds of years later, the conclave of the Pope was perfected steadily as the world progressed. Today, it is conducted in an orderly way with the advantage of high-tech electronic equipment to safeguard the information. Here, a perfect integration between ancient religious ritual and modern technology plays an instrumental role in facilitating the selection of the spokesman of Jesus Christ – the spiritual leader of all Catholics around the world. Does this collaboration constitute indirect evidence of the argument implied in Angels & Demons that science and religion are not necessarily in unavoidable conflict with each other?

4. Setting: The Eternal Frame The first entry in Brown’s “Seven Powerful Tips” for novel writing is about the use of setting: “1. Setting, Setting, Setting: Expose your readers to new worlds.” His remark gives us some sense about how much importance he has attached to the function of setting in his novels. By setting his novel mostly in Rome, Brown can tap into its long and rich history as well as the mysteries of the city and the Vatican, and whip up his readers’ burning curiosity about the secrets and treasures associated with both places. Overall, Brown’s representation of his setting in Angels & Demons walks the tightrope between fiction and reality. To readers who have not visited Rome, reading the novel is an exciting tour of its many sites.

God’s Favored Place – the Vatican The Vatican is one of the major settings in Angels & Demons. It is one of the places that fascinate Langdon tremendously not only because it is a world-famous sacred place but also because it houses so many treasures of art.

The Vatican The Vatican City State, or Vatican, is located in the northwest region and ensconced on the Vatican Hill in Rome, the capital of Italy. It is the smallest state in the world, with an area of approximately 44 square kilometers (110 acres), but still it is an independent sovereign state even though its territory only consists of a walled enclave. In Latin, Vatican means “the place of the prophetic.” It is a divine state with the integration

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of politics and religion. The Pope is both the head of the state and the spiritual leader of all Catholics, with all the temporal, legislative, and judicial authorities that go with the two roles. A sparrow has all its organs despite its small size; similarly, the Vatican City State has all the facilities it needs. Italian and Latin are used as its official languages. It is in fact the only state nowadays that uses Latin. The majority of its citizens are Catholics. Unlike all other states, however, the Vatican City State does not have any agriculture or natural resources on its territory. All its daily necessities, such as running water, electricity, food, and other supplies, are provided by Italy. It does not have a military, either, except for a small number of guards for its security. The history of the Vatican City State may be traced back to 756, the year in which Pepin, the King of the Franks, officially conferred upon the Pope the city of Rome and other surrounding territories (it is known as the “Pepin Donation” in the history of the Church). Shortly thereafter, the Pope established the Papal States, with Rome as the capital, placing an area of more than 40 thousand square kilometers under its direct rule, and turning it into a religious and political center in Western Europe. In August 1870, a general uprising broke out in Rome against the Papal States. The king of the Kingdom of Italia sent his troops into Rome and annexed what was left of the Papal States to his kingdom. The Pope lost his power and had to retreat to the ancient fortifications on Vatican Hill in Rome. In the Lateran Treaty, which was signed on February 11, 1929, Italy recognized this area as the Pope’s territory and formed a sovereign city state, with the Vatican City State as its full name.

The 1st stop – St. Peter’s Square We follow in Langdon’s footsteps to the first stop – St. Peter’s Square, the site of the second altar of science in the novel. A famous landmark in Vatican City, it is located on the west bank of the Tiber River, and it has become famous because of St. Peter’s Basilica on its front. At the center of the square is an Egyptian obelisk. Erected on the top is a hollow iron cross, in which, it is believed, the original cross used for Christ’s crucifixion has been stored. On either side of the Egyptian obelisk, two fountains stand in perfect symmetry, which indicates the geometrical focus of the oval-shaped piazza. Of course, that is not the only attraction of St. Peter’s Square. “A sprawling expanse of granite, St. Peter’s Square was a staggering open space in the congestion of Rome, like a classical Central Part” (119). Also, it is the place where the Roman Catholic Church holds massive religious

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ceremonies. The ground is paved with black circular cobblestones and varied by radiating lines in travertine to mark the equinoxes and solstices. The square is surrounded by the two hemicycles of a four-row colonnade. The left side is called the Charlemagne Wing while the right side is called the Constantine Wing. Each wing is 120 meters long. The square was designed by Bernini in 1656, and its construction was completed in 11 years. Its oval shape symbolizes St. Peter’s Basilica’s status as the “mother of all churches.” The colonnades are known as “arms of the mother church.” They embrace all Catholics to solidify their faith; they embrace all pagans to invite them to the Church; they embrace all nonbelievers to enlighten them with a real faith. The obelisk that stands at the center of the square was brought from Egypt to Rome in 37 AD. On the left and right of the obelisk, there are circular marble plates (iron disks for road construction) which indicate the foci of the elliptical square. When you stand on either side of these plates and look at the nearest colonnade, you will be surprised to discover that the four rows of alternately positioned columns fall in a straight line. You can only see the first row of columns. Around the obelisk, there are eight markers of direction on the ground. The marker that is closest to the basilica indicates “west wind,” which represents one of the four basic elements, “air,” of the Illuminati in the novel. In Angels & Demons, Langdon marvels at the innovative ideas for the transparent perspective and symmetrical arrangement in Bernini’s design. Later, Langdon finds a cloth-bound ledger, “handwritten in Italian,” and glances through the pages that record all the art works Bernini was commissioned with “a short description, date, location, cost of materials, and sometimes a rough sketch of the piece” (335).

The 2nd stop – St. Peter’s Basilica Standing at St. Peter’s Square, facing westward, what you see in front is the world-famous St. Peter’s Basilica. Like St. Peter’s Square, it is one of the major sites in Langdon’s journey of suspense. The antimatter that could potentially destroy the Vatican is hidden right here. The construction of St. Peter’s Basilica, the biggest Catholic church in the world, began in 1506 and lasted for 120 years until its completion in 1626. On the left of St. Peter’s Basilica, one may see the statue of Saint Peter, which was based on the Bible. He was the first among Jesus Christ’s 12 apostles. In the middle of the first century, Peter preached in Rome on two occasions. Due to the fierce persecution of Christians by Nero, the ruthless king of the Roman Empire at that time, Peter had to leave Rome. Just as he was about to leave, he received an epiphany from Jesus, who urged him

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to stay. The enlightened Peter chose to stay behind and keep preaching. On October 13, 64 AD, Peter was crucified by the tyranny. Later, people built an altar at his burial site; in the 4th century, they built a church there; in the 16th century, they built a large basilica and named it St. Peter’s Basilica. His tomb is located in the cellar of the basilica. St. Peter’s Basilica is perceived as a sacred palace by all Catholics, so numerous believers pay homage here every year. In the novel, Langdon uses two soccer fields to measure the basilica’s width and six soccer fields for its length (119). The height from the floor to the top of the external cross on the dome is nearly 138 meters. The basilica is big enough to seat more than 50,000 worshipers. At the center of the hall, there is a baldacchino, a pavilion-like structure 30 meters tall, or as high as a five-story building, supported by four twisted columns of bronze. It is a Baroque furnishing that took Bernini nine years to finish. Under the baldacchino is the special altar for the Pope. No one else is allowed to stand on it. Saint Peter’s tomb is located in the cellar directly beneath the altar – at the center of the basilica – and surrounded by mica stone balustrade, upon which 30 golden lamps are lit day and night. Another 12 lamps are lit on either side of the steps leading toward the vault. In Angels & Demons, the camerlengo and others come down to the vault to search for the antimatter. The stairs on the left take visitors to the tombs of the popes of the past. On top of each tomb, there is a life-size statue of each pope in his apparel. This is where Vittoria and the camerlengo come to investigate the cause of the Pope’s death in Angels & Demons. The entrance to the Treasury Museum, in which many pieces of luxurious and sacred silverware are on display, is located off the left transept. The dome on the top of the basilica may be accessed from the right side. There is an elevator, but you still must climb 330 steps if you want to go to the roof. Looking out from the roof, you have a full view of St. Peter’s Square. St. Peter’s Basilica is the fascinating mixture of art through the joint efforts of many great Italian architects and artists during the Renaissance period, such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Bramante, and Sangallo the Younger. It is more than just a magnificent architectural palace since it also has a huge collection of precious works of art, and each of them is priceless. The Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica is only open during a Holy Year (Jubilee), which occurs every 25 years.

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The 3rd stop – the Vatican Museum The Vatican Museum is not a main setting in Angels & Demons but it is a haven of art that fascinates the protagonist, Langdon. That is probably the main reason Langdon feels compelled to go there. He knows well that more than 60,000 priceless artifacts are exhibited in 1,007 display rooms. Among them are valuable works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Bernini, and Botticelli. Many of the art works are statues that weigh as much as several tons. They are just too heavy to be removed. What are more valuable are the architectural wonders of the building itself. The museum is on the north side of St. Peter’s Basilica. Originally, it used to be part of the Roman Catholic Church. The construction of the museum complex first started at the end of the 5th century and, therefore, it is considered the earliest museum in the world. It was expanded, along with St. Peter’s Basilica, in the 16th century. Built in the architectural style of the European court, its interior is full of twists and turns, but everything is integrated seamlessly. Inside, you see a uniquely designed stairway with two spiral ramps. Like the one-way lanes on the highway, the two ramps never have two-way traffic, ensuring a smooth passage for the visitors. The Vatican Museum consists of 12 sections and five galleries, and has a reputation for having “museums within the museum.” On top of the museum building there is a rooftop garden, which is big, beautiful, and full of the kind of fresh vitality that seems to mediate the sobriety of the art and clear the suffocating atmosphere inside the museum. Looking over the skyline of Rome from the expansive roof, one feels a unique sensation in the heart. The museum owes its great reputation to its art collection. The priceless works of art have a long history, dating from ancient times to the Renaissance. They inspire a sense of wonder in all beholders. They certainly stand as equal to those displayed in the British Museum in London and the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is not surprising at all that the admission fee for the Vatican Museum is one of the highest among the museums in Europe. The museum has so many pieces on display. It is said that even if you spend only four seconds on each piece, it will still take 10 years to see them all. The rich collection has been built up with assistance from Catholic churches all over the world. Among the pieces on display you will find the handwritten copy of the Bible from the 4th century and many ancient murals. Most noteworthy of all may be the fact that the Vatican Museum has gained its great reputation from the work of two of the three greatest masters during the Renaissance, Michelangelo and Raphael. Both of them dedicated nearly 10 years of their life to the Vatican Museum. The

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paintings by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel and the pieces in Raphael’s Rooms are truly the treasures of the Vatican Museum. As the residence of the Pope and the site of the papal conclave, the Sistine Chapel is an extremely important setting in Angels & Demons. This is where the episode of the conclave takes place and the truth is found after the camerlengo’s real identity is revealed. The construction of the chapel started in the 1470s. Its fame mainly rides on Michelangelo’s frescos, namely, the ceiling decoration of Genesis and The Last Judgment, and it is regarded as one of the best artistic palaces in Europe. It is the only hall in the Vatican Museum in which no photography is allowed. A marble screen divides the Sistine Chapel into two spaces. The front has an altar, where the swearing in of the Pope is held. On the sides of the chapel, there are 12 murals. The six paintings on the left wall represent the life of Moses, the savior of the Jewish people; the six paintings on the right wall represent the life of Christ. The masterpiece based on the Book of Genesis is on the ceiling, and the other one, The Last Judgment, spans the entire wall behind the altar of the chapel. The large-scale painting on the ceiling, Book of Genesis, takes up an area of approximately 300 square meters and describes the stories from the Bible. It took Michelangelo four years of lying on his back on top of an 18-meter-high scaffold to finish the painting all by himself. It took astonishing perseverance. On the day the painting was completed, the 37year-old Michelangelo looked like an old man. He recalled, “My beard was upturning in the air, my head was hanging to the side, and my face was full of patterns made by the paint drippings from the paint brush.”1 The other painting on the wall, The Last Judgment, is 20 meters high and 10 meters wide. It is the most powerful, most complicated, and largest mural in the world. It took Michelangelo almost six years to get it done. There is a gap of 24 years between the two paintings. During this period, Rome was shaken by crises and religious reforms. In sharp contrast to the painting on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, The Last Judgment is tinged with Michelangelo’s personal pessimism and despair. Both pieces are artistic treasures that will shine forever in the Vatican Museum. Every year, they attract nearly three million visitors. In Angels & Demons, Brown’s reference to The Last Judgment has a special implication. It is brought up in chapter 131. By then, the truth is already out – the camerlengo has turned out to be the son of the late pope. The camerlengo has to face everyone’s judgment, but more importantly he has to face the judgment of his own conscience simply because he has 1

Ke Chi, The History of Western Fine Art (Beijing: China Youth Press, 1983), 101.

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killed his father. He laments, “There were too many secrets in these walls,” and Brown continues, “One so dark it had driven him to madness” (532). Using The Last Judgment as a link, the novel succeeds in contrasting the realistic judgment in the plot with the religious judgment in the wall painting, thus heightening the tragic sentiment of the story.

The Guard of God – Rome No one can describe the Vatican well without mentioning Rome. The two cities are not only connected geographically but their history has also been closely interlocked. The magnificent legacy of art and culture from ancient Rome has attracted a continuous stream of tourists. Rome and the Vatican complement each other in forming a spectacular attraction on the Apennines Peninsula. No wonder Brown features Rome prominently in his novel and sends Langdon across the city to crack the codes.

Rome Langdon examines Rome as he flies over it on his arrival. The city looks like an intricate labyrinth, with numerous old lanes around buildings, fountains, and ancient sites. To him it is both dazzling and intoxicating. Rome, the capital of Italy, is located in the hilly region on the Tiber River. The city spreads out on both sides of the river. The biggest city in Italy and the center of politics, economy, culture, and transportation, it is where the legacy of the ancient Rome originated. It is also a city wellknown for its rich collection of art and long history of culture. Rome began as a small town by the Tiber River. About 2,000 BC, the Romans moved here from the northeast. They started building castles between the 8th and 4th centuries BC and gradually expanded into a city. As the old Chinese saying goes, “The world evolves in unification-splittingreunification cycles.” Rome has gone through similar cycles in its history many times. In 1870, the king of Italy brought the country together through unification. The dispute between the Vatican State and the Italian people was settled on this ancient land once for all. The Vatican State retreated to Vatican City and became a sovereign state. Henceforth, the two states lived in peace and developed together. As one of the most popular tourist sites in the world, Rome has many magnificent historical buildings on more than 40 percent of its city area. Ancient sites, such as the Flavian Amphitheater, or Coliseum, and the Pantheon, are dotted all over the city. Of course, it also has many marvelous buildings and

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exquisite artifacts from the Renaissance period. It is a place that no tourist wants to miss.

The 4th stop – the Pantheon The Pantheon, which is mistakenly perceived as a “vulgar” altar of science by Langdon, is the best-preserved building from ancient Rome. The name comes from the Greek pantheon – “pan” means “all,” and “theon” means god. Together, it means a temple for the worship of all gods. Its interior is quite spacious as it does not have a single pillar inside. The diameter of the interior and the height to the oculus are the same, 43.3 meters. The lower part of the interior is a hollow circle; the upper part is a hemicycle dome. At the dome’s apex is an oculus, which has a diameter of 8.2 meters. It is the only source of natural light. At first, Langdon mistakes this oculus as the “devil’s hole” in John Milton’s poem. The interior wall of the dome becomes thinner as it goes higher. It is 6 meters thick at the meeting point of the lower part, but it is only 1.5 meters at the top of the dome. The interior wall is divided into five rings of 28. This layout is evenly spaced and aesthetically attractive. The dome used to be “the world’s largest free-standing dome until 1960 when it was eclipsed by the Superdome in New Orleans” (245). No wonder Michelangelo admired the Pantheon as the “creation of the angel.” This ancient building was constructed between 27-25 BC in celebration of Emperor Augustus’s victorious expedition to Egypt. That was more than 100 years before the Coliseum. In 80 AD, the Pantheon was severely damaged by fire after it was struck by a thunderbolt, but its door, stone pillars, and the dome were preserved. The Pantheon we see today was rebuilt by Emperor Adriano between 120 and 125. In 609, it was given to Pope Boniface IV, who converted it into a Catholic church. Many sacred remains have been kept inside. Later, the Lateran Treaty designated it as the national church of Italy, which is why the Pantheon was not destroyed as a building of pagans and has managed to survive to this day. Today, people gather here for important sermons on holidays. After the unification of Italy, the Pantheon became the mausoleum of kings. However, what appeals more to most visitors here are the tombs of famous artists. The tomb of Raphael is one of them. In Angels & Demons, Raphael’s tomb is a key reason why Langdon mistakes the Pantheon as the first altar of science. By checking the dates of Raphael’s death and the relocation of his body to the Pantheon, Langdon discovers that he and Vittoria are “in the wrong place!” (249).

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The 5th stop –Popolo Square and Popolo St. Mary’s Church After leaving the Pantheon, Langdon finally arrives at the right location of the first altar of science – Popolo Square, or the “People’s Square”. It lies on the south side of the Popolo city gate in North Rome, and it is one of the traffic hubs in the Vatican. The square today was built by Giuseppe Valadiera, a Roman architect, in 1820. Its radiant pattern was so magnificent that many European countries imitated it in their squares, such as the Palace Square of the Palace of Versailles in France and the square in front of The Admiralty of St. Petersburg in Russia. In Angels & Demons, the Popolo St. Mary’s Church is located between Popolo Square and the city gate. The church is also called St. Mary’s Church of the People because it was built with funding from the public. Though not bright and stylish in appearance, it has the richest collection of artifacts of all the churches in Rome. In the Cerasi Chapel, there are two canvases painted by Caravaggio, The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus and The Crucifixion of Saint Peter. In 1513, banker Agostino Chigi commissioned Raphael to build the Chigi Chapel. In the 17th century, Pope Alexander VII ordered Bernini to refurbish it. His sculpture, Habakkuk and the Angel, was brought in during this time. In the subsequent years, more famous artists contributed to the refurbishment of the chapel, turning it into a more valuable treasure trove of art.

The 6th stop – Barberini Square and Church of Our Lady of Victory Barberini Square is the site of the third altar of science. It is also called Bee Square because the bee is the crest of the Barberini family. At the center of the square, there is a fountain built in the Roman Baroque style, the Fountain of God of Sea, or Triton Fountain, which is one of Bernini’s masterpieces. In the novel, Langdon claims that there used to be an obelisk at the very site where the fountain sits. Historically, Barberini Square has been full of controversies. To prevent the square from collapsing, the obelisk was replaced by the fountain. In reality, the statue shows a merman kneeling on four dolphin tail fins and shooting a jet of water from his mouth. Most of the tourists who come to see the fountain do not pay much attention to the square. Barberini Palace is nearby on the southeast side of the square. It is one of the representative Baroque buildings jointly designed by Bernini and Borromini, and was finished in 1633. The two steps on the front were designed by the two artists,

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respectively. Check them out, and see if you can discern the difference between the designs by the two Baroque artists. The Church of Our Lady of Victory is a Baroque style church in Barberini Square but it has been basically discarded by the Roman Catholic Church due to the material used in its interior and the daring personal style of the sculptures. Still, it is regarded as the most splendid church in the city of Rome. Initially, it was named the Church of Saint Paul, and later renamed the Church of Our Lady of Victory to celebrate the Catholic victory at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. Bernini’s masterpiece, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, is kept in the Cornaro Chapel. This is the sculpture that symbolizes “fire” along the “Path of Light” in the novel. It has been one of the major attractions for the fans of Angels & Demons.

The 7th stop – Navona Square The fourth and last altar of science stands in the beautiful and lively Navona Square. The square, right in the center of Rome, is the most famous and considered the most dazzling of all the squares built in the Baroque style. The long elliptic square is 240 meters from south to north and 65 meters from east to west. It is so big because on the original site stood the Stadium of Domitian in the 1st century. During the Medieval Age, it was alleged that the whole square was full of water and it became a place for water games and boating. In 1644, Pope Innocent X initiated a radical proposal to reconstruct it in Baroque style, which greatly expanded its total area. The most prominent result is, of course, the two fountains based on the design of Bernini: the Fountain of Moro at the southern end and the Fountain of the Four Rivers in the center. Artistically, the two fountains pleasantly complement the Fountain of Neptune (created by Giacomo della Porta) at the northern end as the most spectacular landscape on the square. Many tourists come here simply because of the fame of these fountains. At the end of the 15th century, a market was opened on the square, and it has been lively and crowded ever since. The Fountain of the Four Rivers is the fourth altar of science in the novel.

The 8th stop – Castle of St. Angel and St. Angel Bridge Once all the altars of science have been revealed one after another, the secret base of the Illuminati – the Church of Illumination – finally comes to light. It turns out to be the famous Castle of St. Angel. Legend holds that Pope Gregory saw the Archangel Michael appear on the castle roof,

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and he took this as a sign of the end of the plague spreading over Rome in 590. Sure enough, the plague soon ended. He decided to erect a statue of the angel sheathing his sword atop the castle as a token of gratitude, thus lending the castle its present name. It is a cylindrical building commissioned by Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself. Rumor says that he came up with the design himself. In 1277, Pope Nicholas III remodeled the overall structure of the castle by converting the old city wall around it into a long corridor and deftly connecting it to St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, so the Pope could use it as an escape route in times of external threat. This is the “safety passage” mentioned in Angels & Demons. One can come and go easily between the papal residence and the castle without being seen through this corridor that runs along the encircling wall. It is through this secret passage that the Hassassin stealthily kidnaps the four cardinals. It is also how Langdon and Vittoria return to the office of the Pope after killing the Hassassin. Back in the 16th century, when Charles V launched his bloody battle in Rome, thousands of Roman residents took to the castle as their shelter for months. Since the Medieval Age, the castle has been used for various functions, including a papal residence, military fortress, and a prison. In 1925, the ancient castle was turned into a museum, The National Museum of the Castle of St. Angel. It has a huge collection of ancient armor and weapons. To this day, the most unique parts of the building are still well-preserved. Among them, the rooftop garden of the castle is particularly worth visiting. From there, one enjoys the best views of the sights of Rome and St. Peter’s Basilica. In the novel, this is where Langdon and Vittoria kill the Hassassin. St. Angel Bridge sits on the Tiber River right in front of the castle. It is famous for the angel sculptures that flank both sides. Since the drapery on the angels is all swept up by wind, the bridge is also known as “Bernini’s mania in the wind.” It is one of the greatest well-preserved bridges from ancient Rome. The pier of the bridge is seven meters high. There are seven arches, and the five in the middle have a span of 18 meters. Originally there was no sculpture at either end of the bridge but in 1535, Pope Clemente VII commissioned two sculptures – one of Saint Peter and one of Saint Paul. Walking northward from the southern end of the bridge, one can see ten sculptures of angels, which were designed by Bernini and finished jointly by the master and his apprentices. Hence, the bridge was named after these sculptures. The two sculptures closest to the castle were done by Bernini himself. However, the two pieces we see today are only replicas. The originals have been moved into the Church of Saint Andrea of Fratte for preservation. The other eight pieces were made

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by Bernini’s apprentices, based on his design. In 1450, the bridge collapsed and a new one was built on the same site. The surface of the new bridge is wider but the government banned all traffic, except pedestrian, on the bridge in the 1970s. It is a little difficult to summarize the journey of suspense in the Vatican in a few words because it is not a simple one. Instead, it is a feast of sightseeing and an immersion of culture and art. If you ever get a chance to visit Rome and the Vatican, you might as well follow Langdon’s steps and enjoy the experience firsthand.

5. Codes: The Angel’s Guidance Upon closing Angels & Demons, the line, “let angels guide you on your lofty quest,” will likely echo in the reader’s mind for a long time, and all the tricky codes hidden in the literary and artistic artifacts will linger, playing again and again in one’s memory. The reader has to admire the tremendous knowledge that Brown gleaned from his research and the way he disseminated it in his extraordinary writing.

The Secret of 503 “503” is a common number, but for the scientists anxious to join the Illuminati, it is just the starting point of their admission. It is used as a cover for a Roman number. The number 503 in Roman numerals is D III. Ancient scientists used the abbreviations to distinguish the three books by Galileo, Dialogue, Discussion, and Diagram (the title of the set is The Diagram of Truth). D III is Diagram, the third of his books. Therefore, the number 503 offers a hint that the clue lies in Diagram. In this book, Galileo uses a sign to imply a secret location, which is revealed in a mode the Illuminati call pure language. Pure language is not a series of complicated signs but it is the language English people use widely today. Because the Roman Church did not know how to use English at that time, Galileo regarded it as a pure language. These English signs are scattered over the blank space on the 5th page of Diagram and form a poem by Milton in iambic pentameter: From Santi’s early tomb with demon’s hole, Cross Rome the mystic elements unfold. The path of light is laid, the sacred test, Let angels guide you on your lofty quest. (222)

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Obviously, the poem reveals that the path of light begins from Santi’s tomb – the first altar of science. From there, it runs through Rome and, by following the signs, reaches the destination. Santi is none other than the great Renaissance artist Raphael because it is his surname. But we cannot make the same mistake Langdon does by assuming the Pantheon, where Raphael is buried, is the first altar of science. Diagram was published in 1638 whereas the body of Raphael Santi (1483-1520) was not moved into the Pantheon until 1758. So, it is impossible that the reference to “Santi’s tomb” in Diagram means the Pantheon. In fact, Raphael was not only a painter but also an architect. “Santi’s tomb” means the tomb he designed rather than the tomb in which he was buried. Besides, as the poem indicates, this tomb must have a “demon’s hole,” which generally refers to a gigantic burial cave, or “bone burial cave,” namely, a special kind of underground vault in churches. In the Vatican, Raphael built many churches with a similar design. How to pinpoint the site of the right church depends on other information. The first thing to check is the sign of paganism, such as a pyramid, obelisk, pentagram, or an oval design. Thus, the Chigi Chapel inside Popolo St. Mary’s Church, whose interior is designed like a pyramid, fits the profile really well. Incidentally, people used to call it the Church of Earth in the past; moreover, the people buried here supported artists and scientists. In view of the fact that all this information regards the sign of paganism, “earth” as one of the four key elements, and science establishes a perfect connection to the Illuminati, the Chigi Chapel must be the first altar of science.

The Angel’s Arms At the first altar of science, Langdon reveals the identity of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the sculptor of the Illuminati and the favorite son of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the only artist who contributed his works of art to the Chigi Chapel. The pentagram, oval ornament, and pyramid that he designed for the chapel are all implicit anti-Christian signs. In addition, the Illuminati would not ask an unknown figure to design and create the path of light and let him display his art in a designated Catholic church in Rome. Bernini did not attend the meetings of the Illuminati simply because he joined the church undercover and his identity as a master of the Illuminati remained unknown. With this information, finding the solution to the riddle seems less challenging. You can find the clues and crack the codes as long as you have knowledge about the relevant works by Bernini.

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In the chapel, Bernini’s sculpture, Habakkuk and the Angel, is the sign that marks the second altar of science. In the sculpture, both Habakkuk and the angel are stretching out an arm but the direction they are pointing at are totally opposite. With the hint from the last line in the poem, “Let angels guide you on your lofty quest,” we realize that the southwest direction the angel is pointing in is the correct one. On a map, you can draw a straight line southwest from the site of the sculpture and it will go through St. Peter’s Square. This square was designed by Bernini and, for centuries, it has been claimed as part of Rome by the Roman government. It matches perfectly the theory in the poem of clues that the elements are spread across Rome. Besides, there is an Egyptian obelisk on the square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. On the base of the obelisk, there is an oval stone with a basso-relievo entitled West Wind, or The Breath of God. It depicts five starkly different violent winds. Both violent wind and breath fit into the “air” category among the four elements, so the second altar of science is west wind.

The Breathing of the West Wind Checking the angle of breathing is the only way to find the hint about the direction of the West Wind. The sculpture shows that the breathing line leans toward the east. Geographically, the line just evades the Vatican City State and, therefore, it matches the clue that “elements spread across Rome.” The map marks a line that runs through almost the whole of Rome, from St. Peter’s Square across the Tiber River and all the way to the center of ancient Rome. Along this line, there are more than 20 churches. Since the previous two signs are closely related to the obelisk and the square, the third altar of science should be located somewhere near the obelisk in a square. Of course, there should be a sign for the element of “fire.” The clues from the basso-relievo, West Wind, are obviously not sufficient. A catalog of Bernini’s works might offer some help. From the catalog, Langdon discovers that the sculpture, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, is probably the next target as indicated in the poem. It should be somewhere near the central line that points to the east, and it has been moved to a tiny inconspicuous place according to the artist’s will. The most likely reason Bernini preferred to have his masterpiece moved to a desolate place is that it matches the hint from the poem of “clues.” The sculpture features Saint Teresa in the ecstasy of sexual pleasure with an angel, Seraph. If this serves as an allusion to the element of “fire,” then the reference in Saint Teresa’s original description, “I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire,” must

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be a clear statement about it. The sculpture had been placed inside St. Mary’s Church of Vittoria. At the center of Barberini Square, where the church is located, there used to be an obelisk. Since everything corresponds, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is evidently the third altar of science.

The Spear of Seraph “Let angels guide you on your lofty quest.” In the sculpture, Seraph’s spear points to the west, clearly indicating the direction for going forward. However, there are countless churches in the westward direction on the map. While examining the complete map of Rome, Langdon reviews the three churches where the first three cardinals were murdered and realizes that their locations are not random at all. Instead, their locations constitute a symmetrical triangle. Such a perfect symmetry is absolutely not accidental. The fourth location must join the other three to form a special shape. Suddenly, Langdon discovers a location toward the west that may connect with the other three to form “an awkward, kite-like diamond” (401). In fact, the four points are not necessarily intended to form a diamond. If one connects the opposite vertices rather than the adjacent points, what will show on the map is the shape of a gigantic city-wide cross. The four elements of science are instantly displayed at the four points of the cross. The cross implies a clue about the location of the fourth altar of science – the well-known Navona Square in Rome, where Bernini placed his most famous sculpture, the Fountain of the Four Rivers (see the section of “Knowledge” for more detail), outside the Church of St. Agnes. It is a marker for the element of “water.” Now, if we revisit Milton’s poem of “clues,” the line, “cross Rome the mystic elements unfold,” seems “like an old friend with a new face” (402). The phrase, “cross Rome,” actually means “cross” instead of “run through”! The answer had been right in front of Langdon’s eyes all night because the ancient poem of the Illuminati indicates where the altars are located – in the shape of a cross. It’s a subtle pun indeed.

The Sight of a Dove The Fountain of the Four Rivers is a work of pagan art. The carvings are all secular – humans, animals, and even a clumsy armadillo. An angel would be totally out of place among them, which is why there is no image of an angel on this fountain sculpture. Perhaps there is an “angel” on it but it has assumed a different image and appears as a dove standing on the

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obelisk beside the fountain. In paganism, a single dove is the symbol of the angel of peace. By using the dove, a pagan emblem, instead of the angel of peace, Bernini succeeded in hiding the “angel” in this pagan fountain. Standing on the terrace of the obelisk, one can see the whole of Rome. Bernini’s four obelisks beside the four altars of science form a gigantic cross. The direction the birds are looking at indicates where the legendary Church of Illumination is located. It is St. Angel’s Castle that can be seen from afar. Obviously, the outside appearance of the castle is geometrical – a round-shaped castle inside a square fortress. Outside the fortress, a pentagram garden encircles the castle. On top of the castle, there is a huge bronze angel pointing a long spear toward the center of the castle. The famous St. Angel’s Bridge sits on the only road that leads directly to the front gate of the castle. Twelve tall angels designed by Bernini are installed on both sides of the path. The vertical line of the cross runs through the middle of St. Angel’s Bridge and divides it into two equal parts. Angel, geometry, Bernini, cross, etc. – all these details accentuate the characteristics of the Illuminati from St. Angel’s Castle. It must be the old nest of the Illuminati. Locating the Church of Illumination is not the end of the story, however. The camerlengo’s revelation about the antimatter is the last riddle in the novel. The prophecy that the camerlengo has received comes from Matthew 16:18 in the Bible. Jesus says to Peter, after selecting him as his disciple, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” This is a metaphor. Because Peter firmly believes in God, Jesus calls him Rock Peter. And St. Peter’s Basilica was built upon the shoulder of the disciple who holds a firm belief. Peter is that rock, his tomb is the answer to the riddle – the antimatter is on the mausoleum of Saint Peter.

6. Knowledge: The Gluttonous Feast What is hidden behind the razzmatazz of the codes is a splendid knowledge of culture. And that is an important reason why the novel appeals to readers from different walks of life with different tastes. In Brown’s hands, science, art, religion, and other relevant subjects charm readers and enrich their reading at the same time, thus treating them to a delicious grand feast of learning.

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A Rational Nation – A Feast of Science The 1st course: antimatter All readers of Angels & Demons must remember clearly the antimatter that could have blown up the Vatican, and find it hard to believe that the future of the Vatican City State could be determined by a mere 0.25 grams of the substance. Those who know about the antimatter might not find it surprising but laypersons could not help but wonder what this “antimatter” really is. Is it indeed as powerful as the novel describes? Anyone who has studied physics in high school knows that protons, neutrons, and electrons combine to make an atom, and that an atom is the basic unit that makes up all matter. The formation of the antimatter is quite similar – the only difference is that it is composed of anti-atoms made by anti-neutrons, anti-protons, and anti-electrons. Antimatter is the opposite of ordinary matter, which is the main component of the universe. When antiparticles encounter other particles, both will dissolve instantly, releasing a tremendous amount of energy in the process, but this will not create radioactive pollution like an atomic bomb. Hence, antimatter has been regarded as a source of the most ideal clean energy that can benefit the humankind. The modern history of the antimatter theory can be traced back to the 1920s and 1930s. In 1928, a young British physicist, Paul Dirac, predicted for the first time the existence of anti-electrons based on the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. The properties of the antiproton match the corresponding properties of the proton – the only difference is that the antiproton has the opposite electric charge and magnetic moment of the proton. In 1932, an American physicist, Carl Anderson, discovered positive electrons, which he named “positrons,” making a big step forward in the study of antimatter. The two physicists were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their contributions to the study of antimatter in theory and practice in 1933 and 1936, respectively. In 1955, another American physicist, Emilio Segrè, and his colleagues proved the existence of antiprotons through experiments. With the development of scientific research, people gradually realized that protons and electrons were not the only ones that had antiparticles; in fact all particles in the universe had antiparticles. Now, scientists have found through their accelerator all the antiparticles of the 12 basic particles that compose matter. In 1995, CERN brought into existence the first batch of antimatter in the world – antihydrogen atoms; on September 18, 2000, CERN scientists successfully created about 50,000 less energetic (“cold”) antihydrogen

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atoms. It was the first time humans managed to produce such a massive amount of antimatter in labs. A series of scientific discoveries has led people closer to the world of antimatter. Scientists are elated but they have to confront various challenges as antimatter is difficult to find, and it is even harder to produce or preserve. As stated earlier, the encounter between antimatter and normal matter will result in instant annihilation. Since everything on Earth is composed of matter, scientists cannot find any antimatter in nature, so they have to find it in deep space. Samuel C.C. Ting, a Chinese American physicist, launched his AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) into space in 1998. Its aim was to search for antimatter in space. In addition, the production of antimatter requires a huge amount of funding and massive equipment like the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). So far, the return on the study of antimatter has been extremely low. It cost nearly $6 billion to produce 100 billionth of a gram. All these issues have hampered the further study of antimatter. How to avoid the integration of matter and antimatter is one of the major topics in the study of antimatter. In Angels & Demons, Vittoria claims that she has produced canisters, or “antimatter traps” (76). The canisters trap the antimatter in the center between two intersecting magnetic fields and suspend it “at a safe distance from the sides and bottom” (76). This is the only way to preserve antimatter. In 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on a talk given by Kenneth Edwards, the director of the research group, Revolutionary Munitions team, at a conference organized by NASA in an article entitled “Air Force Pursuing Antimatter Weapons.” According to Keay Davidson, a science writer for the Chronicle, Edwards told the military officers that he had successfully found a way to preserve antimatter energy sources for rocket propulsion systems and hand-held antimatter weapons.1 As stated in the novel, science is a double-edged sword – it can benefit humankind or destroy it. The application of antimatter may lead to a revolution in energy that will improve so many things, but it will also create military weapons of mass destruction, weapons that could potentially wipe out everything on Earth. All this is still unknown. To adhere to the principle of peace and advancement in the world through joint effort, we hope antimatter will be utilized properly, and the incident depicted in Angels & Demons will never happen in real life.

1

Keay Davidson, “Air Force Pursuing Antimatter Weapons / Program Was Touted Publicly, Then Came Official Gag Order,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 4, 2004.

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The 2nd course: LHC LHC is the abbreviation for Large Hadron Collider, which is a kind of particle accelerator. We learn from Angels & Demons, a particle accelerator is “a large, circular tube through which subatomic particles were accelerated. Magnets in the tube turned on and off in rapid succession to ‘push’ particles around and around until they reached tremendous velocities. Fully accelerated particles circled the tube at over 180,000 miles per second” (54). Also, “by accelerating two particles in opposite directions around the tube and then colliding them, scientists could shatter the particles into their constituent parts and get a glimpse of nature’s most fundamental components” (55). Is LHC really that powerful? We can find the answer at CERN. LHC lies in a circular tunnel 8.66 kilometers in diameter and 27 kilometers in circumference, which was built in underground rock formations at a mean depth of 50 meters, or 54.6 yards, to 175 meters, or 191 yards. LHC is designed to initially collide two opposing beams of hadrons, either protons or lead ions, sending particles whipping around the tunnel in opposite directions, steered by a superconducting electromagnet, at the speed of light before smashing them head on with one another. As they circle around the tube, the two beams of hadrons will taper off, becoming almost as thin as a hair. About 3000 particle beams would be whipping around the tunnel, and each beam has more than 100 million particles. But since particles are so small, the chance of them colliding is pretty slim. When they encounter each other, 20 collisions might occur among 200 million particles. The good thing is that these beams will encounter each other 30 million times per second so about 600 million collisions will take place in the LHC every second. Colliding particles release a tremendous amount of energy. Literally speaking, the collisions in every second will generate a massive amount of data, maybe 1 billion MB within two seconds. If we stored the data on the latest high density CD disks and lined them up, they might run as long as 20 kilometers within a year. This certainly seems shocking to many of us. However, it is this monstrous machine that supports the study of antimatter and verifies the Big Bang theory, which we will cover next.

The 3rd course: the Big Bang theory The origin of the universe is a key point in the “science vs. religion” dispute in Angels & Demons. Science relies on the Big Bang theory whereas religion adopts the belief that “God created the universe.”

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Let’s start with the theory of the Big Bang. In a strict sense, it refers to the explosive expansion that created the universe nearly 13.7 billion years ago. In a broad sense, however, it presents a theory about the origin of the universe in cosmological physics. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe emerged from a state of extremely high temperature and density, and it has expanded to its current state. The universe in which we are living today is different from the one we lived in yesterday and the one that we will live in tomorrow as it is constantly expanding. The Big Bang theory derived from experimental observation and theoretical development. Interestingly, the first person to draw the conclusion was a Belgian Catholic priest, Georges Lemaitre. In 1927, he proposed his idea about the universe’s origin from the expansion of a primeval atom based on the retreating phenomenon of Helix Nebula. Using Lemaitre’s theory, George Gamow predicted the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation in 1948. After cosmic microwave background radiation was successfully detected by scientists in 1960, the scientific feasibility of the Big Bang theory was fully demonstrated. From then on, almost all the studies in cosmological science have been related to the Big Bang theory either as its variant extension or a further analysis, such as of the physical process at the time of the Big Bang and how the Big Bang theory can be used to interpret the results of new observations. Today, there have been some new developments and breakthroughs in the Big Bang theory. With the development of telescope technology and manmade detectors, massive amounts of data can be collected to accurately calculate the state of and gather information about the universe at the time of the Big Bang, and achieve many other, unexpected, findings, such as the increasing expansion of the universe. Still, some issues remain unresolved in the study of the Big Bang. Theoretically, the number of particles and antiparticles produced by the Big Bang should be the same but what have remained to this day are overwhelmingly positive particles. Although scientists have discovered a slight difference in the way particles and antiparticles disintegrate, they are still unable to find a clear-cut explanation. It is a major issue in particle physics that has not yet been resolved. Of course, the reference to the Big Bang theory in Angels & Demons is not merely to help us learn about the material world in which we live. More importantly, it aims to promote a deeper understanding of science and religion. Whether or not scientists in real life can prove the existence of God through scientific methods, as Leonardo Vetra does in the novel, the relationship between science and religion is something that all of us should think about.

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The 4th course: Galileo In Angels & Demons, the quest to find the ancient and mysterious Illuminati starts with Galileo and his book, Diagram. We learn from Langdon that Galileo, a Catholic, was a leading member of the Illuminati and that Diagram is his most cryptic book. It presents his arguments about scientific phenomena and conceals many clues about the Church of Illumination. The book was banned because its views contradicted those of the Vatican, but it was widely circulated around the underground organization of scientists in Europe. It is rumored that the book is currently kept in the Secret Archives of the Vatican. In fact, the book does not even exist. It is only a prop fictionalized by the author. No one can even verify if Galileo was indeed a member of the Illuminati. But all of this is insignificant. What matters is that the novel has once again triggered our memory of this famous scientist, Galileo. For many of us, our deepest impression of Galileo is of his famous experiment of simultaneously dropping two balls to the ground from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 1590. This experiment rectified a wrong conclusion that had lasted for 1,900 years – that objects fall at a speed relative to their mass – while at the same time demolished the myth about Aristotle’s theory of gravity. Galileo Galilei was a pioneer of modern experimental science as well as a well-known mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and philosopher during the Renaissance in Italy. He has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy.” His works include The Starry Messenger, Letters on Sunspots, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, and Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences. A staunch supporter of Copernicus, Galileo created an astronomical telescope (later known as the Galileo Telescope) in 1609, which enabled him to not only discover that the surface of the moon is rough, disproving the previous claim that the surface of the moon is smooth, but also find the four satellites of Jupiter, evidence of the Copernican theory. Later, he discovered many more astronomical phenomena. People vied with one another to spread the word: “Columbus discovered the New World but Galileo found the new universe.” Galileo’s great contribution was not limited to developing the ideas from Copernicus; it was even more valuable in inspiring Newton to develop his first and second laws of motion. In Angels & Demons, the reader is more concerned with Galileo’s relationship with the church. The assertion in the novel, “To the Roman Catholic Church, Galileo was an eyesore,” is absolutely true. The Church cruelly burned Copernicus at the stake for openly challenging the

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geocentric theory, and severely warned his successor, Galileo. Since he did not express his views explicitly, Galileo managed to save his own life but he was regarded as a heretic and sentenced to life in prison by the Inquisition. It was not until 1741, one hundred years later, that the charges against Galileo were officially redressed. It took hundreds of years for the Church to accept Galileo. Stories like this can make one feel a little depressed. The long-standing feud between science and religion did not just start out of nowhere one fine day and, therefore, it won’t end overnight.

The Romantic World – A Feast of Art The 5th course: Gian Lorenzo Bernini When reading a novel by Brown, the reader has come to expect refreshing and ingenious moves in the narrative. One of them is the role of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the favorite artist of the Roman Church and a secret master of sculpture of the Illuminati. It is Bernini who created the symmetrical words and built the path of light for the Illuminati that lead Langdon to the final destination. Just as he fictionalized Galileo, Brown adapts the identity of Bernini in the novel. We have to go back to the 17th century in order to see the great artist in his true colors. Born in Naples, Bernini was the greatest and most famous sculptor and architect in 17th-century Italy. An outstanding artist, he brought Baroque sculpture and architecture into their golden age. He lived at a time when anti-religious fervor was at its most rampant, and both the Church and court needed something that could paper over the troubles of the time. The Baroque style, an artistic form characterized by noble glamor and minute detail, seemed suitable to meet this need. Bernini’s father was a fairly famous sculptor, with whom he studied art. At the age of 17, Bernini did a sculpture for an archbishop. The archbishop liked his work very much and helped Bernini spring into fame. After that, Bernini started his artistic career independently and received a great deal of gratifying attention from the Church. His sculptures cover a wide range of subjects, from garden to portrait, tomb, and altar. Talented and hard-working, Bernini tirelessly dedicated himself to art all his life. Having served eight popes in his career, he produced numerous works that are displayed all over Rome, turning it into a Baroque city. It is no wonder Brown uses the works of such a prolific artist as the markers of clues. Besides, Bernini’s identity as the Roman Church’s authorized sculptor in real life complements nicely his title as the master of the

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secretive Illuminati in the novel, further enhancing the mystery and readability of the novel.

The 6th course: Fountain of the Four Rivers There are three fountains in Navona Square in Rome. The one in the middle, Fountain of the Four Rivers, is the most famous one. Bernini designed it for the family palace of Pamphilj between 1647 and 1652. It is one of the representative pieces during the heyday of the Baroque style. The four rivers in the sculpture refer to the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile, and the Rio de la Plata. Respectively, they represent the four continents that have nurtured human civilization – Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In the middle of the fountain stand an artificial mountain and a high-rising Egyptian obelisk. Inside the fountain, there are four marble human figures surrounded by some formations of animals and plants. Seeing the Fountains of the Four Rivers for the first time, the viewer might wonder why the sculpture is not of the four rivers it is named for. It is simply because the talented Bernini chose to use the special personification of the four marble human figures to symbolize the identification of the four rivers. The figure for the Danube stretches his arms toward a papal crest with carvings of Peter’s keys, the papal tiara, the emblem of Pope Innocent X, three lilies, and a dove that represents the Holy Spirit. The dove is the pagan angel mentioned in Angels & Demons. Actually, it symbolizes the family of Pope Innocent X, the Pamphiljs. The whole image of the Danube figure embodies the Catholic Church’s absolute domination of the European continent. The figure for the Ganges is an old but strong man who holds an oar while looking far into the distance, signifying the long history and ceaseless running of the river. The figure for the Nile seems mysterious as his head is covered by a shroud, implying that the Europeans were still exploring the origin of the river. The figure for the Rio de la Plata, which is surrounded by coins, epitomizes the tempting resources and fortunes in the new continent of the Americas. His staring at the dove on top of the obelisk infers not only an inevitable conversion to Catholicism but also the Catholic Church’s ambition to conquer the Americas. Obviously, the obelisk that points directly to the sky at the center of the fountain connotes the supposed triumph of the Catholic Church throughout the world. Also, there is a little folk story about this fountain. As the legend goes, the government levied an additional tax on bread in order to raise funding for the construction of the fountain. Everyone complained. During the delivery of the obelisk, people stealthily painted in large font on the

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obelisk every night – Oh, God, how nice it would be if you could turn these stones into bread! To everyone’s surprise, Brown tries to interpret this sculpture, so full of Catholic traditions, from a pagan perspective. We have to admire Brown’s wisdom but we also are able to discover subtle nuances and thought-provoking messages in art.

The Heaven of Faith – A Feast of Religion The 7th course: the obelisk The obelisk and pyramid are the most representative symbols of the ancient Egyptian civilization. An obelisk usually weighs several hundred tons and it is carved out of a single block of granite. It is a tall four-sided stone column that gradually becomes narrower from the bottom to the pyramid-like top point. The four sides of the column are engraved with inscriptions in hieroglyphs. Generally, these inscriptions have three functions: 1) to indicate the Egyptians’ worship of Ra, the sun god (ancient Egypt was closely tied to the solar deity); 2) to commemorate the people who erected the obelisk; and 3) to decorate the obelisk. With its lateral surfaces sheathed with gold, bronze, or gold mixed with silver, the obelisk shines, brightly and solemnly, under the sun as an emblem of the empire’s power. In today’s Egypt, the birthplace of obelisks, there are only five of them left due to the constant looting by invaders. All others are scattered in various countries around the world. To show its mighty strength and power, the Roman Empire shipped 13 obelisks back to Rome. The five obelisks mentioned in Angels & Demons still exist today, and have been viewed as hot spots for photo shoots by tourists. There used to be a couple of obelisks in front of the Pantheon. Like the ones at Popolo Square and the Chigi Chapel, they were originally brought over from the Temple of Ra in Heliopolis. The third obelisk, which Augustus brought back from Alexandria after he conquered Egypt, was erected in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. The fourth obelisk used to stand in front of St. Mary’s Church of Vittoria in Barberini Square. It was moved around to several sites before it was finally erected on its current site on Pincian Hill under Pope Pius VII’s orders in 1822. The last obelisk stands in the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Navona Square. In the early 4th century, it was moved to Mazuosen Square but it was destroyed after it collapsed. Pope Innocent X ordered Bernini to restore the obelisk when he was designing the Fountain of the Four Rivers, which is why this obelisk does not stand on its own.

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Brown’s description of the obelisks is quite accurate and reliable, but his interpretation is evidently laced with literary rendition. In the novel, the obelisks serve as the symbols of paganism, stand by various churches in a sarcastic fashion, and form a gigantic cross to mark the location of the Church of Illumination. What was originally intended as a symbolic exaltation of authority has been turned into an accomplice of its opponent, as if such a peculiar transformation was designed to dispel the dichotomy between science and religion.

The 8th course: Lucifer The word “Lucifer” was taken from Latin. Its literal meaning is “Bringer of Dawn,” “Light Bearer,” or “the Morning Star.” Opinions differ widely on whether Lucifer and Satan were the same person. One claim is that the two are the same. In Christian tradition, Lucifer is often tied to the devil, Satan. In the Book of Isaiah, for instance, Lucifer is presented as the fallen angel, an angel who was dispelled out of heaven for his betrayal of God. Others refuse to see Lucifer and Satan as the same person. For instance, The Second Epistle of Peter and other documents state that Lucifer and Satan have no relationship at all. In Angels & Demons, the Church sees Lucifer and Satan as the same person. As another name for Satan, Lucifer is seen as the “Light Bearer” by the Illuminati. Such a claim also appeared in Paradise Lost by John Milton. In addition, the image of Lucifer is very popular, and various creative works, from literature to art, movie, and music, have been produced based on his story.

The 9th course: the pentagram The earliest reference to the pentagram can be found in Mesopotamian documents from around 3,000 BC. The pentagram is the hieroglyph of “UB.” Its meaning is “corner, angle, shelter, tiny room, void, hole, and trap.” The first symbol in the world, the pentagram is mostly associated with the worship of nature and serves as a symbol or talisman in witchcraft. As a symbol of paganism, the pentagram emerged way before the establishment of Christianity. According to ancestral beliefs, the world was composed of male and female parts. The pentagram represents the negative in all living things, namely “the divine feminine” or the “divine goddess.” More specifically, the pentagram symbolizes Venus (the goddess of femininity and beauty). In ancient Greece, the drawing of a pentagram inside a big circle, which depicts a perfect male

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figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square, was used to mark the correlation of ideal human proportions with geometry. In addition, the pentagram is the perfect image for many artists, mathematicians, geometers, and philosophers because it fits the golden ratio in all dimensions. Symbolism carries different implications in different contexts. In the early centuries, the Roman Catholic Church changed the initial meaning of the pentagram. As the rise and consolidation of the Catholic Church necessitated purging the pagans and converting ordinary people to Christianity, a campaign was launched to smear the pagan gods and goddesses, and the symbol of the divine in paganism was twisted into a symbol of evil. After a long struggle, the pagans were defeated. As a result, the pentagram lost its original representation of the beautiful goddess and gained an erroneous insinuation of “evil.” Such a perception of the pentagram is still extremely common to this day. For instance, the pentagram is often tied to the devil in American horror movies. In Angels & Demons, the pentagram is seen as the mark of paganism, and it is cited by the protagonist, Langdon, as one of his evidences in locating the altars of science. Nevertheless, people still like the pentagram for various reasons. Many countries, for instance, have used it for their national flags; China and America are just two of them. From its initial meaning of something good to its association with evil today, the pentagram has gone through numerous changes in hundreds of years. Who can tell with authority whether it is good or evil? Perhaps everything is inconclusive by nature. It all depends on how you interpret it. A case in point is the dichotomy between science and religion.

The Spectacular Field – A Miscellaneous Feast The 10th course: ambigram Ambigram is an ancient art form. It is a symbol that has been transformed from a word with a special design and arrangement. It could be viewed or interpreted from different directions or perspectives. The word “ambigram” came from Latin; “ambi” means “both” and “gram” means “letter”; the combination means “a word that carries two meanings.” Usually, ambigrams come in three types. The first and most common one is “rotational.” The ambigram with the rotational design can be read even if it is rotated 180 degrees. Sometimes, it is the same word. The ambigrams for the Illuminati – earth, air, fire, water – and the star of the Illuminati belong to the same type; sometimes, it turns into a different

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word, such as angel and devil. When seen from the front, it is “angel” but when seen from the reversed angle, it is “devil.” It is a pity that the designer of ambigrams is not John Langdon, the creator of the ambigrams in Angels & Demons; the English title of the novel might have been “angel & devil.” The second type is “mirror-image.” As is implied by the name, this type of ambigram may be seen in a mirror, usually as the same word both ways, such as the “waterfalls” designed by Langdon. The last type is “perceptual shift,” an ambigram that can form different words through different combinations. For example, in “wave/particle,” “par” forms “W”; “ti” forms “A”; “V” is formed by “ci”; the “e” in lower case may also be seen as the capitalized “E”. Now, the ambigram with multiple meanings is set, but its cleverness does not end there. The line, “Light is a wave/partiCIE,” may be read two ways. One is “light is an optical spectrum”; the other is “light is a particle.” The “optical spectrum” and “particle” are two physical properties of light. In this line, the ambigram not only leads to two interpretations but also represents the two physical properties of light. One has to marvel at such unique creativity. Masterfully designed ambigrams like this are pretty impressive. They add to the mystery of the novel on the one hand and, on the other, enhance its thematic significance from a different angle. Doesn’t the duality of the ambigrams with perceptual shift imply its essential similarity to the dichotomy between science and religion?

The 11th course: the one-dollar bill In Angels & Demons, Langdon states that his interest in the Illuminati began with the one-dollar bill because it has the Great Seal of the United States printed on the back, and the reverse of the seal has a symbol of the Illuminati. What is the actual image on the reverse of the seal after all? It is an image of an unfinished pyramid with 13 steps and a shining eye, “The Eye of Providence,” at its top. Above the eye there are two Latin words, 13 letters, positioned in a curve: ANNUIT COEPTIS, whose literal translation is “God has favored our undertakings.” On the ribbons beneath the pyramid there is a line of Latin words, Novus ordo seclorum, which means “new order of the ages.” The pyramid symbolizes the duration and strength of the United States. Its unfinished feature implies that America still has tremendous potential for development. The Eye of Providence proves God’s favor and guidance for America. The mottos on the top and at the bottom illustrate the American determination to create a new world order under God’s blessings.

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In 1935, President Roosevelt decided to put the design on the reverse of the dollar bill. At a time when America was going through the Great Depression and serious inflation was sweeping across the whole country, the design of the pyramid was intended to empower the American people spiritually. However, some people interpreted it as the Masonic attempt to penetrate the government. There is a reference to this issue in Angels & Demons. It is all because the design matches the symbol of Freemasonry, and, incidentally, President Roosevelt himself was a member of this organization. It must be noted, though, that Roosevelt’s membership merely reflects the impact of time upon him and therefore should not simply be cited as evidence of a conspiracy. Angels & Demons is indeed a novel of historical, cultural, and religious suspense that delivers a great variety of knowledge simultaneously. We might find it hard to absorb or accept everything in the novel, but we can certainly learn a lot.

7. Institutions: The Mysterious Garden Brown’s novel is charming, but not simply because it is highly readable, fascinating, and cultivating. More importantly, his novel reveals many different administrative institutions in many countries. Some of them are well-known, such as the Interpol in The Da Vinci Code and NASA in Deception Point, while others are virtually unheard of, such as CERN in Angels & Demons. Brown’s novels provide readers with a rare opportunity to venture into these mysterious institutions and find out what is going on.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) In Angels & Demons, Langdon is invited to CERN by the director, Maximilian Kohler, to attend a murder scene, but the knowledgeable Langdon has actually never visited this place. Why isn’t it known to people? What is it like? CERN is the acronym for The European Organization for Nuclear Research. With its headquarters in the western part of Geneva, Switzerland, it has the largest particle physics lab in the world. At first, there were only 12 signatory countries for CERN, but this has increased to 22. As Kohler explains in the novel, CERN has more than 2,500 full-time staff members and hosts more than 12,000 scientists, engineers, and associates for experiments, representing 80 countries and more than 600 universities and research facilities. The number of researchers here is

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approximately half of all the researchers within the particle physics community. All this information seems to match the actual statistics. The most important function of the center is to offer the particle accelerator and other basic facilities for the study of high energy physics, thus enabling scientists to examine the composition of different kinds of matter and the energy between them, and to conduct various experiments through international collaboration. In addition, the mainframe computers at CERN have a great capacity for data processing, analysis, and dissemination for the reference of research taking place elsewhere. Anyone who has a high school education knows the concept of the atom, which is perhaps the smallest physical unit that people can imagine. At CERN, however, scientists are studying its nucleus, which is only one tenth the size of an atom. Although the particle is small, the study of it needs the largest machines and facilities. It is reported that the heat energy generated during experiments is much higher than the temperature at the center of the sun. Over the past 50 years, CERN has made numerous achievements, the most famous one of which is Tim Berner-Lee’s invention of the World Wide Web, which has revolutionized the exchange and application of information. In the novel, the author captures this information through Langdon’s eyes. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is currently the largest particle accelerator in the world. Furthermore, CERN has hosted three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Physics – Carlo Rubbia from Italy and Simon van der Meer from Holland in 1984, and Georges Charpak from France in 1992.

The Swiss Guard After leaving CERN, Langdon needs to get in touch with the Swiss Guards, whom he calls the “guards of the Vatican.” Best known for its unwavering loyalty and good discipline, the Swiss Guard was first the Vatican Guard, founded in 1506 with 100 Catholics, including 70 soldiers, 29 officers, and 1 priest. With the expansion of the Vatican State, foreign mercenaries were recruited to beef up manpower. One of the regiments came from Switzerland, a country with a long tradition of sending mercenaries to other European countries since ancient times. Most of them have been poor farmers from the mountainous regions. They might have been strong men of little wit and education, but they were well-liked for their loyalty and bravery by countries like France and Spain. In 1847, the Swiss constitution stipulated that no citizen was allowed to serve as a mercenary for other countries, unless they joined the

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Pontifical Swiss Guard of the Holy See for the Vatican, thus bringing its tradition of exporting mercenaries to an end. Why is Switzerland in such special favor with the Vatican State? Allegedly, when Charles V of the Roman Empire launched a bloody assault on Rome on May 6, 1527, mercenaries from other countries all fled but the 189 Swiss Guards stayed on their front and defended the Pope with their blood. Only 42 of them survived. Shortly afterwards, the Pope issued an order that the Swiss Guard would be in full charge of the safety of the Church. Actually, the military of the Vatican was composed of the Noble Guard, the Swiss Guard, the Palatine Guard, and the Gendarmerie Corps, but Pope Paul VI disbanded all the other units in 1970 and kept only the Swiss Guard. Since then, the Swiss Guard is the only formal military force in the Vatican City State. For hundreds of years, the Swiss Guard has dutifully maintained its position. Although the Vatican relies on Italy for all kinds of things, including security coverage during major events, it has always been the Swiss Guard’s job to protect the Vatican and pope during all ceremonies for more than five centuries. Whenever the Pope goes out on a tour or presides over an important event in the Vatican, plain-clothed Swiss Guards surround him to secure his safety. In 1981, the Swiss Guard successfully averted a plot to assassinate the Pope at St. Peter’s Square. In the novel, the Swiss Guard offers its crucial assistance for the rescue of the cardinals and in the search for the antimatter. The soldiers of the current Swiss Guard must be under the age of 30 and at least 1.72 meters tall. New members must receive military training in the Swiss army first, and they must be certified for their good conduct before they are accepted by the Vatican. Each guard starts service from May 6 for a two-year term, which may be extended under special circumstances. New guards go through a swearing-in ceremony upon their arrival, raising three fingers of their right hand, which symbolize the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, holding the military flag of the Swiss Guard with their left hand for God’s blessing on the triumphant completion of their duties, and swearing that they are willing to sacrifice their life in allegiance to the Pope. After the ceremony, they formally become the Pontifical Swiss Guard of the Holy See. It is rumored that some of the Swiss Guard’s special uniforms were designed by Michelangelo; Langdon also believes so in the novel. After simplification in 1914, the current uniform only has a helmet with an ostrich feather, a tunic with blue, red, and yellow stripes, pants, and rubber boots. Like the British Royal Guard, the Swiss Guard is not merely in charge of safety; it has also become a colorful sight in the Vatican City State.

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The Roman Church The Roman Catholic Church, or the Church, is another important institution in Angels & Demons. It is the highest administrative body of the Catholic Church, assisting the Pope in handling various governing and religious affairs, managing all the Catholic churches in the world, and functioning as the government of the Vatican City State at the same time. It sends its diplomats to the countries with which it has established a formal diplomatic relationship and dispatches a representative or observer to some international organizations. Latin and English are its official languages. At first, the Church did not have a fixed administrative structure to manage its affairs. After Pope Sixtus V established various departments in 1558, the Church’s governing body gradually took form, but it subsequently went through a series of changes. At the Second Vatican Council (the highest-level conference of all the Catholic churches around the world, held at the Vatican only twice so far), a series of major reforms within the institution of the Roman Catholic Church were introduced. Most notable of these are the reaffirmation of the Pope’s position as the paramount leader of the Church and the reconsolidation of the supreme authority of the College of Cardinals over the Church. In the College of Cardinals, there are three different ranks: cardinals, priests, and deacons. They all wear red robes, so in China they are generally known as the cardinals in red robes. They have the right to elect or be elected as the pope. To ensure all cardinals can participate in the management of the entire Church, one of the reform measures was to establish the worldwide conference of cardinals as the permanent central advisory board for all church affairs. Although the Roman Catholic Church is not the primary focus in Angels & Demons, the reader can clearly understand the importance of this institution based on the Swiss Guards’ willingness to defend it with their lives, and everyone’s strong defiance toward the imminent explosion of the antimatter.

8. Techniques: Brown’s “Secret Weapons” After reading through Angels & Demons, it is hard to get out of the compelling story immediately. Its twists and incidents will rewind or fastforward quickly in one’s mind like a movie and linger in one’s memory for a long time. Such a mesmerizing effect comes directly from the

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author’s finesse in executing his narrative. Now, let’s check out the “secret weapons” in Brown’s arsenal.

Brown’s First “Secret Weapon” – the Curse of Time Brown’s ability to escalate the tension and suspense in Angels & Demons largely derives from his excellent management of the time frame in his narrative. First of all, the story is set within a single day, which somewhat equates to the so-called “three unities” standard for creative work, a popular tradition during the period of classicalism in Europe that strictly requires the one-day time frame for a story. It is clear, though, that Brown has no intention of following this “three unities” standard mechanically. He only uses it to generate tension. The key part of the novel, namely, investigation of the case and the deciphering of the codes, occurs in the last six hours of the day. Time is limited, but so much of the story happens during these hours. How he can pack his catch-all narrative into such a short time period, let it run with a well-measured tempo, and build up the intensity towards the climax with subtle foreshadowing depend on how he uses his first secret weapon – perfect control over the time frame. Brown’s ability to explore the connecting points in time enables him to build tension as he moves the narrative forward. To better understand the function of connecting points in time, we will recall the Actantial Model, introduced by the French critic of structuralism, Algirda J. Greimas. Simply speaking, it refers to the desire of the protagonist in a story, a desire that prompts him to go in perpetual pursuit of something imperative until he accomplishes it by conquering his opponent or overcoming all the obstacles along the way. In Angels & Demons, Langdon has to launch his code-deciphering mission in a hurry in order to rescue the cardinals. Aside from the Hassassin, Langdon’s greatest challenge is the unstoppable passing of time. Since the time for each cardinal’s death is fixed, Langdon must race against the ticking clock to determine their specific location. Each of these time slots is considered a connecting point of time, all similar in essence and function for the purpose of promoting the plot with growing intensity. In Brown’s writing, there are two kinds of connecting points of time. One is the ultimate point, and the other is the periodic point. In Angels & Demons, the ultimate point is the time set for the explosion of the antimatter – midnight. That is the time that the leading characters, Langdon, Vittoria and others, are trying to beat. If they can find the location of the antimatter before midnight, they will prevent the total

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destruction of the Vatican. If not, the consequence will be worse than anything imaginable. In the last part of the novel, about 25 minutes before midnight, the thousands of people who are waiting anxiously in St. Peter’s Square for the result of the conclave have no intention of leaving the site. Eighteen minutes before midnight, the camerlengo rushes into the church once again; five minutes before midnight, they find the antimatter at last; two minutes…Langdon and the camerlengo are holding the antimatter in the helicopter and circulating above the Vatican; 50 seconds…the camerlengo leaves Langdon aboard and parachutes for his own escape; 30 seconds…Langdon jumps off the helicopter; at midnight, the antimatter explodes. The spectacular explosion indicates the Vatican’s narrow escape and allows the reader to take a breath of relief. The midnight deadline is like a life snatcher counting down the characters’ lives. In the face of this deadly crisis, the fight for the survival of these innocent people and the sacred City State becomes the vital element in the narrative. The reader, totally captivated by the tension, suspense, and action while following Langdon and his company through different scenes, is anxious to know how everyone will manage to survive such a looming disaster. Such a desirable effect is made possible by Brown’s strategic maneuvering of the ultimate point and its function as the driving force behind the plot development. The ultimate point in time, however, seems to be a little too simple and bland to prop up the entire novel alone. Brown has to reinforce it by deploying periodic points in time. Basically, there are four periodic points in the time frame of this novel, namely, the four scheduled time slots set by the Hassassin for the death of the four cardinals – 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00. They imperceptibly chop the novel into four segments in sequence and form one mini-climax after another within the narrative. Each time the clock ticks closer toward the four periodic points, the reader’s heartbeat will accelerate along with the leading characters’, hoping they get there before the Hassassin so they can save the cardinals, catch the killer, and eventually find the antimatter. The four periodic points not only create a fast-paced tempo in the narrative but also avert the kind of monotony commonly seen in books featuring limited suspense, thus awarding the reader an aesthetic joy in reading a story loaded with treacherous encounters. Indeed, it is not easy to construct a novel of more than 400,000 words within a six-hour time frame. It would be absolutely implausible without Brown’s crafty execution of the time sequence.

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Brown’s Second “Secret Weapon” – the Magic of Space Another thing that makes Brown’s Angels & Demons enthralling is the way he drops key clues and develops multiple threads in an elaborate but orderly sequence. The main thread, which involves Langdon, Vittoria, and others deciphering codes, rescuing cardinals, and locating lost antimatter, is immaculately augmented by five secondary threads, including the mission of the Hassassin, the search for the antimatter by the Swiss Guard and the camerlengo, the conclave of the Roman Catholic Church, Kohler’s operation in Geneva, and the investigative reporting by two BBC correspondents. As these threads unfold and evolve on different fronts, they strengthen the concordance of the narrative and lead the reader through a great variety of spaces. From time to time, these threads might seem fragmented or even disjointed due to their quantity. Actually, they are not only quite compatible and well-spaced but also designated with a specific function and purpose. Although Langdon and his companions waste no time in their attempt to rescue the hostages, the pity is that their luck always runs out in front of the four altars of science. Following the alternating shift between the main and secondary threads feels like riding a high-speed psychological roller coaster full of tumbling motions. Naturally, the main thread takes up the largest space in the story, in which all the events related to the deciphering of codes take place. The first secondary thread is set in contrast to the main thread. In other words, Langdon and Vittoria, the characters functioning in the main thread, are either chasing or fighting with the Hassassin, the villain operating in the first secondary thread. They race against time and chase each other through different places. A series of thrilling suspense scenes is set up along the way. It is easy to see that some of the threads are intended for a contrasting effect, but others are used for a reflective function, such as the second secondary thread, which tracks the search for the antimatter conducted by the Swiss Guard and the camerlengo. The actions in the main thread and this one are mutually reflective and complementary. It does not matter which group gets to find the antimatter first because both are determined to find a way to save the city from total destruction. But nothing happens for a long time. The third secondary thread, the conclave at the Vatican, is a bit peculiar. It is not directly tied to the investigation of the case. As part of the backdrop of the story, however, it is instrumental in constructing the broad context of the “search and rescue” mission led by Langdon. Without it, the story would lose its most important implication and the search for

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the antimatter would lose steam. The election of a new pope is a major event for the 800 million Catholics, and other non-Catholic believers, around the world so the election must not be suspended without a serious reason no matter how long it drags on. Moreover, the cardinals, who serve as the liaison between God and His followers, are not supposed to run away without any dignity. All this automatically makes the search for the antimatter more crucial and urgent because the impact on the Church will be devastating if the explosion happens. While the above-mentioned three threads are presented in the open, the fourth thread, which involves Kohler’s operation in Geneva, is primarily rendered in secrecy. The reader might find it perplexing as it proceeds in a covert fashion all along, except for an occasional revelation. The aim of this covert thread is to shock the reader with an unexpected revelation near the end of the story. In other words, Brown relies upon this thread to deliver the biggest surprise in the plot. The last secondary thread, which involves the two BBC news reporters, brings everything together at the end. Under the direction of the Hassassin, the two reporters rush to the altars of science, where they obtain the news about the murder of the cardinals and share it with the public. Their diligent journalistic work connects Langdon, the Hassassin, the public, Kohler, and the Church together through an invisible link. The effect is to ensure that the novel is fragmentary merely in its narrative structure, not in the core of its story. When Kohler meets the camerlengo and Langdon rushes back to the Vatican after surviving the Hassassin’s attack, all six seemingly independent threads finally converge into a unified narrative and pave the way for the ultimate disclosure of the secret. The scenes in Angels & Demons switch transversely and constantly. The six threads in the novel move forward diachronically in an alternating fashion and weave many mystifying twists and much multi-layered suspense into the story. Nevertheless, these alternating threads never leave the reader in total bewilderment because the author adopts a flexible strategy in maneuvering the various threads of the plot, a strategy that postulates an integral narrative for the main thread while presenting other events in all the secondary threads respectively. It is a move that helps multiply the ingredients of the story, prevents the story from being monotonous, and controls the tempo of the narrative effectively. For instance, the main thread proceeds at an intense and fast-moving pace, as Langdon and others search for the clues as fast as they can. By comparison, the conclave drags its feet without showing any sign of urgency. An alternating shift like this allows the narrative to develop with desirable timing and move along with a proper tempo.

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To summarize our analysis, we may borrow Zonggang Mao’s comment on the plot development of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In Mao’s view, what we can find in this novel is not only “the superb strategy of breaking up the mountain range with floating clouds and taming the stream with a bridge,” but also “the effect of dispersing the heat with cold ice and sweeping the dust with cool breeze.”1 The first part of his comment touches upon the separation and connection between the various details within the plot and proposes to break up the relatively long plot into segments, so that the reading will not be boring due to the length and simplicity of the narrative. Changing the details of the plot constantly sparks readers’ curiosity and sustains their interest in reading. The second part of his comment relates to the changing spaces in the plot development. His reference to “cold” and “heat” addresses the response from the reader. The unfolding of the plot needs to follow an order of priority and allow a moment of relaxation in the course of the narrative. The desirable effect is that the novel will not totally exhaust the reader despite being captivated by the intense and fast-moving narrative, or completely dissipate the reader’s interest with a long and slow-moving representation. In Angels & Demons, the six threads of the plot crisscross into each other, both vertically and horizontally, and they combine to accomplish a narrative innovation that works as beautifully as “breaking up the mountain range with floating clouds” and “dispersing the heat with cold ice.”

Brown’s Third “Secret Weapon” – The Intersection of Time and Space Brown’s daring move of adopting some cinematic techniques works well in facilitating an organic combination of time and space for the plot development and characterization in his novel. What he relies upon again and again is the use of flashback and montage. In the course of a chronological narrative, flashback permits the episodic insertion of certain scenes and events from the past. The inserted episodes are relatively complete but they cannot be taken out of the proper context. Generally speaking, flashback is used to present a character’s recollection of a certain event at a certain moment. In Brown’s writing, though, flashback carries a good variety of functions. First of all, it prolongs the time span of the narrative and changes the spatial setting. Vittoria’s recollection of her foster father (see chapter 17 of the novel) is a 1

Zonggang Mao, “Commentary,” 7-8.

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good example. Her flashback, which goes back to a moment 20 years before when she was only nine years old, effectively expands the range of time and space within the novel. Also, the use of flashback contributes to characterization and the story’s credibility as well. Both Kohler and the camerlengo are haunted by memories of their unpleasant past. They often subconsciously slip into painful memories about their unforgettable childhood, thus fully revealing to the reader what has happened to them and how their respective faith has been shaped over the years. Both had a close encounter with death during their childhood but managed to stay alive with assistance from science or religion, respectively. Naturally, Kohler dedicated his life to the advancement of science whereas the camerlengo swore to do whatever was necessary to defend the integrity of Christianity. In addition, flashback can help incorporate a wide range of knowledge into a novel. We can see how this works with the introduction of the particle accelerator (see chapter 15 in the novel). When Langdon first hears this special term from Kohler, the author does not let Kohler explain it in abstruse professional jargon. Instead, he allows Langdon to recollect a conversation between two colleagues during a dinner he attended. The conversation actually offers a good definition of this special term. Using flashback to define different concepts in different fields minimizes the danger of monotony in knowledge dissemination, expands the time frame and spatial setting of the narrative, and solidifies Langdon’s image as a knowledgeable man. In a way, it is as effective as killing three birds with one stone. From a different angle, flashback is just a tool to insert an episodic description in the narrative. Actually, the so-called inserted description means a piece of relevant documentation is added to the ongoing narrative at certain moments of the plot. Through his use of flashback, Brown includes the inserted description so smoothly and coherently that the reader feels as if everything has been put together at one stroke from beginning to end. We may use the same example we mentioned earlier for further explanation. If the author jumps in to explain the special term as soon as Langdon hears it, it will disrupt the ongoing conversation and interrupt the reader’s attentive observation of both characters. The montage technique, a common feature in movies, is put to use frequently in Angels & Demons. It allows scenes to shift constantly from one to another. Sometimes, piecing together the details from different threads is a good way to increase suspense. Sometimes, the suspense is true, other times it is nothing but a hoax. The mix of truth and hoax is intended to boost the readability of the novel. The increase in suspense

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mostly appears in the last part of the novel. For instance, just as the Hassassin reveals the last move by the mastermind “Janus” – branding the mark on the camerlengo – the mysterious figure, Kohler, shows up. Despite the mysterious phone call he’d received earlier, Captain Rocher still decides to accommodate Kohler’s request to see the camerlengo, even though he knows that he is not supposed to allow such a private meeting. So, the reader, along with Langdon, assumes to have discovered the identity of the mastermind and his accomplice – Kohler and Rocher. As the story approaches its end, however, the reader is astonished to discover that the mastermind is actually the camerlengo. We are led to believe, for a moment, that the camerlengo might be justified in carrying out his secret plan. Given what he knows and remembers, he sees the Pope as a hypocrite who has deceived him and betrayed the Church and God by fathering a child and supporting scientific research. Driven by the total dedication to his faith, the camerlengo has set up the entire scheme in order to save the Church. As the story moves further, the focus shifts again. At last, we see the whole truth: the Pope never betrayed the Church, and he is actually the biological father of Carlo, the camerlengo. Instantly, the reader’s feeling toward the camerlengo changes again, shifting from initial admiration to anger, understanding, and empathy at the end. It is amazing to see how one character is able to grip the reader’s emotion like this. We have to admit that Brown is indeed a great master of storytelling, and we see why Angels & Demons became an international bestseller.

Brown’s Fourth “Secret Weapon” – Foreshadowing A Chinese writer, editor, and critic in the early Ming Dynasty, Jin Shengtan, claims in his comment on The Water Margin, “To start each key section, this book will leak a little information in previous one, so that the plot may shape up gradually and implicitly just like a mountain emerging from the clouds inch by inch.”1 What Jin is referring to here is Shi Naian’s skillful use of foreshadowing in his novel, or his habitual practice of building suspense in each episode. Interestingly, Shi and Brown are quite similar in their technique and the effect they intend. Foreshadowing with foresight has to be recognized as a major trope in Angels & Demons. It is used for characterization and the investigation of the case as well. All the detail-building suspense lays a firm foundation for the final revelation of the grand mystery in the novel.

1

Jin Shengtan, Commentary on The Water Margin by Shi Naian, 29-30.

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The details that Brown creates for his chain of suspense flow like a stream running up and down or zigzagging endlessly. Although the tempo of the novel is quite similar to that of a standard American play, and we do not exclude the author’s possible adaptation from the latter, Brown’s use of detail definitely appears to be more superior. Brown is by no means a utilitarian writer though. The design of the seemingly casual but carefully arranged details is like something that comes from a magical pen. It can achieve the intended effect with surprise tactics. At the same time, it can give the story a reasonable and seamless finish. Take Kohler’s disability, for example. Here is how the author describes Kohler’s wheelchair: “The wheelchair was like none Langdon had ever seen – equipped with a bank of electronics including a multiline phone, a paging system, computer screen, and even a small, detachable video camera. King Kohler’s mobile command center” (19). At a quick glance, you might find this description too casual to be essential, and you will probably forget about it as you read on, but it is absolutely imperative. When Kohler meets the camerlengo, one thing escapes almost everyone’s notice. Kohler’s disability is the most important reason why he can dodge the security check, a reason that no one would deem as far-fetched. Moments before Kohler’s death, the reader gets to see what this object is – a new type of palm-held minicamcorder. It plays a decisive role in the eventual disclosing of the truth. Besides, his disability prompts him to firmly support science, become a scientist, and even serve as the director of CERN. It doesn’t seem peculiar for a man of his high status to own a high-tech camcorder. The seamless combination of details around his disability and the equipment on his wheelchair paves the way for the astonishing events that take place subsequently. In Angels & Demons, the details assembled for foreshadowing are not only essential to the disclosure of the mystery but also indispensable in launching the inquiries. For instance, when the mastermind orders the Hassassin to kidnap the cardinals, he tells him that someone on the inside will open the door for him. This detail is placed for the subsequent revelation of the camerlengo’s identity as the mastermind because he is the only one who is in the position to provide such convenient assistance to the Hassassin, and which enables him to assassinate the four “preferiti” cardinals with “one swoop.” Suspense like this also urges the reader to pause at this moment and think: of the three villains – the Hassassin, the mastermind, and the person on the inside – the last two are still hiding in secrecy. The reader must read on to find the clues to their true identity. The other example is the big fuss over the real cause of the Pope’s death. At first he is assumed to have died of a stroke but, in fact, he was

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poisoned. In an extremely implicit way, such a detail hints at the camerlengo’s identity as the mastermind since he is the only person who could approach the Pope without anyone noticing. As a foreshadowing, it is naturally not presented in an explicit manner. Consequently, the reader is left with a series of questions: Who is the killer after all? Why did he want to kill the Pope? What does the Pope’s death have to do with the danger the Vatican is facing? The author creates suspense again and again and throws out one riddle after another. His ultimate aim is to plant his foreshadowing strategically and construct a fictional world that is shrouded in a mist of suspicion.

CHAPTER FOUR EXPOSING DECEPTION POINT

An earth-shaking conspiracy is hidden behind a meteorite while a scientific exploration turns into a life-and-death journey. This is what happens in Brown’s third novel, Deception Point, published in 2001. However, the release of the novel went pretty much unnoticed, the same kind of disappointing reception for his previous two novels when they first came out. There were not many positive reviews by the media outlets. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called the novel “an excellent thriller – a big yet believable story unfolding at breakneck pace, with convincing settings and just the right blend of liable and hateful characters.”1 But other reviewers were quite harsh in their commentaries. A reviewer for Kirkus Reviews regarded the novel as “a mostly tedious third technothriller” from Brown, who is “never able to convincingly marry the technical and the human sides of Deception Point.”2 Furthermore, as Lisa Rogak points out in her unauthorized biography of Brown, “The sales figures for Deception Point were downright abysmal. The only comfort they [Brown and his publisher] could take was that they weren’t alone. The 2001 terrorist attacks and changes in the structure of book retailing had plunged the entire book publishing into a crippling economic depression.”3 In 2003, nonetheless, Brown’s The Da Vinci Code became a sensational success and revived readers’ interest in his first three novels. Deception Point was brought out of oblivion and earned a place in the top- ten bestseller list a few months later. Once people returned to Deception Point, published just two years earlier, they were likewise charmed by the thrilling plot, profound knowledge, and charming characters. Before long, rave reviews came out all over the world. In 2004, Deception Point reached the top-ten list of the annual bestsellers in America.

1

Publishers Weekly, “Deception Point,” September 10, 2001. Kirkus Reviews, “Deception Point,” September 1, 2001. 3 Lisa Rogak, The Man behind The Da Vinci Code: An Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown, 88. 2

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Basically, the novel revolves around a masterfully orchestrated scientific deception, but also reveals various political inside dealings during the presidential election in America. Its undulating gripping plot touches upon a wide range of subjects, such as oceanography, glaciology, paleontology, astronomy, geology, astrophysics, meteorology, space science, and military science, and involves several secret institutions of the American government, from NASA to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Delta Force. Evidently, Brown conducted a lot of thoughtful and meticulous research before he started writing the novel with his usual formula for enticing stories. His impressive grasp of his material has been cited as one of the major reasons the novel was quickly rediscovered by the public. Throughout the history of American literature, “serious fiction” has often absorbed effective and time-tested elements from “genre fiction.” In a way, Brown’s novel may be viewed as a model for minimizing the antithesis between so-called “high-brow art” and “low-brow art.” In Fredric Jameson’s view, the old “distinction between high and so-called mass culture, a distinction on which modernism depended for its specificity,” has become blurred. He argues that “the emergence of high modernism is itself contemporaneous with the first great expansion of a recognizably mass culture.”1 In music, as well as other artistic forms, “the two antithetical traditions of the ‘classical’ and the ‘popular’ once again begin to merge.”2 In his writing, Brown has made a conscientious effort to break through the arbitrary boundaries between categories, genres, and readers’ tastes. Instead, he is fond of experimenting with a mixture of traditional, marginal, and brand new tactics in constructing his stories. Such a non-conventional approach has undoubtedly provided Brown’s novel writing with a great degree of liberty in narrative scheme. Deception Point follows Brown’s self-invented formula for a fastmoving and heart-stirring thriller, addressing an issue that most people have heard about but never fully understood as his theme, and gratifying different tastes by blending informative and entertaining ingredients into an enticing story. Once it was brought back to the book market after two years in oblivion, readers greeted the novel with rapturous applause because the major changes that had occurred during the three-year interval (2001-2004), such as the 9/11 terrorist attack, the two US-led wars, and IT innovations, helped them understand Brown’s deep and pertinent concerns about science, politics, and national security in today’s society. 1

Fredric Jameson, ed., Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991), 63. 2 Ibid, 63-64.

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1. Plot: The Secret History of the Meteorite It is already winter but the Americans who live in the northern hemisphere have not yet tasted the winter cold. Perhaps it is because the once-in-four-year American presidential campaign is in full swing. The opposition candidate, Republican Senator Sedgewick Sexton, is vehemently attacking the space policy of the incumbent president, Zachary Herney. As a result, he has scored some points and won the trust of many prospective voters. His rating in the polls has been going up steadily. He “was virtually guaranteed his party’s nomination for President of the United States” and “had a superb chance of stealing the White House from the embattled President next fall.”1 This has put President Herney in quite an awkward position. Then, from the distant North Pole, comes earth-shaking news that quietly brings about a quick shift in the situation.

Adventure to the Arctic Rachel Sexton, an employee of the NRO, is the daughter of Sedgewick Sexton. She is sent by the President to the Milne Ice Shelf on a mysterious mission. Inside the NASA habisphere at the Arctic, Rachel Sexton meets with Michael Tolland, the famous anchor of the weekly documentary show called Amazing Seas. The two quickly forge an affinity with each other. She learns that NASA has found an eight-ton meteorite that contains “[n]ot just a speck of bacteria or microbes, but an advanced life-form! Proof of life elsewhere in the universe!” (101). This is President Herney’s secret! Rachel is stunned when she realizes that President Herney has sent her to witness this great discovery in the history of science. A big crowd of top scientists, brimming with delight and enthusiasm, are looking on as the gigantic meteorite is pulled out of the ice. Only Tolland walks over, alone, to the ice pit in which the meteorite was found, and unwittingly he sees some greenish shimmering on the surface of the gleaning water – it comes from bioluminescent dinoflagellates! The dinoflagellate is a sea water species. What puzzles Tolland completely is how the dinoflagellates could swim into a solid iceberg that is as thick as 90 meters. Could it be that there is a crack in the ice? To find the answer, Tolland, Rachel Sexton, Corky Marlinson, and Norah Mangor, a North 1

Dan Brown, Deception Point (New York: Atria Books, 2001), 1-2. All the quotes from Deception Point are taken from the same edition and will be indicated by the page number hereafter.

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Pole expert, leave the habisphere with detection instruments to search for clues. The result of their exploration is totally beyond belief. Right beneath the ice shelf, “a dark column of sea ice extended downward to the open ocean below” (210). “Someone drilled up under the shelf” and “intentionally inserted that rock [meteorite] from underneath the ice” (211). Who did? What were they up to? They decide to go back to the habisphere immediately and publicize the secret they have uncovered. Right at that moment, however, they are attacked by armed men. Mangor is knocked unconscious after getting a hit on the head; the other three are also in danger of losing their lives. At this crucial moment, Tolland opens a meteorological balloon, which gets swept up in the air by the strong wind and helps him flee from danger. Who is covering up the scheme of the meteorite? Who is trying to kill them? When she wakes up, Rachel Sexton has no time to ponder over all the questions in her mind. She wants to get in touch with the President before he delivers his speech on TV and tell him everything they have discovered. However, how can an average low-level federal employee like her know the “war” taking place behind the meteorite?

The “War” Behind the Meteorite In Washington D.C., President Herney has received the news about the meteorite but he has not said anything yet. He is waiting for the best moment to use this god-sent opportunity and deliver a smashing blow against his opponent in the general election. President Herney allows Senator Sexton to attack NASA and chooses to disappear from public sight. What baffles the people is that the White House has leaked a lot of damaging inside information against NASA to the Sexton campaign through the president’s secretary, Gabrielle Ashe. All this information has, in turn, helped Senator Sexton gain the upper hand in the campaign and enabled him to dismiss all the governmental effort in the research of space science. Secretly, President Herney sends NASA to the Arctic to conduct research on the meteorite that has been discovered. Also, he invites several celebrity scientists who have no connection with the government to participate in the mission. Tolland is one of them. At the invitation of the President, he recorded a show about the discovery of the meteorite at the Arctic and has planned to air the documentary after the President’s speech. Rachel Sexton, who has been summoned by the White House, is also part of the President’s plan. President Herney wants the daughter of the

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opposition party’s candidate to make a public announcement about the unusual discovery on live television. This will definitely be a resounding slap in Senator Sexton’s face. Senator Sexton and his supporters are celebrating their preliminary victory at his Westbrooke Place apartment when President Herney delivers his televised speech. Like a bombshell, the news about the meteorite completely shatters his sweet dreams of the presidency. NASA, the agency that he has been attacking viciously and persistently, does not turn out to be as incompetent as he has alleged. Conversely, it has scored a big accomplishment and become a hero at the center of everyone’s attention. It dawns on Sexton that he is the victim of a cat-and-mouse game! Someone has deliberately leaked the scandals about NASA to him and led him, step by step, into a trap. When he has built up the strongest momentum, they release explosive news to knock him down, tread on him, and leave him with no chance of standing up again. However, Senator Sexton refuses to resign himself to defeat. He still has a little fantasy, and he wants to prove that the President’s news is false. If that happens, he will be able to regain his momentum in the campaign.

The Wild “Stone” Instantly, whether the meteorite is true or not becomes a key issue. So many scientists have drawn their conclusions – how could it be false? But if there is a meteorite, why would people be trying so hard to conceal the secret about the column of sea ice? What is hidden behind this secret? Who is the mastermind behind the scenes? A series of questions have to be addressed by Tolland and his colleagues. Tolland, Rachel Sexton, and Marlinson try to call the White House and tell the President everything they know but their plan comes to nothing due to intervention from Marjorie Tench, the senior adviser to the President. Afterwards, Rachel Sexton reports everything to her superior, the director of the NRO, William Pickering. Pickering decides to bring them back to Washington, D.C. During the flight, Tolland receives a phone message from a female marine geologist, Xavia, who “was responsible, definitely not the partying type” and as a “respected marine geologist, Xavia has the reputation for speaking her mind with a caustic honesty” (384). Xavia claims that Tolland made a mistake in his documentary. Out of curiosity, Tolland decides to make a stop at his ship for scientific survey, Goya, and ask Xavia about it.

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Aboard the ship, Xavia helps them to determine what is really in the meteorite. At the same time, Tolland searches through the database of ocean species. What he finds is that the creature in the “meteorite” is not a space bug but a rare and recently classified sea louse, “one of the oldest species in the ocean” that looks “very similar to the fossil species in the NASA rock” (449). It turns out that NASA’s discovery of the “meteorite” is all a lie! Who has orchestrated this deception point? What is his ulterior motive? Danger is approaching. An armed helicopter launches an attack on them. Rachel Sexton just cannot believe that Pickering, her superior whom she respects so much, is the culprit who has fabricated the whole deception point and killed several innocent people. At this perilous time, she manages to transmit the truth and the relevant evidence to her father, Senator Sexton, while a life-and-death fight breaks out aboard the ship. Back in Washington, D.C., Senator Sexton receives the fax from his daughter and feels so elated, as if he has hit the jackpot. He has obtained, with unexpected ease, the evidence that he has longed for day and night, just what he needs in order to launch a counterattack on President Herney. He intends to reveal the truth to the public despite the warnings from Pickering and the potential danger to his daughter. His heartless move really upsets Ashe, who has “already witnessed the senator’s ability to look into a television camera and lie convincingly about their affair” (218). Finally, at the press conference, she releases her intimate pictures with Senator Sexton to the public, which, in turn, reverses the tide in the presidential campaign once again. At this point, the story is at its end. In the past two days, Tolland and Rachel Sexton have experienced a whirlwind of life-and-death adventures that seem to have kindled some sparks of love between them. In the Lincoln Room at the White House, they relish their great passion for each other.

2. Characterization: A Wide-Ranging Cast The characters in Deception Point come from the government, the military and scientific institutions. All of them are brought together by the discovery of a meteorite at the Arctic for a political showdown and a scientific investigation. When faced with temptation, some people act selfishly to pursue their personal interests by any means while others act unselfishly and lead by example, doing everything by the law. When they find themselves entangled in difficult situations, some characters let others shove them around at will due to their ignorance whereas others squander

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their own bright future after trying to be clever, only to outsmart themselves at the end. In their struggle for survival, some characters serve merely as transient figures for their life is gone in a flash while others stay defiant and strong like the plum blossom holding its poise in the freezing cold. The Russian poet and critic, Maxim Gorky, once said, “The plot is the history of personalities.”1 In a novel, every character’s personality is gradually but adequately displayed through the complications and conflicts in the story.

A Scientific Scholar – Tolland At the age of 45, Tolland is the host of the most famous ocean documentary show in America. He has his own ship for marine studies, and he has been involved in marine scientific research for a long time. This time, he has been invited by President Herney to make a documentary on scientific discovery at the Arctic. In the novel, Tolland is the main force in dissolving disputes and conflicts. Whether the meteorite is real or a hoax is one major dispute in the story. The reasoning of Tolland and Rachel Sexton inches closer and closer to the truth of the meteorite and becomes a major thread in the narrative as it progressively clears away the questions in the reader’s mind and moves the plot forward incessantly. As a scientist, Tolland is capable of making sensitive and accurate judgments on various matters; he seldom, if ever, follows the crowd but sticks to his own view instead. When many first-rate scientists are fooled by the “meteorite,” he questions it courageously, based on the greenish shimmer that he noticed on the surface of the ice. As Marlinson is persistently presenting his argument about the three major features of the meteorite, Tolland is already switching his train of thought away from the original hypothesis and seeking verification from a totally different perspective. Even though he is a scientist with no expertise in fighting, Tolland does not just sit around doing nothing when his life is threatened. Instead, he puts up a tough defense for himself. If the death of two scientists, Wailee Ming and Norah Mangor, symbolizes the vulnerability of life in a way, then the actions taken by Tolland and others surely embody the strong human desire for survival. From the dark cold glacier at the Arctic to the vast East Coast shoreline, Tolland and his colleagues contend with a fierce enemy, tenaciously and all by themselves. The balance of power between the two sides is so lopsided that the reader worries about the main 1

Maxim Gorky, On Plot, trans. Ran Yuda (Beijing: Xinhua Press, 1982), 4.

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characters’ safety. Our mood can shift, unknowingly, between joy and grief as soon as they slip from safety to danger, or vice versa. Tolland is a sensible, affectionate man. His wife, Celia, passed away prematurely “on a crystal clear Sunday morning” (159), and that has kept him in deep sorrow. “For years since Celia’s death, Tolland had endured nights when he’d wanted to die, hours of pain and loneliness that seemed only escapable by ending it all” (511). To divert his attention, Tolland treats the sea as his new lover in an attempt to relieve the distress in his heart with busy work. He has no intention of rekindling his longsuppressed flame of love until the intelligent and understanding Rachel Sexton shows up. He cherishes this “love upon first sight” dearly. During their escape from the killers, they determine to live or die together and will never part from each other even at the most dangerous moment. When characters are given lifelike personality traits and feelings, they surely become more appealing to the reader. Tolland fully embodies the hero cherished by Americans in their heart. Although he is far from the ever-changing arena of politics, he is still firmly committed to seeking the truth despite the indefinable situation he is facing. Eventually, he accomplishes something really extraordinary for the common good.

The Belle of Intelligence – Rachel Sexton Thirty-four-year-old Rachel Sexton has both good looks and good brains. Her role in the story is quite complicated. On the one hand, she works for the NRO for the protection of the White House and, on the other hand, she is the daughter of Senator Sexton, the archrival of President Herney. What should she do in this fierce competition for the election? She is absolutely indifferent to the fact that people around her are tussling and brawling with each other for power. She will not accompany her father in front of reporters to pose for a moment of family intimacy simply because of their kinship. In fact, she hates her father. Her “mother had died three years ago, a devastating loss whose emotional scars still raked at Rachel’s heart” (10). It is purely out of her sense of duty that she takes the assignment from President Herney to go to the Arctic and report to the White House what has happened there. Her report is not intended for the political advantage of anyone. All she wants to do is clarify a fact objectively. When she discovers the truth about the meteorite in the end, she does not destroy the evidence in order to cover things up for the President. On the contrary, she insists on presenting the facts to the public. She chooses to fax the true story to Senator Sexton not because she wants

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to help her father win the election but because she sees it as the most feasible way to release the facts. Thanks to her neutral attitude toward politics, she is able to be independent of the rivalry among different interest groups and stay away from power struggles. She offers a sharp contrast to Ashe, who is very keen to make her mark in the political arena. A character like Rachel Sexton is more acceptable and appealing to the reader. Her talent adds more charm to her femininity. For centuries, people have admired and praised legendary Chinese women who were wellknown for their beauty and talent in ancient times, such as Cai Wenji, Li Qingzhao, Zhuo Wenjun, and Shangguan Waner. In many ways, Rachel Sexton is an elegant and wise woman, just like them. She works well with everyone, either brainstorming for practical ideas or solving tough problems. Tolland is totally mesmerized by her. It is Rachel Sexton who sends out the distress signals from the floating chunk of ice in the Arctic Ocean to help Tolland and others escape from danger. Also, she solves the puzzle about the meteorite shaft that has bewildered everyone. The discussion between Tolland and Rachel Sexton reveals their thinking processes, but it also earnestly invites the reader to solve the riddle about the meteorite with them. Her presence injects some touching romance into the novel. Her fragile, slender image is in sharp contrast with Tolland’s tall, strong figure. Friedrich Nietzsche says that “man creates for himself the image of woman, and woman forms herself according to his image.” In his view, “a woman’s goal is not be absolute but to be in command of her own perspective.”1 Traditionally, most novels feature the female characters around the hero as tender, slender, vulnerable, lovely ladies. The heroine, Rachel Sexton, in this novel is no exception. When her life is hanging by a single thread in the sea, what she arouses in the reader is not only a deep sympathy and anxiety for her safety but also the fervent hope that a hero will miraculously come to her assistance.

The “Two-Faced Man” in Politics – Senator Sexton Li Ruzhen, a Chinese novelist in the Qing Dynasty, is well-known for portraying a “two-faced country” in his novel, Flowers in the Mirror. From the front, the citizens all look amiable and pleasant, modest and courteous, kind and lovely, but once the horanjins (a hat with a hood popular in Ming Dynasty) are lifted to expose the back of their heads, all 1

Kelly A. Oliver and Marilyn Pearsall, eds., Feminist Interpretations of Friedrich Nietzsche (College Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010), 210.

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of them appear to have rat’s eyes, hooked noses, and fierce-looking faces. In his short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays a Puritan minister, Reverend Hooper, who dons a black veil, masking his face everywhere he goes because he believes everyone has secret sins. As a result, he is shunned as an outcast in the community but he becomes a better and more effective minster. In reality, people’s ugly side cannot be covered under a hood or behind a veil – it is deeply hidden inside one’s soul, just like that of Senator Sexton in the novel, and therefore it is more difficult to see. Senator Sexton is a major player in the general election. For a time, he is able to beat President Herney in the polls. He is a promising political star. His personal assistant, Ashe, “admired his handsome features and perfect attire. He looked presidential” (37). But behind the scenes, he has a skeleton in his cupboard. Like many politicians, Senator Sexton believes that “politics is a desperate business” (17). He colludes with private aerospace companies to question NASA, reproach other government agencies, and ultimately attack President Herney in exchange for the companies’ endless donations toward his campaign, which are “enormous sums of money” that set him “on the threshold of the most powerful office in the world” (56). In the meantime, though, he does everything he can to conceal his bribery, his disregard of the nation’s rule of law, and his misconduct at the expense of national interests. His behavior is clearly beneath contempt. In public, he attains the acme of perfection by using political trickery and wins a large number of votes through cheating. Many people, including his campaign secretary, have no clue about his hideous illegal dealings with private companies. He denies his opponent’s allegations about his involvement in sex scandals, and urges the voters to express their indignation over the “injustice” against him. Although he is good at putting on a pitiable appearance to solicit sympathy from others, he is always cold and merciless to the people around him, including his own family and friends. Through the references to Sexton’s wife’s car accident and his daughter’s loathing toward him, Brown accentuates, adequately and convincingly, the lack of warmth and tenderness in Senator Sexton’s family life. For instance, when his daughter’s life is in danger, Senator Sexton is so cruel-hearted that he refuses to offer her any assistance for the sake of his own political future. If he can treat his daughter this way, he would certainly do the same to others. When he needs Ashe, he can wheedle her, with all kinds of sweet words, into offering her service, but when she becomes useless, or a potential burden, he does not hesitate to dump her. The scene in which he slaps Ashe and threatens her with a ruthless stare reveals how she finally

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sees through his ugly nature and further deepens the reader’s resentment toward him. Evidently, Brown’s portrayal of such a corrupt character, who somehow gets the nod to represent his party in the presidential election, is intended to satirize the pandemonium in American politics. More effectively, by setting up a sharp contrast between Senator Sexton and President Herney, Brown puts the right and wrong in front of the reader and presents good and evil in their true colors.

The “Politician-Gentleman” – President Herney Victor Hugo says, “Ugliness is next to beauty; deformity is close to perfection; the monster hides behind the noble man; beauty and ugliness coexist; darkness and light go together.”1 In The Hunchback of NotreDame, the young Gypsy girl complements Claude’s dirtiness and ugliness with her beauty, kindness, warmth, and purity. In Deception Point, Brown also relies on contrast for the portrayal of President Herney. Compared to Senator Sexton, President Herney’s image as the top politician who wins people’s respect and trust because of his virtue gradually becomes much clearer and nobler. In contrast to her disgust with her father, Rachel Sexton’s impression of President Herney after their first meeting offers a good summary of Herney’s good qualities as a man: “The President gave her a comforting grin, and Rachel sensed firsthand the legendary Herney affability…His eyes mirrored sincerity and dignity at all times” (33). Again, in contrast to Senator Sexton, who makes absurd statements in the media all day long, President Herney “is pretty serious about no negative campaigning” (272). Instead, he prefers to be quiet as he has more issues on his mind. For the sake of the national image, he does not offer any comment on allegations regarding his opponent’s bribery and sex scandal. His willingness to place national interest above politics and his personal gain is truly respectable. While Senator Sexton’s tongue wags too freely, President Herney is very honest. He requests that his election team not engage in any negative campaigning, not go along with Pickering, Ekstrom, and others in their wrongdoings, and not deceive the people with rumors for momentary advantage. When the truth is finally exposed, he does not try to clear his name by claiming to be a victim of the big fraud. Instead, he is daring 1 Victor Hugo, The Complete Collection of Victor Hugo, Vol. 17, ed. Mingjiu Liu (Hebei: Hebei Education Press, 1998), 35.

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enough to bear responsibility and admit his mistakes voluntarily. His courage in doing so definitely enhances his lofty image. Unlike Senator Sexton, who has built up his career in devious ways, President Herney demonstrates a high-level wisdom for politics. After receiving the news about the meteorite, he is in no hurry to announce it, but chooses to wait for the right moment. As the incumbent for the general election, President Herney is charming, a role model for other political leaders. He presents the consistent views of the American government on a series of issues, including the study of space science. At the same time, he functions as a touchstone of American values that exposes to the full all frauds and political scandals. His words and actions are exemplary of the American ideal of democracy.

The Big Crocodile in the Military – Pickering In his comment on drama, Li Yu, a famous playwright and critic in the Qing Dynasty, points out, “A play should not be judged based on truth or falsehood, nor should it be rated for perfection or clumsiness. As long as it represents something that is unthinkable, or inconceivable, it must be a good and quality play.”1 A plot design that does not follow any conventions tends to catch attention and generate curiosity, if not controversy. The conclusion of Deception Point comes to the reader as a complete surprise. Pickering, the director of the NRO, turns out to be the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy and the commander of all the assassinations. Pickering is the immediate superior of Rachel Sexton. Although he appears to be at peace with the world, his calm demeanor cannot mask his demonic image as a ruthless killer. His imperious and despotic attitude has snuffed out his humanity. For instance, “Pickering always referred to his employees as assets, a manner of speech many found disconcertingly cold” (17). To save NASA, he is determined to do whatever is necessary. When Rachel Sexton asks him, “You faked the meteorite and killed innocent people…in the name of national security?” he answers, “The plan was to save an important government agency” (492). Whoever poses a threat to his plan must die; even high-ranking government officials will not be spared. We can compile a long list of victims, from the Canadian geologist Charles Brophy to Wailee Ming, Mangor, Tench, and Xavia. Some of them would have had no inkling about what brought death upon them. 1

Rong Xiao, The Biography of Li Yu (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Art Press, 1985), 90.

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Truly, Brown has done an excellent job in highlighting Pickering’s characteristics through the use of individualized language. Every character speaks with a different focus, style, and tone. Pickering talks like a straight shooter and a deal maker. It is not hard to see his hawkish attitude from his “blunt demeanor” (15) and the way he talks. On the one hand, he shows his loyalty to the nation. To save a vital governmental institution, he is willing to dismiss all differences and personal grudges and help NASA get out of trouble because he sees this “as a matter of national security” (492). On the other hand, he has a tyrannical attitude and does not hesitate to achieve his aim by any means. As a matter of fact, Pickering is not the only person trying to save NASA. President Herney and Ekstrom are trying to do the same thing. The difference is that Pickering is not used to the usual political maneuvering like lobbying, voting, and debating; instead, he is more inclined to rely on measures that bring instant results, like those in the military – simple and effective. To cover the truth of the matter, he does not hesitate to pull the trigger of the gun in his hand. The character of Pickering is more likely to be controversial among readers. Is he a good man, or a villain? Like a man with inexpiable sins, his hands are stained with the blood of innocent victims. However, it is hard to overlook the strong spirit of “selfless patriotism” (15) that he harbors so vigorously in his heart. He understands clearly that national interest is more important than anything else, and that he is eager to risk everything for it. In this regard, he is very different from Senator Sexton. The moment before his death, “[h]is final thoughts were for his daughter, Diana. He prayed she had not known fear like this when she died” (539). In a way, it indicates a brief return of his humanity. The image of Pickering lingers in many readers’ mind due to the complexity of his character. Throughout the novel, the author does not offer much information about Pickering. Since he stays away from various confrontations, he only appears on a few rare occasions and, therefore, he seems a bit remote and mysterious. He goes through a sudden transformation from a character that has mostly gone unnoticed or forgotten at first to a fearsome and fanatical mastermind behind the whole conspiracy at the end. Brown has used this strategic conclusion before, and it worked excellently in this novel too. The unexpected effect is that the revelation of Pickering’s true nature solves all the puzzles in the story.

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The Black Rose - Ashe In the novel, Ashe’s role is to function as a “liaison” or “go-between” between Senator Sexton, the White House, and NASA. She also brings the show of the general election to the reader. Though a key member of the antagonist’s camp, she is not nearly as hideous or disgusting as her boss is. Conversely, the reader feels sorry for her. Due to her young age and inexperience, she is unable to understand the mysteries in the political whirlpool of open rivalries or veiled frictions. It is inevitable that she is repeatedly exploited as a tool in the political jostling from all sides. To Senator Sexton, she has been “a tremendous asset to his campaign” (27), “a weapon few other politicians had” (30), and she is “starstruck and eager to please” (37). She reports, dutifully and indiscriminately, all the information about the White House, provided by a mysterious figure, to her boss. What she does not realize is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Her negligence leads her entire team into a trap. In the meantime, Senator Sexton is involved in illegal dealings behind her back, and she almost becomes a sacrificial lamb in the political campaign. Among those seasoned, slick politicians, she appears to be simple and naïve. The reader’s feeling toward her is clearly ambivalent. Brown portrays Ashe with sharp personality traits despite her insignificant role in the novel. She has a clear sense of moral judgment. At crucial moments, she is capable of making a correct choice between good and evil and, therefore, wins empathy from the reader. Once she discovers Senator Sexton’s appalling behavior, she cuts her relationship with him resolutely and, together with Rachel Sexton, exposes his true nature, even if it means putting her own life in danger. Her last-minute decision initiates a chain of dramatic changes: it saves both President Herney and NASA, the institution that she has been attacking all along. Here, it is evident that her minor role carries a major impact in the novel. In his comment on The Romance of West Chamber, Jin Shengtan states, “Hongniang is different from Zhang Sheng and Ying Ying, but they need Hongniang to be who they are.”1 Similarly, Ashe is merely a foil in the story but no one can reveal the true nature of Senator Sexton to the reader more convincingly than she can – this is certainly her major contribution to the novel.

1

Jin Shengtan, “Commentary on The Romance of West Chamber,” in Critical Essays on Plays in Yuan Dynasty, Vol. 2, eds. Xiusheng Li, Zhenyu Li and Guangfu Hou (Tianjin: Bei Hua Art Press, 1985), 195.

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Mysterious Killers – Delta 1, 2, and 3 They are the protectors of the meteorite, and coldblooded killers involved in a series of assassinations. They make their first appearance in the prologue, where they push a Canadian scientist out of a chopper after it has climbed to 1,200 meters. The scene puzzles the reader immensely and sets up a lot of suspense right at the outset of the story. From then on, this mysterious team of special operation soldiers, named Delta, will appear again and again. To keep it a mystery, the author does not share much information about it. We only learn from the narrative that it is a welltrained military unit, moving without trace, with advanced weaponry at its disposal, carrying out orders professionally, and killing people with finesse. “Delta Force solders are trained killers – experts in SWAT operations, rescuing hostages, surprise raids, and elimination of covert enemy forces” (62). Several scientists, one after another, lose their lives; the Delta team has created terror in the Arctic sky. Defining the Delta operation in the novel is a tough challenge. Strictly speaking, they are killing machines, and they have already succeeded in carrying out several missions. Of course, what they do is repugnant to the readers but we should also realize that the soldiers do not kill anybody out of their own sinister purpose or for personal gain, because they have neither an interest nor a stake in any scientific truth or political agenda. All they do is mechanically execute the orders from their superior. The Deltas’ chase of Tolland and his colleagues quickens the pace of the narrative and intensifies the atmosphere of the story. Indeed, their appearance in many scenes provokes the reader’s fear for the safety of the leading characters. What is worth noting, though, is that their presence builds up more suspense and action in the plot, thus enhancing the readability of the novel. The characters in Deception Point differ from each other in one way or the other. They appear with a unique personality, temperament, shape, and voice. Through the wheeling and dealing around the competition for the presidential office, the fearless search for the revelation of the truth, and the merciless pursuits and killings, Brown weaves a full exposure of human nature – all its good, evil, beauty, and ugliness – in the novel.

3. Themes: The Winds of Politics The presidential election may be seen as a grand stage for the show of American democracy and, more specifically, a centralized reflection of the values of American politics. The election process is long and complicated.

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First, each party holds its primary election to select its presidential candidate, and then the new president will be selected through a nationwide general election, but the ultimate decision comes from the Electoral College. It takes more than a year to run through the whole process. At the beginning of the novel, Senator Sexton has performed well in the “Super Tuesday” primary and won the Republican nomination for the presidential election. What he needs to do next is win support from the majority of voters so that he can beat his opponent, President Herney, and take over the presidency. At the early stage of the showdown between the two presidential candidates, Senator Sexton appears to have a pretty good lead ahead of him. The winds in the political arena, however, can shift at any time. No one can guarantee a stay on top in the polls or hold an invincible status for forever. Even though Senator Sexton has secured a little advantage through crafty maneuvering, President Herney is by no means an ordinary politician. This campaign is bound to be unpredictable. A lot of whacky or even ugly incidents happen during the process.

Political Contributions – Hot Potatoes The bill for Senator Sexton’s campaign advertisements is listed in the novel: more than $3 million each month, which is about four times the money spent by President Herney. What is surprising is that not a single cent comes from his own pocket. Based on White House intelligence, Senator Sexton had gone bankrupt six months before because of reckless investments and lavish personal spending. Tench warns Ashe that Senator Sexton “squandered the vast majority of her legacy on bad investments, personal comforts, and buying himself what appears to be certain victory in primaries” (188). It is evident that every cent Senator Sexton is spending now comes from the political contributions of private aerospace companies. Sure, money gets things done. Having a deep pocket is imperative for any candidate. In 2004, 95 percent of the seats in the House and 91 percent of the seats in the Senate went to the candidates who spent more money than their opponents in the campaign. Today, the cost of American presidential election has increased sharply. Candidates have to spend a large sum of money in order to win a chance to move into the White House. During Lincoln’s time, the total cost of the presidential election was about $100,000 – by 2000, the cost was close to $650 million. That figure jumped to $5.3 billion in 2008 and $7 billion in 2012, which is an all-time high in American history. Such an astronomic figure is obviously

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beyond any candidate’s ability to collect. Where does the money come from then? In 1976, the American government decided that it would offer every qualified candidate a special sum of money for campaign funding. As a condition, though, the candidates who receive the funding can no longer take donations from any individuals. Clearly, the candidates have to make a choice between public campaign funds and private contributions. During the 2008 presidential campaign, the Republican candidate, McCain, accepted $84.1 million of public campaign funds from the government. As a result, he had to give up the chance to collect money from private contributions. But the Democrat candidate, Obama, turned down the government funding because he believed that his fundraising machine could collect more money. He was right. During the campaign, he raised as much as $660 million, which was much more than what he would need to spend in the end. In the first half of October, 2008, he spent more than $100 million, $80 million of which went to campaign advertising. An effective fundraising team is essential to a candidate’s campaign. The law in America allows candidates to solicit political contributions from home and abroad, but it sets a cap on the amount. According to the law in 2008, no individual could donate more than $2,300, and the donor must make the name and figure public. This type of private contribution is called “hard money,” which may be spent for any purpose during the campaign. The figure, $2,300, might seem to be a small amount but the potential power of money like this is huge. In 2008, Obama’s campaign attracted more than 300 million donors, 65 percent of which gave $200 or less. But once the money was pooled together, it was a crucial resource at a crucial moment. Many key contributors in the winning campaign might be awarded with all kinds of goodies after their candidate’s takeover of the White House. For instance, after he moved into the White House, President Clinton invited many of his key fund-raisers to spend a night in the famous Lincoln Room inside the White House. In 2000, each member of the “Texans for Public Justice” organization raised about $100,000 for President George W. Bush. After he won the election, 43 among the 212 members were offered key positions in the government. To prevent big corporations or powerful organizations from using money to influence the democratic process, or creating the so-called “money politics” and fostering corruption, the American “Federal Election Campaign Act” stipulates that no candidate may solicit donations from any business or social organization. In Brown’s novel, the money Senator Sexton collects actually comes from illegal political contributions. He

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works with private aerospace companies and cuts secret deals with them. The companies offer him a huge amount of money for his campaign to win the presidential election. In return, he promises that after he moves into the White House, he will support a bill that “calls for privatization of NASA by immediately selling off NASA assets to private aerospace companies and allowing the free-market system to explore space more efficiently” (184). This move alone will ensure that private aerospace companies will make $1 billion in profit. Once a political donation and interest transaction come together, the political donation becomes a sort of long-term investment by the business companies. Senator Sexton is quite willing to sacrifice national interest for his personal gain. He knows what he is doing is not tolerated by the law. That is why his meetings with the heads of the aerospace companies have been strictly top secret. He does not even tell Ashe, his most trustworthy assistant, a single word about it.

Sex Scandal – All Women’s Fault? Senator Sexton is a seasoned politician who has been hustling in the political arena for years. It is hard to believe that his career could stumble over his relationship with a woman. Every move his young private assistant, Ashe, makes around him titillates his thirst for passion. Before long, the two engage in a “one-night affair” (271) in the office. Neither of them could have imagined that a secretly installed camera recorded their sexual encounter. The worse thing is that these photos went to Tench, the senior adviser to the President, and become strong evidence of Senator Sexton’s sex scandal. If a sex scandal involves a political figure, it is no longer a simple moral issue. In today’s society, in which the highly developed Internet and media are readily available to everyone everywhere, any circumstantial scandal could easily become a hot topic for widespread social gossip. It is more so if it is an illicit love affair with photos as hard evidence. Once these photos are made public, it will go viral online, igniting a heavy bombshell instantly. An indiscreet private life will push you into a whirlpool of controversy and expose you to media interrogation. At the same time, your opponent will not let you off the hook easily. It is like presenting your political rival with a sharp sword and letting him stab it deep into your chest. In a word, it is no different from destroying your fame and career. In the American political arena, it is not rare to see an all-powerful figure instantly struck down by a sex scandal. According to a recent survey, the American political arena has been hit by at least 50 sex

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scandals in the last 30 years. In 2009, Time produced a list of the top-ten sex scandals in American politics. The first on the list is the “disappearance” of Mark Sanford, then the governor of South Carolina. In June 2009, Sanford suddenly left his office and disappeared without a trace. One week later, he showed up in public, full of tears, confessing that he had gone to Argentina to visit his lover. Later, he resigned from his position as the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, but stayed in office as governor. The story about this man infatuated with love, deserting his wife and family, and running away to another country for an extramarital affair was a topic of hilarity for a long time. Compared to Sanford, Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York, who was caught in a sex scandal in 2008, was not so lucky. He used to be quite a celebrity before the scandal. Young and intelligent, he’d made a good name for himself in America by cleaning up the financial disorder on Wall Street and cracking down on the illegal transactions among big corporations. People called him “Mr. Clean” and predicted a bright political future for him. However, a sex scandal broke out when the media caught him with high-priced prostitute at a fancy hotel. Within three days, he was forced to resign from all his administrative positions and his long political career ended in disgrace. Many people felt sorry for him. What was more stunning was that Lieutenant Governor David Patterson, who stepped into the governor’s office after Spitzer’s resignation, confessed voluntarily to the public that he “used to have more than one lover” in the past. Experienced politicians will seize a rival’s scandal as an opportunity to score some political points. Everyone knows that nothing can stir a greater sensation in the media and public than a sex scandal. In 1987, the promising Democrat presidential candidate, Gary Hart, was forced out of the presidential election by a sex scandal. In 1998, President Clinton almost followed the same track. After his re-election, the so-called “Zippergate” scandal was played up heatedly in public. Republicans kicked up a rumpus about it and took the issue to Congress for a hearing, debate, and impeachment procedure. Clinton was in political hot water for a long time and was almost kicked out of the White House. This scandal is a big stain in his otherwise very successful career in American politics. In the past, when intense regulation or supervision was not vigorously enforced, holders of high-position offices could easily keep their indiscreet life under wraps. Today, however, competition in politics has become so fierce that no one survives a sex scandal without paying a hefty price. Candidates like President Herney in this novel, who insists on running a clean campaign and refuses to hit on his embattled rival, are definitely in

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the minority. Most news reporters and political rivals try everything they can to dig out indecent behavior by the rich, famous, and powerful. They never let a chance to play up their enemy’s sex scandal go by. The discovery of any evidence about a rival’s indecency is a god-sent gift, and an absolute nightmare for the person in trouble. At the end of Deception Point, Senator Sexton’s sex scandal finally leads to a miserable downfall and turns him into a laughing stock.

Lies – Politicians’ Essential Balm Politicians are always keen to present themselves in a gentle, accessible, and personable image. With his exceptional talent for political trickery, Senator Sexton quickly wins the trust of people all over America early in the campaign. In public, he is an outstanding actor. He solemnly swears that he will vigorously develop education, improve women’s status, and promote family values. In reality, however, he cannot even win the support of his own daughter. Lies fly all over the American political arena. People are accustomed to that. Who can tell how inflated a politician’s statements are? In the novel, the White House leaks the information about Senator Sexton’s romantic involvement with his private assistant, Ashe. Immediately, Senator Sexton calls a national press conference, defends his innocence and expresses his indignation with a miserable look in his eyes. His performance is so compelling that even Ashe, who is standing by his side, starts doubting if she actually had sex with him at all. In a word, he has attained perfection in his knack for lying. In the American political arena, scandals and lies are inseparable nightmares. Once a scandal breaks out, people consider the possible pros and cons, but they habitually choose to lie in an attempt to cover everything up. What they fail to realize is that the lying often becomes much worse than the scandal itself. The sex scandal between former President Clinton and Lewinsky was quite sensational at the time and cost Clinton dearly in both political and financial terms. What the Americans found unacceptable was not his compromising behavior in his private life but his persistent lying about it. After the matter went public, President Clinton denied his wrong doing when he was questioned in public and when he was testifying in Congress. He stated in his own defense, “I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” After the independent prosecutor presented Lewinsky’s testimony and the infamous dress, he had to address the whole nation on TV, apologize profusely and admit that he did have an “inappropriate” relationship with

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Lewinsky. President Clinton’s lies upset a lot of people and gave the opposition party a good opportunity to derive significant political mileage. They demanded he resign. The infamous Watergate scandal in the 1970s is still vivid for many people. In 1972, five people from Nixon’s campaign sneaked into the headquarters of the Democrat National Committee in the Watergate Hotel to install a wiretapping device. They were caught by the security guards on the spot. Nixon firmly denied any personal involvement with this incident but when the truth of the matter came out, Nixon was caught – he had lied to everyone in and beyond the White House from the very beginning. In the end, deserted by his supporters and reviled by his associates, he had to leave the White House, becoming the only president to step down due to a scandal in the history of America. In the novel, Senator Sexton’s lies are just as bad. He collects illegal political contributions from private aerospace companies while delivering a torrent of accusations against the negligence of government agencies. At his national press conference, he declares, “I am a man who believes in the truth. No matter how painful” (541). He tries to sell out NASA for his chance to take over the White House, but he presents a different version of the story in front of the public. Seasoned politicians in the American political arena are accustomed to lying. Learning to lie seems to have become a prerequisite for anyone aiming to pursue high positions of power. Remember what happens in Mark Twain’s short story, “Running for Governor”? The two parties fabricate facts and wrongly accuse an innocent candidate of committing various crimes. Their downright lie is blatant enough to make the reader gasp with surprise. Winston Churchill once said, “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”1 It is difficult for people to judge the decisions made by people in high positions of power at first. In the novel, President Herney initially chooses to remain silent about the accusations made by Senator Sexton. Senator Sexton does not understand Herney’s real intention. Is it because Herney finds himself devoid of all argument, or is he just waiting for a better time to launch his counterattack? Sometimes there is no way for us to draw a clear distinction between the truth and a lie from the mouth of a politician. Often, the initial intention and promise turn out to be lies eventually. Perhaps it is because politicians do not lie intentionally, or they just cannot predict what will happen down the road. A case is point in the novel is that President Herney announces the news about the meteorite without 1

Winston S. Churchill, Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations, ed. Richard Langworth (New York: Ebury Press, 2008), 27.

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knowing the truth of the whole matter, so he is also a victim of lies. The lie starts from him but he certainly does not spread it intentionally. His courage to “stride toward the stage” and “admit the biggest mistake of his life” proves that. In Ashe’s eyes, he had “never looked more presidential” (551). Deception Point is a novel woven together by a political rivalry and a scientific deception. It shows the dirty laundry inside the political rivalry in America. In a political environment, where the number of votes reigns, the scandals involving illegal contributions, sex, and political fraud often loom like a lingering haze but always turn into a notorious sendoff for disgraced politicians.

4. Setting: Risky Adventures The US capital, Washington, D.C., is located in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. From there, one has to travel thousands of kilometers to the Arctic. If anyone tells you that he wants to sign up for a two-day tour between Washington, D.C. and the Arctic, you can definitely tell him that he is daydreaming. However, a daring fantasy like this easily becomes reality under Brown’s pen. The heroine, Rachel Sexton, is able to visit the two different places within a single day, and she takes the lucky readers along on the ride to enjoy the unique Arctic landscape and the elegant cityscape of the historic capital.

Natural Wonder – the Arctic Night In chapter 16, Rachel Sexton takes a flight aboard a military aircraft to the Arctic. “Outside the F-14, the daylight had started to fade. It was late winter in the Arctic – a time of perpetual darkness. Rachel realized she was flying into a land of permanent night” (47). What she sees here is a typical phenomenon of the Arctic night, a natural wonder that can be seen only in the Arctic. Every year, between mid-September and midMarch of the following year, the Arctic region falls into a long night. The sun hides below the horizon all day long, while the stars twinkle sporadically across the dark sky. This phenomenon, with no distinction between black and white, or day and night, will mess up people’s daily routine. The story in the novel takes place in late winter, a time during which the darkness of the polar night hangs over most of the Arctic region. In the cold and desolate Arctic, getting lost means death. In Deception Point, the scientist, Mangor, and others risk getting data about the glacier about 76 meters away from the habisphere in an attempt to prove the non-

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existence of sea water on the ice shelf. The flashlight in their hand is their only source of dim light to expel the darkness and guide them back to the habisphere. As they step farther and farther away from the habisphere, Tolland feels nervous and Rachel Sexton becomes more and more frightened because of the darkness. Generally speaking, humans have an intuitive fear toward darkness. Being in the forbidding Arctic, where the natural conditions are pretty harsh, their fear is understandably more acute. For the novel, though, darkness seems to create a genuinely terrifying and depressing atmosphere. During the long night, the unarmed heroine is being hunted by a well-trained and well-equipped special operations force. Nevertheless, darkness is not all bad all the time. It also did its part in helping the scientists to break the deception. Thanks to the darkness, Tolland is able to spot the dim greenish shimmer on the surface of the ice pit where the meteorite is located. It is based on this key clue that they start their mission of tracing and searching for the ultimate truth of the matter.

The Scene – the Arctic Glacier It is Rachel Sexton’s first visit to the Arctic. She steps off the airplane and onto the Milne Ice Shelf, where NASA found the piece of valuable meteorite. Glaciers are the most fascinating part of the Arctic. Snow piles up in layers over the years. The weight of the snow on top compresses the snow at the bottom, turning it into solid ice. The glacier ice stores the largest amount of fresh water on Earth. As ice is lighter than water, glaciers can float like a big raft on the ocean. The ice at the bottom becomes more solid due to compression from the tremendous weight on top. Every glacier is ancient as its formation takes hundreds of years. The ice shelf is a thick floating ice sheet that connects with bedrock. It usually forms near the coastline. The Milne Island featured in the novel is located at the northernmost point of the Canadian Arctic islands. Its total area is about the double of Iceland, and it is the tenth largest island in the world. The climate on the island is cold all year around. There are many ice shelves around the island. With a total area of 298 square kilometers, “The Milne Ice Shelf is the largest solid ice floe in the Northern Hemisphere,” and it “is four miles wide and reaches a thickness of over three hundred feet” (74). In their attempt to evade the Delta, Tolland and his colleagues reach the edge of the Milne Ice Shelf and fall into the cold sea.

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The Milne Ice Shelf holds secrets considered so important that the Delta team is “authorized to protect them with force” (150). While the terrifying hunting and killing are underway in the Arctic, Brown’s narrative takes us over to the center of a political storm located thousands of kilometers away – Washington, D.C.

Roosevelt Memorial The Roosevelt Memorial was built in memory of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served a total of 12 years, the longest term in the history of America. He is much-loved by the American people. During his terms, he courageously led the American people through the most serious economic crisis – the Great Depression – in the 1930s and the stormy years of WWII. His line, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” has become a great motto that inspires people to march forward, and it has been deeply engraved in people’s memory. The Roosevelt Memorial was dedicated in 1997. Its main structure used more than 30,000 pieces of granite, with a total weight of over 6,000 tons, for the walls, which divide the memorial into four outdoor rooms, one for each of his terms of office. Inside the memorial, there are several life-sized bronze statues. Every year, nearly 280,000 visitors come here to pay their respects to Roosevelt, regarded as the greatest president after Washington and Lincoln. In the novel, a wanton assassination occurs on the parking lot of the Roosevelt Memorial. A Kiowa helicopter accurately fires a Hellfire missile at a black luxury car, causing a huge explosion. The person sitting inside the car is the senior adviser to the White House, Marjorie Tench, who persuaded her friend, Ashe, to stand up to her boss, Senator Sexton, and reveal all his illegal behind-the-scenes dealings.

Westbrooke Place Apartments Westbrooke Place Apartments is a luxurious apartment complex located at 2201 North Street, Washington, D.C. There are two buildings next to each other – The East Wing and the Historic Building. The Historic Building was built in the mid-1920s with a design by Harry Wardman, a well-known architect and developer in Washington. Many of the rooms in this apartment complex have unique features. If you open a french door, you might discover a private garden, or a grand bay window. Standing on the balcony, you may see Stonebrook Park and the Washington National Cathedral.

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Senator Sexton’s home in Washington is one of the Westbrooke Place apartments. In his luxurious apartment, Ashe overhears a secret conversation between her boss and the magnates of the aerospace companies. She finds out that Senator Sexton is in secret collusion with private companies. This discovery brings her tremendous anguish. It also adds more variables to the development of the story.

The White House The White House is the residence and office of the President, located in Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington, D.C. It is now the symbol of the American presidency and a synonym for the American government. Most of the events in the novel are centered on the contention for the powerful White House. It was built in 1800, in a style similar to the British country resort of the 18th century. John Adams became the first president who moved into the building in 1800. Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in the following year. In 1814, however, it was set on fire by the British Army during the War of 1812. During its reconstruction, the President had the house painted white so that no burn mark would be visible. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt officially named the building the “White House.” In the novel, President Herney’s Oval Office is featured prominently. It is part of the West Wing; its interior was designed in Baroque style; its name came from the oval shape of the room. This is where the President handles his daily routine and meets visitors. Every new president decorates the office based on his personal preferences after he moves in. Behind the desk, the national flag and the presidential flag stand on each side. A portrait of General Washington hangs right in the middle of the wall. The floor is covered by a huge rug that has a presidential emblem at the center: 50 stars encircle an eagle, whose claws clutch 13 arrows and an olive branch, symbolizing war and peace, respectively. In the story, President Herney believes “the most dominating aspect of the Oval Office was the colorful American eagle emblazoned on the room’s oval carpet” (61). The eagle on the carpet triggers a reverie in President Herney’s mind: he plans to launch a mini war against Senator Sexton to safeguard his presidential throne. On the second floor of the White House, there is one legendary room – The Lincoln Room. This is where President Lincoln used to work and preside over cabinet meetings. He signed the famous “The Emancipation Proclamation” here. In 1945, President Truman refurbished the room, moving the big engraved mahogany bed, sofa, and other furniture

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purchased by Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, in 1861 into it and renamed it the “Lincoln Bedroom.” Since then, the room has been refurbished several times. “Only the bed in the Lincoln Bedroom is a permanent White House fixture. Ironically, Lincoln never slept in it” (259). Today, gold and purple are the main colors, representing the ornamental style during the Civil War. Many people claimed to have seen the spirit of Lincoln after their visit to the room. Their claims have brought more mystery to the room. A lot of famous celebrities and magnates are anxious to spend a night in this room, so it has been the best guestroom for presidential friends and supporters. At the end of the story, Michael and Rachel spend a romantic night there, as they wished. The story begins on a freezing Arctic glacier and ends in the warm Lincoln Bedroom at the White House in Washington, D.C. Within a day, we have raced between the south and north and traveled across numerous mountains and rivers. As we read, we experience different environments and enjoy at once familiar and strange landscapes: the vast land of ice and snow where one’s imagination may run wild, and the drama of real life in the capital, Washington, D.C., to which all readers can relate.

5. Codes: Unyielding Searches NASA discovers an 8-ton stony meteorite under the thick layers of the Arctic ice sheet. It is believed to be 4.5 times heavier than the largest stone meteorite in the world, so it may very well be called “The First Stone in the World.” What shocks people is not just the size of the meteorite, though. The more stunning part of the story is the presence of the fossil of a bug “embedded in the stone.” The “biological organism” looks like a crawling insect with “[s]even pairs of hinged legs … clustered beneath a protective outer shell” (69). It proves that there is life elsewhere in the universe, which means other planets might have advanced lifeforms similar to those on Earth. It will resolve the issue of whether there is extraterrestrial life, which scientists have investigated and argued about for years. Its scientific and scholarly significance is inestimable. For NASA, this discovery will certainly be a timely boost to its image and standing as a government agency. If anyone still sees NASA as an ornamental agency that spends a lot of money but has never actually accomplished anything, the meteorite will explain everything. Just as the scientists are rejoicing, something unexpected happens. Having worked so hard for days, Tolland sneaks out for a few minutes and goes back to the ice pit where they first found the meteorite. He sees a greenish shimmer on the surface of the water. His “eyes were drawn to

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specks of light on the top layer of the water, as if someone had sprinkled blue-green sparkles onto the surface” (160). The sight triggers his burning curiosity but he can hardly imagine that his curiosity is about to drag him into a life-and-death showdown.

The Secret-Divulging Greenish Shimmers Legend has it that since it fell into the primitive Arctic ice sheets in 1716, the meteorite has been buried under snow and ice. Now, it is completely sealed in a freshwater environment without any possible contact with sea water. Dinoflagellates are unicellular planktons that are fond of the cold environment and mostly live in the sea. Now that they have been spotted in the glacier, does that mean there is sea water in the glacier? If so, where does the sea water come from? It is something odd. Tolland’s discovery brings the scientists out for a closer look. They discuss it among themselves but cannot reach a quick conclusion; even Mangor, who is known as the queen of the glaciers, has no clear explanation for it. Consequently, the greenish shimmer on the glacier helps them find the shaft that has been dug under the glacier. This is just the tip of the iceberg for the meteorite conspiracy. More exciting things will happen later. Sadly, Mangor’s findings lead to her death, and even Tolland and Rachel Sexton are nearly killed as they run. All of them are beset by confusion and suspicions. Someone is anxious enough to silence people by killing them. Could all this be related to the meteorite? Is there something fishy about it? Marlinson, a scientist who has a somewhat donnish air about him, does not think this way. He refuses to believe that the meteorite is a fake. He cites two reasons: first, scientific experiment has already proven that it is indeed a stone with a history of 190 million years; secondly, and more importantly, its chemical composition shows that it is different from any rock on the earth, and that it matches the three major elements of judging meteorites: black fusion crust, chondrules, and the nickel ratio of the mid-range value.

The Unusual Fusion Crust of the Meteorite When it passes through the earth’s atmosphere, a meteorite burns up due to the friction, which leaves a thin layer of black fusion crust on its surface. “It’s the result of extreme heating as the meteor falls through our atmosphere. All meteorites exhibit that charring” (94). During its fall, the strong airstreams cause stripe marks on the burned meteorite’s surface,

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marks that indicate the direction of the airflow. When you want to check a stone in the wilderness but don’t have any professional analytical instruments, the fusion crust and the stripe marks may help you tentatively determine whether it is a meteorite or not. However, is it possible that the fusion crust was created by a special forgery? According to Marlinson, such a probability seems quite small. Rachel Sexton has a background in the business of intelligence. During many years of her professional training, she has picked up a lot of secret information that others have no way to finding out. In her opinion, the fusion crust of the meteorite is absolutely fabricated. But Marlinson is not convinced. Even though there is such a possibility, he argues, the stone they have found is still a fossil from 190 million years ago. There is no denying it. Besides, the two other standard features of meteorites prove it.

The Spurious Chondrules and Nickel Ratio The overwhelming majority of meteorites in the world are chondritic meteorites. From the surface of a newly broken piece, scientists can see many round-shaped spherules measuring one millimeter in diameter. Corky calls them “little bubbles” which “occur only in meteorites.” He claims, “Chondrules are one geologic structure we simply do not have on earth” (97). These chondrules are so unique that they have become a key indicator in distinguishing a meteorite from other regular stones on Earth. Chondrule often contains metallic substances, mainly iron and nickel. Inside a meteorite, the nickel content in iron is usually 5-10 percent. This is what distinguishes a chondrule from other stones. Therefore, using a special instrument to check the content of nickel is another important way of appraising spurious and genuine meteorites. It might be possible to forge the fusion crust through artificial means but the chondrules and nickel ration can only come into existence naturally. Xavia, the geologist who is waiting for Tolland and Sexton aboard the scientific survey ship, Goya, informs Tolland about the new research findings by geologist Lee Pollock out of Drew University. When he was “using a new breed of marine robot to do Pacific deepwater crust sampling,” he “pulled up a loose rock that contained a geologic feature he had never seen before” (435). Incidentally, its nickel content also fell within the mid-range window for meteoritic origin and it was almost the same as a real meteorite. Fortunately, there is other data that can show the difference between them: the titanium/zirconium ratios. The titanium/zirconium ratio in a deep-water rock with chondrule-like features is several thousand times lower than in a real meteorite.

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So, Xavia immediately starts checking the titanium/zirconium ratio in the sample piece of the meteorite from the Arctic. The result shocks everyone: What NASA dug out from the Arctic glacier is nothing but an ordinary deep-water rock! What is that animal inside the rock, then?

The Ancient Hermit in Deep Sea Tolland is already suspicious about the origin of that two-inch long louse. Originally, scientists believed that it was impossible for such a huge insect to exist because deep in the Earth’s crust, the pressure on it would be so strong that it would crush its bones to pieces. That is why Tolland assumes that the bug more likely came from another planet where the pressure is much lighter. Suddenly, he remembers a special anti-gravity environment – the ocean. Thanks to their buoyancy, many huge but vulnerable organisms exist in the ocean. Could this life form have come from the bottom of the ocean? He searches through the index of ocean biodata on the Goya for a similar organism that might exist in ocean trenches. Before long, he finds a creature, the Bathynomous giganteus, which looks like a giant swimming louse and is “very similar to the fossil species in the NASA rock” (449). In 1879, fishermen caught a huge two-foot long isopod in the Gulf of Mexico. Like the bugs on land, an isopod has large eyes positioned wide apart on its head, and it has two pairs of antennae. Unlike the bugs on land, it has seven pairs of legs. French zoologist, Alphone Milne-Edwards, was the first one to describe it as Bathynomous giganteus. Isopods reach an average length of between 19 and 36 centimeters and an average weight of 1.7 kilograms. They live in deep-sea sludge and feed on dead species. Their bodies are compressed, protected by a rigid calcareous exoskeleton composed of overlapping segments, and they have the ability to curl up into a ball under the tough shell for protection. The deep-sea insects stay in the deep water around the Arctic, where it is pitch dark, the force of gravity is extremely strong, the temperature of the sea water is quite low, and there is not much human activity. In the past 160 million years, their shape has not changed much at all so they have earned the reputation of a “living fossil in the deep sea.” Their appearance has changed the long-standing assumption that there is no life in the deep sea. Given its distance from human civilization, the life of these marine organisms is relatively unknown. In the novel, these obscure life forms are mistaken by the scientists as advanced extraterrestrial creatures. For a brief moment, everyone is delighted about the discovery.

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As Tolland fully exposed the meteorite as fake, and we know now that it contains a forged fossil despite its close resemblance to a real meteorite in fusion crust, chondrule, and nickel ratio, our exploration of the scientific mysteries in the novel has come to an end. But we still need to check out the code that Brown leaves us at the end of the novel.

The Ultimate Code for Deception Point? On the page that follows the epilogue – or the official conclusion – of the novel, there is a long line of letters and numbers: 1-V-116-44-11-90-44-46-L-51-130-19-118-L-32-118-116-130-28-116-32-44133-U-130

If you regard them as an oversight by the publisher or just a bunch of random symbols, you are making a huge mistake. In fact, Brown has hidden a secret behind this seemingly unreadable line. We have to use our knowledge about cryptography in order to break the puzzle. Before Deception Point, Brown published his first novel, Digital Fortress, in which many code-breaking methods are introduced. One of them, the perfect square cipher box, is frequently used by the cryptographer, Susan Fletcher. All you need to do is reorganize the letters in a perfect square count, from left to right, into a square grid, and then read top to bottom and left to right to crack the code. The line at the end of Deception Point has not only letters but also numbers. Upon first glance, it might seem to have nothing to do with the code-breaking method of the perfect square cipher box but an observant reader will discover that the total number of letters and numbers in the line is 25 – a perfect square of 5! In the line, the highest number is 133 and the lowest is 1. The important coincidence is that the novel has 133 chapters – is it possible that each number in the line represents the corresponding chapter? If so, what does it hint at? With just such a good guess, we can make a daring attempt. If we replace all the numbers in the line with the first letter from the relevant chapters, we could convert this line into an all-alphabet combination and get it ready for the perfect square cipher box: T-V-C-I-R-H-I-O-L-F-E-N-D-L-A-D-C-E-S-C-A-I-W-U-E

Now, let’s reorganize them from left to right based on the Caesar Cipher Box:

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V I N C I

C O D E W

I L L S U

R F A C E

Finally, let’s read it from top to bottom and then left to right. The line goes like this:

The Da Vinci Code Will Surface The decryption is successful! Actually, Brown designed this line of random letters and numbers as a variation from the perfect square cipher box. Through this code, Brown is dropping a hint for his readers about his next book – The Da Vinci Code, a cultural thriller fiction that would be published two years later. In 2003, The Da Vinci Code took America and the world by storm and turned Brown into one of the most sensational writers in the world. Looking back at the code at the end of Deception Point, one has to admire Brown’s brilliance in teasing his readers with a well-designed code, a mini warm-up for more complicated coding exercises in his future novels.

6. Knowledge: Discoveries Scientists discovered a meteorite that contained a fossil of an ancient extraterrestrial life form! Just as people are getting excited about it, this major “scientific discovery” is exposed as a fraud by Tolland and Sexton. What the scientists have found is not a gigantic meteorite. Instead, it is a deep-sea rock that has been elaborately modified by the NRO; what is inside the “meteorite” is merely an obscure deep-sea bug, and not the “fossil” of “extraterrestrial life.” The so-called “discovery” is nothing but a deliberate hoax made for political purposes. The scheme is exposed, but a lot of questions regarding space and biological science linger.

Searching for Extraterrestrial Organisms In science fiction, stories about UFOs, alien invasions, or the United Nations in space are nothing new. Earthlings are feeling lonely so they look anxiously for advanced life forms in vast space with whom they could connect and communicate. Today, scientists all over the world are curious about extraterrestrial organisms, and many resources have been invested into finding new possibilities in, and potential encounters with,

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outer space. Like “pies” falling from the sky, meteorites are always wellreceived with widespread interest because they contain so much information about outer space. Naturally, no scientist would skip a chance to study them, and everyone yearns to discover something new about them. However, the chances of finding living organisms on a meteorite are pretty slim. In 2008, French scientists conducted an odd experiment in space. They used two 2 cm-thick sedimentary rocks to protect strong cyanobacteria found in an extreme environment, and then attached the package to the outside of the Russian unmanned spaceship Foton M3. They wanted to see what kind of changes the cyanobacteria would undergo in outer space. Eventually, after traveling through the atmosphere in 3092°F heat, more than half of the sedimentary rocks melted. The poor cyanobacteria were turned into debris. Although it is nearly impossible to find any living organism in meteorites, it might be possible to detect some trace of life forms. In 1976, for instance, American scientists discovered six non-biological amino acids in a piece of meteorite from Mars. Based on their research findings, they inferred that some kind of chemical process similar to the origin of life on Earth had taken place or was still underway on other planets. In the past century, human exploration of extraterrestrial life has never stopped and has gradually uncovered some clues in recent years. Generally speaking, however, what scientists have found through their painstaking research so far is no more than simple organic molecules, the most basic elements of life. It is still far, far away from discovering authentic traces of aliens in outer space. In the novel, NASA’s discovery of an advanced form of life in that “meteorite” seems too easy to be true. If it is true, it will surely have a profound impact on the entire field of astrobiology. It is indeed a pity that we rejoiced a bit too soon. As far as the novel is concerned, the reference to extraterrestrial life is meant to arouse the readers’ interest in the story and keep them hooked on what is going to happen next. Whether the news about the existence of extraterrestrial life is true or not is not important anymore. It does not matter if the meteorite is true or false, but its significance is by no means trivial. There is much at stake because it relates to expensive and high-risk space science on the one hand, and it ties to unpredictable American politics on the other. In a large measure, the crucial discovery made by Tolland and the others owes a great deal to a project called the Earth Observation System (EOS). What kind of wonderful system is it?

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Earth Observation System (EOS) As the old saying goes, a workman must sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well. It really makes good sense. For years, NASA has been spending a lot of money. Now, its persistent investment seems to have paid off. The EOS is one of NASA’s major projects. It can conduct observations of Earth from different angles, draw a map of the ocean floor, analyze geological faults, monitor the melting of snow and ice in the Arctic, and determine the location of mineral resources. Senator Sexton calls the investment of EOS a waste of money, but that is far from true. It is an international collaborative project essential not only to the monitoring of natural disasters and ecological environment but also to comprehensive research on the global environment and climate change. The operation of the EOS has initiated another wave of technological development for Earth observation. The plan was first presented by NASA in the early 1990s. Countries such as Japan, Canada, and those in Europe and many international organizations have participated in the operation. Between 1997 and 2003, these countries launched a series of earth observation satellites, most of which were polar-orbiting and low-angle satellites. The satellites were equipped with advanced instruments for the long-term observation of the global continental surface, ecosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and ocean so as to conduct further study of some key global issues such as environmental and climate changes and the increase of natural disasters. The polar-orbiting satellite refers to the satellite that passes above or near both poles of the Earth, and has an inclination of 90 degrees to the equator. It moves in a near circle about 800-960 kilometers above ground. Given its relatively low altitude, the earth observation is quite effective and, therefore, it has been widely used in meteorological observation. At present, the US, China, India, and Russia all have this type of satellite. When the polar-orbiting satellite hovers over the poles at a long distance, it can observe the poles for a long time. The Polar Orbiting Density Scanner (PODS) mentioned in the novel is a polar-orbiting satellite equipped with a special observation instrument that can scan the unusual density of the area. “PODS measures the thickness and hardness of the polar cap” and “uses spectral band technology to take composite density scans of large regions and find softness anomalies in the ice – slush spots, internal melting, large fissures – indicators of global warming” (81). It is not strange that NASA used this satellite to find the meteorite – no wonder it did not raise suspicion early on.

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Understanding the Space Dream of the Americans During a debate on TV, Senator Sexton proposes letting private companies replace NASA in the exploration of outer space. President Herney opposes this vehemently. The President’s view is so resolute. Why is he defending NASA so vigorously? NASA operates on a very large annual budget that reaches to $10 billion but its economic benefit is barely measurable. Critics called the international space station, which has cost more than $100 billion over the years, “a station to nowhere” because its scientific mission has never been clearly defined. Once, the scientific adviser to President George H. W. Bush was asked about the benefits from conducting scientific experiments in a zero-gravity or microgravity environment. His reply was, “Microgravity is of microimportance.”1 What prompted the White House to join the competition in space despite the staggering cost and high political risk? What is the charm of space anyway? Now, let’s check out the secret behind the whole thing. President Kennedy once declared, “Whoever controls space may well control the earth.”2 To the US government, space strategy carries special political significance. In 1957, the former Soviet Union launched the first satellite in human history. It really touched a nerve and, hence, triggered a prolonged space competition. During this political showdown, it became a competition between capitalism and communism, and both sides pumped a tremendous amount of money into major projects for space studies in the attempt to seize the upper hand in the international political arena. It was under these historical circumstances that NASA was established. In those years, people were driven by politics, and no one seemed to be much concerned over the astronomical cost such an endeavor would entail. Each launch of a space shuttle would cost $500-$700 million. The average cost for shipping a kilogram of cargo to the near-Earth orbit is upward of $20,000; the cost would be nine times more for shipping the cargo to the moon. The space competition reached its climax when the Americans landed on the moon. After that, it has gradually fallen off the radar. The US government’s interest in space has also been motivated by the tremendous potential social and economic benefits. The Apollo Program (1963-1972) cost the US $24 billion, but it created a civic market worth several hundreds of billions of dollars. Many space technologies developed during this period found their way into ordinary citizens’ homes one after another. The unique environment in space – zero gravity, a vacuum, 1 2

Michio Katu, “The Cost of Space Exploration,” Forbes, July 16, 2009. Life, Editorial: “A Costly Trip to the Moon,” Life 50.24, June 16, 1961.

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infinite heat-absorbing ability, and germ-free – creates a lot of possibilities for industrial and agricultural technologies. Space will become an ideal production base for special products. Also, there are rich mineral resources and inexhaustible solar energy. Ammonia-3 is a highly-efficient, clear, safe, and cheap nuclear fusion material for electric power generation. The energy generated by 100 tons of ammonia-3 could be enough for the entire world for a year. It is definitely an alternative resource that has great potential and could help us resolve the energy crisis in the future. It is estimated that the reserve of such material in the shallow crust of the moon is as much as several millions of tons. Therefore, cultivating the moon has become a major task in the space programs of many countries. No space technology has been mothballed. It is closely related to daily life and provides us with all kinds of services, such as long-distance communication, meteorological forecasts, remote sensing exploration, and global positioning systems. According to statistics from the US Space Foundation, the global space economy grew to $288.77 billion in 2012, and this figure is growing rapidly every year. The US government also believes that outer space offers a unique military advantage. From high altitudes, the military can observe and monitor what is happening on the Earth surface and reinforce military operations on the ground. For instance, during the Gulf War in the 1990s and the Iraq War in recent years, American military facilities in space played a vital role in combat operations. In the final analysis, the outer space is a new frontier that is essential to the American economy and national security. Since NASA functions as the bridgehead for the American march into outer space, it is not so difficult to understand why President Herney wants to protect it at all costs.

Hammerhead Sharks The hammerhead shark is an endangered species. Its huge, light gray body ranges from 90 centimeters to 6 meters in length and weighs from 3 to 580 kilograms. The hammer-like shape of its head may have evolved, over millions of years, to position its eyes on the sides for a good 360degree vision in the vertical plane. It is usually found in tropical or subtropical oceans. It is extremely nimble in maneuvering, and eats a large variety of prey. With its sharp teeth and acute sensory organs, it is known as the killer. Tolland says that it can detect the smell of blood one mile away. Once they catch that smell, a whole school of hammerhead sharks will swim over rapidly and start their attack. In the novel, poor Delta-2

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and Delta-3 become the prey for hammerheads after they sustain wounds in the fight and fall “thirty feet to the ocean below,” “the splash was crimson,” and the sharks were on them “instantly” (487). A few sharks tear off one of Delta-3’s arms while others rip Delta-2 into pieces. The sea water turns red. No one could bear a sight like that but it might be welldeserved retribution for what they had done. Deception Point not only tells a breathtaking story but also stages an eye-opening fair of modern science. It has been regarded as a novel about astrobiology. Brown rouses the reader’s imagination with his brilliant representation of meteorites and extraterrestrial life forms. Since the story covers a wide range of subjects, such as astronomy, geology, and biology, readers get an overwhelming amount of information, and may feel as if they have just watched a documentary on the Discovery channel.

7. Institutions: The Mysterious Agencies Before the start of the novel, Brown presents a special Author’s Note: “The Delta Force, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Space Frontier Foundation are real organizations. All technologies described in this novel exist.” Is this true? What kind of role do these organizations play in the novel? For answers to these questions, let’s check them out in Deception Point.

The Leading Runner in Space – NASA Right at the outset of the novel, NASA is caught in the eye of the domestic politics storm – the White House, led by President Herney, is trying its best to defend NASA whereas the private interest groups, represented by Senator Sexton, are racking their brains to find a way to bring it down. Why is a scientific research institution like this attracting so much attention from all sides? NASA is the largest civil space agency in the world. It was based on its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and founded on October 1, 1958. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. Initially, it was set up to respond to the former Soviet Union’s threat from space. It immediately took over NACA’s three main labs and their personnel. According to the NASA Mission posted on its official website, its goal is “to understand and protect our home planet, to explore the universe and search for life, and to inspire the next generation of explorers.”

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Since its establishment, NASA has set up many frontier science projects in space, launched several deep-space probes, and conducted explorations of the moon, other planets, and the solar system. The Hubble Space Telescope, which was successfully launched in 1990, has helped scientists in their observation of the universe immensely. The EOS, anchored by the Hubble Space Telescope, has been instrumental in furthering human knowledge about Earth. Given NASA’s irreplaceable functions, visionary politicians want to preserve the agency and try to prove the value of its existence with all kinds of facts. In the last half-century, NASA has certainly made some major accomplishments. Inevitably, however, the agency has also run into a series of glaring problems during its rapid development. The first and foremost problem is its huge annual cost. Secondly, several negative events have damaged its reputation. A case in point may be found in chapter 25 of the novel: “The infamous 1996 NASA discovery – ALH84001 – a Mars meteorite that NASA claimed contained fossil traces of bacterial life” (113). In 1984, American scientists found an odd-shaped Mars meteorite in the Antarctica and assigned it a serial number, ALH84001. In 1996, NASA claimed to have found in this meteorite some fossil evidence of primitive organic molecules that strongly suggests primitive life might have existed on Mars. Such a conclusion instantly caused a big stir around the world. Many scientists questioned the authenticity of this discovery, claiming that what was found in the meteorite was nothing but naturally formed mineral features, or “kerogen produced by terrestrial contamination” (113). For a long time, neither side could convince the other. Brown dramatized this incident in his novel and, in the name of The New York Times, tried “to sarcastically redefine the agency’s acronym: NASA – NOT ALWAYS SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE” (113). Over the years, NASA’s mistakes have resulted in a series of painful lessons. In 1970, the oxygen tank on Apollo 13 exploded before its lunar landing and almost killed the three-man crew. In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff, killing its seven crew members. Tragedy happened again in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated after reentry into the earth’s atmosphere, and lost its crew of seven. Finally, as the nation’s huge investment in space studies cannot produce any quick, realistic, or tangible benefits, it is only natural that the public is losing its patience and beginning to have doubts about the value of NASA’s existence. Take its international space station, for example.

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From its design to its installation, it has already cost close to $100 billion, in addition to the hard work of a whole generation of scientists. Whether this project is worth pursuing has been a controversial subject in recent years. Senator Sexton tries his best to magnify these unpleasant incidents on NASA’s record. Due to his relentless propaganda and sensational speeches, he manages to win over a lot of supporters in a short period of time.

The Elite Counter-Terrorism Unit – Delta Force The clandestine chase and assassination conducted by the special operation soldiers, Delta-1, Delta-2, and Delta-3, enshrouds Deception Point in an atmosphere of terror. Like judges from the underworld, they seem to have full authority over people’s lives. Time after time, their merciless killing of innocent scientists and particularly their blatant assassination of high-ranking government officials in Washington, D.C. create the most violent and harrowing scenes in the novel. What kind of military unit is it, anyway? In the 1970s, the need for a counter-terrorism operation became obvious to the government after a sharp increase in terrorist attacks. On November 9, 1977, General Bernard W. Rogers, the Army Chief of Staff of America, signed an order to establish the first counter-terrorism special force unit, Delta Force, and appointed Colonel Charles Beckwith as its first commander. It is regarded as highly classified information. Seldom, if ever, will the government publically comment on its operation. Naturally, many civilian organizations have speculated about this mysterious military unit over the years. The Delta Force consists of three squadrons with 75-85 operators in each. Its headquarters is located in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The unit is under the organization of the US Army Special Operations Command, but it falls under the operational control of the Joint Special Operations Command. Members of the unit are recruited strictly from the special force groups, and they receive rigorous training. Candidates must have good physical and psychological strength; they must know how to use various weapons and have some special technical expertise. An expensive Operator Training Course was set up next to Mott Lake at Fort Bragg. To meet the needs in counter-terrorist operations, the Delta Force is equipped with the most advanced and lethal weapons, and it has become an elite unit in the American special forces.

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Since its foundation, the Delta Force has successfully accomplished many counter-terrorist operations, and it has truly become a sharp sword in the fight against terrorism. During the Gulf War in 1991, the Delta Force was sent to Iraq for military missions. One day, they came across a pile of SCUD missiles, which had been deployed south of Al-Qaim for a possible attack on Israel. With air support, they destroyed all the missiles immediately.

The American “Ears and Eyes” in Space – NRO In Deception Point, William Pickering, the director of the NRO, controls the Delta Force. What kind of powerful institution is NRO? Why is it involved in this political whirlpool? The NRO was quite obscure for a long time. In 1973, the strange name, the National Reconnaissance Office, first appeared on a list publicized by the American intelligence department due to a processing error by the Senate committee. Such an error instantly raised suspicion. In 1985, James Bamford published an article in The New York Times, “America’s Supersecret Eyes in Space,” calling the NRO “the most secret organization in the American intelligence community” and offering detailed information about its structure and operation.1 Later on, some historical records were declassified but it was not until September 1992 that the Pentagon acknowledged the existence of the NRO as an intelligence agency. Headquartered at Chantilly, Virginia, the NRO was founded in September 1961 out of the need to monitor military developments in the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, and it was intended to maintain the American advantage in the collection of image and signal intelligence through satellites. In the subsequent 30 years, it was almost unknown. Undoubtedly, Brown’s Deception Point will generate a lot of keen interest in this secret institution. The NRO is under the command of the Pentagon, operating through several directorates, including Signal Intelligence Systems, Imagery Intelligence Systems, Communications Systems, and Advanced Systems and Technology. Its main mission is to design, launch, and operate reconnaissance satellite systems, issue alerts about potential flashpoints in certain unstable regions, and provide intelligence support for US military operations. It has been praised as “the American ears and eyes in space.” 1

James Bamford, “America’s Supersecret Eyes in Space,” The New York Times, January 13, 1985.

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The NRO has some 3,000 personnel from the Department of Defense and National Intelligence Bureau. Its director is nominated by the Secretary of Defense and serves as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. The character in the novel, William Pickering, is the director of the NRO and a heavyweight military officer, which is why he has full authority to deploy the elite Delta Force at his will. Since its foundation, the NRO has given a lot of valuable assistance to other US intelligence agencies. Through its CORONA, America’s first imagery satellite system, which operated from 1960 until 1972, it collected massive amounts of information about the development of the army, aircraft, and missiles in the former Soviet Union, thus providing so much reference data to the American government for its proper handling of international relationships. After the Cold War, the NRO shifted its focus to collecting intelligence about regional conflicts for US military operations. In recent years, it has taken on new tasks, such as tracing the smuggling of parts for nuclear weapons, surveying forest fires, floods, earthquakes, and so on. In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, the NRO intensified its reconnaissance for counter-terrorism operations. It has played a key role in locating terrorist-training camps, hunting weapon shipments, and searching for weapons of massive destruction. The NRO would not have any of its advantage in intelligence gathering without the spy satellites orbiting in space. In the novel, as the director of the NRO, Pickering has no interest in politics but he deeply understands how essential the advanced space technology is to the country’s strategic security. Once we understand his rationale, it is easy to see why he is willing to cast aside his personal interests and do whatever it takes to save NASA.

The Rising Civilian Force – Space Frontier Foundation In the novel, the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) offers Senator Sexton a large sum of money, which gives him tremendous leeway in the campaign commercials. It seems clear that this organization is in serious conflict with NASA. In his luxury suite, members of the SFF vigorously vent their indignation toward NASA. When Sexton is facing the gravest test in his campaign, the mysterious old man from the foundation shows up in attempt to boost his flagging spirits and offer him some advice. The SFF is definitely a force to be reckoned with in this political rivalry. In 1988, a few influential figures from various industries, including space, media, entertainment, business, and science, came together to establish the SFF with the aim of promoting the large-scale exploration of

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space and facilitating human settlement in space as soon as possible. They believed that, through their joint efforts, humankind would be able to set up residence on other planets within the Solar System within one or two generations. However, they insisted, such an assumption will never become a reality if the government monopolizes the centrally planned space program. So, they have registered many complaints about NASA. They propose to open space to everyone, and allow private business to take over the government role of exploring space. In the past few years, the SFF has generously funded some major research projects by private aerospace companies, including the design and building of Space Ship One and entrepreneur Robert Bigelow’s plan to build a space hotel. The development of Space Ship One broke the government’s monopoly over manned space flight and brought down the cost of a tour to space, thus laying down solid foundations for business development in the future and the setting up of a space tour route for ordinary people. In 1991, the SFF opened an office in Houston and started holding annual conferences involving briefings of the latest developments in space studies. In reality, the relationship between the SFF and NASA is not as testy or irreconcilable as depicted in the novel. They have collaborated on certain initiatives very closely. For instance, the SFF actively participated in the Centennial Challenges, a space competition in 2006, and worked together with NASA to solve several tough problems in space technology. The SFF is the representative organization on behalf of private companies engaged in space studies, whereas NASA is the governmental agency in this field. Despite their differences in many aspects, both sides are working hard toward human settlement in space. Their collaboration is more important than the friction between them. Brown’s novel involves many institutions. Some of these institutions belong to the government, others belong to the private sector; some are military, others are civilian. Each institution represents one type of interest, and altogether, they present a snapshot of the dynamics and complexities in American politics and scientific research.

8. Techniques: Multi-Layered Suspense Compared to his early novels, Brown paid extra attention to the narrative structure of Deception Point. To make his story more extraordinary and appealing, he rolls out a series of suspense to induce the reader’s anxiety and expectation. From the beginning of the novel, Brown’s narrative carries multiple threads, which unfold and proceed simultaneously, alternating between the major incidents in different

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characters’ lives with clarity, insight, and consistency. Sometimes, the narrator reveals what is going on in a character’s mind by divulging littleknown stories about them, but often he just leaves an ambiguous suspense around their behavior and rationale. Artful narrative strategies like this not only showcase Brown’s creativity in novel writing but also enhance the readability of the novel. With this in mind, let’s take a tour of Brown’s fictional world of suspense.

Different Features of Suspense If used properly, suspense kindles the reader’s curiosity, adds a certain mystique about the plot, and intensifies the atmosphere in the novel. From beginning to end, Deception Point presents successive gutwrenching incidents that repeatedly besiege the attentive reader. To a large extent, Brown invokes tension through marvelously positioned suspense. At the outset of the novel, Brown brings out a mysterious meteorite and uses it as the central suspense throughout the story. The reader is not told until much later that the meteorite is directly linked to the destiny of the leading characters and the development of the main plot. In the reader’s mind, a question mark looms larger and larger over the authenticity of the meteorite and the unpredictable result of the general election. As the narrative proceeds, secondary or minor suspense occurs in almost each chapter. It comes one after another and functions in an interlocking way for the purpose of generating more twists and turns in the narrative. Brown takes a few feasible measures to ensure that such a strategy will work as effectively as he desires. One of them is that as the narrative moves from one thread to another, or from one chapter to another, he drops some hints about, or a tentative answer to, the previous suspense before creating more. Of course, the central mystery will not be solved until the very end of the novel. No doubt, Brown’s use of suspense is executed with great care and imagination.

Suspense One: The Missing Information Su Shi, a Chinese poet and critic in the Song Dynasty, attached great importance to the aesthetic concept of “representation with reservation.” He pointed out, “A representation that ends once the point is made is great, but if the representation ends while the point is still not fully

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covered, it might work even better.”1 True, a detailed and complete narration gives the story comprehensive and well-proportioned coverage, but it might work even better and accomplish more of the unexpected if it deliberately omits some information and leaves a few bridgeable gaps in between. In the opening chapters, most of which are short and brief, Brown’s narrative presents seemingly disconnected scenes that have no immediate relevance whatsoever with each other. It shifts from the Toulos Restaurant adjacent to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to the freezing cold Arctic, and then to the headquarters of the NRO. Initially, it is hard for the reader to see the connection between these sites. How are these characters mentioned in these early chapters related to each other? Why is Rachel Sexton so indifferent to her father? Why is the Delta Force hiding in the Arctic? The reason the reader is intrigued by these questions is that the narrator has skipped some key details, or key links, in between. It is evident that the characters in the story certainly know what has happened earlier and what is happening at present, but the reader does not. It is only normal for the reader to feel at a loss at such a moment. Here, Brown’s intended effect is to let the reader know just enough to be curious and anxious, imagining what must have happened earlier and what might happen next. As the story evolves, the reader picks up more hints and finds the answers to their questions on their own. Another example is the peculiar murder of the Canadian geologist Charles Brophy in the prologue. He and his dogs are tossed out of a helicopter 1,200 meters up in the air. The brutal killing catches the reader’s attention from the beginning, but the narrative comes to a full stop on that incident and shifts its focus abruptly to Washington, D.C. But questions linger in the reader’s mind. Who is Charles Brophy? Who killed him? Why did they kill him? What was the meaning of that message the killers wanted him to transmit? While the reader is continuously suspecting, worrying, and searching for answers, Brown sticks to his deliberate calm in moving the narrative along and won’t give away the mystery of this murder until the end of chapter 90. By the time the reader gets there, everything becomes crystal clear. Brophy was “conveniently” terminated because “he by chance discovered the presence of what appeared to be a huge meteorite in the ice. He radioed it in, and NASA happened to intercept the transmission” (382). What the reader discovers in this chapter is both a shocking conspiracy and a disturbing truth. 1 Human Zhang and Jin Zhang, Moral and Culture: The Cultural Character and Artistic Thinking of Su Shi (Beijing: People’s Literature Press, 2004), 373.

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Suspense Two: The Interruption in Narrative Alternating the threads in plot development is a common strategy in narrative, intended to better inform the reader about various characters’ experiences and views. However, if the narrative pauses and slips into a seemingly irrelevant digression in the nick of time, it will definitely whet the reader’s curiosity and ratchet up more suspense. This strategy is quite similar to the traditional gimmick in Chinese storytelling – “If you want to know what happens next, please come back for the next episode!” In his comment on suspense like this, a Chinese writer and critic in the Qing Dynasty, Jin Shengtan, notes, “If the pause, or repeated pause, in narrative could still cause the reader’s eyes to glisten, then it must be an extremely unique and artful strategy.”1 What he means by “pause” is similar to the deliberate interruption, or an insertion of something else, in the normal sequence of narration. Brown frequently uses this strategy to set up suspense in his novel. At the end of chapter 56, for example, Rachel Sexton and others are under attack by the Delta Force. After they fall into the cold sea and move with the floating ice further away from the shore, their lives are in imminent danger. The reader is deeply worried about their safety, but the narrative pauses right there and takes the reader to Senator Sexton’s warm and comfortable apartment at Westbrooke Place, where Rachel’s father is hosting a party for his friends and supporters, and extending “his glass toward them in a toast” (252). It goes without saying that the two scenes are entirely incongruous but by slowing down the pace of his narrative and switching the scenes between episodes, Brown easily nudges his reader to read on. Indeed, the reader’s worry about Rachel Sexton and the others worsens and will not abate until chapter 63. In general, the two kinds of suspense mentioned here work well simply because the reader and the characters are neither on the same page nor in the same time frame. The reader is always a few steps behind the characters for all kinds of reasons. This lack of information keeps the reader in limbo, constantly dangling between mixed feelings of tension, anxiety, perplexity, and solicitude. A different scenario is that both the reader and the characters in the novel are in the dark. That is Brown’s special strategy we will discuss next.

1

Rui Guo, Jin Shengtan’s Theory of Novel and Drama (Beijing: China Writers’ Association Press, 1993), 134.

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Suspense Three: Knowledge Is Power Is the meteorite found by NASA real or not? What do we make of the three standards in appraising meteorites? These same questions baffle the characters and the reader. To answer these questions, we need some good knowledge about geology and marine biology. In Deception Point, knowledge becomes part of the plot development and plays a vital role in driving the narrative forward. Suspense about knowledge is frequently deployed by Brown in the novel. If the reader is ignorant about a subject or misled by some kind of hearsay, suspense will come into play. Things like the fusion crust of meteorites, nickel ratios, chondrules, unidentifiable organisms, and fossils trip up everyone inside and outside the novel, preventing them from getting the truth and perturbing them with numerous questions. Questions rise because of the lack of knowledge and, therefore, may be resolved only by knowledge. The best feature of the novel is that it tells a story while showcasing in-depth knowledge about a wide range of subjects. The large quantity of new knowledge does more than enhance the readability of the novel; it also functions as a critical way of clearing suspense. As the characters gather more and more knowledge about the relevant subjects, they can answer the questions one by one. Liquid hydrogen breaks the suspense of the meteorite’s fusion crust; a deep-sea louse straightens out the suspense about extraterrestrial life; the scientists’ discovery from the deep sea solves the mystery about the nickel ratio and chondrule. Suspense of knowledge is what distinguishes Brown from other writers of traditional thriller fiction, a genre that relies heavily on reasoning and collection of evidence to provide the reader with the solution of the riddles. By contrast, however, Brown takes advantage of the riddles, or suspense, of knowledge to entertain his reader through an innovative narrative reinforced by his far-reaching fascination with and understanding of culture today. The use of suspense makes the story more enticing and the reading more enjoyable. In an interview with Harold Flender, Isaac B. Singer once said, “To me a story is still a story where the reader listens and wants to know what happens. If the reader knows everything from the very beginning, even if the description is good, I think the story is not a story.”1 While reading through Brown’s novel, we always find something mystifying that lingers incessantly in our mind, and we will not be able to 1

Harold Flender, “The Art of Fiction, No.42: Interview with Isaac Bashevis Singer,” The Paris Review 44 (Fall, 1968).

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figure out what it is until the end of the story. Perhaps, this is the greatest charm of Brown’s thriller fiction.

Narrative Threads in Parallel There are 133 chapters in Deception Point. Among them, more than ten characters appear by name. The whole story takes place within two days but runs with multiple and often interwoven threads. Its setting constantly switches between the Arctic and Washington, D.C., breaking geographical and spatial boundaries for a smooth transition between narrative threads. How to make everything click when telling a complicated story is the first issue Brown has to tackle. Brown’s approach is to push his narrative forward by alternating its point of view between two threads and several settings. One thread follows the heroine, Rachel Sexton, to the frozen Arctic, where she and her partner, Tolland, embark on a dangerous and terrifying run in order to elude the lethal Delta Force; the other focuses on Washington, D.C., the center of American politics, where the presidential election is moving into high gear and politicians are masterminding one political scheme after another. We learn about the adventure in the Arctic mostly from Rachel Sexton’s perspective. First, we trail her steps onto the Arctic glacier, where she runs into Tolland and hears about the discovery of the meteorite. Before long, we witness Rachel Sexton and her companions being attacked by the Delta Force and hiding aboard a navy submarine, where she gets in touch with Director Pickering. From then on, we accompany her on a long investigation of the various mysteries surrounding the meteorite. Eventually, we get to meet, when she does, with the mastermind of the entire deception. In between these adventures, we are often led by another character, Ashe, back to Washington, D.C., where she takes us to the offices at the White House and NASA as well as the meetings with the President’s reelection campaign team. Through Ashe, we gain a somber understanding of the nastiness in American politics and the political ramifications of the meteorite. From Ashe’s perspective, we discover the various scandals and shady dealings of Senator Sexton. In the end, Rachel Sexton returns to Washington, D.C., where she and Ashe join forces to shatter the deception scheme and present the truth to the public. At this juncture, the two threads of the plot seamlessly converge into one and put the finishing touch on the climax of the novel.

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One blossoming flower is not enough to signify the return of spring, but thousands of blossoming flowers can fill the garden with a spring fragrance. In addition to the two main threads, we follow the Delta Force, Pickering, President Herney, Senator Sexton, and Tench for more observations on and information about the different aspects of the deception. Sometimes, the two narrative threads move along side by side; other times, they cross over into each other. With each shift in perspective or scene, we are compelled to follow the narrative closely and shift our attention between different characters, scenes, and actions. What we witness or, rather, absorb in reading becomes a series of fragmentary images, quite similar to the broken pieces of a painting, based on the narrative segments. However, these narrative segments always correspond to each other and function as effectively as a coherent sequence of montage. They create a high degree of flexibility for the narrative to not only alternate between the temporal and spatial settings of the two story lines, but also leave tremendous wiggle room for our imagination. Brown’s narrative strategy strikes a nice balance between tension and relaxation for the desirable tempo of the novel, thus creating a muchneeded breathing moment between fast-paced nerve-racking episodes so we can gear up for the next round of action with the characters. How could a complex story like this be represented nicely in a nonlinear but coherent, intriguing but gratifying format? Brown’s masterful narrative strategy is essential to his success. Chinese critics have long recognized the magical power of multi-faceted narrative. Li Yu, a playwright and critic in the Qing Dynasty, once said, “Playwriting is like the sewing of clothing. It starts by cutting the cloth into pieces, and then finishes the job by sewing them back in one piece. It’s easy to cut the cloth into pieces, but it’s hard to put them back together. The key to sewing is the close needle line.”1 What he meant by the “needle line” is the thread of the narrative. Deception Point is riveting mainly because it has a superb overall design of “needle lines,” namely, narrative threads.

The Switch Between External and Internal Perspectives By and large, the narrative of the novel is delivered, both objectively and calmly, from the external perspective, but from time and time it presents a view from the inside by taking us into the inner world of the characters for a quick glimpse of their feelings and secrets. Interrupting the ongoing narrative for a moment of recollection is defined as flashback 1

Weiming Yu, A Study on Li Yu’s Dramatic Ideas in Anecdotes of Leisure (Nanjing: Jiangsu Education Press, 1994), 47.

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in cinematography. The use of flashback breaks the constraints of time and space and expands the perspective on a much broader scale. In Deception Point, Brown uses the technique on a frequent basis to present distinct images of his characters to the reader. In chapter 16, during her flight aboard the F-14 across the Arctic Ocean, Rachel Sexton looks down at the floating ice sheets and recalls her plunge “through the ice on a frozen pond while ice-skating when she was seven” (65) and the sea cruise to Alaska that she and her mother took together six years ago. The flashback triggers her longing for her mother, thoughts of her father, and her memory of the Thanksgiving night three years before. A moment later, the narrative returns to the F-14, resuming its description of the flight from an external perspective. From this brief flashback, we learn a lot about the pain in Rachel’s heart and the misfortune in her family. Furthermore, we gain a deeper understanding of her father, Senator Sexton. Such a switch between external and internal perspectives helps shorten the distance between the characters and readers. Characters and readers share some common “information,” but how much “information” the reader has pretty much determines how well we can understand the characters. Slowly but steadily, we get a good grip of the intriguing plot from Rachel Sexton’s thoughts and, thanks to her confession-like flashbacks, we move deeper and deeper into her inner world with growing sympathy, affection, and admiration. Similarly, Brown’s portrayal of Tolland is also full of flashbacks. After completing his program about the meteorite in the Arctic, Tolland steps out of the habisphere alone, burying himself in his memory of his late wife, Celia. His recollection starts with their dating in college and ends with the premature death of Celia. In between, he recalls the launch of his career and the lingering moments of the sick Celia. Soon, the narrative takes us back to the present scene in the Arctic. In Tolland’s flashback, the switch between the time frame and setting seems to be more flexible than that in Rachel Sexton’s. His flashback shares with us a touching story of his happy marriage and arouses our deep sympathy for his painful loss of Celia. Besides, it paves the way for the passion to flourish between Tolland and Rachel Sexton as they continue their adventure side by side. In general, the external perspective offers a great degree of flexibility in narrative maneuvering because it can shift the focus among characters easily. By contrast, the internal perspective is more effective for in-depth representations of characters’ hidden emotions and their ideas about the people or issues around them. By mixing characters’ self-reflection with

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the omniscient narrative, Brown portrays three-dimensional characters and solidifies his intricate plot with substantive information. Deception Point is quite a successful thriller fiction of culture. There is a combination of factors that have made the book so appealing to the reader. There are many excellent elements in the story that fully demonstrate Brown’s creativity and growing maturity as a writer. What has been analyzed here is merely a drop in the ocean. Different readers may discover something different in their own reading.

CHAPTER FIVE BREAKING THE DA VINCI CODE

In March 2003, after years of brainstorming, exhausting investigation, and diligent writing, Brown offered his readers a great treat of secret codes, The Da Vinci Code; a treat that comes with the perfect combination of all the desirable ingredients for an extraordinary reading experience. The novel became an instant success in America and around the globe, winning high praise from his millions of fans and rave reviews from critics as well, creating a massive reading bonanza for thriller fiction. It stayed on the top of The New York Times Bestseller List for 54 weeks after its official release. As of the end of 2014, it has been translated into more than 51 languages, including Chinese, and its total sales, according to a report by Carolyn Kellogg in LA Times, have exceeded 81 million copies.1 Critics have used the term “The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon” to describe the exceptional response to the novel. What seems to have fermented such an unprecedented sensation is Brown’s innovative approach to writing this novel. It enabled him to tear down the long-standing fence between socalled serious fiction and genre fiction, and turn The Da Vinci Code into one of the all-time highest selling thrillers that has entertained a broad audience and initiated a “Dan Brown Craze” around the world. The Da Vinci Code follows Angels and Demons and precedes The Lost Symbol in Brown’s “Robert Langdon Series”. Although the three books feature the same knowledgeable Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon, they differ in theme and structure. In The Da Vinci Code, the author connects the story with the faith crisis among his contemporaries by using Leonardo da Vinci’s mysterious paintings as the main thread in the plot, thus presenting to his readers a series of inquiries about personal faith and religion in general. All the characters in the novel are individuals or organizations who are dedicated to their own beliefs. In the world of secret codes and mysteries, they search for their beliefs in their own way and explore what religion and faith mean to human existence. 1

Carolyn Kellogg, “Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code to Publish Inferno in May,” Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2013.

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A monumental success in Brown’s novel writing, The Da Vinci Code made a triumphant departure from the literary writing of the past. The key to its success is Brown’s innovative integration between the tradition of serious fiction and elements from genre fiction. Given his extensive knowledge, Brown certainly knows what to absorb from reading and research. His The Da Vinci Code can be perceived as the convincing showcase of a masterful writer who knows how to maneuver various traditions and crisscross all times in writing. As always, Brown relies greatly upon innovative plot development and sumptuous cultural implications for the readability of his stories. From novel to novel, he has continuously honed his skill of taking advantage of effective practices from genre fiction to construct a story that is appealing to fans of all tastes. Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio1 has been acknowledged by many critics as the greatest collection of Chinese stories. Its popularity has lasted for centuries, since the early Qing Dynasty. Readers from different times and places have found that each of the stories in the collection is unique in structure, characterization, and theme, and that each story conveys its own subtle message through playfulness. What Brown did well in The Da Vinci Code is create a similar appealing quality through elusive twists in plot and opulent implications in narrative. His success was accomplished, in part, by his crafty adaptation of various elements from Gothic, detective, and conspiracy fiction. In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, David Lazarus notes, “This story has so many twists…all satisfying, most unexpected… if this novel doesn’t get your pulse racing, you need to check your meds.”2 It is no surprise, therefore, that readers have responded to this novel with great enthusiasm. Before long, the release of the novel created what many reviewers called “The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon” both at home and abroad. Its impact was both instant and extensive. It delivered a timely-needed boost to a listless book market that had been weakened by the onslaught from the e-books. Moreover, it broke the boundaries between the high-brow and low-brow art forms and showcased the irresistible assimilation between serious fiction and genre fiction, thus setting a new trend in literary writing for the new generation of writers. “What’s most intriguing,” though, as Lee Strobel and Garry Poole wrote in their book, Discussing 1

Pu Songling (㫢ᶮ喴; 1640–1715) was a Chinese short story writer in the Qing Dynasty. Born in Zichuan, now Zibo, Shandong Province, he is best known as the author of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. 2 David Lazarus, “Leonardo da Vinci Code a Heart-Racing Thriller,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2003.

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The Da Vinci Code, “is not merely the astronomical sales figures, but the effect the book is having on popular culture…One study showed that one out of three Canadians who have read the book now believes descendants of Jesus are walking among us today!”1 Even though its mix of narrative strategies baffles its readers, its rich mysteries and profound themes provoke much thinking. Thanks to a perfect combination of these two nutrients, this “flower of codes,” with its deep roots in the soil of both traditional and popular writing, has not withered since its publication in 2003.

1. Plot: The Street Car Named “Code” Sets Off The Horrific Murder at Midnight Around 22:46 one night, the elderly and renowned curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris, Jacques Saunière, was assassinated inside the archway of the Grand Gallery. In the lingering moments of his life, “he summoned all of his faculties and strength” and used “every remaining second of his life”2 to pose his naked body like the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, The Vitruvian Man. He drew a pentacle on his stomach with his own bloody hand and wrote down a few lines of cryptic numbers and words, leaving behind a series of elusive codes for the police. The codes might be related to a shadowy organization the curator had joined and a secret that this organization has kept for years. Probably, the curator sacrificed his life in order to protect this secret.

Passion out of Desperate Roaming Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter of Jacques Saunière, are two strangers leading their lives in different parts of the world, but the death of Saunière suddenly puts a stop to their daily routine and an investigation of the case brings them together. Bezu Fache, the captain of the Central Judicial Police, is in charge of the case. He identifies Langdon, who is attending a conference in Paris, as a suspect and puts him under full and close surveillance based on the words left behind by the elderly curator – “P.S.: go and find Robert 1

Lee Strobe and Garry Poole, Discussing The Da Vinci Code: Examining the Issues Raised by the Book & Movie (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 7. 2 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 5. All the quotes from The Da Vinci Code are taken from the same edition and will be indicated by the page number hereafter.

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Langdon” (67). After receiving a warning from Sophie, Langdon flees, and is soon being chased by the Paris police. With the clues left by the elderly curator and the key hidden behind the Modonna of the Rocks, Langdon and Sophie drive quickly to the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich. Here, they pick up the safety deposit box left behind by Sophie’s grandfather and find the keystone, a cylindrical, hand-held vault. Fache sets up a secret surveillance and tries to induce a confession from Langdon, hoping that he can nail him for the murder and close this case in a timely fashion. To this end, Fache blocks the entrance to the American Embassy in Paris so as to prevent Langdon from seeking protection from the US government. He also deploys more police at key intersections in order to confine Langdon and Sophie to the downtown area of Paris. Surprisingly, the two manage to escape, with assistance from the bank’s manager, André Vernet. Once Fache discovers that they have escaped from the bank and have sneaked into Sir Teabing’s private residence, he immediately orders a secret stake out. Fache’s paranoia and madness seem to have reached their heights. He deploys his men at Langdon and Sophie’s hideout, the Château Villette, but misses the chance to catch them once again due to the sudden appearance of Silas, a member of Opus Dei. With help from Langdon’s friend, Sir Leigh Teabing, an expert on the Holy Grail, they escape to England, where their safety is constantly threatened by Opus Dei and the Shadow Shotgun. Langdon and Sophie have to continue their search for evidence and sort out everything while on the run. Although the situation they are facing is dire and full of crises, they gradually come to learn more about each other and develop a growing passion.

The Murky Line Between Enemies and Friends Before their escape to England, Langdon, Sophie – the only main character who is always referred to by her first name – and Teabing encounter one obstacle after another in their attempt to figure out the cryptex’s password. First, they are blocked by the police, and then kidnapped by the killer. However, every time they are in danger, Teabing, with his nifty ideas and heroic moves, manages to rescue them. After the trio land at a strange place in England, Teabing continues to participate eagerly in the deciphering of the keystone with advice and suggestions. Even when he is captured by Rémy Legaludec, Teabing displays a gallant resolve to sacrifice his life for the sake of keeping the secret of the Holy Grail (more about the implication and transformation of the Holy Grail in the Knowledge section). Both Langdon and Sophie feel touched and guilty

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at the same time, and they try to rescue him in all kinds of ways. When they follow the kidnapper’s directions to the hall of Chapter House, Teabing suddenly appears in front of them, safe and sound and staring at them “over the barrel of his Medusa revolver” (406). Teabing, who has finally revealed his real identity as the Shadow Shotgun, threatens to kill Sophie and publicize the secret of the Holy Grail if Langdon refuses to cooperate with him and “carry out Saunière’s legacy and right a terrible wrong” (409). While Langdon and Sophie are evading the police and the mysterious killers, Fache’s subordinates, Collet and other officers, are collecting evidence of Teabing’s crimes. They identify him as being responsible for the murder in the Louvre Museum by following the GPS tracking on Langdon’s stolen truck and searching Teabing’s residence, Château Villette. Sophie calls the police in London to seek their help with Teabing’s rescue, but somehow her call is transferred back to Fache. He demands their cooperation as a precondition and orders them to return to the police station. Sophie turns him down due to her resentment toward his handling of the case and her concern over their own safety. When Sophie and Langdon are being held captive in the hall of Chapter House, Fache and the British police show up from nowhere and arrest Teabing, “seizing the anguished prisoner and placing him in handcuffs” (426).

Riddle Resolved and Truth Discovered With the help from the police, Sophie is rescued. By connecting the falling apple that inspired Newton’s theory of gravity to the forbidden fruit that became a symbol of women’s degeneration in the wake of Eve’s offense, Langdon is able to decipher the second code on the dial of the keystone: APPLE. The new clues lead Langdon and Sophie to the hiding place of the Holy Grail. The ancient “Rosslyn Chapel – often called the Cathedral of Codes – stands seven miles south of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the site of an ancient Mithraic temple” (432). They run into the docent at the church, who turns out to be Sophie’s younger brother. As if it is predestined, the docent reveals that his grandmother has a keystone similar to the one in Sophie’s hand – “a jewelry box” that has the same “polished rosewood, same inlaid rose, even the hinges look the same” (439). In this sacred hall of the church of codes, Sophie reunites with her brother after years of separation. Her grandmother, Marie Chauvel, tells her what has happened to the family, its royal bloodline from Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ, and its persistent pursuit of the mystery of the Holy Grail. She adds, “And

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for most, I suspect the Holy Grail is simply a grand idea…a glorious unattainable treasure that somehow, even in today’s world of chaos, inspires us” (444). The Grail has been transferred to somewhere else. Langdon and Sophie have to part in spite of the sparks of love between them because he has to return to Paris immediately. Back in Paris, Langdon stresses over the exact location of the Grail. After following the ancient Rose Line under the Paris Observatory, and musing on the old saying, “The Chalice above. The Blade below” (454), Langdon finally finds his answer beneath La Pyramide Inversée and, out of a “sudden upwelling reverence,” offers his blessings for the Grail resting there peacefully. For years, the secret concealed by the Priory of Sion, along with all the long-hidden and shocking stories about the whereabouts of the Grail, seem to have faded away in the dust of history, but actually they have been kept deep in the hearts of thousands of people who sincerely care about the destiny of the Grail. This code-breaking quest carries wonderful wishes from numerous passengers who live in the bondage of the mundane world but maintain an infinite yearning for the world of codes. The street car named “Code” keeps running, with loads of passengers who are deeply intrigued by the stories of codes. Every sounding of the horn and every contact between the car and the rails and crossties signify the start of a new journey and a new dream.

2. Characterization: Persona in the World of Vanity There are countless riddles waiting to be resolved, and it is up to humankind to discover the truth about inconceivable matters. However, of all the riddles we face, the most challenging is the riddle about humankind itself. Socrates advises Alcibiades that he must first know himself, his soul, before he can do anything that has any spiritual value. Socrates used the two maxims, know thyself and nothing in excess, all the time as ways to understand oneself and explore the world; otherwise, “a life without investigation is not worth living for.”1 The Da Vinci Code features so many characters, from the police in law enforcement to bankers in finance, symbologists in high education, researchers of the Holy Grail in religion, and pioneers of scientific discoveries. They all have an issue with their self-identity and are trying to find their self-worth by knowing themselves better. As the plot unfolds, they either maintain a double identity or 1 Plato, Plato’s Apology, Crito and Phædo of Socrates, trans. Henry Cary (Philadelphia: David McKay, Publisher, 1897), 42-43.

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gradually remove their deceitful veil to reveal their true self. The reader is often left dangling in confusion. The characters in the novel are by no means ordinary in terms of their social status, but they are all highly unique individuals who are compelled to deal with their past, emotions and vulnerabilities in their own way. Their distinctive personalities represent a series of social roles familiar to the reader. Together, they constitute a gallery of assorted and idiosyncratic portraits. Such a strategy in characterization not only meets the reader’s expectations, but also allows the reader’s imagination to maneuver freely in Brown’s world of codes.

A Golden Match Between a Handsome Man and a Charming Lady: Langdon and Sophie In The Da Vinci Code, Langdon and Sophie seem to have been modeled after the usual stereotypes of talented scholars and lovely ladies in novels. As individuals, though, they have a charm of their own that catches the reader’s eye. An eminent scholar from Harvard, Langdon has a fine grasp over issues related to the Priory of Sion. Within religious symbology circles, he is an iconic star, whose baritone speaking voice and humorous rhetoric in teaching are captivating. “His books on religious paintings and cult symbology had made him a reluctant celebrity in the art world” and his visibility “had increased a hundredfold after his involvement in a widely publicized incident at the Vatican” (7-8). The reader finds Langdon’s brief analysis on golden section distribution, which seems to have combined art and science and meshed religion and culture so organically, extremely impressive. Nevertheless, believe it or not, such an excellent man is not flawless because he suffers from claustrophobia. Every time he enters “enclosed spaces – elevators, subways, squash courts” (24), he would be nervous and short of breath. When Fache leads him into an elevator, Langdon cannot contain his fear and shivering. He even thinks about escaping at that point. Only his sense of duty for solving the case helps him overcome the fear deep in his mind. During his search for clues, he constantly tests his own limits, both physically and psychologically. From leaping over an iron fence to investigating the case despite the risk of being caught as the crime suspect, from evading the Parisian police to tactfully recovering the keystone, Langdon’s actions make quite a convincing story of how a man may transcend and challenge himself. The heroine, Sophie, is a lovely lady who “was healthy with an unembellished beauty and genuineness that radiated a striking personal

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confidence” (50). She is entirely different from those beautiful ladies portrayed in traditional Western or Chinese novels, who are frail and delicate. As an agent of the DCPJ (Department of Cryptography of the Judicial Police), she shows her competence and decisiveness in the investigation of the curator’s murder. While assisting Langdon in his search for clues and deciphering codes, she not only functions more like an equal partner than a helpmate but also watches out for his safety. Of course, her ability and skills are not taken seriously in the early stages of the investigation. Captain Fache believes that she does not have the acute senses required for police work; Teabing, the expert on the Holy Grail, insists that she lacks systematic knowledge about religion; Langdon, however, expresses his total shock at her profound knowledge of cryptography after she quickly calculates there are 12 million possibilities to the secret code of the keystone. But Sophie constantly proves her abilities with her actions, too. After she manages to evade the police, she hires a taxi to take Langdon and herself to the Depository Bank of Zurich. During the entire process, she relies on two strategies: diversion and trickery. This shows her great intelligence and composure in tough situations. When she questions Teabing about the legend of Sangreal, Sophie listens attentively to his stories about the descendants of Jesus Christ, figures out the real meaning of Sang Real from the word “sangreal,” connects it to the idea of Holy Blood, and, by analogy, speculates its true identity. Even though her speculation is ignored at the time, it is proven true later. It is through these actions and tests that a smart gutsy policewoman comes to life in front of the reader’s eyes. Both the hero and heroine have unique personalities. What about their names? Do they have any meaningful implications? What makes The Da Vinci Code so enticing is the fact that the story is full of codes and suspense. A master of codes and word games, Brown has maximized their charm in the naming this wonderful pair. First, “Langdon” does not mean anything special, but a careful analysis allows us to see the subtlety in it. “Lang” may be the short for “language” whereas “don” could mean college professor, especially at Oxford University and Cambridge University. The combination of “lang” and “don” informs the reader ingeniously about Langdon’s job and status. If his name, Robert Langdon, is rearranged, it could be something close to “art golden born,” symbolizing Langdon’s quintessential scientific talent and artistic finesse. In the name of the heroine, Sophie Neveu, “neveu” not only sounds similar to the French word “neuve” (new) but also contains “eve.” Looking at the two words in her surname, the reader could not help wondering if she embodies the resurrection of Eve. Sophie means

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“wisdom,” and contains the syllable “phi,” namely, the golden section distribution. If we look closer again, we may convert her name, Sophie Neveu, into “Oh, Supine Eve.” Supine means “obedient.” With the image of the degenerated Eve from the Bible in mind, one finds it hard not to link Sophie with the fallen women who became subservient under oppression. What surprises us is that Sophie is not only young, beautiful, warm, and elegant but behind her self-confident appearance hides a quick and powerful mind. It is her presence that brings energy to the stagnant police department on the one hand, and kindles the sparks of love in Langdon’s heart on the other. A lady like this is actually a newborn Eve in a new era! Originally, Langdon and Sophie reside in two different worlds. They’re not supposed to cross paths but they do in the wake of the mysterious death of Jacques Saunière. One is a college professor while the other is a cryptographer; one is gorgeous while the other is fairy-like; one is smart while the other is resourceful. In their protracted code-cracking adventures, they form a marvelous partnership that is strong enough to fend off frequent separations, death threats, and endless crises. Eventually, by the time all confusions have been cleared up and the mission accomplished, their seamless cooperation has evolved into a romantic passion between two lovers, a passion sweetened by their adventures and triumphs through fair and foul.

A Funny Partnership Between Two Gentlemen Brown appears to use succinct description, a common characterizing technique in short story writing, in portraying Jérôme Collet and Bezu Fache. The two characters come straight in. Collet appears for the first time in chapter 1, with a “thin and washed-out” face and an “exceptionally thin” body (10). The author presents him as a cunning sleek detective in a few simple words, using the equivalent of the line-drawing technique in painting. As the story evolves, however, we pick up more details about Collet through his conversations with Langdon and Fache. When he is driving Langdon to the Louvre, Collet’s casual joking tone alleviates the tension in Langdon’s mind. After Langdon asks him for specific reasons for this ride, Collet puts him off with some irrelevant remarks. When Fache issues orders to him, however, Collet musters all his attention to behave like a loyal subordinate and a worthy assistant. The reader cannot help laughing at this shrewd but trouble-making officer of the French Central Judicial Police. Captain Fache shows up late, in chapter 3. Just like the delayed appearance of the “Timely Rain,” Song Jiang, in The Water Margin, Fache

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is notorious way before his first appearance. Before his meeting with Fache, Langdon has a preliminary impression of him from what he has heard from Collet during their ride to his office. When we see Fache for the first time in the novel, Brown uses the same kind of line-drawing technique to introduce him as a zealous but hot-tempered police captain by drawing our attention to his tone, “a guttural rumble…like a gathering storm,” his “enormous palm” (20), and his neat attire. Fache’s image picks up more credibility as the story goes on. The detailed description of the jade cross he wears is particularly helpful in revealing the complicated mentality behind the captain’s irascible temper. Impulsive and hidebound as he is, Fache is naturally presumptuous when first handling the murder of the elderly curator; he simply picks Langdon as the suspect based on his quick assumptions and launches a relentless pursuit of the wrong man. It takes Fache a long while to realize that he has misjudged Langdon, and that he must do everything he can to rescue him from Teabing. A police captain like this evokes both revulsion and fondness, and plays a contributory role in the plot development. It is his mistake that germinates the secret passion between the hero and heroine; it is also the constant joking and silly stumbles that set up the melodramatic scenes in the novel. It is no exaggeration to say that whenever Collet meets Fache, something bad but funny happens! The names of these other characters are also packed with implications. Let’s compare Collet and Fache, the subordinate and the superior. Collet means “pitfall” or “trap.” With this clue, it is not difficult to see the author’s intent in setting Collet up as the watchdog. As the story unfolds, we discover that Collet, who is supposed to be Fache’s “worthy assistant,” is not that worthy at all. Collet always seems to trail behind Langdon by a step or two but it is hard to conclude whether it is a trick of destiny or a deliberate maneuver by the author. As a result, simple situations become more and more entangled. As a detective, he is supposed to trap the suspect, Langdon, but he is continuously misled by the deceitful traces Langdon leaves behind. Fache gets his nickname, “Le Taureau (the Bull)” (19), because he walks like an enraged bull. During the investigation of the case, he is often tetchy and insolent. In an attempt to put a quick end to the case, he even scratches out the last line of the elderly curator’s will, “P.S.: Find Robert Langdon” (67). Such a premature and reckless move leaves us wondering about the sloppy professionalism of the police. Without the sudden reversal of Teabing’s character later, Fache would definitely be perceived as the villain in the story. If you look at Fache’s name more carefully, you will appreciate Brown’s implications. In French, “Bezu” sounds similar to

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“zebu” (a limping bull), which is known for dashing and ramping, and fits his personality nicely. The pronunciation of Fache is very close to that of “facher,” which means “anger” in French. Captain Fache is evidently a man of bilious temperament and quick irritability. His character reflects the implications of his name. In chapter 4, his dark hair is described as “an arrow-like widow’s peak that divided his jutting brow and preceded him like the prow of a battleship” (21). It seems to be an odd metaphor, but it actually implies a series of codes: the arrow is a phallic symbol; the tip of the battleship symbolizes Paris. Though simple and casual, such a detail adequately conveys to the reader information about Captain Fache’s personality and nationality. The pairing of Collet and Fache does leave a negative impression on the reader due to their deception and chase of Langdon at the outset, even though neither of them seems to qualify for the title of the antagonist of the novel. It is not until later, when Teabing exposes himself as the Shadow Shotgun, that the reader realizes that Collet and Fache are not the bad guys. Such suspense is stimulating to the reader. Whenever Fache, the testy and self-conceited police captain, runs into Collet, the slick and shrewd police officer, they try to outsmart each other. Fache’s stubborn insistence on his mistaken judgment sets up a series of miscalculated pursuits that almost cost Langdon’s life. In carrying out Fache’s orders, Collet fully collaborates with his carping tongue and puts a nice spin on Fache’s rationale. The speech Collet gives the media about Fache’s creative plan for Langdon’s arrest makes Fache look more glamorous, a legendary detective in Paris. Whether it is true or not, Collet’s clever justification really adds some enigmatic touches to Captain Fache’s image and relieves the tension in the reader’s mind.

Tragic but Firm Believers Manuel Aringarosa and Silas Manuel Aringarosa and Silas are similar to Frollo and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The former warms the latter’s lost soul with the tenderness of his heart, while the latter repays the former’s guidance and assistance with all his piety. Aringarosa is the current bishop of Opus Dei, used as a lay figure for the expansion of Opus Dei’s cause; Silas, who suffers from leukoderma, is a member of Opus Dei who has willingly stained his hands with other people’s blood to express his gratitude to Aringarosa for his conversion. The two devout believers, who are bonded as closely as a father and son, have been goaded by a self-

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proclaimed “Teacher” into a series of blunders, committing one murder after another, and getting stuck inside the high tower of their narrow faith. As the old saying goes, one can do nothing but feel sorry about their misfortune and lament over their incompetence. As Opus Dei’s paramount leader, Bishop Manuel Aringarosa’s whole life has been dedicated to advancing its glory and expansion, and spreading its influence. Unfortunately, the incongruous Vatican has disheartened him. He is “not a fan of the current papal administration” and “like most conservative clergy, had watched with grave concern as the new Holiness had secured the papacy through one of the most controversial and unusual conclaves in Vatican history” (148). Besides, he has “never been comfortable with the Vatican’s historical need to dabble in science. What was the rationale for fusing science and faith?” (149) To save Opus Dei, he orders Silas to carry out a series of killings, according to the Teacher’s arrangement. If we pause to think about it, we may find some subtle hints in his name. In English, Aringarosa’s given name, Manuel, means “guide” or “manual.” A believer in Catholicism with a benevolent heart, the bishop is anxious to change the cold world through his fervent faith. He wishes he could lay out the future for everyone who feels lost by serving as a spiritual guide for the cleansing of the human soul. His Italian surname, Aringarosa, can be split into “aringa” and “rosa.” When added together, they could mean “red herring.” A red herring seems to have nothing to do with a bishop, but an entry in a dictionary of English proverbs shows that in addition to its literal meaning of a sort of salted fish, its figurative meaning is “a subtle way of shifting one’s attention.” If it was the author’s intent to send us a clue, we could predict that the bishop’s role in the story might change eventually. As we read on, we discover that although Bishop Aringarosa is the organizer of these murderous schemes, projecting himself as the villain early on, the actual mastermind is the Teacher, Sir Teabing, the man who leaves a pleasant impression after his first appearance. Such a sudden change or reversal wows the reader. Silas is a tragic figure, always beset with misfortune in the story. During his childhood, he was subject to discrimination and mistreatment from the people around him due to his leukoderma and experienced some rough times. After he grew up, he was sent to Andorra prison for fighting with others. While serving his sentence, he could not remember his own name, and all he could hear were the scorn and curses of the prison guards. He is totally lost in his own world. He attempts to count on the apostles from the Bible for his lingering existence, but all he can do is howl in the wilderness: Who am I?

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His life changed after the appearance of Bishop Aringarosa. The bishop not only cured his physical wounds but also saved his soul, which was on the verge of a breakdown. That is why Silas has become a pious believer in Catholicism and a compulsive practitioner of austerity through corporal mortification. He would do anything to prove his piety. His religious indulgence has blinded his eyes, blurred his moral judgment, and caused one tragedy after another for others. His name, Silas, comes from the Bible. The character in the biblical story is Paul’s main companion. He and Paul are in jail together. One midnight, just as Paul and Silas were praying faithfully and singing their praises to God, there was an earthquake that destroyed the prison completely. Paul and Silas escaped out of the ruins of the prison and embarked on a new journey. Silas, the character in the novel, however, is unable to run away from his tragic fate. He has to redeem himself with his own life after killing five people. Brown’s portrayal of characters like these in a story with a religious setting invites us to reflect upon religion and faith more deeply. Despite the villainous role they play in the story and the tragic way their life ends, the actions taken by Aringarosa and Silas might deserve some empathy from us. Both are devoted Catholics, conducting their life in accordance with their religious faith. In their religious practice, they maintain the relationship of a bishop and a follower, but emotionally they share the bonding of a father and a son. The bishop is Silas’s sponsor and the savior of his soul. With his benevolent heart, he warms up Silas’s cold world and makes him believe that he is indeed God’s elect, Silas, in the Bible. The bishop tries with all his vigor to restore the glory of Opus Dei, but his zeal serves the evil purpose of others, and it forces Silas to commit unforgivable crimes. Most of us would find it hard to hold back our empathy towards a tragedy like this.

The Hand of Evil Leigh Teabing vs. Rémy Legaludec In The Da Vinci Code, Brown ensures that the dialogue between his characters is clear but vivacious, short but forceful. He delineates the profile of his characters with only a few words. He presents the disposition between truth and falsehood, good and evil, and beauty and ugliness by giving more emphasis to the mutual reflection and contrast among characters. Between Sir Leigh Teabing and Rémy Legaludec, one carries the honorable title of royal knighthood and dedicates his life to the

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relationship between Opus Dei and the Holy Grail, whereas the other is nothing but a low-class servant who is determined to change his destiny with money. Brown relies more upon the tactic of comparison in describing these two characters. Teabing “carried himself with a resilient, vertical dignity that seemed more a by-product of noble ancestry than any kind of conscious effort” whereas Legaludec is “a prim and elegant butler…with refined features and an austere expression” (226). Behind their formal appearance and courtesy, though, this master and servant manipulate, lie, scheme, and murder innocent people, and shock the reader with scenes that could only be seen in a spy-movie. Teabing impresses the reader deeply as soon as he appears in the story. As a royal historian and knight in England, he is full of charming qualities. The disability in his leg has not prevented him from facing life with sanguinity and humor. His name is yet another indication of Brown’s wisdom. Teabing seems a common name but if we reorganize the letters, we come up with another name: Leigh Baigent, a combination of the surnames of the two authors who wrote The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Such a coincidence makes us wonder how Teabing is related to the two authors of the book. Anyone who has read it must remember its subversive description of Christianity, a description that matches many of Teabing’s ideas perfectly. In addition, the “tea” in his last name implies his noble origin and his glamorous temperament as a British gentleman. When he first appears, Teabing’s charisma and humor of the British aristocracy instantly draws our attention. As the story goes on, especially when he reveals himself to be the Shadow Shotgun, the reader feels remorseful for him. Confined in the tower of his faith, Teabing has given up his moral judgment for self-indulgence and has lost the constraint of his conscience, thus exposing all his hypocritical, deceitful, and insidious characteristics. But Brown’s meticulous portrayal of Teabing’s character still deserves recognition from the reader for its aesthetic finesse. As Teabing’s servant, Legaludec is an ambitious man. Although he has served Teabing for years, he has always kept in his heart a dream to lead the life of the upper class. To make his dream come true, he is willing to do all kinds of wicked things for Teabing. When we check out his name, we discover something interesting. A reshuffle of Rémy Legaludec produces two words, “cudgel” and “allergy.” Think about it carefully! Legaludec’s role in Teabing’s entire plan is closely related to these two words. To chase his own ambition, he does all the dirty work for his employer and stains his own hands with other people’s blood. However, he does all this for the purpose of changing his status rather than fulfilling his faith. After using him as a “cudgel,” his ungrateful master kills him by

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triggering his fatal allergy to peanuts. At first, Teabing “struggled deeply with the decision, but in the end Legaludec had proven himself a liability. Every Grail quest requires sacrifice” (412). Once Legaludec becomes a “loose end,” like Silas, he must be removed “from the picture” (412) right away. The reference to Rémy Martin in the story reminds us of the famous brand of cognac. It is the cognac that seals Legaludec’s fate as he departs from this world after drinking a cognac that contains peanuts. The charming quality of the tall, lean, daydreaming Don Quixote in Cervantes’ namesake novel owes a lot to the short, fat, and pragmatic character of Sancho Panza. Be it plump or skinny, low or noble, only through contrast and reflection can the traits of characters stand out in relief. As the real villain in the story, Teabing is driven by his relentless pursuit of the Holy Grail; willing to sacrifice all that he has, including his big fortune, he plots sensational murders and sets up a series of bizarre chases and fights. He tries to carry out his plan by using Bishop Aringarosa, Silas, and Legaludec. Throughout, Legaludec fulfills his duties completely, for a longdesired change of his destiny as a poor man. His greed is shocking enough to the reader but seems pallid by comparison to Teabing’s, after the revelation of his true nature. Both Langdon and Teabing study religion. While Langdon, arrayed in goodness, symbolizes the perfect match between science and religion, Teabing, driven by his selfish desire, commits deadly sins. Similarly, Legaludec’s ambition is intended to show Teabing’s evil in proportion, whereas Langdon’s good reasoning is set in contrast to Teabing’s perverse obsession. These direct and indirect contrasts accentuate the subtle differences between characters. The boundless world is full of mortal beings, but just as it is hard to find two leaves that are entirely identical, it is equally impossible to find two similar characters in the world of codes. From the talented Langdon to the charming Sophie, from the kind Sandrine to the renowned Saunière, from the charitable Marie Chauvel to the humorous tour guide in the church, from the dutiful Claude to the quick-witted Vernet, from the capable Jonas to the graceful Pamela, Brown makes all the right moves so readers know and remember each unique personality and function in the story. In his book, The Craft of Fiction, Percy Lubbock writes, “A novel is a picture of life, and life is well known to us; let us first of all ‘realize’ it, and then using our taste, let us judge whether it is true, vivid, convincing – like life, in fact.”1 In The Da Vinci Code, Brown’s characters are not only believable but also representative. It is their distinctive features and roles that facilitate the dynamic interactions and fierce confrontations throughout the mesmerizing narrative. 1

Percy Lubbock, The Craft of Fiction (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1921), 9.

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3. Themes: A World in an Ivory Miniature As a cultural thriller written at a time when humankind has witnessed both the rapid development of science and technology and a steady erosion of moral standards, The Da Vinci Code explores the age-long unresolved mystery of religion to prompt the readers to reconsider their religious faith. Its approach is pretty new and courageous. Let us review the thinly disguised themes in The Da Vinci Code regarding history, religion, culture, and politics.

Amplifying Glass or the Crooked Mirror It would be safe to say that everyone knows Leonardo da Vinci, but not many can claim to know him completely. How much does Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, tell us about the mystery of Leonardo da Vinci? If we see the artist as an iceberg, Brown has only revealed one of its corners. The well-known biographer, Charles Nicholl, offered us a complete profile of the artist in his book, Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind. Nicholl states, “What Leonardo did is indeed miraculous, but one wants to ask how and why he did it, and not to have some foggy, semi-mystical idea of ‘inspiration’ provided as the answer.”1 By today’s standards, Leonardo da Vinci’s accomplishments and contributions would have earned him dozens of titles, awards, and honorable degrees. In his paintings, Leonardo da Vinci has the widest range and the most mysterious quality of all the great artists during the Renaissance. Just as the artist’s life was shrouded in mystery, his paintings seem laden with all kinds of secret codes. While studying the history of art in Spain as an exchange student, Brown developed a deep interest in Leonardo da Vinci, and he hoped to incorporate this great master into his writing someday. The writing of The Da Vinci Code has made his dream come true. In his story, Brown uses Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings as the source of his information about various painting styles and religious beliefs by ingeniously connecting the dots between the secret codes hidden in the artist’s work and the mysteries in the artist’s life. Brown’s leading characters count on well-known paintings to guide them through the labyrinth at crucial points by interpreting these art works in an unusual way and discovering clues for codes. Such a plot arrangement works well with people’s burning interest in painters and their paintings. For centuries, the controversy has focused on the artists’ unconventional 1 Charles Nicholl, Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind (New York: Penguin Books, 2009), 2.

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graphology and their religious views toward women. The graphology of painting is mainly highlighted through mirror writing and the painting technique. The effect of mirror writing refers to the inverse visual effect created by writing from the right to the left. Often, a special writing technique like this is perceived as a painter’s reluctance to let others decipher his idea so easily. In the novel, Brown identifies Leonardo da Vinci as one of the leaders of the Priory of Sion. Therefore, through the current leader of the Priory of Sion, Saunière, Brown uses the painter’s special graphology of painting by mirror writing the words on the keystone. According to historical records, Leonardo da Vinci preferred mirror script not because he was trying to make his work more difficult to interpret but rather because he wanted to make it more accessible to all. As Martin Kemp, a professor of art history at Oxford University, writes in his book, Leonardo, da Vinci wrote quickly and used an easy-to-erase red chalk all the time. Besides, he was left-handed, writing “from right to left in mirror script (a natural move, by the way, for a left-hander using his materials and working at his speed).”1 When he wrote from the left to the right, the chalk would be easily erased by the hand moving on the paper. The painter relied on mirror script for convenience. What is incredible is that he did not use the mirror writing method when rendering sensitive issues. He spelled out some crucial terminologies through inverse writing. Even though he never had much interest in his own privacy, he has been perceived as a mystic person for hundreds of years. All this inspired Brown’s writing of The Da Vinci Code and made the references to Leonardo da Vinci more realistic and intriguing. Clearly, Leonardo da Vinci’s painting technique is largely epitomized by his understanding and integration of various subjects and fields. As a painter, he brought math, optics, and anatomy together, and he represented the human body in better symmetry according to the principles in math and algebra (golden section distribution). His use of the three contrasting techniques – light and shade (chiaroscuro), toning down (sfumato), and counterpoint (unione) – established a brand new practice of realism in his painting, even though none were his invention. At the beginning of The Da Vinci Code, the elderly curator curls his body like the man in The Vitruvian Man minutes before his death. It is a piece that Leonardo da Vinci did in the early stage of his career. Its most outstanding achievement is the perfect rendering of the human body in proportion. Brown’s reference to the painting intends to hint at a certain inevitable connection between the elderly curator and Leonardo da Vinci. As the story unfolds, 1 Martin Kemp, Leonardo: Revised Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 2.

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Brown presents da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in aberrant letters and shows how the sfumato technique was used superbly in this painting. Later, in Teabing’s house, The Last Supper is brought up. This painting, which features Mary Magdalene prominently with its use of the sfumato technique, not only verifies the painter’s firm belief in the mystery of “the banished Mary Magdalene” (420), or “the truth about Mary Magdalene and Jesus” (407), but also makes the story flow more naturally and cohesively. Through the examination of these paintings, Brown subtly invokes the long controversy in art and religion. While admiring the painter’s superb artistic skills, we cannot help marveling at Brown’s ingenious plot arrangement as well. By restructuring the historical records on Leonardo da Vinci with an imaginative twist, in The Da Vinci Code, Brown succeeds in creating a completely new image of the painter, who appears to be deeply indulged in goddess iconography, goddess worshiping, pagan idolism, and pagan idolatry. In the novel, da Vinci’s well-known painting is interpreted as his self-portrait. Through Langdon’s lips, he gets to utter his total rejection of this common perception and hint at the implicit loving relationship between Christ and Mary Magdalene, thus expressing his discontent with the Church’s removal of the sacred feminine figure from modern religion, and offering a daring reconstruction of the broken fragments of history.

Turning Left, Belief – Turning Right, Betrayal Today, indifference and suspicion have permeated spiritual life. Brown has keenly sensed this and used it in his story of codes. When The Da Vinci Code was first published, many people considered it a novel of paganism or even blasphemy. They alleged that the novel’s reference to religion was full of errors and distortions, and that it misrepresented the sacred image of Jesus Christ and Christianity in general. The book’s description of the marital relationship between Christ and Mary Magdalene overturned all the well-established religious concepts in history and, therefore, stirred up a wave of discontent and condemnation. Darrell Bock, a scholar of theology, argues against any assumption that “Jesus Christ was married and had descendants,” saying, “How much possibility is there for Jesus to have been married? The answer here is ‘zero’.”1 In their book, The Leonardo da Vinci Hoax, Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel question the gnostic idea about syzygy and Mary Magdalene’s role as Jesus’s consort. They consider Brown’s novel a 1 Darrell Bock, Breaking The Da Vinci Code (Nashville, Tennessee: Tomas Nelson, Inc. 2004), 45.

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challenge to “core Christian beliefs, especially upon the male priesthood.”1 In their view, “The Da Vinci Code makes reference to a number of esoteric and occult groups and movements, but it is especially enamored with a radical feminist interpretation of Church history.”2 Brown put his story of codes together with such a twist largely because he is concerned with the nature of religion and the imbalance in belief. Often, the abundance in a materialistic society reveals the deficiency in spiritual life. Under these opposing trends, his novel, The Da Vinci Code, urges people to reflect more deeply on our religious beliefs and reconsider our mode of thinking and belief system from a new perspective. As a cultural thriller that touches upon religion, it is evident that the mystery about Leonardo da Vinci’s personal religious beliefs should not be excluded from a discussion of the context under which The Da Vinci Code was written. In the novel, when Captain Fache claims that “Leonardo da Vinci had a tendency toward the darker arts,” Langdon retorts, “Leonardo da Vinci never really practiced any dark arts. He was an exceptionally spiritual man, albeit one in constant conflict with the Church” (45-46). Langdon calls Leonardo da Vinci “an awkward subject for historians, especially in the Christian tradition” (45). Unfortunately, history hasn’t given us much firsthand information about Leonardo da Vinci’s religious inclination, but the overwhelming majority of historians have deemed him a Catholic. He did resist the doctrine of the Church from time to time, such as when he participated in human anatomy, which was forbidden by the Church at that time, but the Bible in his hand convinces most historians of his belief in God. Leonardo da Vinci’s contradictory perspectives on religion gave Brown a lot to work with in the deconstruction and recreation of his image in the novel. In chapter 55, Teabing quotes from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook on polemics and speculation. Many have made a trade of delusions and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitude. (231)

Many critics have pointed out that Leonardo da Vinci’s statement was about the alchemist rather than the Bible. Accurate or not, the citation is meant to subvert the belief that the Bible is the message from the heaven and reveal the truth, through Teabing’s follow-up comments, that the Bible is a product of man rather than God. Also, it offers an interpretation 1

Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel, The Leonardo de Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 54. 2 Ibid, 55.

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of The Last Supper that disputes all others in history and humanizes the sacred image of Jesus Christ. Many of Brown’s ideas are inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s idea of God. In Leonardo da Vinci’s view, God is not something out of human experience, nor something one can verify by the knowledge gained through experience; therefore, God is a supreme being and may be worshiped by all. As a legendary figure of his time, Leonardo da Vinci was certainly a man with scientific caution, artistic persistence, and religious piety. He was a man of sense and sensibility, and people wonder endlessly about his seemingly contradictory duality as seen in the disposition between science and religion. Western society believes in Christianity and does not doubt the creation of the universe by God’s hand. The biblical description of Mary Magdalene catches the attention of religious scholars and historians all the time. As the first person in the world to witness the resurrection of Christ, Mary Magdalene won the honor of being “the female among the disciples.” She has a prominent place in the Bible, a text that isn’t generally very friendly toward women. If she had not been mistakenly defined as “a repentant female sinner” by Pope Gregory in his writings, she might have been worshiped as a sacred image of women by believers. However, as the Church evolved in history, the women’s role diminished while the men’s role took on more importance. The ideology of male chauvinism gained hold and incessantly deepened in Christian doctrine. In the novel, Brown lets Teabing tell Sophie about Mary Magdalene’s position “in the place of honor, at the right hand of the Lord” (243) and allows Langdon to describe Christ as a man rather than a god, telling Sophie about the presence of Magdalene’s story in “paintings, music, books, cartoons, theme parks, and popular movies” (261). Brown’s purpose is evident: he wants to make it clear that the Bible, which has been lauded as the book of God’s wisdom, is nothing but a doctrinal story distributed by the Church among its followers to consolidate its control over their belief. Brown invites his readers to reconsider and question the commonly accepted view towards religion and encourages them to reexamine an ideological system, which we know so well and cherish so dearly, with a more objective, rational, and comprehensive approach, so as to rebuild the tower of our belief.

The Clear Breeze of Rebellion Though a young nation, America has economic power, advanced scientific technology, and invincible military might. Its culture is characterized by a fusion of various cultural traditions that encourages

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what we Chinese regard as a practice of “letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend.” Just as its epithet, “melting pot,” indicates, American culture has been inclusive enough to turn into a safe haven, where writers and artists could find creative material and inspiration, since WWII. Brown is only of them. He has discovered a theme that contains profound historical and social ramifications. It encompasses all major spheres of culture, such as art and religion. Also, Brown’s exploration of the theme reflects his concern about human resistance. America is a country that guarantees freedom of faith. No matter which religion you follow, you may seek the initiation of your spirit and the purification of your soul. Of course, the majority of Americans believe in Christianity but with the emergence of the New Age Movement, longsuppressed non-Christian sentiments and concepts have surfaced here and there. Rebelling against Christian civilization in the West and its capitalist way of life, they fight to replace the orthodox tenets of Christianity. The most telling example is opposition to the male-dominated value system and the long-held control by the Christian one-god rule in patriarchal society, and hence there is a determination to consecrate women, revive belief in the goddess, and use this to guide human spirit in the future. Under the influence of the New Age Movement, a series of bestselling books and movies have emerged in the West. Among them are the popular animation movies, Mulan, Pocahontas, and The Lost Empire. They brought various supernatural concepts from other nations and religions, such as spectral theory, pantheism, ancestral worship, and fairy belief, to common families. As a bestseller listed on The New York Times, The Da Vinci Code addresses the subject of religion as something indispensable. By dramatizing the disputes among the religious sects and the harmonious relationship between man and woman, the book obliquely presents the author’s humanistic concern towards the cultural synthesis in the real world.

Sand Washed by the Waves, What’s Left? For centuries, culture and politics have never managed to remain separate from each other for long. As a cultural thriller appealing to various reading tastes, The Da Vinci Code has naturally become a target of adulation and attention due to its implicit political and religious context. America is a democratic republic that has always touted democracy and openness as its political principles. However, just like a lake that has ripples of waves beneath its seemingly calm surface, the control over the

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government is actually determined by the open competition and covert maneuvering between the Democrats and Republicans. The partisan battle occurs in all aspects of government, such as economics, culture, education, trade, and diplomacy. Nixon’s Watergate scandal presented, in the most realistic way, the struggle between the parties. What happened subsequently – the various political plotting, covert manipulations and cover-ups among politicians – dazzled and inundated people. Similarly, The Da Vinci Code offers a distinctive and profound representation of the political struggle between two religious sects over predominance of the Church. The Priory of Sion is an ancient and mysterious religious organization that chooses to stay away from the public view. As Brown claims emphatically on the fact page at the beginning of the novel, this organization actually exists. In his answer to Sophie’s question about the organization, Langdon states, “They call themselves the Prieuré de Sion – the Priory of Sion…In fact, they are one of the oldest surviving secret societies on earth” (113). It claims to have evidence that shows that Christ is human. Once this evidence is revealed, the belief in “divine Christ,” a belief cherished by all Catholics, will surely start crumbling. To prevent this information from leaking out, Opus Dei has “promoted a return to conservative Catholic values and encouraged its members to make sweeping sacrifices in their own lives in order to do the Work of God” (28). Furthermore, it has indulged in the ruthless killing of all Priory of Sion members. Despite believing in the same God and sharing a vested interest in Christianity, the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei are engaged in infighting and killing for their own benefit. When it was under the military protection of the Knights Templar in the past, the Priory of Sion was able to put up a fierce fight. After the Knights Templar fell apart, however, the Priory of Sion gradually faded into oblivion. It had to place its hope for resurgence on Opus Dei’s obsession with the secret of humanity. With its control over the mainstream media and views within the Church, Opus Dei only wanted to make sure its dominance in Catholicism would not be shaken by the Priory of Sion’s revelation of the secret. To achieve this end, they did not hesitate to suborn the Knights Templar with money, crack down on the members of the Priory of Sion with force, and eliminate the evidence of Christ’s humanity by murdering all the masters of the Priory of Sion. The various struggles and contests, either overt or covert, between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the revelation of Christ’s humanity took place in the religious domain; and they are nothing compared to the deceit and dishonesty of the American Democrats and Republicans in their power struggle.

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Every society, be it a glorious feudal kingdom or a prosperous capitalist country, has a leading ideology, namely, a series of doctrines through which the ruling class forces the ruled class (or what we often call the common people) to accept its dominance by using religious, economic, or military means. No matter how hard the ruling class brags about democracy and the freedom of speech, all expressions and views must be in line with its preferences; or at least not harm the rulers’ interests. Brown has subtly incorporated a parody of this rule in The Da Vinci Code. In the novel, Newton and Leonardo da Vinci are mentioned as Priory of Sion masters. Although they doubted the nature of Christ, they still chose to believe in his true existence in the world. In spite of his discovery of gravity, which has basically subverted the foundation of religion, Newton still fell on his knees in front of God, believing that the power that turned the planet around came from Him. Leonardo da Vinci dedicated his whole life to the study of science and art, but he concealed his doubts in his paintings and never presented them to the public. Newton and da Vinci did this simply because they concluded that the public did not have the courage to accept these ideas and facts under the prevailing ideology. Reading Brown’s rendition of the long-standing clash between the two sects within the Catholic Church, one surely learns a lot about the nature of their conflict and the ramifications of those secret codes in Brown’s narrative. As we marvel at the author’s sharp observations and meaningful style of writing, we should also carefully think about the social issues and moral crises that baffle us.

4. Setting: A Journey of “Codes” to Infinity If you search for the phrases “The Da Vinci Code Walk in Paris” or “The Da Vinci Code Sparks European Tourism” on the Internet, eyecatching headlines of how the bestselling thriller boost tourism in Europe, and tourist agencies set up special routes based on the novel’s plot will pop up. This bestseller in America for 2003 not only became a wind vane for public reading but also stirred a great upsurge in tourism to France, England, Italy, and the Vatican. All the places featured in the novel, such as the Louvre Museum, the Church of Saint-Sulpice, the Temple Church, Rosslyn Chapel, and Castel Gandolfo are swarming with tourists. The hotel where the leading characters stayed has been thronged with visitors. Restaurants, hotels, and other service enterprises in the vicinity of these sites have also grown robustly, and with great prosperity.

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The Temple of Art –The Louvre Museum The Louvre Museum is located on the right side of the Seine in downtown Paris. Built by Philip II in 1204, it has been collecting artifacts and hosting exhibitions for the monarchy since the early 16th century. The reconstruction of the Louvre, which began in the 17th century, lasted more than 300 years. After the French Revolution in 1793, the French Parliament decided to convert the Louvre into a national museum of fine art and open it to the public. Its total area is 6 hectares. The Louvre has gone through numerous refurbishments and expansions. The latest one was the spectacular Grands Projets, the Grand Louvre Plan, under President Francois Mitterrand (1981-1995). This project completely renovated the major cultural sites in Paris and built a magnificent glass pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre. The well-known Chinese American architect, I.M. Pei, was selected to design the glass pyramid. All the architects in the past put too much emphasis on the external grandeur of the Louvre and neglected the functional value of the gallery. Despite its repeated renovations, the Louvre was still unable to handle the eversurging number of visitors. Pei designed a pyramid-shaped central entrance hall (which has been dubbed “the huge skylight”) purely for its pragmatic function. It is the perfect combination of artistry and usefulness. “Pei’s critics described this pyramid as fingernails on a chalkboard,” while “progressive admirers” believe that the unique pyramid shape brought cultural characteristics from the East and West into harmony and created “a dazzling synergy of ancient structure and modern method – a symbolic link between the old and new – helping usher the Louvre into the next millennium” (18). The wide entrance helps ensure the easy flow of visitors and allows the sunshine to beam into the hall through the glass. As a parallel structure, Pei designed a huge underground lobby and shopping center, connecting the Louvre directly to the small Arc de Triomphe, where an inverted pyramid has been erected. This inverted pyramid has deep implications in Brown’s story. The building of the pyramids was not only an aesthetic challenge but also a technological problem. Pei and his design team worked really hard on building the two pyramids, but the glass pyramid could not be built with ordinary building glass because it would create a slight green hue in the sunlight and make the pyramid look like a “gigantic standing bottle.” To ensure the smooth construction of the glass pyramid according to the design, technicians resolved all kinds of problems and manufactured a special kind of glass. In the sunshine, this glass would not generate any perceivable colors, a result very much desired by the designers. The number of the glass pieces in the pyramid has long been a topic of

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controversy. Brown claims that there are 666 pieces, but more accurately speaking, the pyramid is made up of 689 pieces. At the inauguration ceremony in 1989, people had mixed views towards the newly refurbished Louvre. Some believed that the renovation gave the Louvre an anomalous look without any aesthetic value or charm; others praised the designer’s ingenuity with delighted alacrity. Nonetheless, this pyramid has since become a new landmark in Paris “almost as famous as the museum itself” (18), rivaling the Eiffel Tower as it has substituted the latter on T-shirts and key rings as the symbol of Paris. Being the largest national museum and art gallery in France, the Louvre greets thousands of visitors from home and abroad every day. The Denon wing, which is certainly a favorite, houses a collection of oil paintings from between the 15th and 19th centuries that are prominent both in quality and quality. Many pieces are historical treasures. Among them, Mona Lisa, Venus, and Goddess of Victory are considered unequaled in the world and cherished as “the three treasures of the Louvre.” Other items on display include fine arts, antiques, and many artifacts that originally belonged to the French monarchy.

Glamor in Luxury - The Hôtel Ritz The Ritz in Paris is famous for its long history of glamor and celebrities. The Da Vinci Code opens with a scene in which Langdon is woken up by the concierge at the Ritz, telling him that “an important man” (7) is coming to his door. If you look up “Ritz” in the Webster Dictionary, you will find this definition: “luxurious, glamorous, and fashionable.” Yes, that was the awesome feeling the Ritz in Paris inspired in people in the 1920s. Today, its pure luxury and glamor have quietly taken on a dignified grandeur through the test of time. Built in 1898, the Ritz has been a palace of luxurious life in the old and new worlds. Its legend has been written by celebrities. The wellknown Madame Chanel lived here for 30 years, and declared, “The Ritz is my home.” By the late 1920s, the Ritz in Paris had become a base for traditional literature long before the appearance of Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. For instance, great writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Marcel Proust often spent some time here. Fitzgerald even wrote a short story called “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.” In an elegant room inside the hotel, Ernest Hemingway was inspired to write his Moveable Feast and other works. Jean-Pierre Pustienne tells us in his book, Ernest Hemingway, “When he dreamed of heaven, Hemingway saw himself in

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the Paris Ritz.”1 Hemingway’s presence at the hotel endowed it with a great reputation; in return, The Hemingway Bar in the Ritz symbolizes people’s respect for him. Since the 20th century, the bar in the Ritz has been used by the elite as a gathering place. Even prominent figures in modern history, such as Edward VII, the king of Persia, and a duke from Russia, liked to come here for drinks, conversation, and the joys of life. In our time, celebrities like Princess Diana; the world-famous tenor, Pavarotti; the soccer star, Beckham; and the former president of the United States, George W. Bush, have appeared on the long guest list at the Ritz. Today, the Ritz is surely the first choice for royal families in Europe, statesmen from various countries, movie stars, and high-class socialites if they need accommodation in Paris. What is really surprising is that the Ritz, which has mesmerized countless eminent, classy, and picky elites, has an inconspicuous entrance (less than four meters in width). If you don’t catch the word “Ritz” printed on the awnings on the way in, you might not believe that you are actually standing in front of the most famous hotel of 20th-century Europe. Perhaps this is why the Ritz attracts people; its elegance and glamor are hidden underneath an introverted facade.

The Church of Saint-Sulpice - Dead End The Church of Saint-Sulpice in the real world is not as mysterious or horrifying as described in the novel. Moreover, it is not a pagan church at all. Built in 1646, it is slightly inferior to the Notre Dame of Paris in total area and scale, but extremely similar in structure and style. This church is located around the corner of Rue Palatine off the Place Saint-Sulpice. There are two towers in front. On the left tower, tourists can see the Hebrew inscription, JAHWE, though it has been blurred by the years gone by. On the right tower, the inscription is totally illegible. The Rose Line described in the story can be found inside the hall of the church. It was the original prime meridian before Greenwich took over that title in 1888. “The brass marker in Saint-Sulpice was a memorial to the world’s first prime meridian” and “the original Rose Line was still visible today” (106). On the top of the church, a precursor to the telegram – the “Chappe System” – was installed. It connected Paris and Lyon with an optical telegraph line. According to the history of religion, Jean-Jacques Olier founded the Society of Saint-Sulpice (the Sulpice sect), and this church was regarded 1

Jean-Pierre Pustienne, Ernest Hemingway (Paris: Fitway Publishing, 2005), 19.

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as the center of the sect’s activities. Olier had close ties with the Saint Sacramone League (as the legend goes, this league was controlled by the Priory of Sion). Due to the constant crackdowns by Louis XIV, this organization was forced to disband, and all the documents concerning it were sealed or confiscated. Some historians speculate that the documents were not destroyed but hidden away inside the Church of Saint-Sulpice. During the late stage of its existence, members of the Sulpice sect were trained as clergymen and gradually faded from public sight. What is worth mentioning is that members of the sect founded the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal. Montreal, which was first called the City of Mary, was the settlement of the colony that is now eastern Canada. They also founded the Cathedral Basilica. The logo is pretty interesting: two M’s, one inverted on top of the other. The Church of Saint-Sulpice is not only the center of the Sulpice sect but also the headquarters of the Catholic modernist movement. When it was first established, the Catholic modernist movement tried to maintain its orthodox interpretation of the scriptures by training a large number of experts who were interested in the Bible. Unexpectedly, while studying the Bible more closely, these “experts” discovered that it had many accounts that were inconsistent with historical records. Moreover, they found a lot of discrepancies among different editions of the Bible. As a result, they lost their trust in the scriptures. The Catholic Church was so alarmed by this news it accused them of freemasonry. The Da Vinci Code selects the Church of Saint-Sulpice as the secret site of the Priory of Sion because the Rose Line runs through the east and west axis in the church, and this is essential to the corresponding effect between the start and end of the novel.

The Site of Salacity - the Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne is filled with both glamor and vulgarity. It became a park during the heyday of the French Second Republic in the mid-19th century. With its vast area and numerous dark paths, the Boulogne Park was the ideal site for all kinds of criminal activities during the night. Impressionists featured the Boulogne Park in many absurd paintings, and the Parisians were quite generously receptive to the works. In Brown’s view, the Parisians called the Boulogne Park “many things” and viewed it as “the Garden of Earthly Delights” (157) for two reasons: first, they understood the absurd paintings by the artists; second, many of them probably used it to free themselves from conventions and seek joy without any constraint. This is where the prudish Langdon and Sophie saw

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many scantily clad women and “glistening bodies for hire, earthly delights to satisfy one’s deepest unspoken desires – male, female, and everything in between” (157). The 220-acre Boulogne Park used to be barren until Napoleon III entrusted it to Baron Haussmann, his principal planner for civic administration. The baron’s plan for shady lanes and an artificial lake followed the design of Hyde Park in London, just as the king liked. Every May, the French Open, part of the Grand Slam tennis tournament, is held at the nearby Roland Garros Stadium, attracting tennis fans from around the world. In a way, tennis, a game that combines both sport and art, resembles the elegance of the Parisians. During the day, the park is a paradise for lovers, walkers, runners, rowers, and horse riders; by evening, Boulogne Park has become the territory of prostitutes.

The Depository Bank of Zurich – Access by Key Instead of Humans The Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich is just a fictional site in the novel, but the Depository Bank of Zurich does exist. Its headquarters is in Switzerland. The reader can find Rue Haxo in Paris, but there are no buildings between 16 and 36 on this street, let alone the bank at Rue Haxo 24. The kind of deposit service described in the novel has been a topic of discussion, but it does not exist in real life. For the wise reader who remembers that Brown is a master of word puzzles, it is not hard to figure out that Haxo as a variation of the word “hoax.” The name coined by the author corresponds impeccably to the theme of the novel. One has to admire the brilliant way in which the author packs his world of secret codes with various mysteries and traps.

Château de Villette – A Place of Tranquility in the City “The sprawling 1850-acre estate of Château de Villette” (220) is in the vicinity of Palace of Versailles, about 35 kilometers, or a 25-minute drive, away from north-western Paris. Langdon and Sophie drive the armored truck to Teabing’s residence after escaping from the bank. The château was built in 1668 by the architect, Francois Mansart, for Louis XIV’s ambassador to Venice and completed by Mansart’s nephew, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, in 1696. Château de Villette is as large as Palace of Versailles, but the latter is fully gilded and glamorous whereas the former is known for its harmonious scale and tranquil solitude. The interior design of Château de Villette is absolutely exquisite. The two rectangular-

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shaped ponds, artificial waterfall, and garden were designed by André Le Nôtre, the famous designer of the gardens inside Versailles. One of the most prominent castles in France, Château de Villette has 11 rooms and sits on more than 185 acres of gardens. Though it is not open to the public, it is available to celebrities and CEOs for rental at €6,500 per night, and a minimum week-long rental is required. Now, Château de Villette has become a site for conferences, lectures, tourist visits, weddings, and other special events.

The Temple Church – Dignity in Ruins As the headquarters of the 12th-century Knights Templar in England, this temple is located between the River Thames and Fleet Street. From the outside, the Temple Church looks like a military fort but inside its design features colorful religious decorations that fuse solemnity and reverence with elegance and mystique. The structure of the temple is marked by its bridging combination of architectural styles in transition. To follow an early tradition, its Round Church, the nave of the church, was based on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The building material used for the Temple Church was strictly selected to ensure the similar stable, solid quality found in Hebrew synagogues. Purbeck marble from Dorset, South England, well-known for its sturdy hardness and fine polish, was used extensively in the construction. Through an innovative approach, its rectangular section, which was completed in 1240 and later called the Chancel, fully exemplified the solemn and dignified architectural style of the Catholic Church. The Temple Church was consecrated in 1185. In the 14th century, the Crown retook control of the church and rented it to two law colleges. Later, James I reached an agreement with the lawyers, and the colleges evolved into two inns, the Inner and Middle Templers. They were granted the use of the church in perpetuity on condition that they maintain it and offer religious services. To this day, lawyers are still using the southern and northern sections of the church according to the agreement. During WWII, the church was severely damaged in a German air raid. Several statues of the crusade knights in the hall were broken but they were nicely renovated later. Today, tourists can see nine life-sized stone statues of knights inside the Round Church, all delicately sculptured with lifelike features.

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The Sacred Resting Place – Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey is one of the most well-known tourist sites in London. “More than three thousand people are entombed or enshrined within Westminster Abbey. The colossal stone interior burgeons with the remains of kings, statesmen, scientists, poets, and musicians” (395). Originally, it was known as the West Abbey because it was located in the western part of London. It is alleged that the abbey was constructed based on the vision of Saint Peter, who called for the establishment of a church where believers could cleanse their soul and embark on their way to heaven. Judging from its architectural style, Westminster Abbey is mainly a typical example of a Gothic church, but it has many features similar to Saint Peter’s Church, which is known for its perfect resemblance to the Baroque style. For instance, the tower in the center of the abbey, the crossing transepts, and the design of the cloister ceiling coincide with the design inside Saint Peter’s. The Westminster Abbey was built by King Edward the Confessor, who ruled England between 1042 and 1066. However, he was unable to attend the consecration ceremony due to illness. In 1161, he was canonized at the abbey. Henry III was determined to build an abbey that would be more magnificent than the Gothic church in memory of Edward. He renovated the structure of the original church completely. The reconstruction of the abbey continued between the 13th and 16th centuries. All rulers of England dedicated themselves to the refurbishment of the Westminster Abbey and, as a result, brought in various architectural styles. However, “Westminster Abbey is considered neither cathedral nor parish church” (395). A list of burial sites has been kept inside the abbey. It shows that many scientists and engineers, including Sir Isaac Newton, have been buried in the middle of the Choir. In The Da Vinci Code, it is mentioned that Newton used to be one of the masters of the Priory of Sion. Therefore, Newton’s grave becomes a key clue in the search for the Holy Grail. The reclining figure of Newton sits on the right side of the sarcophagus, with boys using problem-solving instruments related to Newton’s mathematical and optical work. His elbow rests on a pile of books indicating his great works. His left hand is pointing to a scroll with a mathematical design, held by two boys. Above his head, there is a celestial globe with the signs of the Zodiac, the constellations, and the visible path of the comet of 1680. Langdon is in no mood to look around inside or reminisce its long history, however. He is only checking out one thing – the burial of Newton.

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The Place of the Holy Grail – Rosslyn Chapel As the legend goes, Rosslyn Chapel, which is located in the town of Rosslyn about 11 kilometers south of Edinburgh, was first built for craftsmen. In 1446, Sir William St Clair wanted to build a big chapel that was cruciform in structure. In some historical records, Rosslyn Chapel was considered part of this grand project. In 1484, the project was called off after Sir William’s sudden death. A chapel built in the Gothic style, Rosslyn Chapel’s original Christian name was Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew. Although its total area is less than 33 acres, the chapel has many magnificent features, especially the exquisite stone pillars full of beautiful meticulous carvings that are the sources of numerous Christian, Scandinavian, and Celtic legends. The story of the death mask of Robert the Bruce, for instance, allegedly originated from here. The Rosslyn Chapel depicted in Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is nicknamed “the Cathedral of Codes” (432), a name that has brought more charm to Rosslyn Chapel and fascinated readers. In the novel, Langdon tells Sophie about the two most famous pillars inside Rosslyn Chapel – the Master Pillar and the Apprentice Pillar. According to Langdon, they are called Boaz and Jachin, respectively. They are located between the Choir and the Virgin Temple, looking quite majestic and magnificent. They can be admired as the spiritual symbols of the modern day freemasonry. In fact, Rosslyn Chapel was built in imitation of the Solomon Temple in Jerusalem as a gift for St Matthew. The novel only mentioned the Master Pillar and the Apprentice Pillar, but inside the chapel there is another – the Craftsman Pillar. It stands between the two more famous ones and appears to be quite common. The Apprentice Pillar is at the east end on the south of the archway, and it appears to be the most gorgeous of the three. It is full of carvings of leaf-shaped decorations spiraling from the bottom to the top of the column. The Master Pillar is on the north side, and is carved in various and complex patterns, with some noticeable temperance. There are many stories about these pillars in freemasonry. One story is that William St Clair wanted the pillars on the southern archway to be carved in a special way, but the master mason told him that he could not do it unless he saw the similar pillar in Rome. So, the master mason went abroad. When he returned, however, he discovered that his apprentice had already carved the pillar. He was so jealous of his apprentice’s superb skill that he killed him with a mallet. Now, tourists can see two heads on the western wall of the chapel: the head of the apprentice is on the south, the wound in his head still visible; the head of the master mason is on the north. At the base of the Apprentice Pillar,

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eight dragons were carved, circling the bottom of the Scandinavian tree of life, which implies the inseparable relationship between the world and heaven. Also, “Rosslyn Chapel was a shrine to all faiths…to all traditions…and, above all, to nature and the goddess” (434).

Gandalf Castle - The Summer Palace of the Pope Even though Bishop Aringarosa sees Gandalf Castle as a gruesome place of taboo, its first impression is quite pleasant. Above the picturesque Lake Albano, on top of the heaving hills, there is a cluster of villas known as Rome Castles. These villas, which are surrounded by olive trees and vineyards, comprise the famous summer palace of the Vatican. Since the time of Pope Urban VIII, every pope comes here to relax. Unfortunately, however, tourists are unable to visit because the Pope’s chosen place for meditation is not open to the public. Despite its limited length, The Da Vinci Code’s settings include Paris, London, Scotland, and the Vatican. From culture to history, politics, economy, religion, and science, Brown prompts the reader to experience Europe, a land permeated with romantic legends and historical wonders, while venturing through his world of codes.

5. Codes: The Mystery of the Magic Castle In The Da Vinci Code, the plot development is propelled by codes; this stimulates readers’ burning curiosity about the never-ending suspense and a craving for answers. In his narrative, Brown fuses coding and deciphering together in a way that tugs the heartstrings and entices readers to get through the novel in one sitting. Once we manage to finish the story, we might be overwhelmed by all kinds of feelings, such as frustration over the unresolvable puzzles, relief about the happy closure, and pride for having negotiated the bumpy roads in Brown’s world of codes, but all of us can appreciate the masterful narrative. Brown’s comprehensive knowledge about Western culture, which has accumulated through his solid education in prep school and college, his study of the history of art at the University of Seville, Spain, and his diligent research using various sources, has offered him so much material for his novel writing. All the codes in the novel are packed with magic and wisdom. Now, let’s follow Brown’s steps and roam around this fascinating world of codes.

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Step One: Collecting the Clues for Codes Clue A – An Odd Will: Anagrams Anagram is a word play. A new word, phrase, or sentence could be constructed through the rearrangement of the letters in the original. The history of using such variants can be traced all the way back to 300 BC. Anagrams were allegedly invented by the Greeks and, after the medieval period, were bestowed with a mysterious power. The Romans called it Ars Magna, namely, “Great Art.” But if you look at that more carefully, you will discover that Ars Magna is nothing but an anagram of “anagrams.” Generally speaking, an anagram requires a reconfiguration of words and phrases that are closely related in meaning. From the process of reconfiguration, the reader may gain psychological satisfaction from deciphering the codes. For instance, the letters in “desperation” could form a sentence, “A rope ends it,” once they are scrambled and rearranged. The word “dormitory” may become “dirty room” after reconfiguration. Reconfiguration like this shows not only the word player’s knowledge and taste but also his/her sense of humor. Many like to use anagrams in communication. Newton, for instance, often “used complex anagrams in letters discussing his discoveries, especially in letters to people like Leibniz, whom he suspected of trying to steal his ideas” (184). In The Da Vinci Code, anagrams are everywhere. One can find them in the names of the leading characters and the changing locations. Anagrams either hint at the characters’ personality and identity or reveal vital clues to the changes and twists in the plot. They offer the reader numerous telltale signs once the codes are deciphered. In the prologue, the murder of Jacques Saunière, the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris, creates tension and suspense in the story from the outset. In chapter 8, Brown presents the will left behind by Saunière: O, Draconian devil? Oh, lame saint? (43)

As the only clue to Saunière’s death, deciphering the code is the key to establishing a hopeful start to solving the case. In deciphering these words, Langdon first makes the connection between Saunière’s posing his body like The Vitruvian Man and the painter, Leonardo da Vinci; then he thinks about the metaphorical implications of the pentacle written on Saunière’s body, the harmonious relationship between men and women, and speculates on Saunière’s goddess-worshiping practice; finally, in a conversation with Sophie, he finds out that Saunière was a worshiper of

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Leonardo da Vinci. By analyzing the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, goddess worshiping, and the full name of Leonardo da Vinci synthetically and studying the relevant strategies of anagrams, Langdon manages to crack the code. After rearranging the letters in the message left behind by Saunière, “O, Draconian devil! / Oh, lame saint!” Langdon sees “a perfect anagram of Leonardo da Vinci! / The Mona Lisa!” (98), which Saunière created “in the minutes before he died” (99). It becomes a valuable clue for their next move. In moments like this, we can hardly contain our admiration for the sheer wizardry of the codes. With hints from Langdon, Sophie comes to realize that her grandfather, Saunière, might have left some clues on the Mona Lisa, which is “a mere thirty-one inches by twenty-one inches – smaller even than the posters of her sold in the Louvre gift shop” (118). The painting is famous “because Leonardo da Vinci claimed she was his finest accomplishment” (119). Sophie rushes all the way to the Denon wing, where the painting is displayed. On the painting, she finds a line, “So dark the con of man.” Using Langdon’s deciphering method, she scramble the order of the letters and rearranges them into a new line, “Modonna of the Rocks” (134), a match for the title of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting. After deciphering a series of codes, Langdon and Sophie gradually discover the secret kept by Saunière. Sophie’s reading of the line, “P.S. Find Robert Langdon,” in her grandfather’s will helps clear up the haze of religious suspense in the story. To ordinary people, P.S. is the abbreviation of “post script,” often used in letters. When he first sees it at the crime scene, Bezu Fache does not understand its real implication. He reads it as an instruction, “Look for clues from Robert Langdon.” Fache identifies Langdon as the suspect and erases this line before his arrival, so he does not know that he is under suspicion. What he does not expect is that the criminal investigation office at the police station has already passed this news on to Sophie’s office. As soon as she sees the line, Sophie realizes that it is actually a message her grandfather left for her. When she was small, Saunière used to call her “Princess Sophie.” Therefore, the “P.S.” here is intended as “Princess Sophie” rather than “post script.” The nickname for Sophie has a double meaning: 1) Saunière knew that Sophie was the descendant of the French Merovingian dynasty, and a female descendant of a royal family is naturally a princess; 2) the descendants of the Merovingian dynasty are also the descendants of Jesus Christ, and the duty of the Priory of Sion (its abbreviation is also “P.S.”) is to protect the blood line of Christ. As the master of the Priory of Sion, Saunière knew that Sophie was not only his beloved granddaughter but also a descendant of Christ’s blood line.

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Protecting Sophie is not merely a matter of the bond between a grandfather and his granddaughter; it is also a matter that determines the life and death of the Priory of Sion. Based on these revelations, Sophie and Langdon successfully finish deciphering Saunière’s dying words and find the key behind the painting, Modonna of the Rocks, thus gearing up for more code-breaking challenges ahead.

Clue B – The Odd and Secretive Listing of Numbers: Code of Numbers Code of numbers is a kind of number play. The players try to decipher a code by analyzing a group of seemingly random numbers and figuring out some kind of pattern among them. In the message left by Saunière moments before his death, there is a code of numbers in addition to the above-mentioned word puzzle. Here’s the code of numbers Saunière wrote on the parquet: 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5 (187)

At a quick glance, it is hard to decide where the analysis should start. If one wants to find a pattern inside these seemingly unrelated numbers, one will have to reshuffle them. Here is the decryption you get if the numbers are rearranged from small to big: 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21

This line of numbers constitutes the famous Fibonacci sequence, which was invented by the Italian mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci. He compiled a book, Book of Calculation, and his number sequence came from one of the problems in the book. Its formula for progression is that each term is equal to the sum of the two preceding terms, namely, Fn = Fn -1+ Fn-2. By now, the codes (anagrams and number progressions) that Saunière left behind before his death have been deciphered by Langdon and Sophie. At first, they did not provide any clues. Actually, in effect they sidetracked Langdon and Sophie and complicated the effort to solve the case. As the story evolves, however, the importance of this number sequence becomes increasingly clear. In chapter 44, the director of the Depository Bank of Zurich, André Vernet, reveals that the password for the safety box consists of a special pattern of ten numbers. Such a revelation enables Sophie to open the safety box with the Fibonacci sequence (because the Fibonacci

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sequence left behind by Saunière is also a special pattern of ten numbers). After keying in the ten numbers in sequence, the safety box opens instantly. By now, the phase of evidence collection is over, and Langdon and Sophie start on the next page of their code-cracking story – decoding the cryptex.

Step Two: Analyzing the Cryptex The Marvelous Design: The Cryptex Brown coined the word “cryptex” from a combination of cryptology and codex. It is a coding device invented by Leonardo da Vinci for the relaying of secret information. From the outside, a cryptex looks like a round-shaped cylinder with disks of marble stacked and affixed to one another within a delicate brass framework. The upper part is a spinning code wheel, with the entire alphabet carved on each disk. Secret information can be hidden in the inner compartment of the cryptex, as Sophie explains “It’s a vault,” she said. “For storing secret information” (198). The person who wants to pass the information on writes it on the scroll of thin papyrus wrapped around a fragile vial of vinegar and puts it inside the cylinder. The receiver of the cryptex must rotate the disks in a way that can be aligned to spell different words. If the cryptex is opened by force, the vial of vinegar will break, and the vinegar will instantly dissolve the papyrus with the message. Such a clever design definitely makes the reader marvel. The cryptex appears for the first time in chapter 47. After retrieving Saunière’s safety box, Langdon and Sophie evade the police with help from Vernet. In the armored truck, Sophie opens the safety box and takes out the cryptex. At first, she rotates the letters on the disks based on Langdon’s description of the history of the Priory of Sion. Sophie tries words like “grail,” “vinci,” and “vault,” words that seem related to the Priory of Sion, but she is unable to open the cryptex. Having no alternative, Langdon suggests that Sophie seek help from Leigh Teabing. An expert on the Holy Grail, Teabing has done some in-depth research into the Priory of Sion, the organization that is closely tied to the Holy Grail. With help from Teabing, Langdon finds a passage of strange words underneath the cryptex. At this point of the plot, the story reaches its climax – decoding the cryptex. For Langdon and Teabing, their ability to obtain the secret inside the cryptex depends on whether or not they understand these words accurately. Like so many evil spirits, these words

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threaten to befuddle the scholars of theology and symbology and plunge readers into the labyrinthine world of codes.

Step Three: Decoding the Cryptex Clue A – The Misleading Pictures: The Mirrored Script The mirrored script is the text written in reverse. The reader must use a mirror to see the words written in normal order. In chapter 71, neither Langdon, a well-known symbologist, nor Teabing, a British Royal historian, can comprehend the odd words inside the compartment. The decoding work runs into a dead end. Just as readers are feeling frustrated about the bleak prospect, Sophie easily discovers the key to decoding the mirrored script, the mirror, and turns things around instantly. Like the cryptex, the mirrored script is a major invention by Leonardo da Vinci. During the Renaissance, the autopsy of dead bodies was flatly prohibited by the Church in Italy. To avoid persecution, then, Leonardo da Vinci used mirrored script to document his original findings in his study of human anatomy. These odd-looking texts provided future generations with some valuable data. The mirror is the tool helping Langdon and the others comprehend the meaning of the strange text. He knows a lot about ancient words but Langdon only looked at the style of the texts without examining other possible clues. Only after he gets a hint from Sophie does he remember that one of da Vinci’s artistic talents was creating mirrored script. At this stage, decoding requires more than just great intelligence; it also demands profound knowledge and acute sensitivity. If you are not a foreign language learner, you can complain as much as you can; if you are a foreign language learner, you can still complain because it is a foreign language that you will never have encountered before. Of course, if you happen to have a mirror with you, everything will be different. After all, it is not that hard.

Clue B – The Fountain of Wisdom: Atbash Cipher After decoding the mirrored script, Langdon, Rachel, and Teabing come up the following four lines: An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll And helps us keep her scatter’d family whole A headstone praised by templars is the key And atbash will reveal the truth to thee. (302)

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After analyzing the lines, Sophie concludes that the Atbash Cipher is the key to the riddle. But how can she find the word to which to apply it? Just as the three of them are again in total bewilderment, Langdon reads between the lines and remembers the monument of the Knights Templar then connects it to the charge of “blind worship of a false idol” the court of the Church levied against the Knights Templar. The idol in question is Baphomet (BaPVoMeTh, a pagan goddess in charge of reproduction and closely related to human reproductivity, but perceived by Catholics as a demon). Once all information is verified, Langdon and two others determine that Baphomet ought to be the word to which they could apply Atbash Cipher. Atbash Cipher is a simple substitution scheme of codes. It has been “part of Sophie’s early cryptology training.” It is “a common form of Jewish cryptogram” and “a simple substitution code based on the twentytwo-letter Hebrew alphabet” (304). All the code creator needs to do is line up the 22 Hebrew letters in order and substitute them with the ones in reverse order. The decoder lines up the first half of the alphabet in normal order from left to right and then the second half from right to left. Once the letter in code is placed in the substitution matrix, the answer is clear. In chapter 77, Sophie uses the fold-over method to create the Atbash substitution for Baphomet. Since the password for the cryptex consists of five letters, Teabing proposes translating Baphomet into Hebrew without the vowels, namely, B-P-V-M-Th. By applying the Atbash substitution matrix, the word they come up with is Sh-V-P-Y-A. Teabing gets so excited by this, but Sophie is not amused. This word is incomprehensible and therefore cannot be the solution to the decryption of the cryptex. Langdon reminds Sophie that “Sh” might be pronounced as S in Hebrew, and P might be pronounced as F. Teabing adds that Hebrew people often use V to replace the vowel O. With help from Langdon and Teabing, Sophie manages to read out Sh-V-P-Y-A (S-O-F-Y-A) and spells the word “Sophie.” Just as she is feeling thrilled about the finding, Sophie discovers that the word has six letters. But Teabing clears all the confusion by telling her, “In ancient Greek, wisdom is spelled S-O-F-I-A” (321). Thanks to the collaboration of three smart minds, the secret of the mysterious cryptex is finally revealed. Just as the reader expects to learn the solution to the riddle, a reverse in plot development occurs. After Langdon and company open the cryptex, what they find inside is not the papyrus with a secret message but a new keystone. From this keystone, they retrieve a lambskin vellum with a poem on it:

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In London lies a knight a Pope interred. His labor’s fruit a Holy wrath incurred. You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb. It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb. (337)

During this phase of their decryption, Langdon has a few setbacks due to his misinterpretation of the poem. First of all, he is ill-advised by Teabing to identify the tomb in the poem with those of the Knights Templar, and he takes Teabing and Sophie to the Templar Church, but the tomb in the poem actually refers to one in Westminster Abbey. Secondly, he assumes the word “Pope” in “a knight a Pope interred” to be the Pope of the Vatican, but it actually refers to the English writer, Alexander Pope, whose name is often abbreviated as A. Pope. He misreads “a knight” as a knight from the medieval period, but the knight “a Pope interred” refers to Sir Isaac Newton, whom Alexander Pope interred at Westminster Abbey. Finally, Langdon defines “the orb” as the globe-like object on the knight’s tomb, but here it has nothing to do with the huge global sculpture on Newton’s tomb; instead, it refers to the globe symbolized by the apple that initiated Newton’s discovery of gravity. At this point, Langdon finds the key to the second cryptex cylinder – “A-P-P-L-E”. The multiple implications connected to these words lead Langdon astray in his interpretation of the lines and hence cause several setbacks in their mission to decipher the cryptex. The deciphering is accomplished after numerous attempts. The meticulous process is as stimulating and dangerous as surfing in the sea, and nobody wants it to end so soon. As we follow the leading characters stepping out of the labyrinth built of layers of codes, we shudder at the elusive traps in the world of codes on the one hand, and, on the other, our mind swirls with excitement from their various failures and successes during the decoding process. At the same time, we feel overwhelmed by the joy of tasting such a great feast of history, art, and religion. Through an array of different coding and decoding contests, Brown easily allures his readers into the riveting sequence of actions, turns their reading of the novel into their own learning experience, and helps them gain an in-depth understanding of the various issues covered in the story. What is also worth noting is that Brown never offers a straightforward clarification about the secret of the Priory of Sion in his novel. He merely drops a metaphorical explanation and prompts his readers to explore their imagination.

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6. Knowledge: Solutions to Puzzles and Traces to the Origins As a work of general synthesis of knowledge, Brown’s The Da Vinci Code puts stress on the confluence and assimilation between different spheres of culture. In his novel, he cites from the history of art, religious transformation, and age-long anecdotes, but he does more than just quote from original sources. Instead, he takes the daring approach to deconstruct and re-present the material in order to maintain the effective equation between real and surreal, or history and imagination. The book touches upon various fields like religion, history, geography, and mathematics, and in many ways may be read as an encyclopedia of codes. This section discloses all the knowledge behind the codes and clarifies all the mysteries and secrets.

The Mysterious Master of Versatility – Knowledge of Leonardo da Vinci The Vitruvian Man: is the first painting related to Leonardo da Vinci in the novel. Da Vinci was inspired by a Roman engineer named Vitruvius, whose book, De Architectura, known today as The Ten Books on Architecture, not only deals with the civic planning of Rome but also proposes the theory that architecture could draw on the natural proportions of the human body. To this end, it offers a summary on the standard proportions of the human body. However, the book was not taken seriously at the time. It was only during the Renaissance that its importance was rediscovered. In a way, it set off the bright sparks of classical art at that time. Leonardo da Vinci wrote a review on the book and inserted an illustration titled The Vitruvian Man between his comments. Completed in 1485, the painting consists of a circle, a square, and a naked man. The man stands in the overlapping area between the circle and square, with his head touching the middle of the top line of the square. The painting presents two poses – one pose shows his hands stretching out, at 180 degrees; the tips of his hands touch each side of the square; his legs meet straight up at the axis of the square, standing right at the central point of the bottom line, which is also the meeting point between the circle and bottom line of the square. The other pose shows the man raising his hands to the point the top line of the square and the circle overlap; his legs are apart and the bottoms of his feet touch the circle. Both poses delineate the man’s image in great proportion within the circle and square. It conveys to the viewer a sense of beauty, which could only have come from the

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painter’s accurate representation of the ratio of the human body. In the novel, the corpse of the elderly curator is posed like The Vitruvian Man. Such a pose enables Langdon and Sophie to remember the painter, Leonardo da Vinci, on the one hand, and whets the readers’ deep interest in the painting on the other. A careful reader will discover if the distance between his shoulder and finger tips is divided by the distance between his elbow and finger tips, the result is 1.618m; the distance between his naval and his feet, or the distance between his knees and the ground, is also 1.618m. This figure is the same as the golden divide in math, PHI, pronounced as fei. The golden divide came from the famous Fibonacci sequence. In this sequence of numbers, every third item is the total of the previous two items, and the quotient from the division between the two items is also approximately 1.618, namely, PHI. In the novel, Langdon cites many examples to prove the presence of the golden divide. Observant readers can see its existence in nature and in art. The Mona Lisa: is also titled The Smile of Mona Lisa. It is currently displayed in the Denon wing of the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings. It is 77 cm long and 53 cm wide. It took Leonardo da Vinci two years to paint, and he finished it in 1503. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and The Winged Goddess are considered the three greatest treasures in the Louvre. According to historical records, the painting was done during the late years of the painter’s life. By then, Leonardo da Vinci had already finished his masterpieces, like The Last Supper and Modonna of the Rocks, and had established his great reputation. As records show, this painting was done at the sincere invitation of a merchant of fabrics in Florence, Italy. The viewer may enjoy the subtle techniques of the painter. From the center of the painting, an elegant beautiful young woman is smiling slightly, with her lips towards the audience. Behind her, there is a misty landscape. Through his sfumato technique, the painter presents the character and background vividly. The study of this painting has always been a hot topic in the art community. The focus is mainly centered on three issues: the circumstances under which the painting was done, the smile of the subject, and the subject’s gender. What has been basically confirmed is that the background of the painting is the landscape near Buriano Bridge in Arezzo, Central Italy. As he was born in Vinci, a small town near Arezzo, Leonardo da Vinci naturally modeled the background after the place he knew best. The sitting posture of the young woman in the painting is elegant, and her subtle smile demands every observer’s adoration. As the story goes, it took Leonardo da Vinci two years to complete the painting because he was

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waiting patiently for the most perfect smile. To capture the ideal smile, he did everything he could, from dramatic acting to storytelling and joking, but still could not make her smile. Later, when someone reminded him that she might be homesick, an inspiration burst upon Leonardo da Vinci. He asked people to play music from her hometown for her. Once she heard the familiar tunes, the young woman gave a subtle smile. Da Vinci caught that smile and finished the marvelous painting that has been matchless for centuries. The interpretation of the woman’s smile has been a topic of controversy for years. Some people deem her smile natural and tender; some believe it is serious and earnest; others find it cynical and mocking. As the observer’s perspective varies, her smile becomes more mysterious and opaque. In recent years, the gender of the subject in the painting has attracted a lot of attention, even though it has always been identified as a female image of the rising middle class. Even if you overlook her languishing eyes and enigmatic smile, her dignified posture and fine clothes should be enough to make her a typical figure of middle class women during that time. Later, upon a closer look at the painting, critics discovered that the subject did not have eyelashes. This detail caused some to speculate that the painting was not done for a young woman; it was a self-portrait of the painter instead. In the novel, someone asks Langdon if “the Mona Lisa is a picture of Leonardo da Vinci in drag” (120). In the novel, Langdon’s observations on the painting reflect these concerns. By rearranging the letters in Mona Lisa, he comes up with new words, “Amon L’isa” (121). Amon is the god of male fertility whereas L’isa is the goddess of female fertility. So, Langdon concludes that Mona Lisa represents a hermaphrodite. And the Mona Lisa happens to be the painter’s most favorite work. In Langdon’s judgment, this is actually the painter’s self-portrait because Leonardo da Vinci loved to convey secret hints in his paintings, and he was the grand master of the Priory of Sion. Langdon calls Leonardo da Vinci “a prankster” and states that “computerized analysis of the Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci’s selfportraits confirm some startling points of congruency in their faces” (120). The Last Supper: it took Leonardo da Vinci three years to finish this painting in 1498. It is 910 cm long and 420 cm wide. Best known for its magnificent and wide vision, this painting has been regarded as a work of synthesis. It is currently located in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan, Italy. Its inspiration came from the Bible. As the story goes, Judas was tempted by money to betray Jesus to the Sanhedrin. On the day of his arrest, Jesus had a last supper with his 12 apostles. In the painting, Jesus is sitting in the middle, telling them that

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one of them has betrayed him. Once he finishes talking, he opens his hands, and his face appears very calm and casual. The 12 apostles sitting beside him are cursing the traitor emotionally, trying to defend their innocence desperately, beating on the utensils in their hands angrily, or looking around suspiciously. Upon closer examination, it can be observed that the closer the apostles are to Jesus, the more agitated they are, and that Judas, the fifth apostle from the left, is holding his bag of coins tightly, looking very nervous. As for the background of the painting, the part behind Jesus is bright sky with a harmonious view, but the part behind Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, is pitch black. In chapter 58, Langdon says, “As it turns out, the Holy Grail does indeed make an appearance in The Last Supper. Leonardo included her prominently” (242-243). Teabing mentions that among those attending the last supper, there is a female disciple beside Jesus, Mark, John, Peter, and the others. She is the wife of Jesus – Mary Magdalene. Such a claim seems to overturn the long-established belief that 13 men attended the last supper. Sophie finds it befuddling. Using the painting as evidence for his interpretation, Teabing tells Sophie about the long-concealed human nature of Jesus. Modonna of the Rocks: is an oil painting based on the biblical story. Two paintings were completed to represent the story. The first one was done between 1483 and 1486; its dimensions are 198 x 123 cm. The second one was finished in 1508; its dimensions are 189.5 x 119.5 cm. They are located, respectively, in the Louvre, Paris, and the National Gallery in London. The paintings show the Virgin Mary, the Archangel Uriel, and the Child Jesus with the infant John the Baptist in front of some rocks. Mary is stretching one hand to include John and raising the other above the head of Jesus in a blessing, displaying her great maternal affection. The young Jesus is pointing his finger toward the blue sky as if he is asking Mary about the secrets of the heaven. The young John is paying homage to Mary, Uriel, and Jesus piously. These figures amidst the beautiful and mysterious rocks create a spectacular visual image. The idea of Modonna of the Rocks came from the Bible. King Herod orders the slaughter of all infants under the age of two in the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem, in order to eliminate the potential threat to his throne. An angel tells Joseph to lead Mary and Jesus out of danger. When Mary and Jesus arrive in Egypt, they see John preaching there. They meet outside the rocks by the sacred Jordan River. This painting is a representative piece among sacred portraits, and it has been much copied and studied by later generations of painters. In the early version, Mary’s hand above John’s head looks like an eagle’s claw and there is no emotion

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on her face; and the Archangel Uriel is waving his hand as if he is trying to chop off the head held by Mary. In the second version, however, Uriel’s raised hand has been erased, and Mary’s nails are no longer sharp. As records show, Leonardo da Vinci presented the first version based on his discontent with the rigid instructions from the church. Due to its insinuation about the dark side of the Church, Leonardo da Vinci was ordered to revise the painting; hence, the second version of Modonna of the Rocks was completed a few years later. Both versions adopted the pyramid structure, with the head of Mary as the pinnacle and the left hand of Jesus and the clothes of the angel formulating the base line, thus creating a balancing effect. In the novel, Sophie deciphers the line, “So dark the con of man,” left on the Mona Lisa by her grandfather and retrieves a new clue about Modonna of the Rocks, a clue that leads them to the painting in the Denon wing and the key hidden behind it. All this foreshadows the mysterious cause of her grandfather’s death.

A Secret Domain - Symbols In The Da Vinci Code, what occurs most is the use of symbols. Many symbols might be common and their implications familiar to us, but some of them have never been seen before. What is hidden behind all these cryptic symbols, anyway? Are they still being used? Have their implications changed over time? You may find the answers to these questions below. Blade and Grail: the two are symbolized by and – the former symbolizes the man’s penis while the latter symbolizes the woman’s vagina. When they overlap into the compound of two equilateral triangles, they form the hexagram, or the Star of David. This used to be a key symbol in astrology and a symbol of the perfect integration between man and woman. In Hebrew, the Star of David is regarded as the place Joshua and Segina inhabited, the symbol of a sacred place. Today, it is widely considered the symbol of the Jewish people. In the novel, Teabing mentions the two symbols of the blade and grail when he is telling Sophie about the history of the Holy Grail. It is from the hint of these two symbols that Langdon eventually determines where the Holy Grail must be buried because, from afar, the inverse pyramid of the Louvre looks like the intersection of the two symbols. Pentacle: also known as a pentagram or a five-point unicursal star. It was the symbol of paganism in ancient times. In the novel, Langdon claims that it is related to the worship of devil, but actually it symbolizes

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saints and goddesses. Also, it is a symbol of Venus because this planet follows a five-pointed orbit in space. In Christian paintings, it symbolizes the five wounds Christ sustained. In Pythagoras’s view, the pentacle is the symbol of man as the five points represent the man’s head and four limbs. 666: first appeared in the Book of Revelation 13:18, where it is called “the number of the beast” in an allusion to Emperor Caesar Nero. As the Book of Revelation was originally written in Greek, the Greek name of Caesar Nero yields a numerical value of 666 when the Greek letters are converted into Greek numbers through the practice of isopsephy in Greek, or gematria in English. If a rolling of the dice three times yielded the number 666, it would be seen as a bad omen. In religion, numerical symbols are often correlated to certain religious beliefs and endowed with special implications. For instance, The Way, the book written by the founder of Opus Dei, is a collection of 999 maxims. In the Catholic doctrine, the number 9 means perfection. The use of the number, therefore, is intended as a compliment for The Way. While reading the book, Catholics must hold it up in the air to show their devotion to God. In the Bible, however, it is the number 7 that represents perfection. There are seven days of Creation in Genesis and seven days in a week. The number 6 doesn’t symbolize perfection; the number 666 means three consecutive imperfections that culminate in a triple-tie imperfection. Using isopsephy to convert Jesus’ name in Greek into Greek numbers, the numerical value of his name is 888. The number 8 means perfection in Greek, and the number 888 means three consecutive perfections that symbolize end-toend perfection. In the novel, Brown claims that the total number of glass pieces in the pyramid in the Louvre is 666, a number that implies an ill omen and possible danger. In fact, the total number is 689 according to David A. Shugarts, who obtained the figure from the offices of the designer, I.M. Pei. Baphomet: is an idol or other deity, or a term for a pagan idol in charge of reproduction. Baphomet is also associated with a Sabbatic Goat. Its goat-like head symbolizes the vigor of life. It has wings on its body and goat horns on its head, but it resembles a human being. In the novel, the Catholics regard Baphomet as a symbol of evil, whereas the Knights Templar see it as an embodiment of the goddess of wisdom. Hugh J. Schonfield, the British biblical scholar, applied the Atbash Cipher Theory to the name of Baphomet, and found that once it is ciphered, the word “Baphomet” turns into “Sophie,” which actually means “wisdom” in Greek. This seems to match Baphomet’s symbolic meaning as the goddess of wisdom perfectly.

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Trident and cone-shaped hat: in Greek mythology, the trident is the weapon of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, a symbol of the power of the sea. The three-pronged shape of the trident is quite similar to a long harpoon. The spear in the middle is longer than the two on the sides. Sometimes, the two spears on the sides point outward. Usually, the trident does not have barbs. When used as a weapon, it causes tsunamis and earthquakes; when used to hit rocks, springs gush out from the cracks to irrigate farm land and ensure a bumper harvest. In Christianity, it is a weapon used by Satan, the devil, and therefore it is regarded as the devil’s pitchfork. The cone-shaped hat is perceived as a symbol of wisdom in Greek mythology, but a symbol of evil in Christian traditions because it is often worn by witches. In the novel, Langdon traces the causes for the transformation of religious symbols and reveals the struggle between Christians and pagans as reflected by the implications of various religious symbols. For instance, the symbolic implications of the trident and the cone-shaped hat have respectively changed from the hegemony of the seas and the old wise woman to the devil’s pitchfork and the evil witch. The Olympic Rings: according to the Olympic Charter, the five rings, designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1912, in five different colors – blue, yellow, black, green, and red – on a white field, represent the five continents – Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. The interlocking rings symbolize the great unity of the five continents. The Olympics, also known as the Olympic World Games, is held every four years. In the novel, Langdon analyzes and interprets the origin of the Olympic rings, connects the five rings to the eight-year rotation of the Venus, and concludes, “Nowadays, few people realized that the four-year schedule of the modern Olympics still followed the half-cycle of Venus” (36-37). Multiple symbols of the cross: three kinds of cross appear in the novel, including the T-shaped cross collected by the elderly curator, the gem cross worn by Fache, and the Greek cross on the key of the Priory of Sion. In the novel, the first two are printed in French while the last is in English. The T-shaped cross refers to a cross with a ring on top. It often appears in Egyptian artifacts as a symbol of life. In the novel, the goddessworshiping curator, Saunière, increases the collection of T-shaped crosses in the Louvre because it implies the relationship between the goddess and reproduction. The gem cross is one that has been mounted with gems and kept in a case. In the middle of the cross, Jesus is mounted on the crucifixion along with 13 gems, representing Jesus and his 12 apostles. The gem cross is

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often worn by Catholics. This is the kind that the police chief, Fache, wears in the novel. Such a detail reveals Fache’s religious belief and sets up suspense around his decision to leak information to Aringarosa, the bishop of Opus Dei, later. The Greek cross is also known as a square cross because its four arms are the same length. A square cross is somewhat similar to the T-shaped cross, but the latter has more implications than the former. It not only symbolizes peace but also contains the connotation of the natural union between man and woman. In the novel, the key that Saunière left Sophie is a square cross. It seems only natural that Saunière, a master of the Priory of Sion, made it a square cross as the design appears to be perfectly in line with the organization’s pursuit of the equality between the sexes.

Ancient Science – Geographic Mathematics Rose Line: also known as a compass. The term “rose-line” came from marine charts in Europe. During the medieval period, there were no indications of longitude and latitude on navigation charts, only some direct lines that overlap and radiate from the center. According to the records of ancient voyages, sailors painted all the gods of the winds from Greek mythology on the rose-lines to identify directions. They tried to determine their course from the contrast between the direction of the winds and the rose-lines. The Spanish crew members of Columbus’ fleet used the winds to tell directions, whereas the Portuguese sailors depended on the wind rose. The rose-line mentioned in the novel used to be called Longitude 0°, but later was replaced with the Meridian Line that runs through the Greenwich Observatory in London.

The Sacred Site of Belief – Religion Holy Grail: also known as the “sacred greal” or interpreted as the “Holy Blood.” There are three definitions of the Holy Grail: first, it is the cup used by Jesus in The Last Supper, which his disciple, Joseph, used to collect and preserve Jesus’ blood after his crucifixion; second, it is Jesus’s wife – Mary Magdalene; third, it is Mary Magdalene’s remains and the documentation of her life. In Christian tradition today, the Holy Grail often appears in Holy Communion. The most common ritual in Christianity, it is intended to show Christians’ admiration for Jesus. During communion, people drink red wine as a symbol of the blood of Jesus. The novel follows the third definition of the Holy Grail. With Teabing as the mouthpiece, Brown claims that the Holy Grail consists of

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an actual grave, specific relics, and documents about Mary Magdalene. Today, the definition of the Holy Grail is ever more elusive. In modern literature, it has often been linked with a realm beyond reach. Keystone: also called “the key to the vault,” a stone with a serial number placed underneath the rose mark. The French word for the keystone is la clef de voǎte. The word voǎte does not mean “vault” but a weight-bearing stone positioned on top of an arch to support other stones. From the architectural perspective, this stone is the key to the arch. In English, it is called the keystone. The radian of the royal arch, architecture, and keystone are all relevant concepts. Masons were able to make a fortune by keeping the technique of using a keystone to build arching roofs a secret within their early guilds. Moreover, they were always cautious when passing it on to the next generation. In the novel, with a hint from the safety box of her grandfather, Sophie realizes that the real answer to the riddle is hidden behind the keystone. Gnostic Christianity: a religious sect that has its roots in pre-Christian religions, instead of being merely an offshoot of Christianity. It reached its heyday in the second century but was treated as a pagan organization by early churches. It is often mentioned in the Gospel of Thomas. Gnostics describe Jesus and Sophia as the images of God and integrate the two into a complete image of God. The Gospel of Mary repeatedly preaches the spirit of the Gnostics and praises the holiness and purity of Mary Magdalene. Another scripture, Pistis Sophie, contains many references to the Gnostics and connects Sophia with Mary Magdalene. According to the legend, Gnostics regard Mary Magdalene as the goddess they admire and worship. In the novel, Teabing also mentions this religious sect, and explains how the Gnostics’ worship of the goddess influenced the Knights Templar. Mortification of the Flesh: the main creed of the Opus Dei, a major organization in the novel. The Way offers the theoretical foundation of the creed but the cilice belt is used for a person’s penance or atonement of sins and the path to sanctity. Forms of mortification amongst religious orders in the past also included the wearing of sack garments, and flagellation, in imitation of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death by crucifixion. The Way was written by a Spaniard, Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, in 1934. A scriptural text for Catholics, it has 999 meditations, all of which promote the mortification of the flesh for spiritual elevation. Silas, a character in the novel, is a practitioner of the teachings from The Way. The cilice belt is a belt with spikes that is worn tight around the legs, and it is a common tool for religious discipline. Believers of Opus Dei wear the cilice belt for mortification, abstinence, and atonement. The term

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“cilice belt” comes from the Latin word “cilicia,” a sort of undergarment made from Silesia animal hair. Such a hairshirt is rough and induces discomfort and pain if it is worn close to the skin. Usually, the hair is used to make the overcoat. To those who are committed to mortification, abstinence, and atonement, however, this type of rough cloth, especially the kind of cilice belt with spikes that Silas is wearing, toughens their endurance and strengthens their will. To chasten their body, they usually wear a shirt or underwear made of Silesia animal hair inside their coat. Most practitioners believe that the more their requests for discipline are granted, the more compliments and encouragement they will receive. As a practice of abstinence, atonement, and discipline, mortification complements the teachings in The Way: “Let us bless pain, love pain, sanctify pain, and glorify pain” (208). In the novel, Silas, the practitioner of mortification, often wears the cilice belt and uses the sense of pain to suppress his physical desires. In his view, “All true followers of The Way wore this device – a leather strap, studded with sharp metal barbs that cut into the flesh as a perpetual reminder of Christ’s suffering” (14). Mary Magdalene: there is not much coverage of her in the Bible but since her biography is that of a prostitute, Mary Magdalene has always been mistakenly identified as a prostitute rescued by Jesus. The account of Magdalene differs drastically among different texts. Most of the texts on Christianity see her as one of many apostles around Jesus. In the Bible, Magdalene witnesses the whole process of Jesus’ crucifixion. She is also the first one to see him resurrected. In the Gospel of Mary, she is seen as a royal descendant from the rich and powerful House of Benjamin. She was not only a pious follower of Jesus but also the person he loved most. After their marriage, Jesus even wanted her to establish and take over the Christian Church, but such a plan was aborted due to his arrest and suffering. After Jesus’ crucifixion, in order to escape persecution by the Roman Empire and to preserve the holy blood, Magdalene had to live in seclusion in the south of France, where she gave birth to Jesus’s daughter, Sarah. In the hearts of numerous artists, this mysterious female figure has become the embodiment of the goddess. They have expressed their love for this holy and pure woman in different ways. In the novel, Teabing states that in the gospels of The Old Testament, Jesus’ apostle, Levi, once said, “He (Jesus) loved her (Mary) more than us” (247). In addition, the Priory of Sion sees Magdalene as the symbol of the Holy Grail and sends the Knights Templar to protect her and the descendant of Jesus. Holy matrimony: an ancient religious ceremony held in all great civilizations. The temple of God is the site for the holy matrimony. The woman wears a white chiffon gown with golden shoes on her feet, holds a

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golden ball in her hands, and wears a white mask over her face; the man wears a classic black, waist-girded, knee-length dress with black shoes on his feet and a black mask over his face. During the holy matrimony, the man and woman accomplish a spiritual exaltation through copulation. This is why Sophie misunderstood her grandfather after she witnessed the holy matrimony in the novel. The Council of Nicaea: a council of Christian bishops convened to review and establish the resolutions of the Christian Church. The Council of Nicaea was held in 325 AD in what is known as Iznik in today’s Turkey. It founded not only the first council of the Christian Church in the world but also a series of doctrines, including the Trinity of God and the divinity of Jesus. In the novel, Teabing points out that Jesus was originally an ordinary man, but the Christian Church called for a Council of Nicaea in 325 AD to establish Jesus’ divinity. At this council, those present discussed and affirmed the divinity of Jesus by vote.

The Diverse World – A Real Encyclopedia Beast-like drain outlet: a kind of drainage facility in churches, big and small. It may be seen in the Notre Dame in Paris and many other cathedrals. The beast-like drain outlet is named after the sound coming from the statue of a strange beast. In the novel, Sophie sees the beast-like drain outlets in Teabing’s house and instantly remembers a similar drainage facility she and her grandfather saw in the Notre Dame in Paris when she was young. Black-light pen: also known as a watermark stylus, a special kind of felt-tipped marker commonly used by museum staff, art conservators, or anti-fake agents to leave an invisible mark on objects. In their daily routine, restoration workers in museums still use it frequently to mark a “¥” on the frame of a painting as a reminder for repair. It uses a noncorrosive, alcohol-based black-light ink, which can only be visible under “black light” such as ultraviolet and infrared rays. After Langdon is brought to the crime scene in the novel, Fache takes him to the corpse of Saunière and shows him the series of codes that Saunière marked on the floor with his black-light pen. Tarot cards: first entered Europe in the late 14th century, probably from Mamluk Egypt. By the 17th century, Tarot cards had been influenced by alchemy astrology. Their use has changed drastically with time. In ancient Egypt, Tarot cards were primarily used as mysterious scriptures of messages from the divinity. In medieval Italy, pagans attached various implications to the colorful designs of the cards and used them as tools for

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spreading ideas forbidden by the Church. Today, astrologists take advantage of the mysterious features on Tarot cards and analyze questions about love, personal relationships, and work-related issues by lining up the suits in the deck. Tarot cards have a long history in France, the setting of the novel. The most traditional tarot is Grimaud’s Tarot of Marseille from 1760. These poker-like cards have been used for games and astrology. Langdon mentions in the novel that the tarot cards from medieval Italy emblemize the pagan system of symbolism. Tarot cards consist of 22 cards, including The Popess, The Queen, and The Star. They use the colorful pentagram as the symbol of the goddess. The tarot cards and pentagram are brought up in the novel but the traditional French tarot cards did not have the pentagram – they had coins, short sticks, cups, and swords instead. Papyrus: the ancient Egyptians called it “pa-per-aa,” which means “Pharaoh’s property” in ancient Egyptian and implies the Egyptian crown’s monopoly on papyrus production. The main material for the production of papyrus is the pith of the papyrus plant, a wetland sedge that was once abundant along the Nile Delta. The ancient Egyptians kept their key records on papyrus, and these have become textual sources for archeological study by later generations. Papyrus was shipped to Greece and other regions of the Mediterranean civilization, and even to interior Europe and West Asia. The Bible took its initial material from the Egyptian Bible. As a medium of textual documentation, papyrus was instrumental in promoting ancient Egyptian culture. In the novel, Sophie tells Langdon that the paper inside the cryptex is papyrus and contains the answer to the riddle. If the cryptex is forced open, the bottle of vinegar inside it will break and the liquid will instantly dissolve the papyrus. Rose: the shape of its five pedals bears close resemblance to the pentagram. Since the pentagram represents the virgin and goddess, the rose has been seen as the symbol of the Virgin Mary. In Greek mythology, a transposition of the letters in Eros forms the word “rose”. Rose, therefore, can also be regarded as a symbol of sexuality and love. According to medieval legends, after it was brought to the Holy Land by the crusades, the rose became an emblem of romance, while the neoPlatonic philosophers treated it as a symbol of pure love. In the novel, when he claims that the rose is the symbol of the Holy Grail in the convent, Teabing actually intends to imply that the rose is Mary Magdalene. Lily: white lilies represent purity. Since the 12th century, all monarchies in France use lilies during religious holidays. As the shapes of the petals resemble the head of a long spear, lilies are seen as the symbol

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of military power. In Christian tradition, March 25 celebrates the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. On this day, the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and give birth to Jesus. Since then, lilies have been regarded as the symbol of celebratory occasions and featured in various oil paintings of the day of the Annunciation. In the novel, the key Saunière left to Sophie is engraved with a lily flower. Amon: is one of the Egyptian deities. Its name means a hidden man, symbolizing the energy hidden behind the sun. Amon is also a deity of reproduction, so the symbols used for it are the goat horn and snake, both of which are associated with exuberant fertility. When he tries to define the Mona Lisa as a bisexual body in the novel, Langdon cites the origin of the words “Mona Lisa.” The name turns out to be an anagram of Amon and L’isa, the two Egyptian deities that represented male and female fertility. Fish: a symbol of Jesus and baptism. In the first century, followers of Christianity were called “piscuiculi” or “little fish.” The word “piscina” literally means a fish pond. Usually, the piscina is octagonal. In Christianity, math has rich connotations. The number 7 represents man, while the number 1 represents God. The two become the number 8, a number that equates to perfection in Christianity. Apparently, the piscina is viewed as an emblem of perfection and purity. In the novel, Teabing reminds people that we are living in a “double fish era”, or Pisces, as defined in astrology. The fish is also a symbol of Jesus. In history, some major events have occurred in this era. That is why Teabing offers his bold prediction that the Priory of Sion will use this opportunity to reveal the secret of the Holy Grail to the public. Nevertheless, the Priory of Sion does not and instead continues to keep the open secret. Apple: in Christianity, the apple is the fruit on the tree of knowledge, and it is also the only forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Satan harbored so much animosity against God for sending him to hell that he turned himself into a serpent and seduced Eve, and henceforth Adam, to eat the apple. As a result, Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden for their disobedience of God. They were exiled to the wilderness and forced to live a life of hardship. From then on, the apple is the fruit that seduces people into degeneration. In the novel, Langdon first makes the connection between the apple being the fruit that inspired Newton about the law of gravity and the fruit of knowledge that seduced Eve in the biblical story, and then discovers that the word apple is actually the key to the second ring of the cryptex.

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The story of The Da Vinci Code involves culture, history, religion, philosophy, astronomy, geography, math, and physics. Its description of witty puzzles, artifacts, architecture, documents, and secret rituals leaves us with a deep impression and offers us plenty to enjoy. We have tasted the magnificent feast of knowledge so let us now step into the episodes that seem at once fabulous and elusive, real and surreal, and discover both the truth and the fiction in the story.

7. Institutions: Fabulous and Elusive, Real and Surreal In the world of codes, we sometimes stumble upon the stunning truth, but other times we get lost in the bubbles of illusion. Brown’s The Da Vinci Code marvelously fuses a discussion of religion and history with a fictional story. It enables us to learn so much about the story of Jesus Christ, the mystery of Mary Magdalene, the relationship between Constantine the Great and the Roman Catholics, and the origin of the Bible. But what we should not forget is that there is a huge difference between history and a novel, after all. History relies on science whereas a novel counts on readability. Historians like Bart Ehrman “see problems with the historical claims made in the book. There were numerous mistakes, some of them howlers, which were not only obvious to an expert but also unnecessary to the plot.”1 Obviously, most readers will not be indifferent to such negligence and search for the truth through the illusion. With a scientific and realistic approach, let’s step into this world of codes that is already so familiar to us and reveal what is true and false inside.

The Religious Temple of God Priory of Sion – The Executor of the Sacred Mission? Such an organization actually existed in history. As depicted in the novel, it was founded in France, but in the year 1956. Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard was inspired by the small mountain, Sion, on the outskirts of Annemasse in eastern France and established the Priory of Sion. At first, four people were in charge of the management and operation of the organization. Among them, André Bonhomme was the president, and in charge of the association’s general planning and operation; Jean Deleaval, the vice-president, and Pierre Plantard, the secretary general, were in 1

Bart Ehrman, Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), xiii.

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charge of the day-to-day operation; and Armand Defago was the treasurer in charge of accounts. Even though it was regarded as a secret society, it was neither a mysterious association as depicted in the novel nor an organization as alleged by the public. It operated covertly, and when its goal or intent was questioned, it remained silent. Although it carries a sacred mission in the novel, the real Priory of Sion’s activities have been relatively uneventful. When it was first established, its goal was to win support from local politicians and bring the chivalric order back to modern society. Later, its founder, Plantard, tried to build a convent through fundraising, claiming that his organization was the defender of the descendants of Jesus – the bloodline from the Merovingian Dynasty. Unfortunately, such a claim failed to convince anybody, and Plantard’s dream of building a convent was shattered. As the grand master of the Priory of Sion between 1981 and 1984, Plantard tried one thing after another. He revealed that his organization possessed the treasures the Romans stole from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 66 AD. He hinted that he would return the treasures to Israel at an appropriate time. Since he gave up his title of the grand master in 1984, the organization has faded from public sight. He attempted to regain his title of grand master and restore the glory of his organization in 1989, but the Priory of Sion had been forgotten.

Opus Dei – A Heretic Association? This organization does exist, and its influence has lasted to this day. Opus Dei has carried on its ancient traditions and created new legends in Spain, where it originated. The founder of the association is Josemaría Escrivá, a Spaniard, who is featured in the novel. The time and place of its foundation match the account in the novel perfectly. Numerous young vulnerable people were attracted by its unique principles. Its members have to adhere to strict rules – they are required to make a pledge that they will remain single forever, turn over all their income, and destroy their photos of the past. Within the organization, members must inform their superiors about any contact with friends and relatives, male and female members must live separately, and, generally, members must wear a cilice belt for two hours every day, but all day on Sundays, and whip their bodies once a week for discipline. Opus Dei reached an important turning point in 1982, the year in which, by the decision of Pope John Paul II, the Roman Catholic Church conferred on Josemaría Escrivá the title of senior priest of a personal prelature, thus granting this religious organization independent status.

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With approval from the Vatican, a personal prelature has the jurisdiction to control all the organizations in Opus Dei; in other words, Josemaría Escrivá held authority over the entire Opus Dei. In the novel, Bishop Aringarosa, the current leader of Opus Dei, runs the organization with full authority. Contrary to history, however, he has the authority not because he has received the title of senior priest of a personal prelature but simply because he is the current bishop of the organization. As of 2012, there are approximately 92,000 members of Opus Dei around the world. Even though it is an official part of the Catholic Church, it retains many characteristics of an independent society. Many senior officers in the Spanish military are allegedly members of Opus Dei. In Spain, the association targets the most talented students from higher education institutions for recruitment. Since it is well-known for its ruthless efficiency and its members often appear in public in a black cloak and with a short sword, Opus Dei has been nicknamed the “holy mafia.”

Knights Templar – Sacred Knights? The earliest historical record of the Knights Templar dates to just after the First Crusade rather than, as stated in the novel, the second. In The Da Vinci Code, Godfrey of Bouillon, the “King of Jerusalem,” was not only the founder of the Priory of Sion but also the descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the Merovingian Dynasty. In order to prove his kinship with Jesus to the ruler of the Merovingian Dynasty, Godfrey of Bouillon ordered the Knights Templar to retrieve the documents of the Holy Grail from the ancient temple in Jerusalem. This coincides with the initial purpose in establishing the Knights Templar. According to historical records, the Knights Templar was established in Jerusalem in 1118 and officially became known as the Poor FellowSoldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. Hugues de Payens, a nobleman from the Champagne region in France, began the order with eight other knights from the First Crusade. It was the first Christian military order. These nine French knights took on the mission of protecting pilgrims on their arduous journey to visit the Holy Places. Here, the number of knights completely matches the number in the novel. Once they’d earned a reputation for protecting pilgrims despite all kinds of hardships, King Baldwin II of Jerusalem (the nephew of King Baldwin I) allowed them to set up headquarters in the Temple Mount, assumed to be the original site of Solomon’s Temple. Before long, he turned the entire Temple Mount over to the knights, who later renamed their order the

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Knights Templar. In the novel, however, the name Knights Templar had been selected from the very beginning of its establishment. As the number of knights grew and its wealth increased, the order’s independence also strengthened. Its independence in politics and religion caused it to fall out of the king’s favor. What is worse is that they stirred up suspicion between the king and the pope. Eventually, its independence backfired and led to its demise. This is totally different from the description in the novel. In the novel, the Knights Templar is not the fuse that lit the dispute between the king and the pope; it is the prey that both of them have craved for a long time. They work together to plunder the treasures of the Knights Templar. We learn from historical records that on Friday, October 13, 1307, Pope Clement V and the King of France carried out a well-considered plot to arrest all the members of the Knights Templar in France and find them guilty. Thirty-six of them died from the brutal torture. Hence, the number 13 took on a touch of superstition. This is very similar to the description in the novel. The only difference is that the month the knights were arrested is not specified. On the evening of March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the last grand master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake. The total of the numbers of the year in which he died, 1314, equals 9 (1+3+1+4=9). To the members of the order, 9 is an impeccably lucky number. The irony is that it is associated with the ultimate demise of the Knights Templar, not any luck. It makes one wonder how capricious destiny can be. There have been many rumors about the treasure of the Knights Templar. We could trace multiple sources of their treasure based on the existing documentation. Between the 12th and 13th centuries, the Knights Templar in Paris played many different roles. In the king’s court, they controlled his treasury and served as his banker. For the pilgrims, they were in charge of their “safe passage,” acting in many ways like bullies. In the eyes of the ordinary people, they possessed great wealth, enjoyed the king’s favor, and their formidable organization was as rich as a nation. Although some people suspected that the real treasure of the Knights Templar – the Holy Grail – was hidden in Rennes-le-Château, such speculation has never been verified. In the novel, Sophie’s grandmother points out that the Holy Grail has been brought to a safe place by the Priory of Sion. The safe place is actually the inverted pyramid in the Louvre, where Langdon cracks the code later in the novel.

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Hall of Judicial Administration The Central Directorate of the Judicial Police in France – Place of Justice? The Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, or Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire, is a unique title used by the French people. Most of the French know that the agents of this office are “in charge of catching the most dangerous criminals and investigating the most serious cases.” In the novel, the police captain, Fache, takes on the murder case of the elderly curator. It is a perplexing case involving vicious, cunning criminals, and it has created a big stir. Details like this seem pretty similar to the actual profile of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police in France. The Central Directorate was founded at the beginning of the 20th century. Its headquarters is located at Quai des Orfèvres 36, on one of the natural islands (Île de la Cité) in Paris. Incidentally, the site is the center of the city, evenly dividing the city into the left and right bank. It is very convenient for the police to drive their cars to crime scenes rapidly. Of course, the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police does not operate all by itself. There are two kinds of police force in France. One is the National Police. It has four different branches, and the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police is one of them. The other three are civic police, traffic police, and detectives and military police. The other police force is the National Gendarmerie, a branch of the French Armed Forces in charge of security at airports, border areas, and rural regions. Today, with the security situation constantly destabilizing around the world, the French National Gendarmerie has added a special force component primarily for anti-terrorism operations, a unit that has made notable contributions to the peace and stability of the world. One code leads to another, recurring in an endless cycle. If you find yourself stuck in a place of vanity and clamor, the code might trigger off a sweet dream. When all is tranquil in the darkness of the night, the world of codes in the novel could become a fun place where your mind can rest. By contrasting the norms in real life to the literary depictions in the novel, the reader may be able to detect something subtle or suspenseful in between. It is through these seemingly mundane events that Brown shows the reader how to observe things by comparison and how to understand life through investigation and reflection. As the old Chinese saying goes, a sparrow has all the organs despite its small size. The novel is not that long, but it offers intriguing episodes, one after another, intended to satisfy the psychological thirst of modern metropolitan citizens for mysteries and allow them to temporarily transcend the raucous, crowded world of vanity and rivalry.

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8. Techniques: Brown Comes with Wonders From its first release into the American book market, The Da Vinci Code became an instant sensation all over the world. A few critics, such as Victoria Nelson, claimed that “Brown’s knowledge of church history, art history, and Western esoteric societies has the stretched-thin feel of an undergraduate term paper,”1 but most book reviewers did not hesitate to offer him high praise for his unorthodox formula that makes his thriller appealing to all people regardless of their age, gender, background, or location. Through a close look at his novelistic strategies and techniques, we will discover that what makes his novel so wildly popular is the fantastic reading experience guaranteed by Brown’s organic combination of non-stop action, haunting mysteries, erudite ideas, and age-long controversies.

Action – The Switch of Scenes One thing that distinguishes The Da Vinci Code from other thriller fiction is the constant shift of time frames and action scenes. Brown takes great pains to depict the passing of time and the vastness of space in order to maintain a fast-moving pace. Clearly, he knows how much the innovative use of time and sequence of events contributes to thematic significance, plot development, and characterization. As Mikhail Bakhtin puts it so well, “In the literary artistic chronotope, spatial and temporal indicators are fused into one carefully thought-out, concrete whole. Time, as it were, thickens, takes on flesh, and becomes artistically visible; likewise, space becomes charged and responsive to the movements of time, plot, and history.”2 In The Da Vinci Code, time “thickens” and condenses within a 24-hour period while space perpetually rotates around murder and a crime investigation, chase and escape, and the characters’ recollection of the past and contemplation of the present. With cinematic techniques, the author manages to enhance the sense of time and space within the novel by overlapping or alternating time frames and locations, thus giving the reader the surreal experience of traveling through time and space along with the characters.

1

Victoria Nelson, “Faux Catholic: A Gothic Subgenre from Monk Lewis to Dan Brown,” Boundary 2 34.3 (Fall, 2007): 97. 2 Mikhail M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, trans. Carl Emerson and Michael Holquist (Austin: U of Texas Press, 2004), 84.

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The switch of scenes is mainly executed in three ways: upon seeing something, hearing something, or simply changing the train of thought. Once she sees the shiny key in front of the Mona Lisa, Sophie remembers that her grandfather once warned her not to peek into the secrets hidden beneath roses; as soon as Langdon hears Sophie talk about the Mona Lisa, the symbols from artifacts he had tried to explain to prison inmates a few months before surface in his mind; when Silas is going through the ritual of mortification, memories of his miserable childhood come back again. These switches of scene prompt the reader to follow the characters through the tunnel of time and along the tracks of their life to get a full view of their heart and soul. To ensure smooth transitions, Brown employs flashback, a common cinematic technique, as a major component of the narrative. While describing current events, he inserts some scenes from the past. Such a technique breaks down the boundaries between time frames for the reader, and allows characters’ inner thoughts to flow, freely and coherently, between the past and the present. The reader gains a sense of immediacy and captures an up-close view of all characters. After killing Jacques Saunière, the current grand master of the Priory of Sion, Silas’s mind wanders back to the prison of Andorra. The reader follows him back to that dark, damp cellar where he used to be the target of discrimination and “sexual horrors” (73). Just as we are about to feel empathetic toward this killer, alienated and mistreated by society simply because of his illness, we see Silas returning to the present and stretching his evil hands toward the kind-hearted Sister Sandrine. Equally effective is Brown’s technique of using montage to scrape different scenes together for greater descriptive richness. A case in point is the scene of the beautiful and tranquil St. James’s Park, where Teabing is trying to poison Legaludec to death in the limo. At the same time, there is a montage of the faraway Biggin Hill Executive Airport, where Bishop Aringarosa is anxiously waiting for news from Captain Fache. With these two scenes presented one after another in the same chapter, a special implication is created, an effect that may not be accomplished if they were handled separately. The bishop seems to have nothing to do with Teabing’s murder of Legaludec but what we see is a casually dropped hint about the fate of the bishop. Like Legaludec, Aringarosa is merely a pawn in Teabing’s chess game. Their fate is controlled by someone else. The use of montage breaks up the unitary pattern of time and space as it stimulates the reader’s imagination and strengthens the novel’s artistic infectivity.

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Mysteries – the Suspenseful Narrative As the legend goes, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty once praised his adviser, Zhang Liang, for helping him conquer the kingdom of China, calling him a man who could “strategize in the commander’s tent to win the battle a thousand miles away.” Even though a novelist is not a military strategist, the overall strategy involved in setting up a novel’s structure and pace is quite similar to military deployment and maneuvering. The mysteries in The Da Vinci Code are created through suspense tactfully positioned at different junctures of the narrative. As the main force in Brown’s elegant, unconventional, and spellbinding narrative, they have a haunting effect on the reader. According to Fredric Jameson, a noted scholar of novel theory, there are two major modes of narrative: one is the linear structure with an emphasis on diachronicity; the other is the nonlinear structure with a fusion of both diachronic and synchronic tendencies as “they draw on a linear fiction or diachronic construct solely for the purpose of constructing a synchronic model of co-existence, nonsynchronous development, temporal overlay, the simultaneous presence within a concrete textual structure.”1 Obviously Brown used the second narrative mode in his The Da Vinci Code for a perfect mesh of the characters’ mysterious experiences and the complex relationship among them. Langdon and Sophie leave footprints all over Paris, London, and Scotland. Their quest to solve the mystery of the Holy Grail functions as the main thread. The story unfolds based on this plot line, but weaves in many episodes of fierce rivalry among all kinds of forces for the possession of the Holy Grail. The narrative evolves in a clear pattern: while Langdon and Sophie run through the Louvre to search for the clues, Silas visits the St. Sulpice Church late at night in order to find the secret of the keystone; while Langdon and Sophie encounter one surprise after another on their way to the Depository Bank of Zurich, the bishop of Opus Dei racks his brains about the fate of his church in the Vatican; while Teabing offers Langdon and Sophie some advice for the opening of the cryptex, the albino, Silas, secretly waits outside the castle. The way these characters act either simultaneously or alternately draws a clear story line, moves the plot forward properly, and eliminates the usual flatness that comes with a linear narrative. Along the way, the author leads us through renowned historical sites as his characters run for their life and offers us numerous glimpses of the 1

Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1981), 218.

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colorful landscape of different countries along the way. Every time an exhausting chase ends, the author allows us a brief rest to recover our strength before resuming the secret-hunting journey once again. Such an alternating maneuver between tension and casualness, stress and relaxation, which is mostly arranged in very short sound-bite chapters, is quite effective as it exploits our preoccupation with the lingering mysteries and compresses the action-packed narrative into brief segments that “a much wider audience than habitual book readers would be able to digest easily and understand.” 1 Suspense is a key strategy in creating speculation and a useful trick to stimulate the reader’s curiosity. Suspenseful scenes occur in The Da Vinci Code one after another, thus propelling the plot forward with mysterious twists, and stirring up endless worries and speculations in the reader’s mind. The novel starts with great suspense at the outset: the elderly curator, Saunière, lies naked on the floor of the arching exhibition hall inside the solemn Louvre Museum. He has drawn a pentagram on his chest in his own blood and there is a cryptic message beside his body. Such a scene, which could be the beginning of a Hollywood thriller or horror movie, is intended to shock readers and get us speculating about what has happened. What exactly is the big secret that Saunière is determined to protect with his life? This appears to be the catalyst for all the conflicts, snooping, and scrabbling among various forces. Brown also plants secondary suspense in different chapters involving a series of codes, such as the four lines and numerical arrangement by the elderly curator’s body, the password to the safety box, and the estrangement between Sophie and her grandfather. Resolving the secondary mysteries becomes the premise for revealing the major mystery at the outset. Langdon and Sophie’s success in solving mysteries contributes to the steady building up to the story’s climax, but it is the effective application of multi-layered suspense that makes the narrative thrilling, riveting, every step of the way. Brown relies on two effective moves in his alternating narrative. The first move is to play up the conflict between all sides and then defuse the confrontation or crisis through certain secondary events or alternating scenes so as to forge a temporary and ostensible harmony in selected scenes. The other move is to disrupt narration at crucial moments of confrontation. Both moves hype up our expectation and capture our total attention. In The Da Vinci Code, the pause, or inhibition, is mostly inserted for the intervals between chapters. Whenever the story hits a crucial moment, 1

Victoria Nelson, “Faux Catholic: A Gothic Subgenre from Monk Lewis to Dan Brown,” 102.

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the narrative comes to an abrupt halt and then moves on to the next chapter or another secondary plotline. The reader has to read on patiently until all the secrets are revealed. For instance, at the end of chapter 86, Legaludec drives away quickly after kidnapping Teabing. Just as the reader worries about the fate of Teabing, the author shifts the narrative to Teabing’s estate, the Château Villette, in the next chapter with a detailed description of the wiretapping system inside the ancient castle, which appears to be a deliberate move to prolong the reader’s anguish. The author does not reveal Teabing’s double identity as a knight and the “Teacher,” his real role as the mastermind behind the whole scheme. Again and again, the reader is caught up in endless worries and captivated by every turn the narrative takes. As The New York Times book reviewer, Janet Maslin, puts it well, “Not since the advent of Harry Potter has an author so flagrantly delighted in leading readers on a breathless chase and coaxing them through hoops.”1

Ideas – Encyclopedic Sources Inculcating knowledge has been a long tradition in American novel writing. The highly professional presentation of whale hunting terminology and history in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick astounds the reader; the accurate description of the manufacturing process of weapons and related materials in Poe’s short story, “The Gold-Bug,” is equally mind-boggling; the flawless description of the grape growing and harvesting seasons and the meticulous details about the food processing operation in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath have rendered readers speechless. Brown has claimed that his favorite writer is Steinbeck, a literary master who is wellknown for his knack of organically fusing knowledge into his stories. With Steinbeck as his model, Brown has artfully packed a lot of information into The Da Vinci Code, imparting all kinds of knowledge to readers through a joyful reading experience and expanding their horizon in moments of leisure. From beginning to end, the story introduces readers to a range of subjects related to cryptography, religion, math, painting, astronomy, geography, and history. Through the special pose of the elderly curator’s body moments before his death, Brown introduces the readers to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Vitruvian Man, a famous painting that displays the golden section through the human figure, and then the mathematical equation to 1 Janet Maslin, “Spinning a Thriller from a Gallery at the Louvre,” The New York Times, March 17, 2003.

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the golden ratio, 1.618. He presents related knowledge by citing the familiar things in daily life. Here’s a good example. By using the nautilus and sunflowers, Langdon shows readers the perfect embodiment of the golden section and proves its omnipresence with human proportions. Just as readers are marveling at the perfection in painting and math, the author brings in the dispute over the symbols of paganism. Langdon’s interpretation of the pentagram painted on the body of the elderly curator not only facilitates a deep understanding of the interference from the pagan traditions and the ideological struggle among various religious sects but also smoothly covers the essential parts of religious studies. After deciphering the strange line of numbers in the elderly curator’s will, Brown raises the mathematical concept of the Fibonacci sequence and connects it with the above-mentioned golden section. Even when describing how Silas sneaks into the church to steal the keystone, Brown does not miss the opportunity to treat readers to a feast of knowledge about the Rose Line in geography and the dial in astronomy. Such an artful and spur-of-the-moment dissemination of knowledge about various subjects appeals to most of readers, who may have come across these ideas for the first time. Thanks to the subtlety and dexterity of the author’s representation, readers find what could be quite tedious and stodgy subjects less intimidating and more stimulating.

Controversies – Truth-Defying Claims Evidently, Brown has embraced some postmodernist practices in fiction writing with great enthusiasm. In The Da Vinci Code, he seems to have subverted and diluted traditional culture in such great measure that the boundary between fiction and history often becomes murky. Regarding the subversion of traditions, Brown digs out the beliefs and concepts of ancient goddess worship from the suppressive traditions of Christianity and presents a subversive interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous paintings, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. First, Brown points out through Langdon’s words that Mona Lisa is androgynous. Then, he comes up with a brand new interpretation of The Last Supper, claiming that Mary Magdalene is the wife of Jesus, turning Jesus Christ – the embodiment of holiness adored and worshiped by all Christians – into a man with emotions and desires. Although these peculiar interpretations have been condemned by critics as misunderstandings and falsifications of history, religion, and traditional culture, they have certainly turned the novel into a sensational success by capturing the readers’ attention and

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offering them an entirely new perspective, from which they can discover a new understanding of the world. Regarding the dilution of culture, Brown tries to prove that Jesus married and had a daughter by citing a series of historical figures and events. Accordingly, the masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci has been given a new interpretation, and Newton has become a staunch believer of the theory. At the end of the novel, Brown drops a more audacious prediction: the remains of Mary Magdalene are buried right beneath the Louvre. Such a subversion of religious figures and classical art fully corresponds to the subversion of the classics in postmodernist literature. Moreover, the description of the significance of the Holy Grail toward the end of the novel leaves ample space for the readers’ imagination. Brown knows well that the conventional conclusion, one that always shows how both good and evil will be rewarded, is no longer good enough to satisfy today’s reading public, and that only a novel with an open-ended conclusion leaves an impression long after the book is closed. Ernest Hemingway once said, “For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.”1 Brown’s first three novels failed to impress his readers as he had wished upon their first publication, but he has been consistently unyielding in exploring an organic fusion of traditional literature and genre fiction for his thrillers. His The Da Vinci Code became an unprecedented juggernaut and spiked astronomical sales numbers largely because of his nifty fusion of mystery and knowledge. In a way, he has pioneered a new formula for thriller fiction by learning from the best of others and staying away from conventions. True, The Da Vinci Code caused a furor over its errors and assumptions, and it has been condemned for its selective representation of historical details and unorthodox beliefs about Christian tenets and esoteric societies, but it is hard to deny its innovative craft or refute its unmatchable contribution to genre fiction in America.

1

Ernest Hemingway, “The Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech,” The Official Web Site of the Nobel Prize, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingwayspeech.html.

CHAPTER SIX SEARCHING FOR THE LOST SYMBOL

Brown, who became a world-renowned writer after the sensational success of The Da Vinci Code, spent six years of intense researching, brainstorming, and writing before publishing his next novel, The Lost Symbol (first titled The Solomon Key), on September 15, 2009. The novel was released by Doubleday, a division of Random House, with a first edition printing of 6.5 million copies (5 million in America and 1.5 in England), the highest number for a first edition print in the history of the publisher. The Lost Symbol is Brown’s fifth novel. His previous four novels, Digital Fortress, Angels & Demons, Deception Point, and The Da Vinci Code, won high praise from readers around the world because of the heartracing tempo of the narratives, thrilling plots, and mixture of real and fictional cultural and historical events. In The Lost Symbol, crafted with his matchless narrative, Brown aimed once again to treat his fans to “a fascinating feast” of codes and mysteries.1 Although The Lost Symbol came out after The Da Vinci Code, its central theme makes it seem more like a sequel to Angels & Demons. As Simon Cox suggests, the novel “involves some big themes and historical enigmas” and explores “the deeper, more hidden elements” of humanity and divinity.2 Freemasonry and noetic science, both of which are featured prominently in the novel, represent religion and science, the two keys of Solomon that cultivated the treasure of wisdom in ancient civilizations. The novel runs to over 500 pages, but the entire quest takes place within the short span of 12 hours. With mysteries popping up here and there and crises looming larger and larger, the story is packed with endless suspense and shifts between temporal and spatial settings. With a mishmash of historical anecdotes, religious speculations, and cultural idiosyncrasies all 1

Malcolm Jones, “Book Review: Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol,” Newsweek, September 15, 2009. 2 Simon Cox, Decoding The Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Expert Guide to the Facts behind the Fiction (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009), xiii.

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packaged in fictional form, the book whets the readers’ appetite for thrills and captures their imagination. It fully fits Janet Maslin’s definition of an “impossible to put down” novel.1 By following the non-stop codebreaking quest in The Lost Symbol, readers visit popular tourist sites in the capital of America, reassess American history through Langdon’s eyes, and rediscover the world, which everyone has taken for granted, from a new perspective. There is more, of course. Readers hear Brown’s call for a deconstruction and reconstruction of traditional culture and a reconsideration of history. Simply put, this is what makes his novel so intriguing and so riveting. The fact that all Brown’s novels have made the bestseller list proves he is a great storyteller. He sees novels as “story machines.” His wildest dream is to write stories that everyone will read through in one sitting. To this end, Brown invests all he has as a writer into the invention of this new “story machine.” By drawing on the prevalent ingredients from popular genre fiction, such as detective, horror, murder, and suspense, and exploring the influence of ancient occultism, he has filled his novel with compelling realities and thought-provoking implications. In addition, he has adopted some creative strategies from postmodernist fiction, such as using subversive and distorted patterns, to describe the development of Freemasonry and the history of the US capital, redefine various religious tenets from an iconoclastic viewpoint, and create a perplexing labyrinth based on murky information about symbology and other fields in decoding the Masonic pyramid. In doing so, Brown enriches his narrative with a heavy dose of intertextuality, playability, and plurality. Brown is not merely a storyteller. His plot design, filled with twists, turns, mysteries, and controversies, has been a mainstay in his novel writing. More importantly, it is his deliberate choice to cultivate a deep understanding of cultural issues, voice grave concern over life in the information age, and share his worry about the future of humanity. His debut novel, Digital Fortress, examines the conflict between citizens’ privacy and national security due to the use of advanced technologies; his Angels & Demons explores feasible definitions of a series of binary concepts, such as science and religion, humanity and divinity, good and evil, through the entanglement between the theft of antimatter and the transition of power at the Vatican; his Deception Point tackles the friction between political ambition, national security, and high technology within the broad context of a presidential election; his The Da Vinci Code investigates unsettled religious speculations by deciphering the riddles 1

Janet Maslin, “Fasten Your Seat Belts, There’s Code to Crack,” The New York Times, September 13, 2009.

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between art and religion. This time, in a world beset with economic crises and regional conflicts, his The Lost Symbol relies on religion and science, the two keys of wisdom, to discover the source of power for social development and revive a disillusioned people’s lost confidence in the long history of human civilization.

1. Plot: Cracking the “Ancient Mysteries” A Mysterious Invitation At dusk on a cold January Sunday, Harvard University professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is on his way to the National Statuary Hall inside the US Capitol Building for a lecture. He has been invited by his longtime mentor, Peter Solomon, to deliver a lecture at 7:00 pm, but when he steps through the doorway, there is no sign of any lecture. Langdon dials the number of Peter’s phone. His assistant answers the call with a “mellifluous whisper, “I am afraid Peter Solomon has no idea you’re in Washington today.”1 It turns out to be a trap set by a mysterious man named Mal’akh, who has actually kidnapped Peter. “The Supreme Worshipful Master” impersonated Peter’s assistant and lured Langdon to Washington with the purpose of asking Langdon to help him find the ancient portal inside the building. Langdon soon sees the formal invitation from Mal’akh: a “severed right hand is standing upright” on the floor. “Three of the fingers were closed in a fist, while the thumb and index finger were fully extended, pointing up toward the soaring dome” (50) where the painting, The Apotheosis of Washington, covers the canopy of the Capitol Rotunda. No sooner has he seen the tattoos on the tips “the thumb – a crown – on the index finger – a star” than Langdon recognizes it as “one of the ancient world’s most coveted and secretive icons. The Hand of the Mysteries…. In ancient times, [it] actually served as the most coveted invitation on earth. To receive this icon was a sacred summons to join an elite group – those who were said to guard the secret wisdom of all the ages” (51). At this point, Trent Anderson, the security chief of the Capitol, and Inoue Sato, the director of the CIA’s Office of Security, arrive on the scene. Sato orders Langdon to decipher the mystery of the severed hand right away, claiming that it is a matter of national security. As he explains all the possible implications about “the hand of the mysteries,” Langdon comes 1

Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol (New York: Doubleday, 2009), 36. All the quotes from The Lost Symbol are taken from the same edition and will be indicated by the page number hereafter.

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to realize that Mal’akh actually wants to use his expertise to locate the Masonic pyramid, break the codes on it, and find “the Ancient Mysteries… or the lost wisdom of all ages” (78). On the palm of the hand, they see another tattoo – SBBXIII. What surprises them all is that the symbol actually matches the number for a room in the Senate basement. The record shows that the room has been set aside by the Architect of the Capitol, namely, the manager of the building, as the “private space … for the use of Peter Solomon” (137). With Anderson leading the way, Langdon and Sato walk through the maze-like narrow corridor to the dark and mysterious room in which they find an unfinished stone pyramid engraved with 16 mysterious symbols.

The Life-Death Chase in the Midst of Enigma At the same time, Katherine Solomon is anxiously waiting for a reply from her older brother, Peter, at her lab in the Smithsonian Support Center. She has just heard disturbing news from a man by the name of Christopher Abaddon, who claims to be Peter’s private physician. A moment later, she receives a message from Peter, saying that he hopes he and Dr. Abaddon could be invited to her lab together. In fact, this is another plot by Mal’akh. He impersonates Dr. Abaddon by sending her a message from Peter’s cell phone. His purpose is to sneak into her lab, kill her, and destroy all the results of her research. In the meantime, Langdon is being relentlessly questioned by Sato. After reviewing the digital copy of the X-ray of Langdon’s day bag at the security check, Sato discovers a hollow box that contains a small pyramid or, rather, a capstone, the final piece that “would transform it [the stone pyramid on the desk] from an Unfinished Pyramid into a True Pyramid” (167). Just as she is about to take Langdon into custody and take him back to the CIA for questioning, Warren Bellamy, the Architect of the Capitol, rushes into the chamber, knocks down both Anderson and Sato, and steers Langdon away from the basement. They leave the Capitol Building through the secret passageway that leads into the Library of Congress nearby. During their flight, Langdon is worried about Katherine’s safety so he calls her on the phone. As soon as she says she is expecting Peter and his physician at the lab, Langdon sees through Mal’akh’s plot to kill Katherine and panics. He urges her to leave immediately. Langdon’s call makes Katherine so nervous that she checks with the security office right away. She finds out that her assistant, Trish, is nowhere to be found and that Dr. Abaddon is already on his way. “Katherine’s body went rigid” (178). Her lab is at the end of Pod 5. Inside

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Pod 5, it is spacious but pitch black. The hydrogen fuel cell in the test room is the only source of light. She and Mal’akh silently battle in the darkness. She places her open cell phone on a horizontal strut to lure Mal’akh to the display light and dashes out as quickly as she can. She drives over to the Library of Congress to meet Langdon. Shortly after Katherine joins Langdon and Bellamy, CIA agents walk into the reading room of the Capitol Building. Bellamy assists Langdon and Katherine escape to the Adams Building via the conveyor belt for book circulation in the basement of the library. Katherine opens the box with the capstone and tries to find the clues to decipher the 16 symbols on the Masonic pyramid, but the words on the capstone offer no useful information at all. Both Langdon and Katherine feel distressed and dejected until they see a tiny text “carved on the exterior of the box, near the bottom corner of one side” (253). They use the text as a clue to test a magic square of letters, from which they translate the entire text of the pyramid into three Latin words: Jeova Sanctus Unus, which means “One true God.” But the code on the pyramid has not been deciphered yet. Langdon’s phone rings again at this point. Collin Galloway, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, a good friend of Bellamy and Peter Solomon and a Mason of high degree, is calling. To prevent the secret of the Masonic pyramid from leaking out, he wants Langdon and Katherine to seek sanctuary at his cathedral. Once the three of them unite at the cathedral, Galloway briefs them about the pyramid; it is a real map that points to a real location. Katherine and Langdon soon figure out the shining text on the side of the golden capstone: “8 Franklin Square,” a specific street address. Is this address where the ancient portal is hidden?

Temple of God at Midnight According to Mal’akh’s request, Langdon must decipher the code on the pyramid before midnight otherwise Peter’s life will be in danger. Langdon contacts Mal’akh on time, but a woman answers the phone. She claims that she is a police officer, that the police department has taken over Mal’akh’s house, and that they’ve found a man who has lost his right hand. Katherine is ebullient over the news but just as they are about to run over, Sato appears in front of them. Langdon tells her everything he knows and begs for her permission to check on Peter. Sato agrees and leads her team to Franklin Square, based on the clues from Langdon. Unfortunately, all this turns out to be another trap by Mal’akh. Mal’akh detains the two people who come to see Peter and forces them to share the deciphered code at the bottom of the pyramid, after knocking Langdon unconscious

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first, and then interrogates them with death threats. Mal’akh goes to the hiding place of the treasures with Peter, leaving Katherine and Langdon to die in the dark basement. Mal’akh enters the Temple Room with Peter and tells him to give him the Lost Word. With the power from the Lost Word, he claims, he will be able to transform his secular and physical body, absorb tremendous power, and change himself from man to god. But such a transformation requires a crucial step; a sacrifice on the altar. Nevertheless, no one could have imagined that Mal’akh wants to sacrifice himself as he is determined to follow the most pious sacrificial ceremony from the Bible – Abraham’s willing sacrifice of his son, Isaac, before God stopped him at the last minute. At this point, everything becomes clear. Mal’akh is actually Peter Solomon’s son, Zachary. Since his childhood, he has harbored so much hatred toward his father for the way he was treated and vowed revenge. After faking his own death in prison, he disappeared for years. Now, he is back for his revenge, his spiritual perfection, and his eventual incarnation. Peter refuses to kill his son on the altar with the knife, but at that moment, a CIA helicopter smashes the Temple Room’s massive oculus – numerous pieces of glass pierce Mal’akh’s body and drench him in blood. Langdon, who has been rescued earlier, arrives and sees the horrifying scene in the Temple Room. In the meantime, the CIA averts Mal’akh’s plot to destroy Freemasonry. To express his gratitude to Langdon for what he has done, Peter decides to take him to the real Lost Word. It turns out that the secret has been hidden underneath the Washington Monument, and the Lost Word, or the Masonic pyramid’s final code, is Laus Deo – Praise God. Also, Peter shows Langdon that the true meaning of the Ancient Mysteries is the infinite potential of man. Later, Peter makes arrangements for Langdon and Katherine to watch the sunrise from the top of the Capitol Building. When the first ray of light shines on the top of the Washington Monument right in front of the Capitol, Langdon is astonished. Everything is as Peter described. God is the universal symbol of mankind, and the founding fathers had long understood this. People praise God but only a few realize that they are actually praising the infinite potential of mankind. This ancient symbol had lost its meaning for a while, but now is rediscovered. Standing on top of the Capitol Building under the warm sunlight, Langdon feels “a powerful upwelling deep within himself. Hope” (509).

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2. Characterization: Colorful Masks The Lost Symbol has a large cast of characters. Even if you exclude all the passersby and tourists, you can still count a total of 19 named characters. Once you have taken out some of the characters who are not essential to the central plot, you can divide the main characters into two leading roles and three groups. The two leading roles are the handsome protagonist, Langdon, and the lunatic villain, Mal’akh. The three groups are Freemasonry, the staff of noetic science, and the three government agencies represented by Peter, Katherine, and Inoue Sato. Within a 12hour time frame, the alternating narrative either fleshes out the intricate relationships and conflicts among the characters or interprets the mysteries in the world of symbols.

Robert Langdon He is a recurrent hero from Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. He wears his usual attire: charcoal turtleneck, Harris Tweed jacket, khakis, collegiate cordovan loafers, and the same Mickey Mouse watch, a gift from his parents when he was ten. Having gone through the two adventurous journeys in the Vatican and Paris, the life of this Harvard University professor of symbology does not seem to have changed much at all. He still gets up at 4:45 am every morning to plunge into the Harvard pool for a few laps and returns home around 6:00 to do “his morning ritual of hand-grinding Sumatra coffee beans and savoring the exotic scent that filled his kitchen” (14). Six years have passed since his last trip to Paris. In The Lost Symbol, he is about to continue his legend of cryptography at the age of 46. Langdon is a composite character that Brown has created with marvelous craft and meticulous care. Brown has incorporated many of his own personal experiences into Langdon’s background, lent some of his own image to the appearance of Langdon, and completed his portrayal based on the need of plot development. In a discussion of his character, “Ah Q,” in “The Real Story of Ah Q,” Lu Xun pointed out, “As to the model for characterization, I have never modeled my characters after any particular person. Often, their mouth is from Zhejiang; their face is from Beijing; their clothing is from Shanxi. Every character consists of many different elements.”1 Even though he resembles Brown in many ways, 1

Lu Xun, “The Real Story of Ah Q,” in The Complete Collection of Lu Xun, Vol. 4, ed. The Lu Xun Memorial Committee (Beijing: People’s Literature Press, 1981), 513.

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such as sharing the same birthday, birthplace, and daily attire, Langdon seems to be more audacious and venturesome. In a way, he represents a more ideal self-image of the author. The name, Langdon, is taken from John Langdon, the American designer of anagrams, for a few reasons. First, it is a token of Brown’s respect for the artist, who has offered his support to the author; secondly, it lends a more artistic and mysterious quality to the character as a symbologist. It is worth noting, though, that Brown did not select the ingredients for the portrayal of Langdon randomly; instead, he extracted Langdon’s unique traits from different sources and refined his character through artistic fiction and imagination. Langdon’s skeptical inclination, for instance, has been seen as a special quality that charms many readers. It is his inquisitive spirit that leads to his discovery of the master sculptor for the Illuminati and to his subversive interpretation of the Christian Holy Grail. Also, it enables him to redefine conventional concepts without any banal connotations. In The Lost Symbol, Langdon’s inquisitive spirit is fully illustrated once again. Although he is preoccupied by the encryption of the Masonic pyramid all along, he is consistently skeptical about the Ancient Mysteries in the codes. In his view, they merely represent a wonderful ideal in the long history of human evolution. Like the fountain of youth and the sword in the stone, it is just a fairytale-like symbol. His quality education has trained him to observe everything in a rational way. To him, all these abstruse tales and legends are nothing more than the fantasies of his childhood. What is true or false? What is fictional or real? As he passes through numerous historical and cultural buildings in Washington, D.C., he is trying to clear up the puzzles in his own mind.

Mal’akh Mal’akh means “angel” in Hebrew but ironically he is a demonic character in the novel. He is a strong man with a high intelligence quotient, and he has tattoos all over his body. In the opening scene of the prologue, the Supreme Worshiper Master, Peter Solomon, is presiding over a solemn ceremony in the Temple Room, Mal’akh’s initiation to the 33rd degree, the highest in Freemasonry. His aside, indicated by Brown in italics, reveals to us that becoming a high-ranking Masonic member is just the first step of his hideous conspiracy. The tattooing of his body is done to his own design, and documents all his dreams. He has tattoos of the talons of a hawk on his feet, the two pillars – Boaz and Jachin – of the Solomon Temple on his legs, the archways of mystical power between his abdomen and groin, a double-headed phoenix on his muscular chest, and

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Jacob’s Ladder on his spine. The skin on his shoulders, neck, face, and head is covered by patterns of various ancient symbols and images, leaving only one piece of bare flesh on the top of his head, which is encircled by an Ouroboros, a mystical snake devouring its own tail. Soon, this little spot of “pure and untouched” flesh will be tattooed with the sacred “ancient portal.” To find this ancient portal that will endow him with infinite power, Mal’akh has set up a series of traps, luring Langdon, the famed symbologist, to Washington, D.C. first, and then threatening to kill Peter if he refuses to help him decipher the long-kept secret of the Freemasonry. Hegel writes in his Aesthetics, “As to certain characters, the premeditation of actions, the final decision, and their actual completion cannot be done without them.”1 What he means is that certain characters generate certain scenarios, and certain scenarios create individualized personalities. Mal’akh’s image as a villain with a peculiar personality adds extra breathtaking and titillating twists to the plot. In the novel, Mal’akh kills six innocent people without hesitation in order to accomplish his goal. His abnormal traits, such as his ruthlessness, crankiness, and deviousness, make us wonder what kind of traumatic experience he must have had in the past, and what has turned him into a fanatic so fixated on the pursuit of a long-concealed secret. As he proceeds to execute his plan step by step, a myriad of agonizing reflections take him back to his horrendous past again and again. He is Mal’akh now, but he was Andros Dareios when he was hiding in Greece, and, before that, Zachary Solomon. After managing to escape a brutal prison by faking his own death, he is determined to give up his status in, and his name of, his prominent family so as to pursue the life he desires. However, nothing can fill the void in his soul. He needs to search for something, something like the Lost Word, which will guarantee him a perfect transformation even if it means he has to sacrifice everything, including his life.

Katherine Solomon Katherine Solomon, the younger sister of Peter Solomon, is an expert in noetic science who conducts her search on human consciousness and potential at the Smithsonian Support Center. Even at 50, she has “a smooth olive complexion” as she has been “blessed with the resilient Mediterranean skin of her ancestry.” She uses “almost no makeup” and likes to wear “her thick black hair unstyled and down.” She has “gray eyes and a slender, patrician elegance” (21). She has never married as she sees 1

Enhuan Yang, The History of Western Aesthetics and Ideology (Shenyang: Liaoning University Press, 1988), 471.

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science as “her life partner” (22). As “the gorgeous but brainy female who becomes Langdon’s partner-in-sleuthing,” she cherishes “noetics” as “a New Age branch of physics that draws on string theory and to try to prove that ‘mind over matter’ is a scientific reality.”1 Indeed, her research has brought her much unexpected joy and gratification. Although it might sound a bit fancy, in Katherine’s eyes, noetic science is the most ancient subject in the world – a study of “the power of the human mind” (22). Katherine’s research has benefited a lot from her brother’s inspiration and guidance. She lost her father when she was only seven. Her brother, eight years her senior, has been like a father to her. Suddenly, however, he is detained in a place that she does not even know. To find out the truth and save Peter from imminent danger, the strong-willed and wise Katherine takes action immediately. She teams up with Langdon to search through various buildings around Washington, D.C. during the quiet and cold night. They watch each other’s back, confront the enemy with wisdom and courage, and break difficult codes again and again. The portrayal of Katherine naturally reminds one of Vittoria in Angels & Demons and Sophie in The Da Vinci Code. All three heroines are elegant, charming, intelligent, and kind. They offer a lot of assistance to Langdon’s encryption and adventure, but their commonality does not obscure their unique personality at all. Brown’s sketch of Katherine is brief but it accentuates quite a few qualities that are distinctively different from other two heroines. She is a bit older and has a pleasant quaintness in her demeanor. Her work is in scientific research but she is keenly interested in human consciousness and intelligence. Because of these qualities, we see less emotional ambiguity and more of a spiritual connection between Katherine and Langdon in The Lost Symbol.

Peter Solomon Peter Solomon, Katherine’s older brother, is a Smithsonian secretary and a wise man full of grace and intelligence. He is from the Solomon family dynasty, well-known for its tremendous influence and massive wealth. The family name appears in universities and on buildings across the country. Among its early generations, there were numerous prominent figures, from rich business magnates to powerful politicians and outstanding scientists. Critics like Alex Carmine argue that Peter is “based on the Rockefeller family,” which is also extremely wealthy and philanthropic,” and associate Peter’s name with the word from the Greek 1

Charlotte Allen, “Still More Secrets: Together Again, an Exciting Thriller and a Tedious Sermon,” The Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2009.

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for “rock,” which is pretty close to “Rockefeller.”1 At 58, Peter has inherited his family’s wealth and intelligence and has established an excellent career as a philanthropist, historian, and scientist. He is highly respected in society. To Langdon, Peter is both a close friend and a longtime mentor. It was a special lecture delivered by Peter years before that inspired Langdon to enter the world of symbology. In the novel, there is not much direct description of Peter. Brown mostly uses the Masonic ring on Peter’s finger to reveal his identity, or relies on the things around him for symbolic observation. Peter’s ring is quite unusual. It features a double-headed phoenix with the number 33 printed on its chest. It shows not only the power of the Solomon family but also his other important role – the leader of the highest-ranking members of the mysterious organization, Freemasonry. Moreover, the ring informs us about the Solomon family’s mission to protect the ancient treasure hidden inside the Masonic pyramid for generations. Unfortunately, though, such a sacred mission has cost Peter dearly over the years. Ten years before, his mother, Elizabeth Solomon, was killed when Mal’akh tried to snatch the pyramid. Today, Mal’akh’s return cost him his right hand and almost the total destruction of Freemasonry. What has shattered him most, though, is the fact that his son, his own flesh and blood, Zachary, has turned into his worst enemy in his mission and life. Peter has gone through so many ups and downs. All the love and hatred in his life have commingled in this little ring. It is truly loaded with profound and variegated implications.

Inoue Sato Inoue Sato is another key female character in the novel. Though a tiny Japanese American woman, she is the director of the CIA’s Office of Security and a legendary figure in the massive intelligence community. Her rough experience in life and the tough demands of her profession have solidified her stoic, calm, rigorous, and resolute personality. “Born inside the fences of a Japanese internment camp in Manzanar, California, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor,” she has “never forgotten the horrors of war, or the perils of insufficient military intelligence” (63-64). She has “a fierce expression, a mottled complexion, thinning hair, tobacco-stained teeth, and an unsettling white scar that sliced horizontally across her neck” (66) after the treatment of throat cancer. In the surgery, she lost half of her voice box, which is why she sounds scraping and hollow on the phone, 1

Alex Carmine, Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol: The Ultimate Unauthorized and Independent Reading Guide (London: Punked Books, 2009), 38.

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and Langdon mistakes her for a man and addresses her as “sir” several times. As she holds a key position in the CIA, she is like a monster in the sea, always swimming around, waiting for the chance to eliminate the disturbing species that threaten national security. She is a “bristly tempest of a woman” (67) and does not talk very much, but she does whatever it takes to maintain the safety of the country. She is persistent in her chase of Langdon and her effort to get the secret about the Masonic pyramid from him. Later, after she explains the reason and purpose of her operation to Warren Bellamy and Langdon, she wins their trust and collaboration. They work closely and effectively to thwart Mal’akh’s heinous crime. At first, the description of Sato easily leads to the assumption that she is a villainous character who is up to something vicious. Here, the author is actually using the special artistic strategy, favored by many Chinese writers, “setting off the positive with the negative,” to highlight Sato’s positive qualities. As a high-ranking intelligence officer, Sato has unique traits that fit her profession perfectly. She is unattractive physically due to her appearance and her shrieking voice. A shallow rough novel tends to glamorize the protagonists while vilifying the antagonists; in literature, however, a wise and beautiful face could disguise a monster whereas a person with a dreadful, coarse appearance might have a kind heart. The novel presents many interesting minor characters who contribute to the plot development in one way or the other. Their roles provide the story with some much-needed bright spots in the midst of the darkness. Altogether, they represent people from all walks of life in a capital city that hosts various federal government institutions.

3. Themes: Behind the Lost Symbol To decipher a series of cryptic codes concealed in the tiny stone pyramid and find the Ancient Mysteries preserved so furtively inside the organization of Freemasonry, Langdon relies on his broad historical and cultural knowledge. During the long and arduous code-breaking quest, two words keep popping up in his mind, and that of the reader’s as well: one is Washington; the other is Freemasonry. Why are these two words tied to the ancient secret wisdom?

Two Washingtons – The Father of America and the Capital of America Washington is where the story takes place. It is also a key word in American history. The novel offers plenty of information about the

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Masonic membership of George Washington, the father of America, and it features Washington, D.C., the capital of America, very prominently with specific details. To understand the significance of these two Washingtons clearly, we ought to review them carefully from a historical perspective. George Washington was born near present-day Colonia Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia on February 22, 1732. In his childhood, he was fond of horse riding and hunting, which became key factors in shaping his courageous and resolute character. He joined the military at 21. In 1755, he fought in the French and Indian War. One day, after the British Commander was injured, Washington took over command until the troops retreated. His cap was pierced through by four bullets, and two of his horses got hit. He was commended for his bravery. In 1759, Washington married the wealthy widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, and managed the family farm at Mount Vernon after their marriage. The farm became a popular gathering place for many prominent figures of the gentry, offering him the opportunity to make influential friends. From 1759 to 1774, Washington’s political views went through major changes as his anti-British sentiment grew stronger and stronger. On June 17, 1775, the North American Congress appointed Washington as General and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. After eight years of fierce fighting, Washington led his army to victory and forced the British army to end hostilities. He’d won widespread praise for his political and military tactics, his superb skill in organization, and his dedicated service. In December, 1783, he resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief and returned to Mount Vernon. But his retirement was soon interrupted because he was persuaded to attend the Constitutional Convention and, at the age of 57, was elected as the first president in 1789. In 1790, the Residence Act was passed by the Congress and signed into law by Washington. The bill approved the creation of the national capital on the Potomac River. After surveying the area on horseback four times, Washington selected the area where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers meet as the site of the capital city. Washington selected the Frenchborn American architect and civil engineer, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, to design the city. L’Enfant’s plan placed the Capitol at the center and laid out all the streets in a grid based on a radiating pattern. To reiterate the supreme power of the Congress, a law was passed to forbid any building to be higher than the Capitol in the central area of the city. The capital was named Washington, the District of Columbia in honor of General Washington and Columbus, who discovered the North Americas in 1492. Washington put in a lot of care into the construction of the capital yet he was the only president who never lived in the presidential residence,

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the White House. L’Enfant proposed building the presidential residence like the Gardens of Versailles or another European castle. Surprisingly, this ran into strong opposition from many because a building like that might make the president look like an emperor in Asia or a king in Europe instead of the first citizen of the United States. Washington insisted that anyone working in the presidential building be a public servant, so the presidential residence should not be as luxurious as a palace. Washington had always led a simple life so he was happy to see the residence constructed as a three-story building that is spacious but solid, plain but elegant. Washington refused to run for a third term and established a policy of a maximum of two terms for a president, which has been maintained as a long tradition of democracy in American politics. To commemorate George Washington, the construction of the 169-meter tall Washington Monument began in 1848 and ended in 1884. Since his service to the country cannot be fully described in words, it is quite fitting that this simple but magnificent obelisk does not have any words inscribed on it. It perfectly matches Washington’s stature as a simple man but a tower of strength. The monument has become a landmark in Washington, D.C., a place where American people come to pay their tribute to the man who has made the greatest contribution to the nation.

The Worldwide Fraternity Organization – The Mysterious Freemasonry Freemasonry is the largest secret international society. For centuries, it has generated suspicion and controversies. Brian Handwerk offers a very informative summary of the myths surrounding this ancient organization in his article “The Lost Symbol and the Freemasons: 8 Myths Decoded”: “Masons stress that their organization is not a religion, that is, it has no unique theology and does not represent a path for believers to salvation or other divine rewards” but “some religious leaders believe that Masonic rituals and beliefs—with its temples, altars, and oaths—do constitute an opposing faith.”1 Freemasonry first originated from the local fraternities of stonemasons. The skilled stonemasons knew geometry and architecture, so compared to other ignorant young workers they were more intelligent and capable of handling all kinds of jobs. They stayed together, like a trade union, and treated each other like brothers. The guild they 1

Brian Handwerk, “The Lost Symbol and the Freemasons: 8 Myths Decoded,” National Geographic News, September 15, 2009.

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formed was quite strong. Legend has it that they attempted to build the celestial tower of Babel but the masons could not communicate among themselves because God interfered with their language. Consequently, they failed to build the tower and dispersed around the world afterwards. Since their belief was different from the mainstream religion, Christianity, they had to avoid persecution by hiding their identity and forming their own secret society. According to the legend of Freemasonry, its founder was Hallam, who was selected as one of the leading stonemasons for the construction of the Jerusalem Temple because of his excellent skills. He was murdered by three jealous masons and then buried in a bronze tomb inside the temple. Before long, however, he resurrected. That is why new initiates of the society must go through a symbolic ritual of death and resurrection, their identity be unknown to others, and they maintain contact with other members through codes. Members of the society kept everything secret from generation to generation. In 1745, an exposé, published anonymously in Amsterdam, revealed a detailed account on the society’s rules, activities, and even rituals. Since then, Freemasonry lifted the veil on its secrecy. Masons stopped hiding their identity and their activities and started openly participating in charity activities. Modern-day Freemasonry began in England in the 18th century. By then, its members were not the working masons in its early history. Instead, they were promoters of enlightenment for the new social and political edifice. At first, most of the members were from the aristocracy or the upper society, interested in promoting the ideals of universal love, virtue, and the purpose of life, and they made great contributions to the advancement of Enlightenment in Europe. Gradually, however, they started cuddling up to the monarchy in order to seek its support. Many members of the royal family soon joined the society, including King Edward VII and many princes, thus elevating it to a new height of popularity. With the support from royalty, the Masons, who were already the elite from the upper classes, became more powerful and more capable of expanding the society rapidly. Within half a century, the influence of Freemasonry had spread throughout the whole of Europe. As more and more ordinary people came into its fold, Freemasonry kept widening its reach and steadily developed into a formidable force that could potentially contend with the Catholic Church. A key factor in the rapid expansion of Freemasonry was its adoption of symbolic and useful tools, including a pair of compasses, a square, and a Holy Book. The Holy Book of Freemasonry is just a book. It fully respects the religious faith of its members. The Bible is the Holy Book for

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Christians; for other religious believers, their Holy Book is their religious scriptures, such as the five books of Moses, or The Pentateuch, for Jews. The compasses and square are the main symbols of Freemasonry, representing its will to plan a new world order. The letter “G” in the middle of the Masonic emblem, which contains the compasses and square, stands for geometry – the core of masonry skill and the “noblest of sciences” – and God, of whichever religion applies. In Freemasonry, the compasses, square, and the Holy Book are considered the Furniture of the Lodge, the indispensable tools needed to accomplish personal endeavor, dispel the triple darkness, and see the light of reason again so they are regarded as the Three Great Lights of Masonry. In addition to the Furniture of the Lodge, Freemasonry has a strict hierarchy, with 33 degrees. The higher one’s degree is, the more powerful the Mason. The highest is the 33rd degree, which is usually held by the masters. In The Lost Symbol, Peter Solomon, Warren Bellamy, Colin Galloway, and Mal’akh belong to this degree and therefore serve as the leading officials. It is true that Freemasonry contributed significantly to the British Enlightenment and social progress, but later it lost its zeal to forge ahead and let its influence wane. Many Masons migrated to the North Americas, where they have, slowly but surely, restored the credibility and popularity of the society. Historically, Freemasonry played a major role during the American Enlightenment and the War of Independence. Many of America’s founding fathers were Freemasons. Among the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 53 of them were Freemasons, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. In American history, Freemasonry has had many star members, many of whom were either pioneering figures in the founding of the nation or presidents after Washington. During the War of Independence, a lot of leaders were Masons. Not many people knew much about another Mason, Haym Salomon (or Solomon), though, the man who provided most of the funding for the Continental Army during the war. In fact, he loaned his life’s savings to the American army for the fight against the British. But the American government failed to pay back all the loans after the war and he died penniless. Only years later did the American government build a few memorial halls for him and, in 1975, issue a set of stamps to commemorate him. The following words were printed on the back of the stamp: “Financial Hero—Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse.” Perhaps Haym Solomon’s self-sacrifice was entirely motivated by the

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Masonic spirit of fellowship and its ideal to create a new world. In The Lost Symbol, the rich and powerful Solomon family is probably modeled after Haym Solomon, the low-key but history-shaping figure.

4. Setting: Following the Traces of History In Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, Langdon takes the reader for a tour, first in the Vatican, a sacred religious place, and then Paris, the capital of the arts, during his heart-racing adventure of decryption. In The Lost Symbol, he finally returns to his own country, to look for the Masonic Ancient Mysteries in its capital, Washington, D.C. Now, let’s follow his steps and explore some of the main historical and cultural buildings in this center of power in America.

The Capitol Building The Capitol Building is the office building of the Congress. It is located right in the center of Washington, D.C., atop Capitol Hill on the east side of the National Mall. This all-white 540-room building is 88 meters tall; its length from the south to north is 229 meters; its greatest width from east to west is 106.6 meters. The ivory-white building is neoclassical in style. It consists of a dome in the main building and two wings on the south and north sides. The north wing is occupied by the Senate, while the south wing is taken by the House. A small round-shaped tower sits on top of the dome. A 5.8 meter tall bronze Statue of Freedom has been erected on its pinnacle. She wears a feather crown on her head, carries a sword in her right hand, holds a shield in her left hand, and looks out to where the sun rises. The American Constitution prohibits any building taller than the Capitol Building in the central area of Washington, D.C. so it is the highest point in the heart of the city. Standing on top of the building, one has a full view of the whole city. The National Statuary Hall, located on the south of the Rotunda, is a semicircular hall built in the shape of an ancient Greek amphitheater. The white arching walls are made of sandstone and Italian painted plaster. Colossal columns stand under the wall around the perimeter. Between the columns, there are dozens of life-sized statues, a collection of two statues donated by each of the 50 states to honor their historical outstanding citizens. The statues are made of different materials in different forms. Some are made of granite; some are made of bronze; some are sitting; some are standing. All of them look lifelike, as if they were telling the passing tourists the culture and history of their respective states.

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The Rotunda is right under the dome at the center of the Capitol Building. It is 29 meters in diameter and rises 55 meters to the canopy. The floor is granite, and the wall built of marble. It is spacious enough to accommodate 3,000 people. On the Rotunda wall and the canopy above, there are many huge oil paintings and frescos depicting major events in American history. The statues of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and others encircle the Rotunda, against the wall. Eight gigantic framed oil paintings hang from the wall. The four on the east side depict the European exploration and colonization of America; the four on the west present scenes of the American Revolution. Between the dome and the wall, right underneath the 36 windows, there is the Frieze of American History, painted in trompe-l’æil style with 19 scenes of famous historical events. The Rotunda canopy features the huge fresco, The Apotheosis of Washington, which covers an area of 433 square meters. It was painted by the Italian artist, Constantino Brumidi, over 11 months in 1865. In the novel, the Rotunda is where Langdon sees the severed hand of his good friend, Peter Solomon. Langdon tries to explain the symbolic implication of the Rotunda in order to disclose the ancient message of the Hand of the Mysteries. In chapter 20, Langdon mentions that the Rotunda was built as a tribute to The Temple of Vesta in Rome. In ancient Rome, all the temples to Vesta were round structures. In the middle of the temple, there was “a gaping hole in the floor,” or a hearth, in which “the sacred fire of enlightenment” was kept burning by Vestal virgins eternally. According to Langdon, the Rotunda used to keep “an eternal flame that burned in the crypt,” “making this room a modern Temple of Vesta” (8384). Now, the flame is gone, and only some symbols are left behind. Langdon offers some additional information about the Ancient Mysteries of Freemasonry by interpreting the symbolic meaning of The Apotheosis of Washington. As implied by the fresco’s theme of “Washington being transformed into a god,” what the Ancient Mysteries means is the secret wisdom that “lets men acquire godlike powers” (84). But there is still a long way to go before Langdon can uncover the entire secret.

The Library of Congress The Library of Congress is located in the southeast part of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1800, it is one of the four national libraries in America, and the largest in the world. It claims that its collection of 158 million items, including 36 million books and other print materials, fills about 1348 kilometers of bookshelves. The library is housed in three buildings named after three presidents. The main building is the Thomas

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Jefferson Building, completed in 1897; the other two are the John Adams Building, completed in 1939, and the James Madison Memorial Building, completed in 1980. Its total area is 341,883 square meters, and it preserves all kinds of valuable historical documents. Built in the Italian Renaissance style, the Thomas Jefferson Building is one of the oldest federal buildings. Its elaborate and astonishing interior is decorated with magnificent frescos, inlay paintings, statues, and stained glass windows. What impresses visitors the most is the famous round Main Reading Room. It rises to 48.7 meters inside the dome and has all kinds of magnificent artistic decorations. Eight gigantic crimson marble columns support the surrounding wall under the dome. A large statue representing a category of knowledge can be seen next to each column. In the gallery, there are eight pairs of life-sized bronze statues, each representing two leading figures in that particular category of knowledge – Michelangelo and Beethoven for art, Homer and Shakespeare for poetry, Plato and Bacon for philosophy, Newton and Henry for science, Herodotus and Gibbon for history, Columbus and Fulton for commerce, St. Paul and Moses for religion, and Solon and Kent for law. Looking at all these statues, it’s like entering a sacred temple of knowledge. It is in this “most beautiful room in the world” that Langdon deciphers the symbols on the Masonic pyramid. After that, he and Katherine meet, escape to the Adams Building on the next street via the book circulation conveyor belt, and continue their search for the meaning of the 16 secret symbols inside the tiny pyramid.

The US Botanic Garden The US Botanic Garden is right next to the Capitol Building. It was built in 1820, one of the oldest arboretums in North America. It is under the charge of the US Congress, and is managed by the Office of the Architect of the Capitol Building. Its center is the Conservatory, which has more than ten rooms. Each room simulates a special habitat for rare plants both at home and abroad. The largest one is the Jungle Room, which has a second-story catwalk for visitors to observe everything inside. Just south of the garden lies Bartholdi Park, in which one can see the Bartholdi Fountain, a few small gardens with different themes, and the administration building.

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Washington Freedom Plaza The Freedom Plaza is an open square at the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C. It was constructed in 1980 and inlaid with stones of different colors, depicting L’Enfant’s initial plan for the layout of the streets in the capital city. No wonder chapter 76 of the novel starts with the line, “Freedom Plaza is a map” (280). The plaza was renamed to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King wrote his famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” in the nearby Willard Hotel. Over the years, the plaza has been a popular place for political protests and public events. It is located at a convenient intersection of several Metro lines. Three lines, Red, Blue, and Orange, run through the Metro Center Station in six directions. In the novel, Langdon and Katherine take advantage of this unique convenience by riding the Red Line for six stops northbound to Tenleytown, all the while getting ready for their search for the secret at the next stop – Washington National Cathedral. At the same time, the CIA agents make a mistake in their judgment as they assume that Langdon and Katherine took the Blue Line to the George Washington Masonic Memorial; so they wait for them on the platform of King Street Station in Alexandria.

The George Washington National Masonic Memorial The Washington National Masonic Memorial is located on King Street in Alexandria, Virginia, just on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. Its design is similar to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the ancient lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt; it also incorporates some elements from the ancient Greek Revival and Romanesque Revival styles. The portico, built with Doric style columns, looks magnificent; the tower has Ionic columns on the second tier and Corinthian columns on the third. The pinnacle of the tower is an Egyptian pyramid with a flame-like spire. Inside the memorial, there are nine floors. Near the western end of the hall on the ground floor stands a huge bronze bust of George Washington wearing many Masonic badges and symbols, which proves the other important identity he had in addition to the founding father of the nation. On other floors of the building, there is a huge collection of Masonic relics, and replicas of the mysterious treasures hinted at in ancient legends. In the novel, however, neither Langdon nor Katherine shows up at this majestic national memorial. They merely use it as a decoy so they can

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get to their real destination, the Washington National Cathedral, which is located in the opposition direction.

The Washington National Cathedral The formal name of the Washington National Cathedral is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is part of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. It is located on an obscure hill near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue in northwest Washington, D.C. Built in a typical Neo-Gothic style, it is actually the second-largest cathedral in America and the sixth-largest in the world. Its construction began in 1907, but it was not completely finished until 1990. Even though the construction took a long time, the Bethlehem Chapel in the unfinished cathedral opened for services in 1912 and has witnessed many major events in American history. In the novel, Langdon had written an article, “Moses, Moon Rocks, and Star Wars,” for a kids’ magazine a few years earlier “in hopes of generating some excitement among young Americans to come see this amazing landmark” (295). Sure, it would be naïve to assume that everything in an article for tourism is true, but some of the details included in its title really do exist in the cathedral. The name “Moses” refers to the ten stones from Mount Sinai inset near the main altar inside the cathedral. As the Bible indicates, God sent Moses back to Egypt. Moses led the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, and stayed on Mount Sinai for 40 days. That is where Moses received the slate carved with the Ten Commandments. The ten stones from Mount Sinai near the altar in the cathedral “symbolize the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai” (295). The “moon rocks” represent the colorful stained glass in the cathedral. There are more than 200 stained-glass works on the walls. There beautiful colors, elaborate images, and different themes depict a wide range of religious, historical, and cultural stories. “One of the stained-glass windows,” Langdon explains to Katherine in the novel, “is called the Space Window and has a fragment of moon rock embedded in it” (295). It is a special design to commemorate mankind’s great accomplishment of landing on the moon. What is more intriguing is the last detail in the article’s title – “Star Wars.” It is unthinkable that there is a statue of a character from the blockbuster movie, Star Wars, inside the Washington National Cathedral. Indeed, a gargoyle of the villain in the movie, Darth Vader, sits on the top of the west towers. During the medieval period, gargoyles functioned both as guardians against evil spirits – and the drainage system – in a church. Such a tradition in the

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architectural style for church buildings has continued to this day. Today, gargoyles with different expressions can be seen on the towers and roof of the cathedral. Just before the construction of the cathedral was finally completed, the man in charge suddenly came up with a daring idea of setting up “a contest for kids to carve a gargoyle that depicted the face of evil” (296). Eventually, Darth Vader won. With the advice and assistance from the dean of the cathedral, Colin Galloway, Langdon is able to remove the veil that covers the Masonic pyramid. At this time, the CIA agents, following some clues, are rushing over to the cathedral. Galloway senses that something is approaching so he urges Langdon and Katherine to move to a safe place immediately. By the time the agents arrive in a helicopter, Langdon and Katherine have managed to hide in the Cathedral College nearby. In the kitchen of the college, they stumble across the shining text on the side of the golden capstone and find the clue for the next place, which is a specific street address: “8 Franklin Square.” Is that the secret hiding place of the Ancient Mysteries?

Franklin Square Franklin Square is located northwest of the downtown area in Washington, D.C. Bound by K Street to the north and 13th Street on the east, it is one of the oldest districts in the city, with many historical buildings. The most noticeable building is the historic Franklin School, the site from where the father of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, sent out the first wire message on June 3, 1880. The highest building in the area is One Franklin Square. Sato orders the helicopter to land on the top of the building, deploys her agents in ambush, and waits silently for Mal’akh to show up.

Masonic House of the Temple The conclusion of the story reveals that Franklin Square is not the final hiding place of the Masonic secret. What Langdon has found is not the final secret but only one more clue. The real secret is hidden elsewhere. As the climax of the story draws near, people from all agencies and forces come over to the Masonic House of the Temple, the place everyone believes is the hiding place of the Ancient Mysteries. The House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. is the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The construction of the building began in 1911 and ended in 1915. Its design was modeled after the tomb of

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Mausolus at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its tall steep roof bears a great resemblance to a pyramid. On each side of the entrance stands a sphinx that weighs about 17 tons to protect the magnificent and sacred temple. The Masonic House of the Temple is somewhere Langdon has always loved visiting. Its ancient symbols and decorations actually match those in the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. Many major incidents in the novel take place right here. In the prologue, this is where Mal’akh drinks the red wine from a human skull before finishing his initiation into the highest degree in Freemasonry. Also, this is where the story reaches its gripping and astonishing climax.

Washington Monument After the stormy life-and-death showdown inside the House of the Temple, everything seems to have calmed down. Langdon is trying to wash off his fatigue in the bathroom on the first floor while Peter stands in front of the Masonic pyramid, deep in thought, all by himself in the library. But the story does not end here. The mysterious treasure of Freemasonry still has not been found. The lost symbol is still buried somewhere in Washington, D.C. To express his gratitude to Langdon, Peter takes him to the secret place of the Ancient Mysteries – the Washington Monument. The monument, built in memory of the first president of America, George Washington, is at the center of the National Mall between the Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial, with the Jefferson Memorial to the south and the White House to the north. Around the obelisk, there are many well-known historical and cultural museums positioned just like little stars circling a planet. The monument is a marble obelisk and stands approximately 170 meters tall. Many people also call it the Washington Memorial Tower. The monument has a high-speed elevator that can rise to the top in 70 seconds, 897 stone steps in the stairwell, and 193 commemorative stones donated by countries all over the world on the walls, including a stone at the level of the 274th step that was inscribed in Chinese and donated by the Chinese government of the Qing Dynasty. On top of the obelisk, there is a cone-shaped viewing chamber, with two viewing windows on each side. Looking out from the highest point in the city, one has a bird’s eye view of the capital’s skyline and can enjoy the endless array of beautiful images of the various famous landmark buildings scattered like pearls in the midst of green trees and lawns.

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From the top of the monument, Langdon looks out at the night view of Washington, D.C. The lights in the city are glistening and the headlights of cars cut into the dark night like light beams. He is completely captivated by the enchanting view below him. What Peter has told him has turned out to be true. “There is indeed a winding staircase…descending hundreds of feet beneath a massive stone” (483). What is more interesting to him, though, is the fact that the capstone of the monument weighs exactly 14,968.8 kilograms. The number 33, a sacred number for Freemasonry, seems to reinforce the authenticity of its Ancient Mysteries. There is one more detail that has not caught people’s attention; namely, the monument does not have an inscription but on three sides of the capstone – west, south, and north – there is engraved the builders’ names and the date each section was completed. On the fourth side, east, there is the engraving of a famous Latin phrase, Laus Deo – meaning “praise God” – in script letters. On July 4, 1848, the day on which the construction of the monument broke ground, the sages of Freemasonry held a ceremony here to lay the first foundation stone. The eternal treasure that God gave to mankind was hidden inside. Washington, D.C. does not have a long history like the Vatican, the sacred religious place, or Paris, the capital of the arts, but it has its own fascinating history and charming culture. In the novel, Brown shares his deep appreciation for all the magnificent buildings in the capital of his country through his protagonist, Langdon. No wonder Langdon once said to his students, “Washington, D.C. has some of the world’s finest architecture, art, and symbolism. Why would you go overseas before visiting your own capital?” (28).

5. Codes: The Secret World of Freemasonry Langdon, the professor of symbology from Harvard, is invited by his mentor and close friend, Peter, to the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. He is supposed to deliver a lecture on deciphering the symbolism of the major buildings in the capital. Unexpectedly, however, things take a quick turn and he is thrown into a series of mysteries surrounding the secret codes of the Masonic pyramid. First he stumbles across a terrifying severed hand. Apparently, he has to quit talking about symbolism right away and start cracking a series of codes before he can figure out what the severed hand indicates.

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Chamber of Reflection Following a clue from the Hand of Mysteries, Langdon and the others go down to the basement of the Capitol Building and discover a creepy scene. A human skull “sat atop a rickety wooden desk positioned against the rear wall of the chamber. The human leg bones sat beside the skull, along with a collection of other items that were meticulously arranged on the desk in shrine-like fashion – an antique hourglass, a crystal flask, a candle, two saucers of pale powder, and a sheet of paper. Propped against the wall beside the desk stood the fearsome shape of a long scythe” (149), and “a faded patch of graffiti – seven capital letters scrawled across the rear wall” (157). The seven letters are “VITRIOL”. It is not a word but an acronym. Actually, the room is a Chamber of Reflection, which is “designed as cold, austere places in which a Mason can reflect upon his own mortality. By meditating on the inevitability of death, a Mason gains a valuable perspective on the fleeting nature of life” (155). All the strange things kept in this room are “transformation symbols.” The acronym is “shorthand for the Masonic meditative mantra: Visita interior terrace, rectificando invenies occultum lapidem,” meaning “[v]isit the interior of the earth, and by rectifying, you will find the hidden stone” (157). Right behind this wall, Langdon and others are startled to discover an unfinished pyramid.

Masonic Pyramid The Masonic pyramid is a legend that has been long and widely circulated in Washington, D.C. Its origin is probably the pyramid on the Great Seal of the United States. Over the centuries, the Masonic pyramid has been closely tied to the Ancient Mysteries, or the Lost Wisdom, the most sacred treasure of mankind. Like all other great treasures, it has been carefully protected by wise men who sincerely believed that these hidden treasures will bring endless disasters to the world if they end up in the hands of evil people. To safeguard the Ancient Mysteries, the wise men in ancient times founded a mysterious fraternity organization, but they only shared the ancient wisdom with a few select brethren. By the 16th century, almost all fraternity organizations were gone for all kinds of reasons. Only Freemasonry has survived. To prevent these treasures from being totally lost to the world, the early masters of Freemasonry brought them to America, the land of freedom, and built a formidable fortress – a mysterious pyramid – to protect them. Legend has it that the Masonic

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masters even put a capstone made of pure gold on top of the pyramid to indicate that it has valuable treasures hidden inside. Langdon’s mission this time is to decipher this fortress of codes. Contrary to the rumors, the pyramid is pretty small. Besides, it does not have a capstone. Strictly speaking, it could only be regarded as an unfinished pyramid. At first, the code from the 16 symbols engraved on the pyramid seems quite easy. Langdon draws a common decryption key for a Masonic cipher on some paper, which consists of “four grids – two plain and two dotted – with the alphabet running through them in order” (196). To decipher the 16 symbols, all he needs to do is “find the matching shape on his decryption key and write down the letter inside it” (197). The first symbol on the pyramid appears to be a down arrow or a chalice. He quickly finds the chalice-shaped segment on the decryption key and writes down the letter S. The second symbol is a dotted square missing its right side, so the same shape on the key shows the letter O. The third symbol is just a square, so the shape on the key offers the letter E. Using the same method, Langdon soon completes the entire grid and produces the cleartext, or a grid-based matrix, of the 16 symbols: S A C V

O T S U

E U A N

U N S J

Capstone The cleartext of the 16 symbols is meaningless, though. It looks like more clues are needed in order to figure out the message behind it. The most crucial thing is the little box in Langdon’s bag, something important that Peter had entrusted to Langdon for safekeeping a few years before. An X-ray shows that there is a tiny pyramid inside the box. Judging from its shape and size, Langdon realizes with great surprise that it is the puregold capstone of the Masonic pyramid described in the legend. The capstone is an indispensable part of the Masonic pyramid. The designer of the pyramid has set up a multi-layered encryption to prevent the secret from leaking. Every time one layer of codes is ciphered, the next layer will surface. If you want to solve all the riddles, you must follow all the implied clues from the capstone. This type of encryption, dividing a code into pieces, known as a “segmented cipher,” was invented by the ancient Greeks. In ancient Greece, they inscribe secret information “on a clay tablet first” and then break it into pieces, “storing each piece in a

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separate location. Only when all the pieces were gathered together could the secrets be read” (200-211). Out of respect for his good friend’s privacy, Langdon hesitates before opening the box that contains the capstone but Katherine does not waste a second before prying open the wax-sealed box. On the shining pure-gold capstone, six English words are clearly engraved: “The Secret Hides Within The Order.” As they are trying to determine what these words mean, Langdon and Katherine see some tiny symbols at the bottom of the little box: “1514AD”. The writing of “A” and “D” is quite unusual. Initially, Katherine sees these symbols as a reference to the year of 1514 AD, but Langdon comes up with a different interpretation based on the strange combination of these symbols. He believes that it is a cipher by the German artist, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), and the number 1514 refers to a painting, Melencolia I, he did in the year 1514. He even hid the year of its completion in the painting itself.

Albrecht Dürer Cipher The number 1514 is hidden in a magic square located in the upper right-hand corner of the engraving. The magic square consists of a series of numbers arranged in a square form in a way that the sum of each row, column, or corner diagonal adds up to the same amount. It’s called the magic constant. The magic square in Dürer’s painting contains the magic constant of 34, which means the sum of the four quadrants, as well as the sum of the middle four numbers, is always 34.1 Dürer’s magic square in his Melencolia I was the first to appear in European art. The 16 letters that Langdon had deciphered earlier also form a fourby-four square. After analyzing Dürer’s square, he and Katherine reorganize the letters and create a new combination. For instance, the number 1 in the lower right-hand corner corresponds to the letter J; the number 2 matches the letter E. Using the same analogy, they deduce the rest of the 16 letters and come up with a phrase in Latin, Jeova Sanctus Unus, which means “one true God.” However, the three words are only part of the entire encryption of the pyramid. To get through this maze, they must decode another secret hidden on the capstone.

1

J. A. H. Hunter and J. S. Madachy, Mathematical Diversions (New York: Dover, 1975), 24.

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Rose Cross With help from Galloway, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, Langdon and Katherine find another secret inside the box that contains the capstone. At the bottom of the box, there is a tiny “circular nubbin” that could hardly be seen by the naked eye. It has a dot in the middle. This nubbin with a dot has “countless meanings.” In alchemy, it appears to be “the ancient symbol for gold” (316). In ancient Egypt, it was the symbol for Ra – the sun god – and modern astronomy still uses it as the solar symbol. In Eastern philosophy, it represents the spiritual insight of the Third Eye, the divine rose, and the sign of illumination. The Kabbalists use it to symbolize the Kether – the highest Sephiroth and ‘the most hidden of all hidden things.’ Early mystics called it the Eye of God and it’s the origin of the All-Seeing Eye on the Great Seal. The Pythagoreans use the circumpunct as the symbol of the Monad – the Divine Truth, the Prisca Sapientia, the at-one-ment of mind and soul… (316).

Also, the size of this raised nubbin perfectly matches the degree sign centered on the bottom of the band. Langdon puts the ring into the box and rotates it 33 degrees. The cube starts changing before his eyes: the square panels on all sides of the box fall away as the hidden hinges release, and the cube becomes a cross. The circle with a dot has many implications. One of them is the divine rose. If the divine rose is placed inside the cross, “[t]he cross with the circumpunct in the middle” becomes “a binary symbol – two symbols fused to create one.” It becomes another symbol – “the Rose Cross” (320). In Freemasonry, it is a very common symbol. “In fact,” Langdon explains, “one of the degrees of the Scottish Rite is called ‘Knights of the Rose Cross’ and honors the early Rosicrucians, who contributed to Masonic mystical philosophy” (320). Among the members of the Rose Cross, there were many great thinkers and scientists, such as Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza, and Newton. Right in the middle of their discussion of the Rosicrucianism, Langdon suddenly realizes that the Latin phrase, Jeova Sanctus Unus, is actually a pseudonym for Newton. In Latin, one can interchange the letters J for I and the letter V for U. In other words, the Latin phrase may be rearranged to spell his name – Isaacus Neutonuus. But what kind of help can Newton offer their search for the Ancient Mysteries?

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Eight Franklin Square In addition to the usual Fahrenheit and Celsius scales, there is a third and older scale – the Newton Scale – for measuring temperature. The zero degree stands for the ice-melting temperature whereas the 33rd degree is the temperature of boiling water. In the National Cathedral kitchen, Langdon and Katherine put the pyramid in the water, heat it, and turn off the lights. Then, they watch “the transformed capstone beneath the surface. On the side of the golden capstone, an incandescent message was glowing.” It reads: “Eight Franklin Square.” Once they look at the tip and then downward at the capstone, the complete message is clear: “The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin Square” (337). At first, Langdon assumes that “Eight Franklin Square” refers to a street address near Franklin Square but after he sees the whole message, he concludes that it means the eight-by-eight square Franklin invented. Compared to Dürer’s square, Franklin’s square is more complicated. The eight-by-eight square consists of a series of numbers arranged in a square form in a way that the sum of each row, column, or corner diagonal adds up to the same amount of 260. As well as the usual features of a typical magic square, Franklin’s square has some peculiar craftiness. For example, the sum of any half row is 130; each of the “bent rows” has the sum of 260; the “shortened bent row” plus the “corners” also adds up to 260; such a pattern may be rotated in any of the four directions and shifted parallel into any of the eight positions and the sum is always 260; the sum of any four numbers that form a two-by-two square is also 130, etc. By recalling “the precise position of the symbols on the bottom of the stone pyramid,” Langdon places the symbols “in the location indicated by Franklin’s magic square” (421). A new pattern appears. The first row is filled with Greek letters that form a Greek word, HİȡİįȠȝ and a downward arrow Ļ. Its English equivalent is “HeredomĻ”. It may have been derived from Hieros-domos, Greek for “holy house.” “Heredom” is a common word used by the Masonic masters at the highest degree. Their usage of the word may have come from the French Rose Cross rituals, and refers to the name of a mythical Scottish mountain and a legendary site. It occurs to Langdon that the “holy house” could mean the Masonic House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. Could the downward arrow suggest that the treasure is hidden beneath the Temple? Despite his meticulous interpretation of the symbols, Langdon seems to have overlooked one basic factor, namely, the role of the Masonic pyramid. According to the legend, the Masonic pyramid is merely a map, a very detailed one that can lead a wise man to the secret place where the

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lost symbol is hidden. On the map, the downward arrow points to the south, or south of the Masonic House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. Also, the legend mentions that on top of the hiding ground, there is a huge rock engraved with ancient words. Once this rock is located, the lost symbol will surely be found. As Peter suggests, the ancient words on the rock have already appeared on the map, namely, the seven symbols in the third row. Looking at these seven symbols, Langdon tries to make some sense of them: The Stonemason’s Square: the symbol of honesty and being “true.” The letters Au: the scientific abbreviation for the element gold. The Sigma: the Greek letter S, the mathematical symbol for the sum of all parts. The Pyramid: the Egyptian symbol of man reaching heavenward. The Delta: the Greek letter D, the mathematical symbol for change. Mercury: as depicted by its most ancient alchemical symbol. The Ouroboros: the symbol of wholeness and at-one-ment. (478)

Still, Langdon is unable to understand what these ancient words mean. Only when Peter takes him to the real site of the treasure, the Washington Monument, does he realize that the symbols on the pyramid represent the pyramid-shaped capstone on top of the monument. Two words, Laus Deo, are engraved on the gigantic capstone. It is instantly clear to him that these symbols form a very simple encryption through a variation of the English letters: The stonemason’s square – L The element gold – AU The Greek Sigma – S The Greek Delta – D Alchemical mercury – E The Ouroboros – O (484)

Laus Deo means “praise God.” Ironically, great truth is often presented to us in the simplest terms. What the lost symbol symbolizes is actually mankind’s rediscovery of the implication of the word, “God.”

6. Knowledge: Rich and Quintessential Brown is a truly knowledgeable novelist. Like his previous novel, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol has packed extensive knowledge about all kinds of subjects between the lines, such as art, religion, science,

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history, and social life. Nothing seems to have been left out. If his thrilling and furtive plot was compared to a rushing river under moonlight, then all the ingredients of knowledge that are artfully meshed into the events may be seen as waves splashing up like pearls under the moon. Reading a novel like this is indeed an eye-opening experience.

Exquisite Works of Art The Portrait of Washington Surrounded by Godly Figures In chapter 20, Langdon offers an interesting interpretation of the symbolism of the Rotunda at the center of the Capitol Building. He even presents a daring argument that the main theme of the Rotunda is “apotheosis,” or the elevation of a man to divine status. His strongest evidence is, of course, the famous fresco, The Apotheosis of Washington, that covers the oculus of the dome. It took the Italian artist, Constantino Brumidi, 11 months to finish the fresco, an area of 433 square meters. The painting depicts the founding father, Washington, wearing royal purple and sitting in clouds, a rainbow arch at his feet. He is flanked by a goddess on each side. To his left, Goddess Victoria, dressed in green, holds a horn in hand; to his right, Goddess Liberty wears a red Phrygian cap and has an open book in her left hand and fasces in the other. Between Victoria and Liberty, 13 maidens, who each have a star above their head, form a circle, representing the original 13 colonies during America’s colonial period. Outside the circle, there are six groups of figures representing six different scenes of major fields in life: war, science, marine, commerce, mechanics, and agriculture. Each scene depicts how ancient gods passed great wisdom on to the pioneers of America.

Washington’s Sculpture by Horatio Greenough In chapter 21, Langdon analyzes the possible implication of the mannequin with the “index finger and thumb pointing up toward the ceiling” (40) while trying to understand the bloody scene of Peter’s severed hand. He says that the mannequin is an ancient ritual. It has appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, St. John the Baptist, and The Adoration of the Magi, symbolizing the mysterious communication between man and God. Also, you can see the mannequin in Washington’s sculpture.

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In 1830, the US Congress paid a hefty sum to commission Horatio Greenough, an American sculptor who’d returned from Italy after his studies there, for a massive sculpture for the centennial of Washington’s birth. The 12-ton sculpture was finished in 1841. It was first displayed in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building but not three years later, Greenough thought that there was not much light indoors and therefore requested that the sculpture be moved out to the lawn on the east side of the Capitol. The sculpture generated a lot of public criticism from the very beginning because of its design. It was modeled after Phidias’ statue of Zeus Olympios. The bare-chested Washington is in a seated position, wearing a Roman robe and sandals, and raising his right arm with his index finger pointing toward heaven. Some people found it comical, joking that the president was so anxious to go to the heaven (referring to the painting of him on the canopy of the dome) because he felt so frustrated about missing his clothes. Others criticized harshly the fact that the statue put Washington on the sacred throne, which was totally in opposition to the fundamental values of the country – everyone is born equal! Shortly afterwards, the statue was moved out of the Capitol and transferred to the Smithsonian Castle in 1908, but it has been exhibited at the National Museum of American History since 1964.

The Cornerstone of the Capitol Building and Washington In chapter 6, on the first day of class for the spring semester, Langdon shows a slide of the well-known painting of the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the US Capitol. With it, he gives the class a lesson about occult symbols and a fresh understanding about the capital of their country. If the capital, Washington, D.C., is the heart of America, then the Capitol Building is the great artery of this heart. The Capitol is where the Senate and House convene and where all laws are initiated. It is also perceived as a symbol of democracy by the American people. Every year, the president delivers his State of the Union speech in this building. It was only natural that President Washington personally attended the ground-breaking ceremony for an important building like this. On September 18, 1783, as the painting shows, Washington stood by a tripod with a pulley for lifting the stone. Dressed in Masonic regalia, he laid down the cornerstone along with others. Among the 56 pioneering leaders of America, 53 of them were Freemasons. It is no exaggeration to say that Freemasonry held the lion’s share of power in early American politics. In his book on Freemasonry, Robert Hieronimus argues that “Washington’s membership in the order was more than token” as he “was

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initiated, in 1752” and in 1753 he was “raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.”1 Also, he “frequently attended the meetings of military lodges,” and he “presided over Masonic ceremonies initiating his officers.”2 As the leader of Freemasonry and the first American President, Washington deserved the honor of laying down the cornerstone for the Capitol more than anyone else. The symbol of Freemasonry consists of a square and compasses. They stand for the new laws of the New World. The Capitol Building was built for the new legislature of a new nation. Its purpose coincided with the goal of Freemasonry perfectly. As the grand master of Freemasonry, it is not surprising that Washington paid extra attention to the construction of the Capitol. We can see from the painting that Washington was wearing the Freemasonry emblem of a square and compasses on his chest. Behind him, many people, wearing the same emblem, were watching him lay down the cornerstone, probably relishing high expectations for the new Capitol Building and imagining the future of a new country of democracy and law.

Fantasy Painter Michael Parkes’ Three Graces In chapter 22, Katherine walks into Mal’akh’s opulent mansion for the first time. The painting, Three Graces, on the wall catches her attention. She cannot help but pause for a closer look. What she does not know, however, is that a backroom is hidden behind it. The artist, Michael Parkes, is an avant-garde fantasy painter. Born in Saxton, Missouri, Parkes lives mainly in Spain. He has a unique style, using colors in graceful and meticulous ways and relying on abstract Expressionistic techniques to represent realities in life. The term, “three graces,” refers to three charming, delicate, pretty goddesses in Greek mythology, a frequent subject in ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and paintings. Since the Renaissance period, many sculptors and painters have created various images of the “three graces” based on the ancient models.

Dürer’s Mysterious Engravings In chapters 68 and 70, Langdon mentions a minor detail in an engraving by Albrecht Dürer in order to decipher the code on the pyramid. This engraving is Melencolia I, a work that Dürer finished in 1514. He 1

Robert Hieronimus, Founding Fathers, Secret Societies: Freemasons, Illuminati, Rosicrucians, and the Decoding of the Great Seal (Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 2006), 41. 2 Ibid, 44.

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was a renowned oil painter, printmaker, engraver, and theorist of art between the end of the Medieval Age and the beginning of the Renaissance in Germany. In Christopher Hodapp’s view, Dürer was “obviously a Freemason in Nuremburg.”1 His Melencolia I has rich allegorical implications, and it has generated many different interpretations. First of all, the composition of the engraving is quite rich: a pensive figure, the motionless Cupid, the dozing dog, and some tools of geometry and architecture around the figure’s feet – a scale, hourglass, saw, plane, ball, polyhedral, and ladder. The whole image is stagnant, except for a bat flying overhead holding a sign that has “melancholy” written on it. On the top right-hand side, there is a four-by-four magic square. The sum of each row, column, or corner diagonal adds up to 34. The date, 1514, appears in the bottom row. It has been suggested that this is also the year in which Dürer’s mother passed away. The interpretation of the engraving has been controversial. From the perspective of mathematicians, the Dürer magic square and the various tools represent the mysterious world of math; astrologists believe that most of the objects in the engraving belong to Saturn, which usually brings about melancholy emotions, and the magic square is related to Jupiter, so it could alleviate the depression brought by Saturn; painters see the perfect expression of perspective in engraving; historians detect what was happening on the eve of religious reform in Germany, based on the time frame of 1514. The most common interpretation, though, is that Dürer was trying to express melancholy sentiments in the wake of scientific exploration. The scientific instruments and tools scattered about the scene represent the pragmatic knowledge of that time and symbolize mankind’s exploration of the mysteries in the universe. However, thanks to various complex and changeable mysteries, that exploration had stopped. Perhaps this engraving was Dürer’s “encoded way” (264) of sharing his humanitarian feelings. During that unstable time, all wise men determined to explore the Ancient Mysteries and create something new might have had a lonely and melancholy moment. It could be an honest reflection of the artist’s inner self. In the novel, it is interpreted as human contemplation for an understanding of the Ancient Mysteries. The figure in the engraving might be perceived as a genius who has supreme wisdom but still has not found the revelation from above. That explains why the figure looks depressed and melancholy. The engraving is on display at the Washington National 1

Christopher L. Hodapp, Deciphering the Lost Symbol: Freemasons, Myths and the Mysteries of Washington, D.C. (Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press, 2010), 39.

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Gallery. However, if you are really anxious to see the mysterious image, you may search for it online, just as Langdon does in the novel.

Rare Treasures of Religion Moses’ Horns In chapter 49, Langdon and Bellamy argue about the authenticity of the legends about the Masonic pyramid. In Langdon’s view, the word “legend” already contains the implication of fabrication, but Bellamy insists that “legend” originally refers to a mistranslation that leads to a misunderstanding, just like the story about Moses’ horns. Moses is a prophet and leader of the Israelites in the Bible. The authorship of the first five books in the Old Testament is attributed to him. Under God’s command, Moses led his people out of Egypt, free from slavery, and arrived at Canaan. In Exodus 33 and 34, he received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, returned with the stone tablets, and taught his followers to worship God. In various works of art, Moses’ image shows horns on his head. Even though some people have interpreted the horn as a symbol of his power and wisdom, linguists have argued that it all came from a mistake in the early translation of the book of Exodus. In the original Hebrew Bible, Moses is described as coming down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. His face glistens – “facial skin that glowed with rays of light” (195) – when he talks to Jehovah. When the Roman Catholic Church created the official Latin translation of the Bible, the translator rendered it as “his face was horned” (195). From then on, all painters and sculptors represented him with horns. Among all the works of art, Moses’ statue by Michelangelo is certainly the most famous. Langdon was once scared by the demon-like horns on the statue when he was still a young boy. The statue is now exhibited at the church of San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains) in Rome.

The Akedah Knife This is the knife that Mal’akh bought for $1.6 million from an underground antiques market in the Middle East one year before. He kept it in a little iron box lined with black velvet. Now, the knife, which has only appeared in ancient legends, is about to carry out its mission, namely, to complete the sacrificial ceremony of Mal’akh. In chapter 119, the knife – the Akedah Knife – finally surfaces from its long concealment.

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Akedah is a character from the book of Genesis in the Bible. He is the only son of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham is a leader of Arabs and Jews in the Old Testament, and he is considered an important prophet in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, a man who has been chosen and blessed by God. Akedah is a Hebrew word meaning “binding,” “fastening,” and “discipline.” In the Hebrew Bible, the “binding of Isaac” refers to a story in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah. Abraham follows God’s commands to bind his son and place him on the altar. At the last minute, the angel of God shows up and tells him, “Now I know you fear God,” and Abraham sacrifices a ram instead of his son. In the novel, Mal’akh wants to imitate this most dedicated sacrificial ceremony and achieve his own apotheosis.

Jacob’s Ladder The Ladder is a key clue in locating the burial site of the Masonic treasures. According to the legend, there is a staircase that runs for hundreds of feet at the burial site. In chapter 116, the map of the symbols at the bottom of the Masonic pyramid indicates that the treasures are buried beneath the staircase. Mal’akh orders Peter to tell him where the staircase is, but Peter knows that the staircase is merely a symbol and part of a legend within Freemasonry. It represents mankind’s climb toward “God’s truth.” Just like Jacob’s Ladder, the spiral staircase of Freemasonry is a symbol of the zenith leading toward heaven, and of apotheosis as well. Jacob, the younger son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham, is the third patriarch of the Hebrew people. According to Genesis, Jacob cheats his family for the birthright of his older brother, Esau, and the blessings from the father. To escape his brother’s revenge, Jacob leaves his hometown for Haran. En route to Haran, before sunset, he picks a place to sleep by a rock. He experiences a vision of angels going up and down a ladder; God is standing at the top of the ladder and blessing him. When he wakes up, Jacob realizes that the place he has slept must be the temple of God and the gate to heaven. In Freemasonry, Jacob’s Ladder has seven steps, representing seven good virtues: honesty, faith, kindness, justice, caution, discipline, and firmness.

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Numbers and Words Arabic Numerals Before deciphering a code, Langdon has the professional habit of mixing mini-lectures on historical research with his interpretation of the symbols, but he cannot avoid a slip of tongue from time to time. In his lecture on how the early Middle Eastern cultures helped promote the progress of science, he mentioned the creation of the numbering system, including the invention of the number “0” and “position notation,” which were a lot earlier than the Roman numerals, as a major contribution that the Middle Eastern cultures had made. Then, he wrapped up his lecture with a touch of humor – “Arab culture had also given mankind the word, al-kuhl – the favorite beverage of Harvard freshmen – known as alcohol” (97). Langdon’s lecture is basically correct. The word “alcohol” is from Arabic as Arab chemists called distilled water “al-kuhl” at that time. Later, it was used as a term for fermented liquid, namely, alcohol. But he mistook the numerals as an invention of the Arabs rather than Indians. The Indian mathematicians were captured by Arabs and then moved to the Middle East, where they were forced to teach the locals how to use the mathematical symbols and numbering system. Later, the Arabs spread the numbering system to different places in the world.

The Number 13 on the Great Seal of America The number 13 seems to be an unlucky number in the West, but it is a sacred number to some. In chapter 35, Langdon follows the clues from the Hand of the Mysteries to Room SBB XIII in the basement of the Capitol Building. XIII is the Roman numeral for 13, which instantly reminds Langdon of the multiple appearances of the number 13 on the Great Seal of America. The front of the Great Seal is the American national emblem. In the middle of the seal is the national bird, the bald eagle. It holds 13 arrows in its left talon, representing war, and an olive branch with 13 leaves and fruits in its right talon, representing peace. On its breast, the eagle wears a shield with 13 red and white stripes, symbolizing the original 13 colonies at the time when American independence was declared. In its beak, the eagle holds a scroll inscribed with a motto in 13 Latin letters, E Pluribus Unum, which means “Out of many, One.” In the blue sky above the eagle’s head, 13 stars form a constellation in a 1-4-3-4-1 pattern.

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On the back of the Great Seal, the design is mainly an unfinished pyramid. The Eve of Providence appears at the top of the pyramid surrounded by a triangle and rays of light, or a glory. One motto, with 13 letters in two Latin words, appears on top, Annuit coeptis, which means “God has approved (our) undertakings.” Another, in three Latin words, appears at the bottom, Novus ordo seclorum, which means “a new order of the ages.” The pyramid has 13 steps, and the year, MDCCLXXVI (1776), is inscribed at its base. Clearly, the number 13 carries a special implication in the Great Seal. It is also a key symbol for Freemasonry.

The Sacred Number 33 To most of us, the number 33 seems pretty common, but it is absolutely the most meaningful number in this novel. As the symbol of the highest degree within the hierarchy of Freemasonry, this sacred number is tied to every major event or shift in the plot of the story. For instance, in the prologue, Mal’akh’s initiation to the 33rd degree starts at 8:33 pm; the site of the initiation ceremony, the Temple Room, has a circle of 33 pillars, and each of them is 33 feet high; the address of the site is 1733 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C.; the Supreme Worshipful Master of Freemasonry, Peter, wears a ring engraved with the number 33; Langdon has to turn Peter’s ring 33 degrees in order to open the little box that contains the capstone. In chapter 89, Langdon explains why Freemasonry selected the number 33 as the symbol of its highest degree and cites many other extraordinary examples. During the years of Pythagoras, approximately 600 BC, “the tradition of numerology hailed the number 33 as the highest of all the Master Numbers. It was the most sacred figure, symbolizing Divine Truth” (332). Such a tradition has been maintained in Freemasonry and other institutions as well – Jesus was crucified at age 33; Joseph was 33 when he married the Virgin Mary; Jesus accomplished 33 miracles; God’s name is mentioned 33 times in Genesis; in Islam, all the dwellers in heaven were 33 years old permanently (332-333). More interestingly, the human cervical vertebra has 33 pieces; it is as if they form a spiral staircase leading to the most sacred place of the human body – the brain. An observant reader might have noticed that The Lost Symbol was released on September 15, 2009. The sum of the date, month, and year is 33 (9+9+15=33). As suggested by Christopher Hodapp, “The release date of 9/15/2009 was significant: the numbers add up to 33, a number central

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to the Masonic hierarchy.”1 Whether this is just a coincidence or the date was carefully selected by the author is pretty self-evident.

Magic Square The decoding of the Masonic pyramid is one of the most exciting parts of the novel. During the long process of deciphering the multilayered mysteries, the magic square is used twice: first, it is Albrecht Dürer’s four-by-four square; second, it is Franklin’s eight-by-eight square. A square may be designed with different sums. Once the numbers or letters are put in the square based on a predetermined pattern, it will take on an unusual and even magical charm. Initially, the magic square was only used as a religious symbol; later, it became a talisman or fortunetelling tool. Finally, it lost its original function and turned into a game or puzzle. But some mathematicians in the West are still studying it as a subject in the theory of numbers. Among the word squares, the most common one is the Sator square, which features five words – SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, and ROTAS. No matter how you read it, top to bottom or left to right, you get the same five words. The word TENET in the middle becomes a cross in the square. First discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, it was regarded as a patron for fire, plague, and other disasters until the 19th century. The number squares are more meaningful and popular, especially in China, India, and the Middle East. To make a number square work, put the numbers in the designated boxes so the sum of each row, column, and corner diagonal adds up to the same amount, which is called the “constant” of the magic square. Any constant of a standard square consists of natural numbers from 1 to the number of the squares. For instance, a three-by-three square contains the natural numbers 1– 9. If the numbers are simply arranged in three rows, no magic square will be formed. But this is just the first step in making a magic square. If the numbers are rearranged in a three-by-three square and turned into a magic square with a constant of 15, then the sum of each row, column, and corner diagonal will add up to the same amount, 15. This is the most elementary category among the rich variations. In addition to the two-dimensional square, the multi-dimensional square is also quite popular.

1

Christopher L. Hodapp, Deciphering the Lost Symbol: Freemasons, Myths and the Mysteries of Washington, 2.

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Interesting Etymology Language is also a kind of symbol. Even though he is not a linguist by training, Langdon often likes to offer the reader a lecture or two on etymology during his code-breaking operations. Etymology is the study of the origin of words and the ways their forms and meanings have changed. In The Lost Symbol, there are many sections that touch upon the origins of English words. In chapter 24, when Peter gives Langdon the little box with the waxseal for safekeeping, he mentions that there is a talisman in it. In modern English, talisman means “lucky charm,” or an object that has magic powers. Usually, it refers to something that is engraved with a certain mark or words and used as a totem that will help a person evade misfortune or attract good luck. At the time, Langdon is bewildered; he wonders why Peter is formally handing over a talisman to him for safekeeping. He does not understand the whole thing until chapter 41, when he realizes that Peter is actually using a much older meaning of the word “talisman.” Talisman was derived from the Greek word, telesma, meaning “perfect,” or something that may perfect or complete something else and turn it into an entirety. The capstone in the box is the very talisman that will finally complete the unfinished Masonic pyramid. In chapter 53, Langdon double checks the origin of the word “symbol” while trying to decipher the symbols on the Masonic pyramid. In the ancient times, the Greeks tried to prevent intelligence from leaking out by breaking the clay tablets engraved with the information into pieces and hiding them in different places. These clay tablets were called symbolon, which became the root of the word “symbol” later. The origin of the word “sincere” is even more interesting. In chapter 95, Langdon discovers that when the water boils, some wax-like pieces fall off from the bottom of the Masonic pyramid, and that some symbols are exposed. It reminds him of an ancient technique in sculpturing. Since the time of Michelangelo, sculptors sealed the cracks in the sculpture with melted wax and then smoothed some stone powder over the wax to cover them up. Such a technique was considered cheating, so any sculpture without wax, or sine cera in Latin, was regarded as a sincere and truthful work of art. To this day, people still like to jot down “sincerely” at the end of the letter as a promise, as if to swear that everything in their letter is nothing but the truth.

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Science and Pop Culture The New Noetic Science The word “noetic” has derived from the ancient Greek word, nous, meaning “inner wisdom” or “direct knowing.” Generally speaking, noetics is a scientific study on the functional pattern and form of the mind. Its research focuses on the nature and potential of human consciousness and explores the “inner universe” of the human mind, including consciousness, soul, and intellect, and its relationship with the “outer universe” of the physical world. The Institute of Noetic Sciences in California defines noetics as the study of direct and spontaneous knowledge that surpasses normal senses and rationale. Lawrence Krader proposed calling it “a new science, elements of which have been developed by the great philosophers and ancient and modern, scientists of all ages and traditions, the great poets, playwrights and novelists, and the great artists of every era,” and he calls it “the science of thinking and knowing.”1 In chapter 15, Brown presents a lengthy introduction to noetics through Katherine, an expert in noetic science. Through her research, Katherine has discovered that human thought can literally transform the outside world. Particularly, she believes, “‘focused thought’ could affect literally anything – the growth rate of plants, the direction that fish swam in a bowl, the manner in which cells divided in a petri dish, the synchronization of separately automated systems, and the chemical reactions in one’s own body” (56). She verifies her research findings with an interesting experiment showing “the crystalline structure of a newly forming solid” (56). She “had created beautifully symmetrical ice crystals by sending loving thoughts to a glass of water as it froze. Incredibly, the converse was also true: when she sent negative, polluting thoughts to the water, the ice crystals froze in chaotic, fractured forms” (56).

Liquid Breathing Liquid breathing was verified in 1966. American biochemist Leland C. Clark, Jr. developed a liquid called perfluorocarbon (PFC), and found that the liquid would support animal respiration. For instance, mice whose lungs were filled with an oxygenated liquid could survive for several hours. This technology was called Total Liquid Ventilation (TLV). Since 1

Cyril Levitt, “Editor’s Introduction,” in Noetics: The Science of Thinking and Knowing by Lawrence Krader (New York: Peter Long Publishing, Inc., 2010), xxvi.

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this idea is so counterintuitive, not many people believe it even to this day. TLV technology was featured in the movie, The Abyss, in 1989, but the audience found it hard to accept as an existing and applicable technology. In the last part of the novel, Langdon is trapped in an enclosed tank filled with “breathable liquid” and is soon overcome with hallucinations of death. Floating in a container with oxygenated liquid not only offers “a transcendental back-to-the-womb experience” (412), but also “gives the prisoner the sense he was entirely separated from his body” and his death was imminent if the “numbing agents, paralysis drugs, and hallucinogens” (413) mixed with the warm liquid. However, what is really unbearable and disorientating is the “rebirthing” process, which, with the aid of bright lights, cold air, and deafening noise, could be extremely traumatic and painful. After a handful of rebirths and subsequent drowning, the prisoner became so disorientated that he had no idea if he was alive or dead…and he would tell the interrogator absolutely anything. (413)

The reason Mal’akh knows so much about the Masonic pyramid is simply because he used this technology on Peter several times.

The Historic Tattoo The villain in the novel, Mal’akh, has tattoos all over his body, but his tattoos are not for fashion or looks. They have their own sacred purpose. To borrow the words from John Rush, Mal’akh uses his body “as a vehicle for purging emotional and physical issues and as a preparation for a spiritual life.”1 A tattoo is a permanent mark or design made on the skin by a process of pricking and inserting an indelible pigment. It is a widespread practice in most parts of the world, but not popular among dark-skinned people. In China, it has been pretty rare in recent centuries. Many races believe that tattooing could prevent illness and disasters; others use tattoos to mark their identities or status, or the credentials of certain organizations. The most common motive is body decoration. Tattoos have been discovered on Egyptian mummies dating from 2000 BC, and surviving accounts of the ancient Thracians, Greeks, Germanic peoples, and the British have references to the practice of tattooing. After the rise of Christianity, tattooing was banned in Europe 1

John A. Rush, Spiritual Tattoo: A Cultural History of Tattooing, Piercing, Scarification, Branding, and Implants (Berkeley, CA: Frog, Ltd., 2005), ix.

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but it continued in the Middle East and other places. Later, the Europeans rediscovered tattooing in their encounters with the Northern American Indians and Polynesians. Under the influence of the Polynesians and Japanese, tattoo shops opened in many port cities around the world for the European and American sailors. The first electric tattooing machine was patented in the US in 1891. Since then, America has become the origin of many new designs and patterns. In particular, as American designs depicting various themes associated with marine life, military fervor, patriotic sentiment, romantic expression, and religious zeal spread all over the world, tattooing has become more standardized than ever. The old styles that carried national or racial traditions in the early 20th century are fading away.

NFC and the Washington Redskins When he tries to sneak into the Capitol Building first, and Katherine’s lab second, Mal’akh runs into security guards. Both of them have the Washington Redskins football team on their mind. One is anxious to go home so he can watch the game on TV; the other is already watching the live broadcast of the game at his post. It might seem incidental that the guards at two different doors are distracted by the same event but given the wide popularity of the Washington Redskins and the exciting phase of the football season, such an arrangement in the plot seems quite natural. The US National Football League (NFL) has 32 teams from different cities and regions divided into two conferences: the National Football Conference (NFC) and American Football Conference (AFC). Each conference has four divisions with four teams in each – a total of 16 teams in each conference. The Washington Redskins belong to the NFC, and make more money than many other teams. The team’s market value is worth approximately $1.6 billion today. When the Washington Redskins play well, it is everyone’s favorite team. To the citizens of Washington, D.C., the team is their pride. That’s why the city is deserted on game night. People stay home and watch the game on TV. For this same reason, the Capitol Building appears to be empty, creating a convenient condition in which Mal’akh can commit his crime. As people are enjoying the tough game, Mal’akh is plotting his conspiracy.

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7. Institutions: Real and Fictional In addition to his all-embracing coverage of knowledge from different fields, another spectacular feature in Brown’s novel is his use of major governmental institutions in constructing the story. His description of these institutions, either their structure or their operations, basically matches their counterparts in real life, thus adding a charming touch of reality to the story. In The Lost Symbol, Brown gives copious coverage to two mysterious institutions, the CIA and the Smithsonian Institution. One is the American intelligence agency that attracts worldwide attention; the other is a world-renowned museum and research complex. How much of his description is real?

CIA – The Institution that Inoue Sato Works For The Central Intelligence Agency was created to replace the Office of Strategic Services after WWII. Before WWII, the FBI was in charge of domestic law enforcement but the US did not have a centralized agency for collecting intelligence abroad. The intelligence offices in the Navy and Army sent their reports to the president directly. But the information they sent was often too complicated, and that, in turn, put a tremendous work load onto the presidential office. To improve the efficiency and quality of intelligence, the US set up an agency, the Office of Intelligence Coordination, based on the model of the British Secret Intelligence Service (M16) in 1941. It was changed to the Office of Strategic Services in 1943 and again to the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947. The CIA coordinates the flow of intelligence among different agencies within the US government, provides the president with information, and gives recommendations for his decisions. The CIA is in charge of more than ten intelligence agencies so it carries a lot of responsibility. Given the high tension of the Cold War, the CIA received great attention and support from the government and expanded rapidly after its establishment. It made tremendous accomplishments in dealing with the former Soviet Union. After the Cold War, the CIA was out of the spotlight for a few years and, in the wake of the 9/11 incident, became somewhat of a scapegoat for its failure in intelligence gathering. The former director of the CIA, George Tenet, once lamented that when the CIA handles everything well, no one knows, but when something goes wrong, the whole world knows it right away. The CIA is headquartered in Langley, Virginia, but it has a massive intelligence network that covers the whole world. It has its own monitor

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stations, broadcast facilities, airlines, space satellites, printing shops, training bases for special operation forces, and numerous offices across the globe. As an institution it employs more than 20,000 people. As the center of the American intelligence community, it goes without saying that the CIA holds paramount status and operates in total secrecy. Since the CIA reports directly to the president, the Congress has no right to interfere with its operation. Given its special status in the government, certain restrictions are put in place to prevent a potential abuse of power. It is in charge of intelligence gathering abroad, but it does not have the authority to arrest anybody at home. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is in charge of domestic legal investigations. The CIA has a team of well-educated and intelligent specialists, including scientists, linguists, mathematicians, engineers, economists, and computer scientists. The information about its organization, personnel, budget, and operation is highly classified. The CIA consists of four divisions: administration, intelligence and analysis, science and technology, and special activities. In The Lost Symbol, Inoue Sato is the director of the Office of Security in the division of administration. Like a fierce beast, she is constantly watching out for any sign of instability in national security because she sees the Pearl Harbor bombing as a lesson about the importance of information and the danger of not having sufficient intelligence. She repeatedly chases after Langdon in the name of national security. From the reader’s perspective, it might seem that the CIA keeps a close eye on US citizens and compromises their safety; however, under her stern appearance, Sato has a kind heart. Her aim is to eliminate any unstable factor that might compromise the safety of the country, which is why she wants to make sure the video clip of the Masonic initiation ceremony does not leak out and cause widespread panic. All of her overt confrontations with, or covert surveillance on, Langdon are necessary under those circumstances. By following the clues persistently, she finally wins the trust from Langdon and others and works with them to demolish Mal’akh’s plot completely.

Smithsonian Institution – The Place Where Peter and Katherine Work Built in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution has 19 museums and nine research centers under its administration. Its initial funding came from a bequest from a British scientist, James Smithson. Born in secrecy as an illegitimate child, Smithson did not have the opportunity to join the military, or become a clergyman, or get involved in politics, so he always

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strongly hoped that everyone would be equal. After his graduation from Oxford University, he traveled extensively in Europe before starting his career in scientific research and becoming a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He acquired wealth after receiving half of his mother’s estate. He never visited the US but decided to leave his wealth to his nephew, who was living in America. His will stipulated that in case his nephew died without a descendant, his estate was to be donated to an educational institution in Washington, D.C., America, a land of freedom where knowledge could take root, grow, and spread out to everyone anxious to explore the truth in the universe and benefit mankind. After his nephew died childless, the American government accepted his bequest and used the money to establish the Smithsonian Institution. At first, it was just a dark red building constructed in a European castlelike style. As time went by, the institution expanded into a huge entity containing museums, galleries, libraries, and research centers. The Smithsonian Institution has almost everything in its collection. In its 19 museums, it has a huge collection of works about human civilization, from ancient times to this day. Its endless array of stunning exhibits offers visitors a visual feast – too much to see, but too beautiful to miss! In The Lost Symbol, Peter holds the important position of secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, administrating all the above-mentioned museums and centers. His younger sister, Katherine, conducts scientific research at the Smithsonian Museum Support Center, located in Suitland, Maryland. As a branch of the Smithsonian Institution and the largest center of its kind, it has many facilities for scientific research, and is committed to the storage, research, and preservation of its collections. It was first dedicated in May, 1983 when there were four numbered buildings, or “pods”; the fifth one was added in 2007. It covers 1.8 hectares of land, with around 46,450 square meters of space. The sawtooth pattern of its building is a new feature in the architectural style of the museum. In the novel, Katherine’s lab is at the end of Pod 5. It is pitch dark inside because it does not have any electric wiring. Everything is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The Pod 5 described in the novel actually exists, but it is not entirely dark. It houses countless valuable collections. The total number of collections at the Smithsonian Institution is well over 140 million, and this is growing every day. What the visitors can see is only the tip of the iceberg. The American people are grateful to James Smithson for his donation but people all over the world should also thank him for his generous contribution to the “increase and diffusion of knowledge.” By using the Smithsonian Institution as a major setting for

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his novel, The Lost Symbol, Brown invites his reader to a very enticing exploration of it.

8. Techniques: Dan Brown’s “Formula” While reading Brown’s thriller fiction, one tends to feel anxious all the time, and cannot put it down. Once the reading is over, though, one cannot help wondering how its fast-paced decoding plot, fascinating storytelling, and diverse cultural ingredients work together so beautifully. On the day of its release, The Lost Symbol sold over a million copies; readers wanted to get their hands on it as soon as they could after such a long wait. A few days later, all kinds of comments started to appear. Ordinary readers showed appreciation and satisfaction in their online posts and book reviewers presented fair and pertinent analyses, but detractors followed with pretty harsh criticism. The critics downgraded the quality of The Lost Symbol based on a comparison to Brown’s previous bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. However, the majority of the readers lauded the fun readability of the novel, happy to get another chance to study Brown’s conspiracy theories and experience the enthralling search for a hidden truth alongside Langdon. So far, Brown’s novels have been considered, as Matthew SchneiderMayerson suggests, “by almost all observers to be apolitical page-turners, but it was the attacks of 9/11 and the resulting domestic political and social atmosphere that turned Brown into one of the most popular authors of all time.”1 More and more readers have become fascinated by Brown’s exceptional “formula” for thriller fiction. In a way, the distinctive charm of Brown’s fiction has gone way beyond the sphere of a popular novel. It has gradually shaped a new cultural phenomenon both in and beyond America. With the successive releases of his code-breaking novels and two sensational movie adaptations of the “Robert Langdon Series”, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, an extraordinary Brownian “formula” of thriller fiction is quickly emerging, steadily maturing, and assuredly taking the American fiction writing, publishing and reading world by storm. Indeed, The Lost Symbol relies on many patterns that have worked well in Brown’s previous novels, such as the portrayal of the brainy hero and heroine in stark contrast to the cruel and despicable villain, the use of historic sites as the story’s setting, the serial butchery of innocent people, 1 Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, “The Dan Brown Phenomenon: Conspiracism in Post-9/11 Popular Fiction,” 199.

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and the complex code-breaking sequence. It is hard to deny, though, that Brown doesn’t stick to all the same ingredients in his “formula” for thriller fiction. Like a dedicated alchemist, he tries to mix in something different in his experiment for a new and desirable effect. Now, let’s find out what is new in his “formula” for this novel.

The Narrative Alternating Between Time and Space Simply put, the novel is the art of narrative. Since the inception of the Western novel in the 18th century, the storytelling-based genre has gradually surpassed poetry, drama, essay, and other literary genres in output and popularity, and become the major force in literary writing and appreciation. In Brown’s view, what matters most in novel writing is originality rather than uniformity. One thing that he has been conscientiously avoiding since the start of his writing career is convention. While retaining some of the content and style exhibited in his previous novels, The Lost Symbol employs a new narrative mode that alternates between time and space. For a plot that is confined within a 12hour time frame, such a narrative structure streamlines all the key events and works more efficiently than a constant shift between the main thread and multiple minor ones. The main thread of the narrative follows Langdon and Katherine, while the secondary thread revolves around the villain, Mal’akh. From 7:00 pm to 1:00 am, the narrative informs us about the cause, process, and consequence of Langdon’s and Katherine’s decryption of the Masonic pyramid, but it is from 1:00 am to sunrise that the main part of the story starts its disclosure in great detail. In other words, the essential part of the thrilling decryption actually occurs within the last six hours. While keeping the two threads on a linear track, Brown brings in some additional details, or even casual digressions, about some of the minor characters. The intended effect is to avoid wearing the reader out by minimizing the simplicity and monotony of the narrative, and regulating its pace with a fine balance between tension and relaxation. Guangqian Zhu, the well-known Chinese theorist of aesthetics, tells us how minute details could make an essential contribution to the narrative – “The pattern and tempo of a narrative may be traced through a slew of trivial details, such as the length, content, and density of a narrative, or the shade, depth, and blending of colors.”1 In Brown’s narrative, we can see a consistent pattern in his description of events and transitions, executed with a careful selection of words for a desirable tone and proportion. 1

Gongzheng Wu, The Aesthetics of Novel (Nanjing: Jiangsu People’s Press, 1985), 345.

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Sometimes, it is fastidiously attentive, annoyingly elusive, or unexpectedly succinct. His use of colors, a major indicator of his literary strength, is indispensable in reinforcing the rhythm and mood of his narrative. Images like the dark maze-like underground passage, the sublime and magnificent ancient architecture, the silvery moonlight, and the white snow on the lawn all enhance the intensity of the narrative and maximize the appealing power of the story. By and large, The Lost Symbol adheres to the diachronic and linear narrative structure in traditional novels but it has certainly also cultivated some narrative strategies from the stream-of-consciousness style in modernist fiction. For instance, Brown inserts what may be termed “psychological timeouts” into the chronological time frame, and he does that seamlessly through the flashbacks of his characters. The most telling example of such a technique is the psychological timeout that Brown offers Mal’akh for the recollection of his early experiences in life. Mal’akh, the man with an all-tattooed body and a mysterious past, creates great suspense right from the beginning of the story. On the one hand, Brown describes the progress of Mal’akh’s scheme in the present and chronological time frame; on the other hand, he delineates Mal’akh’s inner world tier by tier, or reveals some of his secrets but perpetuates others. What is unique about Brown’s use of psychological timeouts is that they are highly periodic and selective. Mal’akh’s flashback could be long or short; it could be yesterday afternoon or a day ten years before, but this does not mean that the timeout is totally random. Mal’akh’s flashbacks are vigilantly timed according to the development of the main plot. In the early phase of the story, the appearance of the severed hand sets off an intense investigation by Langdon and the CIA. As he illustrates how the investigation proceeds, Brown allows Mal’akh to use a psychological timeout to recollect his kidnapping of Peter just the day before. In doing so, Brown has not only explained how a severed hand could appear in the Rotunda but has also set up one more mystery: why did Mal’akh kidnap Peter? Halfway through the story, Katherine and Langdon unite and find out Mal’akh’s purpose is to dig out the long-concealed secret of Freemasonry by using Peter as a hostage. What follows immediately is a chapter-long flashback about Mal’akh’s time in a Turkish prison years before and his attack on Peter’s home on Christmas night ten years before. Undoubtedly, both details effectively accentuate the fact that Mal’akh has been plotting Peter’s kidnapping for a long time, but they raise a new mystery as well: why does Mal’akh feel so much hatred for the Solomon family? From chapter to chapter, psychological timeouts and the chronological time frame interlock, overlap, and reciprocate each other,

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deciphering and creating suspense after suspense, keeping the reader on edge and yearning for quick answers. In addition, the alternating perspective in narrative leads to a constant shift of settings. Setting, the stage for the actions in a story, can do much more than serve as the backdrop or indicate the mood of a story. It may foretell where the plot is going and how, and instill a sense of freshness in the mind of the reader. In one of the key scenes of The Lost Symbol, we see Langdon and the CIA agents go down to the basement of the Capitol Building in order to figure out all the implications behind the severed hand. Inside the room, it is dim and dingy. A skull and other weird objects are scattered over the wooden table. The entire room is permeated with a gruesome and spooky atmosphere. Because of Langdon’s patient explanation, we learn that it is the Masonic Chamber of Reflection for the Freemasonry. This particular scene works in concert with the novel’s final revelation of its theme regarding human potential before the conclusion of the story. Right from the beginning of his decoding adventure, Langdon runs between the major landmarks of American history and culture in Washington, D.C., such as the Capitol Building, Library of Congress, National Cathedral, Masonic House of the Temple, and Washington Monument, in an attempt to break the ciphers underneath the Masonic pyramid. The scenes of these grand buildings not only help propel the plot forward but also offer the reader an amusing and eye-opening tour of American history and art.

The Fusion of the Real and Fictional Before the start of his novel, Brown habitually places a statement of facts used in his story. Of course, The Lost Symbol is no exception. In the statement, Brown stresses the authenticity of a CIA document that has the cryptic text for an ancient portal, the various institutions and organizations featured in the novel, and all the rituals, science, artwork, and monuments described. It is very similar to the preface or preface by the editor in traditional novels. Writers like Samuel Richardson and Daniel Defoe had it for their novels. They claimed that they wrote their stories based on actual diaries, letters, real notes, and personal experiences. The reason writers try so hard to establish the authenticity of their novel is two-fold. First, since its inception, the novel has been more inclined to represent the reality of social history than any other literary genres; secondly, it is just a sleight of hand to cover the fictional nature of the story. The novel is for many a truthful artistic representation of real life, and readers often expect to gain an understanding and a grasp of the

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world around us through novels. But the novel is a fictional form of art after all. In English, there is another word for novel, “fiction,” which literally means a story based on a fictionalized account. Despite his earnest claim about the authenticity of various details in the novel, both the story and characters in Brown’s The Lost Symbol are undoubtedly fictional. What is amazing about it is that the author was able to integrate his fictional characters and story with so many social and historical realities in the real world, and he did it so sensibly and compellingly that he was able to create a realistic literary world in his novel and use it as a platform to share his honest reflections on life. Here, we see a feasible and effective pattern in narrative structure, “reality – imagination – fiction – honest reflection.” Such a circular transformation, from reality to fiction and then from fiction back to reality, is definitely the most distinctive feature in Brown’s novel writing. In The Lost Symbol, Brown does give a heavy and realistic coverage of Freemasonry and Washington, D.C. Freemasonry is the largest fraternity organization in the world. Throughout history, so many prominent figures in politics, science, and culture were key members of the organization, including the first president of America, George Washington. In the novel, Brown has retained most of the historical facts, such as Freemasonry’s history, degree hierarchy, and ideals, but he also created a daring legend about the Masonic pyramid and its long-concealed Ancient Mysteries. It is these two fictionalized elements that constitute the core of the story. In his description of Washington, D.C., Brown has executed a very balanced and meaningful deconstruction of all the charming sites and landmarks in the capital. First, he presents an accurate account of the history behind the establishment and city planning of the capital, and then, through the perspective of his hero, Langdon, drops quite a few implications about the mysteries surrounding the center of American politics and culture. For instance, in chapter 1 of the novel, Langdon is “startling out of the semiconscious daydream” (6) in his flight over Washington, D.C. and murmuring as he looks down at the city – “Even from the air, Washington, D.C., exuded an almost mystical power” (7). Interestingly, the purpose of his trip is to deliver a special lecture on the symbolism of the landmark buildings in the capital. If Brown’s artful fictionalization of the Masonic pyramid and its Ancient Mysteries aims at moving the code-breaking plot forward with more twists and turns, then his calculated sensationalization of the capital’s “mystical power” is surely intended to reveal the thematic significance of his novel at the end. Reading a story that is structured with multi-layered real and fictional

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events, suspense, and the gloomy riddles of life is like experiencing a delightful intellectual adventure, and it urges readers to reflect upon various issues in their own life. In many sections, The Lost Symbol re-examines some of the religious texts in history but it seems to have no intention to explore the legitimacy of any religion or pass judgment on any religious issues. It only aims to facilitate a discussion about the current status of spiritual life in today’s society. The word “God” is an idolized or concretized symbol in all the major religions around the world. In The Lost Symbol, however, it seems to have been presented as an abstract symbol of human universality. “God” represents the infinite potential of humankind, and everyone shares God’s power. People just do not believe it, or have not realized it so far. Usually, the lost symbol implicitly refers to the old tenets passed down over the centuries in different religious faiths. It implies so much intelligence and wisdom accumulated over the long duration of human history and endows us with endless power of inspiration. Also, it is pointed out in the novel that as long as people understand their own potential, they will gain great confidence and hope. In fact, through his subtle rendition of religion in the story, Brown tries to convey to the reader an open secret, that as the greatest being among all living things, humans have a great mind. If we have a good grasp of our mind, it will have a great impact upon our personal development as well as that of humankind. In The Lost Symbol, Brown has cultivated his powerful imagination more creatively than ever. He has not only delineated a vivid picture of the real world but also constructed a marvelous literary world, in which he turns reality into fiction and transcends image into symbolism. He shows, subtly but forcefully, how a riveting story of suspense can offer a full display of the real inner workings of the human soul.

The Aesthetic Experience Through the Past and Present As a popular literary genre among the reading public, the novel’s greatest function is to deliver a sense of joy, a little food for thought, and a distinctive experience of aesthetics. In his diary entry for September 30, 1865, Leo Tolstoy reveals his ambition of being a great novelist by listing four essential ingredients a great novel must have: “(1) the interest of the combination of events; (2) the picture of manners and customs based on a historic event; (3) the beauty and cheerfulness of the situations; and (4) the

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unique traits of the characters.”1 Brown’s novel is a perfect example of the integration between historical events and an imaginative representation of them. His use of suspense makes his combination of events more tantalizing and meaningful simultaneously. Mystery and suspense stir up the readers’ curiosity, build up an atmosphere of tension, and turn the reading into a delicious experience. Culture, however, relies on its historical accretion, prompts readers to think, and inspires their potential to confront different challenges in life. In The Lost Symbol, Brown mixes quite a few splendid elements from historical and cultural heritage into his plot, and constructs a colorful world that transcends time based on his knowledge of ancient mystics and religions as well as new concepts from the latest scientific research, such as noetic science. To decipher the riddles about the Masonic pyramid, Langdon has to tap into his knowledge about religion, history, art, mathematics, language, and symbology on many occasions. The most interesting example might be his examination of the magic square. This is merely an ancient game of numbers, but it twice plays a key role in decoding grids. As we follow the main characters on the code-breaking trail, we cannot help developing our own interest in the magic square. In addition to this ancient game of wit, Brown takes us through an astonishing scientific experiment, namely, liquid breathing. In the last part of the novel, Langdon is forced into a full water tank for an hour, but he somehow survives at the end. It is by no means a random fabrication. Brown inserts this detail based on a real scientific theory that has been proven for decades. In 1966, a biochemist, Leland C. Clark, Jr., developed a liquid called perfluorocarbon (PFC) and used the liquid to support animal respiration. The mice whose lungs were filled with an oxygenated liquid survived for several hours. This is just one of the many references to real but mystical encyclopedic knowledge in the novel. They are scattered in different parts of the novel and constantly connect the reader to the interactive games and high-tech experiments out there. The reader learns to taste the joy of wisdom through the mindboggling ciphers and the newly discovered ideas, despite bearing an emotional toll from constant mood swings, and, eventually, gains a refreshing aesthetic appreciation of the author’s innovative use of novelistic devices. In addition to the tangible and science-based games of ciphers and experiments, Brown is courageous enough to take on two opposing approaches to human consciousness and faith: religion and 1

Alexander Nemser, “The World Writing: A Review on Two Translations of War and Peace,” The New Republic Online, January 10, 2008, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.powells.com/review/2008_01_10.html

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noetic science. What he reveals to us is how our ancestors prodded tenaciously into “consciousness” and “inner universe” over the long history of human civilization, and how we can discover new enlightenment about our own mentality. The fascinating plot in Brown’s novel is intended to satisfy the diverse literary tastes among readers in the information age today. It is also a daring attempt to reassess some of the major religious concepts in the world from a proper historical perspective, so that the overall theme of the novel can be explored in a deeper and broader fashion. It is not so difficult to understand why Brown excites his reader in his novels. It is simply because he can always find a fresh story and weave it into a rich and titillating narrative that comes with a strong sense of history and contemporaneity. Once we have read through The Lost Symbol, we admire the stunning quality of his story, but we still feel a little discontented because we are not ready to put the story down, and we start wondering how long we will have to wait for Brown’s next novel. We had the same feeling after reading through his previous novels, but Brown has not disappointed his readers so far. In spite of his international fame after the sensational success of The Da Vinci Code, Brown worked as hard as ever on The Lost Symbol. He got up every morning at 4:00 am to write, and he kept writing seven days a week, including on Christmas Day. To ensure the accuracy of the scenes and references in his novel, he visited Washington, D.C. many times, checking out the relevant sites and consulting experts. Brown is keenly aware of the high expectations from his loyal but demanding readers. To match or surpass his own success in his early novels, he must resort to the same first-rate writing skill, powerful imagination, and broad knowledge built on both natural talent and the long accumulation of research and experience over the years, and a lot more!

CHAPTER SEVEN DISCOVERING INFERNO

Feng Menglong, a Chinese novelist in the late Ming Dynasty, once cautioned his fellow writers in his Stories Old and New, “There are more ordinary readers than readers with elegant taste.”1 His advice is that a novel should try to appeal to the majority of common people rather than scholars or elite readers with particular tastes. Given the time period in which he was writing and the relatively new but inferior status of novel writing compared to poetry and drama, Feng’s point is pertinent and pragmatic. In his view, a novel needs to win over a broader audience in order to compete with other literary genres, and the only way to accomplish that is by making the story appealing to as many readers as possible. Of course, it has been more than 360 years since Feng’s time. Novel writing has long matured and maintained its dominant status in the realm of literature both in China and the West. Brown does not have to face the same kind of pressure or challenges from other literary genres as Feng and his contemporary novelists did. Nowadays, the pressure on Brown comes from his fellow novelists and his increasingly sophisticated and demanding readers. But the challenge has remained more or less the same: he must find a way to keep producing new novels that match or exceed the wild popularity of his previous ones. His efforts have been quite impressive and successful in the last ten years. His Inferno, with four million copies for the first edition, scored a huge success. It became the latest addition to his “Robert Langdon Series” and delighted his legions of anxious fans. As Chuck Leddy noted in his review for The Boston Globe,

1

Feng Menglong (ߟỖ嗉, 1574-1645), Stories Old and New (Beijing: The People’s Literature Press, 1958), 1. Feng Menglong was a Chinese vernacular writer, poet, and critic in the late Ming Dynasty. Born in Changzhou, now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Feng was considered a prominent writer and influential critic of his time. In addition to his histories and novels, his book, Stories Old and New, has been considered a major contribution to literary criticism in early China since its publication in 1620.

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even some picky readers and harsh critics with more elegant tastes have admitted that this novel “feels like a literary masterpiece.”1

1. Plot: Venturing from “Inferno” to Inferno Brown has always targeted his novels at readers with a strong yearning for suspense-filled thriller fiction. Over the years, he has proven what he can do with the genre. As Monica Hesse puts it well, Brown “has perfected the breathless art of the cliffhanger chapter, the spooky villain, the historish backdrop.”2 When asked about what makes a good novel in an interview with the BBC, Brown simply stated, “Write the book that you would want to read and hope that other people share your taste. It’s really that simple.”3 For many novelists, both in China and the West, a long tradition in novel writing is to entertain readers and themselves with gripping stories. Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Henry Fielding, renowned novelists in the 18th century, did just that, entertaining many readers with allegorical or picaresque stories. In the classical Chinese literature, such a tradition of entertaining through storytelling can be traced back to the time of the Six Dynasties (22-589 AD), when storytelling took a valiant departure from old-fashioned gossiping, and gradually evolved from an entertaining profession to a mainstream literary form for the general public. The draft or records of the storyteller became the rudiments of fiction writing in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and soon became a popular genre, characterized by simple narrative and vernacular, that catered for ordinary people. The evolution of fiction continued for centuries before it reached full maturity and earned a respectable status in the literary canon of China thanks to major contributions by Feng Menglong in the Ming Dynasty and Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty, but fiction writing did not overtake the dominant spot in literature from poetry until the early 20th century, when novels and short stories by writers like Lu Xun and Lao She gained widespread popularity among the readers. Brown’s novels, the “Robert Langdon Series” in particular, have proven him to be a masterful storyteller. What sets him apart from others, though, is that each of his novels offers a riveting story. True, his stories rely upon his self-invented formula consisting of a heart-racing plot filled 1

Chuck Leddy, “Inferno by Dan Brown,” The Boston Globe, May 27, 2013, Book Review section. 2 Monica Hesse, “Book review: Dan Brown’s Inferno,” The Washington Post, May 14, 2013, Style section. 3 Ian Youngs, “Dan Brown on 'Hurtful' Reviews and Saving the World,” BBC News: Entertainment and Arts, May 20, 2013.

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with conspiracy, suspense, and adventure, a free-shifting but gripping narrative, and a multi-layered backdrop of historical, religious, and intellectual issues, but each novel not only retains the same epic scope but also offers something new and surprising, such as employing a different narrative scheme and invoking a discussion of another sensitive issue. In Inferno, Brown puts the story above everything else, as he always does. The plot has all the ingredients that make an entertaining story. Some book reviewers did not like the predictability of the plot but still admit that “Brown really does deliver the kind of exotically situated entertainment his fans expect. The formula has become a formula for a reason: It works in getting readers to turn the page.”1

The Agony of Memory: “Why Am I Here?” Amnesia is a recurring theme in detective stories. Gwenda Reed, in Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder (1976), was too young to remember the murder that occurred in her childhood, and she suffers from illusions when similar scenes happen to her in the theater. In Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945), Dr. John Ballantyne cannot remember his true identity because of amnesia and a guilt complex. He is wrongly convicted of murder at first but manages to regain his memory and, hence, innocence with the help of Dr. Petersen through psychoanalysis. Guy Roland, a soldier who lost his memory during the war in Patrick Modiano’s Rue des Boutiques Obscures (The Street of Dark Shops or Missing Person, 1978), spends eight years as a private detective with the sole purpose of recovering his forgotten past. All these characters suffer from amnesia because of an unfortunate experience in their early years, something that has left a traumatic impact upon their state of mind. In the early novels of his “Robert Langdon Series”, Brown informed us about Langdon’s claustrophobia after his fall into a well at the age of seven, and he has used this to create effective suspense about Langdon’s mentality, and as a key thread in the plot. For instance, chapter 1 of the last novel in the series, The Lost Symbol, begins with Langdon’s flashback to a scary experience in a climbing elevator of the Eiffel Tower when its bottom suddenly drops out. In chapter 1 of Inferno, “The memories materialized slowly… like bubbles surfacing from the darkness of a bottomless well.”2 Langdon 1

Chuck Leddy, “Inferno by Dan Brown,” The Boston Globe, May 27, 2013, Book Review section. 2 Dan Brown, Inferno (New York: Doubleday, 2013), 9. All the quotes from Inferno are taken from the same edition and will be indicated by the page number hereafter.

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wakes up in a hospital in Florence, Italy, with a relapse of his amnesia after sustaining concussion from a head injury. In his nightmarish illusion, Langdon sees a “veiled woman” crossing “a river whose churning waters ran red with blood” and, raising a piece of cloth “in honor of the sea of corpses at her feet” (9), she whispers to him: “Time grows short” and urges him to “seek and find” (9). Langdon demands more detail but she explodes into “a thousand splintering shards of light” (10) and disappears. He wakes up, wondering, “Where am I? What happened?” (10). Langdon has lost his memory of the last few days and has no clue why he has been transplanted from his Harvard campus to a hospital in Italy. He is anxious to find out what happened to him. Before he can get any assuring answers, he is forced to run for his life after an assassin breaks in and kills a doctor. Langdon escapes with a doctor in her 30s, Sienna Brooks, who takes him to her apartment. While Brooks is trying to borrow some clothes for him from her neighbor, Langdon uses her computer to check his emails and search on the Internet, but he fails to get any useful information. He phones the US embassy for help instead. To his surprise, the assassin, Vayentha, and the SRS, which is the paramilitary team of the European Center for Disease, intercept the address he has just offered the embassy over the phone. They are looking for him, and inquire whether or not he still has “the object” with him. Langdon does not know what “the object” is. What he assumes at this point is that the US government is chasing him. Brooks tells him that he came to the hospital alone, murmuring “Ve ... sorry”, and that he had something odd in his jacket pocket. It turns out to be a medieval bone cylinder in which a sophisticated projector displays a modified version of the painting, The Map of Hell, by Sandro Botticelli. At the bottom of the image, they see the picture of a man with a bird-like beak and a line of illumination, “The truth can be glimpsed only through the eyes of death” (66). As the assassin and soldiers approach Brooks’ apartment, Langdon and Brooks manage to get away and head for Florence, Dante’s hometown, in an attempt to find out what is really happening to him by following the clues from The Map of Hell.

On the Way to Memory Events in Florence take place at a breathtaking pace, with successive surprises for the lead characters on the run, and readers as well. Brown’s narrative is free of the occasional “overwriting” present in his previous novels but, as usual, he offers his readers a refreshing and informative account of the history, art, and architecture of Florence. As readers follow

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Langdon and Brooks run from one ancient landmark to another in the city, they not only get some much-needed breathing space between fast chases and close encounters but also the chance to learn and reflect on how history and art have affected various sensitive issues in life. The wellplaced twists and shifts in perspective and action function like the navigation lights on the sea, only twinkling but attracting more attention than an ever-burning light. To Langdon and Brooks, however, arriving in Florence does not get them any closer to safety or the truth. Conversely, it marks the beginning of the real test ahead. By the time they reach the Porta Romana, the roadblocks set up by the military police at the request from the SRS are already in place, and the assassin is right behind them. Along the way, Langdon never stops thinking about the painting. Suddenly, he discovers the secret hidden in it – the correct order of the letters should be Cerca trova, which means “seek and ye shall find” in Italian and refers to the famous painting, Battaglia di Marciano (The Battle of Marciano). Also, it dawns on him that his murmuring, “Ve…sorry,” at the hospital is actually a sketchy reference to “VaSari,” the name of the painter, Giorgio Vasari, and not “very sorry.” With this new clue, Langdon and Brooks figure out where they need to go next – the Palazzo Vecchio (the Old Palace), the town hall of Florence. They bypass the blocks set up by the SRS to get into the Hall of the Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio. However, their initial reading of the painting is called into question when Marta Alvarez, the director of the museum, shows up. She insists that she met Langdon and his good friend, Ignazio Busoni, the night before and showed them Dante’s death mask. Langdon has no recollection of this whatsoever. Though still in shock, he immediately asks Marta to show them the mask, but the mask has been stolen. And the thieves, as shown on the surveillance monitor, are Langdon and Busoni. Marta tries to get hold of Busoni on the phone but his secretary tells her that he had died of a heart attack the night before. Busoni left a message for Langdon: “The gates are open to you, but you must hurry. Paradise Twenty-Five” (186). But what does it mean? Langdon and Brooks run around the museum to avoid the guards and fight hard with the persistent assassin. After Brooks pushes the assassin out of the building to her death, they start searching for the mask. First, they come to the “Church of Dante,” where they see the lines from Canto 25 of The Divine Comedy through a visitor’s iPhone, “I shall return as poet and put on, / at my baptismal font, the laurel crown.” With that, they connect Busoni’s words, “Paradise 25,” to the Florence Baptistery, where Dante was baptized. There, they find Dante’s death mask. On the back of

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the mask, seven Ps are engraved, which stand for the seven deadly sins. According to Dante, souls are allowed to enter the paradise only after their seven sins have been cleansed. A riddle from the billionaire geneticist, Bertrand Zobrist, puts a different spin on events. Brooks briefs Langdon about Zobrist’s extreme scheme to control population through an engineered plague. After washing the mask, Langdon sees a poem written in symmetrical clockwise Archimedean, which instructs them to go to Venice.

Revival of Memory: Who Should I Believe? In the baptistery, Jonathan Ferris, a doctor, tells Langdon and Brooks that he is a member of the World Health Organization, and that he can help them. After winning Langdon’s trust, Ferris goes to St. Mark’s Basilica with them to search for “the treacherous doge of Venice” (304), who turns out to be Enrico Dandolo, the doge of Venice buried in the south gallery of the Hagia Sophia. Shortly after the breakthrough, Langdon is caught by the SRS and taken to a silver-haired woman, Elizabeth Sinskey. Just as readers are anxious about Langdon’s safety and his stalled search for the truth, a sudden shift occurs in Brown’s narrative. In fact, Dr. Sinskey is the director-general of the WHO and the leader of the SRS. She briefs Langdon on what she knows about Zobrist’s secret operation. Six years before, she met Bertrand Zobrist, the genetic scientist and advocator of transhumanism, who believed that overpopulation would lead to the seven deadly sins and the extinction of the human species. Sinskey opposed his idea of controlling population growth with plagues but Zobrist cooperated with the Consortium to continue his experiment undisturbed. However, two weeks before Langdon’s “accident,” Zobrist felt that his scheme was likely to be discovered by the WHO, so before he committed suicide by jumping from the Badia Tower, he left a letter for Sinskey and asked the Provost, the head of the Consortium, to release a nine-minute video on the Internet two weeks later. After reading the letter, Sinskey found Zobrist’s cylinder immediately. She then invited Langdon to interpret it and come to Florence to stop Zobrist. Meanwhile, the assassin sent by the Consortium also arrived in Florence and attempted to convert Langdon. Ferris and Brooks also work for the Consortium. They drugged Langdon to erase his short-term memory and staged a series of events and scenes, including his head wound, his stay at the hospital, the phone call to the US consulate, and the help from Ferris, in order to prompt him to solve the riddle for them.

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Brooks is a genius. She was able to read medical books even at the age of seven. However, being smart has made it difficult for her to get along with her peers and this had the effect of isolating her. Following the advice of her psychologist, she served as a volunteer in the Philippines, an overpopulated and crime-ridden country, where she was sexually assaulted by three men. After meeting Zobrist, she was attracted by his ideas and became his lover and secret supporter. She was pretending to be a doctor so she could spy on Langdon, in the hope that he would help her solve the riddle and find out where the plague is. Eventually, Langdon, the Consortium, and the WHO team up in their effort to prevent Brooks from getting the plague. But the question is whether he can find the virus in Istanbul before she does.

The Memory Goes on: In Dangerous Times, We’ve Done Something A brief pause in the middle of a fast-moving or action-packed narrative is both desirable and effective in traditional Chinese storytelling since it offers the audience a moment to redirect their thoughts, probe into the minds of the characters, and make some sense of what they are reading. Before moving the next round of action to a new locale, Turkey, Brown uses the same strategy in his narrative to adjust the pace by adding Brooks’ long flashback of her early experiences and more interpretative dialogue. Langdon arrives at the Sunken Palace, Cistern, in Istanbul only to find that the virus is already gone and the bag that was holding the plague is broken. He seals the exit immediately to prevent the virus from infecting more tourists. However, Brooks shows up and screams “Fire!” in Turkish, which sends the panicked crowd running through the gate. Langdon chases after her for some explanations. What he finds out is that the plague had been released by Zobrist one week before and therefore has already spread out as a vector virus that will cause a DNA modification and deprive one-third of the sufferers of the ability to get pregnant. This is exactly how Zobrist planned to combat the exponential growth of the world population. In Brooks’ view, the idea is too cruel. She does not want the virus to fall into the wrong hands so she decides to neutralize it herself. Langdon urges her to meet with Dr. Sinskey. At Sinskey’s request, Brooks presents the case to other experts at the headquarters of WHO and is granted amnesty for her good intentions. Langdon, Brooks, Zobrist, and Sinskey might hold different positions on the issue but they all want a solution to the same crisis. Different paths have led to the same destination.

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Finally, Langdon gets back the normalcy of his life. He returns Dante’s mask, finds his beloved Mickey Mouse watch, and gains a deeper understanding of the words: “In dangerous times, there is no sin greater than inaction” (463). “Outside, in the newly fallen darkness, the world had been transformed. The sky had become a glistening tapestry of stars” (463).

2. Characterization: Tradition and Innovation In his The Aesthetics of the Chinese Novel, Lang Ye suggests, “A novel, excelling at plot but lacking in characters, can attract readers only once, while those with typical characters can reflect our social life and are worth reading a hundred times.”1 No doubt, Inferno has been lauded as another mesmerizing novel from Brown because it excels both in plot development and characterization. Brown’s characters are quite different from those in well-known Chinese novels, such as the 108 outlaws in The Water Margin, the sentimental ladies and gentlemen in Dream of the Red Chamber, and the gods and devils in Journey to the West. One clear difference is that Brown prefers to create a much smaller cast of characters and establish a much simpler relationship among them. Langdon is portrayed as the protagonist who is always at the center of all the action, and the other characters play secondary or supporting roles around him. True, Brown’s characterization often relies on the early traditions in novel writing, especially the key elements from English Gothic fiction, such as the four types of characters – tyrant, clergy, maiden, and ghost. Between his novels, however, Brown has shown his genius way of modifying these common prototypes to suit the needs of his story. One notable change in Inferno is his portrayal of Langdon, who seems to have lost some of the composure, superiority, and invincibility that we saw in the early novels in the “Robert Langdon Series”. Also, Brown presents Zobrist as a devil-like figure but not as a ghost or an entirely demonic villain. In a similar manner, he allows Brooks to function more as a maiden who wanders inadvertently into a hideous scheme but has a change of conscience at the last minute. Perhaps even more striking is that the characters in Inferno cannot be simply defined as good or bad because they all think and act according to their own beliefs, and they have to confront the consequences of their decisions. An approach like this enables Brown to represent his characters, major or minor, virtuous or villainous, in more lifelike ways. 1 Lang Ye, The Aesthetics of the Chinese Novel (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 1982), 69.

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The Amnesic Professor: Robert Langdon From the beginning of Inferno, an observant reader might note that Langdon does not look the same as we remember. Such a feeling deepens as we delve into the story. Physically, he is in pretty bad shape – he is pale and weary, attached to tubes and wires, and lying on a hospital bed. Mentally, he is delusional and daydreaming because he is suffering from mild amnesia, and cannot remember what has happened in the last few days. “Nothing. A total blank” (10). The change in Langdon’s wardrobe in the following chapters indicates both the change in his identity and the way the plot develops. Whenever his life is off course, such as when he loses his beloved Mickey Mouse watch and takes off his Harris Tweed coat, Langdon seems to be a different person, unable to function normally. After he puts on the neighbor’s clothes and impersonates an aging rocker with blond hair and a bandanna tight around his head, Langdon looks like an Italian, which further aggravates his confused self-identity. Only when he gets his own attire back does he regain his full capacities and is able to function as usual. Retrograde amnesia is the direct reason for Langdon’s confusion and delusion. For a long stretch in the story, he is perplexed, wandering like a firefly in the darkness, and struggling to make a sound judgment on things and people around him. He has no idea that he was drugged for the ulterior purpose of others, and neither do we. As we read through the novel, we feel as confounded as he is and fail to see any of the twists coming up in the sequence of events. Given our familiarity with Langdon’s claustrophobia, we are unable to imagine that his temporary loss of memory was induced by a special drug according to a special scheme. The thread of amnesia allows Brown to set up a perfect mystery from the outset. It shrouds the whole story in a mist and leads us through the narrative so attentively that we are shocked by the sudden twists and turns in events near the halfway mark. When Langdon discovers the cause of his amnesia, he has to get a quick grasp of the tough reality he is in and confront the fierce jostling among various forces and interest groups over the sensitive issue of overpopulation. At the end of the story, Langdon proves that he has retained his usual intelligence and his sense of moral obligation through his triumph of preventing the plague from spreading. By guiding us through the ups and downs in Langdon’s code-breaking evil-conquering journey, Brown prompts us to learn something from Langdon’s wrestle with amnesia and ask ourselves if we would be courageous enough to take proper action in dangerous times.

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The Beauty of Honesty and Integrity: Sienna Brooks Unlike Brown’s heroines in his other novels, the leading female character, Sienna Brooks, in Inferno does not have beautiful looks and grace. She is imperfect not only in her appearance but also in her mentality. However, despite her flaws, she is still quite adorable and credible. As we know from legends, real beauty is often imperfect, such as the fleshy Yang Guifei and the sickly Xi Shih. There are similar characters in other literary works, such as Xiangling and Xiangyun in Dream of the Red Chamber. Both are regarded as charming ladies even though the former is slow-witted and the latter cannot distinguish between similar sounds in speech. Characters in the stories by Pu Songling, a master of short stories in China, are portrayed in the same way. Pu describes Yingning as attractive even though she fails to comply with several feudal ethical standards. Brooks is quite an intriguing character. Readers will find that she is perhaps the most complicated and interesting character in the novel. Unlike the other privileged ladies in Brown’s early novels, she is both a vulnerable woman who has suffered much misunderstanding, mistreatment, and even degrading humiliation in her youthful years, and a tough scientist determined to take matters into her own hands and do what she believes is right. Since her childhood, she “had felt alone” (349). Because she was smart and had an off-the-charts IQ, she was viewed as abnormal and ostracized. Even her parents had trouble understanding her. She “spent her youth feeling like a stranger in a strange land” and “a part of nothing” (349). She went on a month-long trip to the Philippines, hoping that she could get herself out of her painful “loneliness” by helping the poor there. However, what she saw shocked her. “Amid this chaos of child prostitution, panhandlers, pickpockets, and worse, Sienna found herself suddenly paralyzed. All around her, she could see humanity overrun by its primal instinct for survival” (351). The psychological impact on her was tremendous. “For Sienna, all the dark depression came flooding back. She had suddenly understood mankind for what it was – a species on the brink” (351). Her conclusion was, “I’ve run through the gates of hell” (352). Back from the Philippines, she is full of concern over the issue of overpopulation and about the future of humankind in general. It is these concerns that drove her to Zobrist and his fanatic genetic experiment as a lover and a staunch supporter. She is smart, independent, courageous, and resourceful. Without her assistance, Langdon would not have been able to evade the assassin and the SRS team. Once she realizes that Zobrist’s plot

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might lead to bioterrorism, she is determined to get to the truth. In many ways, she appears to be brisker and more persistent and resolute than many men. Eventually, she convinces the experts at the WHO to “engage in a meaningful conversation about a real solution” (449) to the overpopulation crisis. As she alternates between her different identities and convictions in the story, readers follow her steps and changes closely. At first, our view of her changes from suspicion to animosity due to the shift in events, but in the end, she deserves our total respect and admiration for her honesty and integrity.

“Iron Lady”: Elizabeth Sinskey Elizabeth Sinskey is another important character in the novel. She looks like a fairy, aged but still charming. At the very beginning of the narrative, she appears in Langdon’s dreams as the silver-haired woman holding the Rod of Asclepius and whispering, “Seek. And ye shall find” (9). It is interesting to note that Langdon has just lost his short-term memory and cannot remember anything that has happened in the last two days – the only thing he sees or, rather, remembers is his encounter with Sinskey. Obviously, Brown is anxious to play up the mysterious atmosphere of the story by revealing the total chaos in Langdon’s mind. His purpose in adding such a detail is two-fold: one is setting up the suspense for the subsequent encounter between Sinskey and Langdon; the other is stressing the importance of Sinskey’s presence in the story. As a specialist in communicable diseases and the epidemiology of epidemics, and the director-general of the WHO, “a highly coveted and prestigious post that she had held for nearly a decade” (99), Sinskey has a stately manner, and she appears to be intelligent, strong, and unwavering. As soon as she comes to the forefront of the action, she shows what true leadership means and does. It seems natural for her to be listed by a major newsmagazine as among the “twenty most influential people in the world” (99). By holding the Rod of Asclepius, Sinskey reminds readers of the goddess in charge of human reproduction, healing, and medicine. However, the fact that Sinskey, who cannot bear children because of her use of steroid hormones for her severe asthma but has always cherished the impossible desire to conceive a child, agrees to spread the virus as Zobrist demands is a bit baffling. One can’t help but guess that the unexpected change of opinion about Zobrist’s proposed solution to the problem of overpopulation reflects the same misgivings that many people have.

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Good or Evil?: The Provost and Bertrand Zobrist Characters in English Gothic fiction, either sophisticated or straightforward, are generally one-dimensional figures. It is easy to divide them into good or evil categories. However, Brown does not follow such a practice. He stated in an interview, “I’m fascinated with the grey area between right and wrong, every novel I’ve written so far has explored that grey area.”1 The Provost and Zobrist are the kind of characters who dangle between good and evil. As the leader of the Consortium, the Provost is a slippery figure who has neither principles nor moral standards. No name is given to him, and he is only known to his employees by a strange academic administrative title. Throughout the novel, the Provost, along with the shadowy organization he runs, is snugly cloaked in mystery. Although Brown claims the authenticity of this organization in his usual note of facts, he does not reveal any tangible details about the origin of the organization or the nature of its operation. One can only speculate whether it is nothing but a strategy to lend some necessary ambiguity to the plot or simply because Brown does not have the liberty to share more information with the public. The Provost and his organization are hired by Zobrist to secure a secret site so the billionaire biologist can work on his project without disturbance. He is the mastermind behind all the surprises and close calls that Langdon encounters in the story, including his drug-induced loss of memory, the chase by the assassin, who is a Consortium agent, and Brooks’ spying and cheating on him. For the most part of the story, he spares no effort in concealing Zobrist and his covert operation from the WHO and the public. However, once he learns that Zobrist’s plague might potentially aid bioterrorism and threaten the development of mankind, he changes his mind and cooperates with the WHO in locating the virus. He tells Langdon everything about the conspiracy surrounding the plague. It turns out that what he and his organization have been doing to Langdon is merely an attempt to create an illusion. They never intended to harm him; even the assassin only had blanks in her gun. The Provost has to admit: I accepted the wrong client. Bertrand Zobrist. I trusted the wrong person. Sienna Brooks. (368)

At this point, he is fully aware of the consequences of his operation, sensing that he is “flying toward the eye of the storm – the epicenter of what might well be a deadly plague that had the potential to wreak havoc 1

Jeff Dunn and Craig Bubeck, The Gospel According to Dan Brown, 223.

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across the entire world,” and suspecting that “his Consortium would never survive the fallout” (368-369). Unlike other villainous characters in Brown’s early novels, the Provost seems to have retained some of his humanity and sense of responsibility. His complexity breaks the usual stereotype of the so-called antagonist and makes him more credible than a one-dimensional character. Bertrand Zobrist is invisible in the novel as he commits suicide at the end of the prologue on page 7, but his presence is everywhere during Langdon’s search for the plague. A genius genetic scientist, a self-claimed transhumanist, and a madman, Zobrist releases the virus to the public with the intent to sterilize one-third of the people in the world as the ultimate solution to the problem of overpopulation. Before killing himself by jumping from the spire of the Badia, Zobrist hired the Consortium, confronted Sinskey about the issue, and asked her to release his video tape. His arrangement triggers the whole sequence of events and drags Langdon into the jostling among various forces and interest groups. As a devoted fan of Dante’s Inferno, Zobrist is anxious about “the big threat to humanity” – “the inexorable increase in the world population.”1 Under the stress of overpopulation,” he warns Sinskey, “those who have never considered stealing will become thieves to feed their families. Those who have never considered killing will kill to provide for their young. All Dante’s deadly sins – greed, gluttony, treachery, murder, and the rest – will begin percolating…rising up to the surface of humanity, amplified by our evaporating comforts. We are facing a battle for the very soul of man. (103)

Driven by his obsession with the imminent demographic catastrophe, Zobrist invests all his scientific intelligence and financial resources in his “project,” with which he plans to create a worldwide plague through an airborne virus, a similar outbreak to “the bubonic plague during the 14th century: the so-called Black Death,” which he deems “nature’s way of correcting an imbalanced ratio of human growth.”2 Preventing his plan from being executed becomes the daunting task of Langdon, Brooks, and Sinskey. Undoubtedly, Zobrist is extreme in his beliefs and reckless in carrying out his inhuman “project,” but the key question is that if he was really bent on unleashing the next Black Death, why would he leave a trail of clues 1

Melanie McDonagh, “Dan Brown’s Latest Conspiracy Theory – and the Powerful People Who Believe It,” The Spectator, May 25, 2013. 2 Seth Walker, “This Summer’s Blockbusters Are Really about Overpopulation,” Salon, July 10, 2013.

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for Langdon and others to follow? Is it possible that his plan was merely intended as a deadly warning to Sinskey and others in powerful positions so that tangible and effective measures would be taken to deal with the issue of overpopulation? In a way, what Zobrist has done is evil but it could serve a good end. At least it reminds the reader of the similar steps taken by the pope in Angels & Demons and Pickering in Deception Point. Even though both of them committed sins or wrongdoing for the sake of a perceived good cause based on their convictions, it would be a bit farfetched to see them as evil as the camerlengo in Angels & Demons, Teabing in The Da Vinci Code, or Mal’akh in The Lost Symbol. At the end of Inferno, the reader gets the feeling that, perhaps, Langdon, Sinskey, and even Brown, have changed their view of Zobrist. They have gained a better understanding of Zobrist’s diagnosis of the crisis looming in the near future of mankind; they have found some empathy with Zobrist, especially his motives, even though they do not condone his tactics. In the epilogue, after he has returned to Harvard, Langdon feels that he is guilty, “like millions” (463), of inaction toward this crisis.

3. Themes: Discoveries and Dilemmas in Life Charles Dickens set A Tale of Two Cities in the historical period before and during the French Revolution. In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway used WWI as the backdrop. The sequence of events in both novels is closely tied to historical realities and their impact upon the lives of the characters. In Inferno, Brown also situates the story in a realistic setting and deals with issues that the world is facing. As we have seen in other novels in the “Robert Langdon Series”, once again Brown taps into relevant historical periods, social issues, and literary traditions in order to weave different pieces of the plot into a complex but coherent structure, inform the readers about the historical context of certain issues, enrich the story with intricate codes, twists, and turns, and present his characters with distinctive features. While it is true that Brown offers us a heavy dose of history and culture during Dante’s time and the Renaissance, through his reference to Dante’s Inferno and the Black Death, he has a sharply defined issue to address in his own Inferno. “In fact,” as Jake Kerridge points out in his book review, “Brown does not engage with the Divine Comedy as closely as he does with the Bible or the paintings of Leonardo in previous novels, and there is no centuries-old conspiracy to uncover: rather, a very

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modern threat.”1 He seems keen to call our attention to the urgent issues we are facing today.

The Overpopulation Crisis In the early novels of the “Robert Langdon Series”, the themes are mostly centered on religions or esoteric societies. In Inferno, he raises serious questions about overpopulation and the Catholic Church’s opposition to birth control. As we all know, both issues have been heatedly debated among intellectuals and politicians at the national level and international arena in recent years. Unfortunately, not much has been done to contain the rapid growth of the world population despite a widespread consensus regarding its overwhelming impact on the environment, human development, and peace in the world. The World Health Organization is unable to lead the effort as rigorously and effectively as it should due to a lack of resolve and resources; the developing countries, where the issue of overpopulation is already creating all kinds of problems and tensions, are either too poor or too divided to implement any meaningful measures; and the churches are still adhering to their age-long opposition to birth control based on their religious beliefs. In chapter 22, Sinskey tries to convince Zobrist that “the WHO takes overpopulation very seriously” and they “spent millions of dollars sending doctors into Africa to deliver free condoms and educate people about birth control.” “Ah, yes!” Zobrist retorts, “And an even bigger army of Catholic missionaries marched in on your heels and told the Africans that if they used the condoms, they’d all go to hell.” (102)

Even Sinskey believes that Zobrist is right on this point. What the exchange between them shows are the complexity and polarity of the issue. The problem of overpopulation is one of the top global environmental crises the mankind is facing at present, and its negative impact can be seen in different aspects of our life. Nevertheless, it did not happen overnight. If our evolutionary history has lasted for 2 million years, humans spent almost 1.99 million years living in barbarism, roaming in the wild just like other animals. It was not until 10,000 years ago that humans began to change the environment and its population started to grow steadily. 1

Jake Kerridge, “Inferno by Dan Brown,” The Telegraph, May 14, 2013.

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Zobrist shows Sinskey an interesting graph that clearly lays out the population growth figures for the last 10,000 years. In the first year AD, there were only 250 million people in the world. From then on, with the development of human civilization through the centuries, the population has been steadily growing, reaching one billion in 1830, two billion in 1930, three billion in 1960, four billion in 1975, five billion in 1987, over six billion in 1999, and 7.1 billion in 2013. According to John Bongaarts and Rodolfo Bulatao, “All the major international agencies involved expect world population growth to continue at least to 2050…the population of the world will reach 8.9 billion in 2050.”1 Obviously, such rapid growth is not sustainable as it is already way beyond what the earth can support. Toward the end of chapter 22, Sinskey asks Zobrist, “What is the ideal population of earth? What is the magic number at which humankind can hope to sustain itself indefinitely…and in relative comfort?” (104105) Zobrist’s answer is “four billion.” Sinskey is alarmed by the figure because the population figure is already “at seven billion now, so it’s a little too late for that” (105). Her figure shocks Zobrist; he finds it hard to believe. It is estimated that if the population continues to increase at the present rate, it will mostly likely reach 14 billion in 2080, and we will have to create two planets exactly the same as the Earth if we wish to maintain our current living standards. The environment is facing great pressure due to overpopulation. Every 1 percent of growth in the population requires 3 percent of the national income to sustain it, and this has caused a series of environmental problems including excessive logging, grassland degeneration, desertification, and resource exhaustion. Natural resources per capita are decreasing, which is a direct threat to the sustainable development of humankind. In addition, the problems associated with overpopulation will have tremendous longterm implications on a range of areas, such as politics, economy, social stability, and world peace. In Bob Minzesheimer’s view, Brown is sounding the alarm about an issue that many readers may not realize is actually a huge problem. When asked about the controversial reference in the novel to the Vatican’s attempt to indoctrinate developing countries into believing that contraception is evil, Brown ducked the question. “To answer that defeats the ability of the novel to spark debate,” he said. “Controversy is a good thing when it gets people thinking and talking.”2 Indeed, it is a sensitive issue for which there is no quick solution. 1

John Bongaarts and Rodolfo Bulatao, eds., Beyond Six Billion: Forecasting the World's Population (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2000), 18-19. 2 Bob Minzesheimer, “Dante’s Inferno Inspired Dan Brown’s Inferno.”

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Duality of Science and Technology In Inferno, Brown invites his readers to consider another major issue regarding the development of science and technology and its impact upon our life. Apparently, it is nothing new, and it has been addressed in several of his early novels. What he brings into focus this time is the duality of science and technology. Thanks to the development of science and technology, civilization has been advancing at a rapid pace, with high productivity and high living standards. The invention of the steam engine started the era of mechanization in the 17th and 18th centuries, while the generator led to electrification in the 19th century. The 20th century witnessed the shift to automation due to the use of computers and automatic machines. The great progress in science and technology has enabled us to make better use of natural resources and create new materials that did not exist before, such as plastic, alloy, synthetic fiber, etc. Today, we are already living in the Internet age and using all kinds of digital technologies in our work and life. Nevertheless, the development of science and technology has its downside. If the metaphor of opening Pandora’s Box sounds exaggerated, at least we should admit that it has brought us numerous problems and challenges, including global warming, desertification, and species extinction. We are now living under the threat of nuclear weapons. The tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are unforgettable, while the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is still vivid in our memory. A slew of issues, such as how to dispose of nuclear waste, used computers, and space junk, how to deal with the increased variation of viruses, and ozone depletion demand prompt solutions. Also, moral and ethical principles are constantly being tested by the development of science and technology. Various technologies have been turned into destructive forces. From cold weapons to thermal nuclear weapons, we are better equipped than ever before to destroy ourselves and the world around us. The revolution of information technology has also given rise to new problems, such as cybersex, intellectual crime, computer virus, loss of privacy, and theft of identity. The new technology in biology can “rewrite” the course of life through genetic screening and engineering, while cloning has changed people’s attitudes toward love, family, and the ethics of reproduction. As a gifted genetic scientist, Zobrist certainly knows a lot about the latest advancements in science. Using technology and state-of-the-art facility at his disposal, he wants to create and release an airborne virus. His sole purpose is to put an immediate stop to the problem of overpopulation by sterilizing one-third of the people living in

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the world. All he cares about is the chance to fulfill his vision according to what he believes. He does not worry about the potential catastrophe to his fellow human beings and the world, One lesson readers may learn from Brown’s Inferno is that it is imperative to understand the side effects of science and technology, and do everything we can to minimize their negative impact. Peace should be the only purpose of the development of science and technology. At any time, development must be regulated based on needs and means; it must respect the rights and dignity of human beings, and protect the ecosystem and other life forms on Earth.

From Death to Rebirth: “Black Death” and the Renaissance In the middle of the 14th century, Europe was swept by a terrible plague, which originated in Central Asia and then traveled to the Crimea, Genoa, and trade centers along the Black Sea. Next it struck Italy and spread northward, arriving at Avignon in 1348, where the plague turned west and landed in England. The bishop became the first victim in Belgium, while one-third of the clergy in Germany died in the plague and numerous churches and abbeys were closed. The disease was named the “Black Death” for the sufferers’ skin would blacken due to subepidermal hemorrhages, and it is estimated to have taken up to 60 percent of Europe’s population. The eruption of the Black Death had a huge destructive impact on the development of European society. When the terrified people asked for the cause of the disease, they were told that it was divine retribution, a punishment from God, and they were warned to continue confessing and cleansing their sins by asceticism, including self-flagellation. However, such an explanation did not stop the spread of the disease, which led to a feeling of skepticism about the Catholic Church and a widespread demand for religious reforms. With the decline of the influence of the Catholic Church, people rediscovered and emphasized classical culture, and they were anxious to embrace the upcoming Renaissance. Moreover, the value of life was recognized after the disease had run its course. In their book, The History of Western Culture, Zhixing Chen and Youxing Zhang point out, “Survivors began to pursue happiness and self-fulfillment. They came to cherish life itself and believed in Carpe Diem. The importance of life and human rights sprouted from death.”1 As the practice of asceticism was 1

Zhixing Chen and Youxing Zhang, The History of Western Culture (Guangzhou: Zhongshan University Press, 2003), 199.

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fading away, various entertainments began to thrive. The poet, Petrarch, who is also known as the “Father of Humanism,” once stated, “I don’t want to be God, or live in eternity. Being a human being, I am quite satisfied. I am a mortal, which is what I want.”1 Such a change in perspective, together with an economic resurgence, paved the way for the rebirth of Italy and the whole Europe and a prevailing appreciation of Humanism. A new generation of scholars, artists, and writers, including L. Bruni, L. Valla, F. Brunelleschi, L.B. Alberti, Donatello, S. Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, emerged, and their brilliant works that would be cherished for centuries.

4. Setting: Museums, Cities, and Countries Brown’s use of setting has always been one of the key features in his novels. Each of his novels has a carefully selected combination of locations, and each location is extraordinary and evocative in its own way. Readers might not remember every moment of suspense or action but find it harder to forget the settings, or scenes, in his stories. The settings in his novels are not just exotic, spectacular places; more importantly, all of them are emblematic of the prominent legacy of history, religion, culture, and art. So far, Brown’s use of setting has represented the power struggle of the United States in The Lost Symbol, the vitality of Paris in The Da Vinci Code, the solemnity of the Vatican in Angels & Demons, and the charm of Seville in Digital Fortress. In Inferno, his setting shows us the elegance of Italy. As always, the action in the novel occurs in real buildings at real locations in well-known cities. The same technique used to be standard practice in Chinese classical novels, with only a few exceptions. The intended effect is to immerse the reader in the story by creating a sense of reality and immediacy about the places. In addition, what the reader happens to know about these buildings and cities may lead to a deeper and broader understanding of the implications in the narrative. Usually, as we can see in Brown’s novels, a familiar and meaningful setting resonates with the reader and turns the reading into an exciting and enlightening experience.

1

Zhixing Chen and Youxing Zhang, The History of Western Culture, 11.

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The Florence Art Institute To find out the truth, Langdon and Brooks head for the old city of Florence. They change route on the way due to the road block set up by the military police and make their first stop at the Florence Art Institute, thus embarking on their swift action-packed journey through the city of Florence.

Boboli Gardens In chapter 25, they pass through the Florence Art Institute and come to the Boboli Gardens, where there are fountains, sculptures, grottoes, and avenues as well as heavily wooded allees. They are not in the mood to enjoy the beautiful view, however, because “a surveillance drone [is] tracking them through the Boboli Gardens” (114), and they need to find an exit in a hurry to lose the agents from the SRS. In chapter 26, they managed to reach “the end of La Cerchiata’s leafy tunnel and dashed across an open lawn into a grove of cork trees” (118), and looked out at Boboli’s famous fountain, “The Fountain of the Fork,” and the Pitti Palace. The Boboli Gardens were originally designed and built by Florentine architects, Bartolomeo Ammanati and Bernardo Buontalenti, as the garden of the Pitti Palace. Over 100 years later, the Palace was bought by Cosimo l de’ Medici, whose wife, Eleonora di Toledo, let Tribolo transform the orchard behind palace into a garden in 1550. The Boboli Gardens were said to be named after the Boboli family, which once owned the garden. Despite the changes in ownership over the years, the Gardens remained intact. As the largest garden of the Medici, it covers nearly 150 acres and consists of two parts. One part stretches along the primary axis from the center of the Pitti Palace to the wall while the other is almost perpendicular to the primary axis.

The Pitti Palace Langdon and Brooks finally reach the Pitti Palace, a Renaissance palace and originally the residence of a banker, Luca Pitti. The palace was bought by the Medici Family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It cannot rival other residences of the Medici in terms of size or content but it is quite distinctive. Other “formal palaces … were situated on high ground so that anyone in the gardens had

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to look uphill at the building … the Pitti Palace, however, was situated in a low valley near the Arno River” so “people in the Boboli Gardens looked downhill at the palace” (118). The rusticated stonework gives the palace a severe and powerful atmosphere while collections of paintings and jewelry endow it with distinctive glamor. In the late 18th century, Napoleon liked it so much that he decided to use the palace as his “power base” (119). For a short while, it served as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy. In 1919, King Victor Emmanuel III donated the palace and all its collections to the nation. Now, the once famous and luxurious private residence is one of the biggest art galleries in Italy and a popular tourist site.

The Ponte Vecchio Langdon and Brooks get to Palazzo Vecchio through the Vasari Corridor, “the quintessential secret passageway” (141), under which is “the Ponte Vecchio – the famed pedestrian bridge connecting the Pitti Palace to the old city” (125). The two-story building on the medieval stone bridge used to be the corridor connecting the Uffizi with the Pitti Palace. Shops were built along the bridge; these were occupied initially by butchers while today it is where jewelers and merchants of precious metal jewelry ply their trade. The Ponte Vecchio was rebuilt in 1345 and survived WII due to Hitler’s command to bypass it when the Germans retreated from Florence. However, the other nine bridges over the Arno River were destroyed.

The Palazzo Vecchio After eluding the agents on the ground and the drone in the air, Langdon and Brooks arrive at the Palazzo Vecchio, originally named the Palazzo della Signoria after the ruler of the Republic of Florence. It used to be the residence of the Medici Family and was called “the Old Palace” after the Medici moved to the Pitti Palace. The Ponte Vecchio is therefore also known as “the Old Bridge.” With the Tower of Arnolfo, this cubical building is different from other magnificent palaces. It is a Romanesque fortress-palace and the most impressive and art-filled town hall in Tuscany. The Statue of David stands at the palace entrance. The present Palazzo Vecchio was constructed in 1322, and renovated in 1540. Its medieval outlook was preserved by Duke Cosimo l de’ Medici, and its interior was decorated with paintings. The eminent painter

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Vasari was in charge of the decoration, and he was followed by other outstanding artists of Florence between 1569 and 1573. Masterpieces, such as works produced by Bronzino for the Cappella di Eleonora, Judith and Holofernes by Donatello, and frescos by Ghirlandaio, compete here. You can also enjoy the splendid view of Florence from the loggia. The Battaglia di Marciano, which Langdon was looking for, is located in the most imposing chamber of the palace, the Hall of the Five Hundred. It was built in 1494 by Simone del Pollaiolo and Francesco di Domenico, who were commissioned by Savonarola to provide a meeting hall for the republic’s Grand Council of precisely 500 members after the exile of the Medici. There are two famous, yet unfinished, works in the room – the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci and the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo. Leonardo da Vinci was trying to mix wax into his pigments, which did not work well, and Michelangelo was sent to Rome by Pope Julius II. Twelve expansive frescos and 12 statues on the “Labors of Hercules,” made by Vasari and his assistants, are the surviving ornaments of the hall.

Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower The place that Ignazio Busoni was implying in his last words is the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower, whose exterior is laid with marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white. The world’s third-largest basilica, it was built through the collective efforts of several generations. Constructed on the site of an earlier cathedral dedicated to Saint Reparata, the basilica was enlarged by Giovanni Medici, a project that lasted for 175 years. Its style had a profound influence on the next generations. The dome, engineered by talented architect Filippo Brunelleschi, exhibits the perfect combination of science and classic art, and was considered to be “incredible” by the Pope. Michelangelo followed its pattern to design St. Peter’s Basilica for the Vatican but he admitted humbly, “I can make it larger but not grander.” The Last Judgment produced by Vasari and Dante’s The Divine Comedy, painted in memory of the 200th anniversary of Dante’s birth, are also kept here.

Piazza San Marco Following the hints from the poem on the back of Dante’s death mask, Langdon and Brooks wrap up their quest in the historic center of Florence and travel to Venice by train in search of the “gilded mouseion of holy wisdom” (334). Their destination, the Piazza San Marco, was

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allegedly called “the drawing room of Europe” (305) by Napoleon, even though such an attribution has never been verified by any reliable sources. Though a public square in downtown Venice, it is quite peaceful due to the tranquil waterways and the absence of cars in the city. It has always been the center for political, religious, and public activities and a favorite site for tourists and photographers. Having visited the city many times before, Langdon knows the place really well. “Chaos on the water, Langdon mused, eyeing the floating traffic jam” but he has no time to enjoy Venice, “an outdoor museum” (297), this time because “[t]he poem on the back of Dante’s death mask still played in Langdon’s mind, and he wondered where the verses would lead them” (298). St. Mark’s Basilica is the place that Langdon and Brooks want to check out. It was first built in 828, burned down in a rebellion in 976, and restored or rebuilt in 978. There is not much information about the design or form of the early structures of the church. The present building was probably constructed in 1073. It used to be the largest basilica in medieval Europe. A lot of the antiques brought from Constantinople during the Crusades were exhibited in the secret suite of rooms off the right transept. All the upper levels inside the church are decorated with bright mosaics, and the traditional background of gold glass tesserae gives the whole building a shimmering effect of golden light. It is often called the “golden basilica” so Langdon mistakes it for the “gilded mouseion of holy wisdom” where Enrico Dandolo was buried. It finally dawns on him that the right burial site is not St. Mark’s Basilica, and that he and Brooks are searching in the wrong museum in the wrong country.

Bridge of Sighs When riding on a boat toward St Mark’s Basilica, Langdon and Brooks catch sight of the famous bridge of Venice – the Bridge of Sighs, “the beautifully carved, enclosed tunnel that arched between the two buildings” (306). This Baroque bridge, built with white limestone in 1600, is the only enclosed arch bridge over the water, connecting court and jail. It is Lord Byron, the British poet, who gave the bridge its name. People assumed at that time that prisoners would sigh as they caught their final glimpse of Venice and the outside world through the windows in the bridge before being taken down to death row. Looking at this bridge, Langdon recalls one of his favorite boyhood movies, A Little Romance, which was based on the legend that if two young lovers kissed beneath this bridge at sunset while the bells of St. Mark’s were ringing, they would love each other

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It was only years later that he learned the bridge “drew its name not from sighs of passion…but instead from sighs of misery” (307).

From Italy to Turkey Langdon finally concludes that the virus has been moved to Istanbul, Turkey, a country known as the crossroads of the world, where East meets West. Various cultures from the Western and Eastern worlds communicate with each other in Turkey, which explains its close historical connection with Italy. In chapter 84, Brown points out, This was a world divided, a city of opposing forces – religious, secular; ancient, modern; Eastern, Western. Straddling the geographic boundary between Europe and Asia, this timeless city was quite literally the bridge from the Old World… to a world that was even older. (375)

Here, the tacit message from the author is that the differences of cultural traditions between the East and West are not as significant as people have assumed. And one of the reasons Brown chose Istanbul as the hiding place for the virus is to stress Turkey’s significance as the bridge between the East and West rather than the binary opposition between the two.

Hagia Sophia Langdon comes to Turkey with SRS agent Brüder in search of Brooks and “the lagoon that reflects no stars” (404) in Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia has a long history of nearly 1500 years. First it was a Greek Orthodox patriarchal church then an imperial mosque and now a museum. It was built in 537, with a typical Byzantine architectural design by Isidore of Miletus, a physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician, in “the ancient Byzantine capital” (375), Istanbul. “While no longer the capital of Turkey,” Brown informs us, it had served over the centuries as the epicenter of three distinct empires – the Byzantine, the Roman, and the Ottoman. For this reason, Istanbul was arguably one of the most historically diverse locations on the earth. (375)

Hagia Sophia has undergone various changes and witnessed numerous historical events. After the Ottoman Turk occupation of Constantinople in

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1453, Sultan Mehmed II ordered the church be converted into a mosque. Bells, altars, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, while Islamic features, such as the mihrab, minbar, and four minarets, were added. After the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the church was reopened as a museum. The tomb of the doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, who sacked Constantinople in 1204, is also located in Hagia Sophia. His name was carved into the stone floor. Other relics, including the stone from Jesus’ grave, the milk of the Virgin Mary, and the bones of several saints were transferred, during the Fourth Crusade, to numerous museums in the West.

The Sunken Palace – The Basilica Cistern Langdon’s journey stops at the Sunken Palace, which is actually a great cistern that used to be an ammunition depot and water supply in ancient times. But “[t]hese days it’s nothing more than a tourist attraction” (401). With its red light and glistening water, it is also an ideal space for fashion shows and classic music concerts. Constructed during the reign of Emperor Constantine and completed by Emperor Justinian, the Sunken Palace is the largest among several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul. Built in the 6th century, it is 138 meters long, 64 meters wide, and 11.8 meters high, and supported by a forest of 336 marble columns, two of which are placed upon the upside-down head of Medusa. As one of the Gorgons, Medusa could turn anyone who looked at her into stone. However, it is also said that she was a beautiful girl with black eyes. She fell in love with the son of Zeus, Perseus, who was also adored by Athena. The goddess, driven by jealousy, put a curse on Medusa, turning her hair into snakes. One of the heads of Medusa is placed sideways while the other is inverted simply to serve as the column base rather than to rob the female monster of her evil powers. When Langdon and Sinskey’s agents are following the local guide through the Sunken Palace, they are already racing with time for the next clue about Zobrist’s intentions. Langdon has no time to reflect upon what he is seeing or share what he knows about the place, but it is a crucial scene because it is where they finally figure out what Zobrist is trying to do with the “bioaerosol” he has created and how dangerous the “airborne pathogens” (401) could be once they spread.

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5. Code: Games and Riddles in Arts Code is at the core of Brown’s stories. In Inferno, the fate of the entire human race is often hanging by a thread while a code is being investigated, debated, revised, and determined. It is not just one code that Langdon has to crack. In fact, he must decipher a lot of codes that surface one after, or on top of, another in different forms and designs, such as codes hiding in games of letters, words, or symbols. In all the novels in the “Robert Langdon Series”, Langdon has to find solutions under very tight time constraints. Can Langdon break all the codes in time again? Let’s follow Langdon’s code-breaking quest in the novel.

Letter Game: CATROVACER Langdon finds an odd-looking medieval bone cylinder in his secret pocket. After a little shake, it projects the masterpiece, The Map of Hell, by Botticelli. However, the slide is a slightly modified version of the original painting. Letters had been put into each of the ten ditches, and they are from top to bottom:

C A T R O V A C E R

“CATROVACER” (207) is clearly an anagram. Langdon finds this line within the eighth ring of hell on the tiny projector. It is not written in Italian or other languages; it is not a signature, either. Soon, Langdon and Brooks find out that not only have extra letters been added but the sequence of the ten ditches has been changed. Their quick conclusion is that they “are definitely not part of Botticelli’s original. This image has been digitally edited” (66). A few chapters later, Langdon and Brooks take out the tiny projector and shake it again. They realize that whoever produced this digital image has also made some changes in the order of the sins. “If these levels were compared to a deck of ten cards,” Langdon

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assumes, “the deck was not so much shuffled as simply cut once. After the cut, the cards remain in the correct order, but they start with the wrong card” (107). For instance, the original painting follows Dante’s text and has the seducers whipped by demons at the top level, but in the projected image, the seducers appear in the seventh ditch. That is to say, the letters could be divided into two groups forming two Italian words, cerca trova, meaning “seek and ye shall find.” Instantly, it reminds Langdon that they are synonymous with the biblical aphorism, and the same words from the “veiled lady.” It also gives him a clear clue that points to a mural, Giorgio Vasari’s Battle of Marciano, in the Palazzo Vecchio.

Word Game: “Paradise Twenty-Five” In search of the death mask, Langdon gets a message from his close friend, Ignazio Busoni, “What you seek is safely hidden. The gates are open to you, but you must hurry. Paradise Twenty-Five” (186). What does it mean? The key phrase is from Dante’s The Divine Comedy: If it should happen...if this sacred poem– This work so shared by heaven and by earth That it has made me lean through these long years– Can ever overcome the cruelty That bars me from the fair fold where I slept, A lamb opposed to wolves that war on it... By then with other voice, with other fleece, I shall return as poet and put on, At my baptismal font, the laurel crown; For there I first found entry to that faith Which makes souls welcome unto God, and then, For that faith, Peter garlanded my brow. (1-12, Paradiso, XXV)

The crucial hint for Langdon lies in the lines, “By then with other voice, with other fleece / I shall return as poet and put on / At my baptismal font, the laurel crown.” Under its instruction, Langdon comes to the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower, where Dante’s font was placed in the Baptistery of San Giovanni and the doors of the baptistery are so magnificent that Michelangelo referred to them as the “Gates of Paradise.”

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Symbol Game: “PPPPPPP” After getting the death mask, Langdon finds that on its forehead there are seven identical letters, “PPPPPPP,” inscribed from left to right. Domenico di Michelino once did a painting of Dante with The Divine Comedy in his hand, The Comedy Illuminating Florence. Behind the poet, naked figures ascending from the depths of the inferno are waiting for the admittance of the angel. At first, Langdon only has a glimpse of “a faint discoloration near the top – a line of markings running horizontally across the inside of Dante’s forehead” (224). And then, after studying the inscription on the plaster, he sees “a single row of letters” or “seven identical letters carefully inscribed in calligraphy across the inside of Dante’s forehead” (246). Once he identifies the letters as seven Ps, he grins because it is a message from Dante that he knows well. It reminds him of a lecture he delivered in Vienna, “Divine Dante: Symbols of Hell” (248). As portrayed vividly in Michelino’s painting, to ascend to paradise one must climb Mount Purgatory, which has a pathway circling the cone nine times. A winged angel, who guards purgatory, sits at the foot of the mountain, using the tip of his sword to write PPPPPPP on those penitent sinners’ foreheads before they enter the upward path. Each P signifies peccatum, the Latin word for “sin,” and the seven Ps stand for Septem Peccata Mortalia (250), which means the Seven Deadly Sins. With each new level that the repentant souls ascend, an angel will cleanse one of the Ps – when the souls arrive in paradise, all seven Ps will have been removed. Busoni’s message soon becomes clear to Langdon: wipe the seven letters off the death mask and get the code on the pale yellow surface of the plaster.

A Riddle: Who’s the Doge? After the “florid script of faint brownish yellow” is washed off and he sees the inside of the mask, “he did a double take” (254). He immediately understands that the text of nearly a hundred words in the entire concave surface is identical to “the precise spiral. Symmetrical clockwise Archimedean” (254). By slowly turning the mask in circles, Langdon reads the text and concludes that it is a poem written by Bertrand Zobrist in imitation of Dante’s Inferno, IX. In Langdon’s judgment, “the opening stanza of Zobrist’s poem is taken verbatim from Dante’s Inferno – an admonition to the reader that the words carry a deeper meaning” (275). The “doge” and “lagoon” mentioned in this poem doubtlessly refer to

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Venice, the Italian water-world city made up of hundreds of interconnected lagoons, and ruled for centuries by a Venetian head of state known as a doge. However, the location of the virus implied in it is actually far away – Istanbul. Saint Lucia, a legendary maiden whose beauty was adored by numerous men, dug her eyes out to devote her virginity to God, and then was regarded as the goddess of the blind. After refusing a powerful admirer, Saint Lucia was sentenced to death by fire. However, she remained intact, which has led to the belief that her bones could bring longevity. Thereafter, kings and emperors have dreamt of obtaining her bones to stop aging. It is said that the doge, Enrico Dandolo, who was blind himself, loved Saint Lucia very much. He lived for nearly a century and superstition attributed his longevity to his brave act of rescuing the bones of Saint Lucia from Constantinople and bringing them back to Venice. Therefore, he is said to have plucked up the bones of the blind. The doge tricked others into fighting in the Crusades while he took state money to sail to Egypt and conquer Constantinople. Therefore, Dandolo is also said to be “the treacherous doge of Venice who severed the heads from horses” (276). And “the gilded mouseion of holy wisdom” in the poem refers to Hagia Sophia, where Enrico Dandolo is buried. “Sophia” means “holy wisdom” in Latin, while its gilded dome reflects golden light. The water in Hagia Sophia all flows into the Sunken Palace, where the statue of Medusa, the chthonic monster in Greek mythology, has been placed.

6. Knowledge: A True “Fiction of Knowledge” In his Brief History of Chinese Fiction, Lu Xun, a renowned Chinese writer and critic, defines some novels written by knowledgeable scholars as “fictions of knowledge.”1 No literary critic or historian has done that for Western fiction but there certainly have been some novels that are both highly entertaining and educational. Brown’s Inferno qualifies for this category. A careful reader has a good chance to become a specialist in whaling history after reading Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Similarly, Brown’s novels offer a crash course in history, religion, art, architecture, science, and cryptography. What sets him apart from other writers of “fiction of 1

Lu Xun, A Brief History of Chinese Novel (Beijing: People’s Literature Press, 1973), 390.

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knowledge” is his willingness to take on different subjects and fields in different novels. For instance, Digital Fortress involves knowledge of cryptology, mathematics, and computer and Internet technology; The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons cover cryptology, mathematics, religion, culture, and art; Deception Point touches upon not only oceanology, glaciology, paleontology, astronomy and geology but also the different agencies of the US government, such as NASA, USGS and Delta Force; The Lost Symbol probes into history and esoteric societies; Inferno reviews history, painting, sculpture, and literature, and questions the ethics of science, technology, medical development, and human behavior. All these issues are sensitive and controversial but they pose tough and urgent challenges that no one can avoid nowadays. However, Brown places great trust in his readers’ judgment and sincerely cares about their reading experience. He always sticks to his motto, “I only write the novels I like to read,” and writes in a way that does not sound arbitrary or didactic in any way. It is this very motto that establishes his unique formula and the high standard of his novel writing. It is not at all surprising that his novels have been consistently entertaining, enlightening, and thought-provoking rather than preachy, and that they have mesmerized millions of readers again and again. Now, let’s find out what we can learn from his Inferno.

Medicine Retrograde Amnesia Chapter 1 opens with a hallucination in which Langdon is evidently suffering from retrograde amnesia (RA). His memory of what has happened before the “accident” is completely gone, and he is trying to understand where he is and what is happening around him. Unfortunately, no one is around to give him the answers he desires. RA is the loss of memory-access to events that occurred before the onset of the condition. However, sufferers of short-term memory loss can form new memories. It is a side effect associated with sedation and hypnosis. Actually, all sedative-hypnotic drugs can cause RA. Patients will lose their memory temporarily after taking drugs and the severity of the RA is determined by the type and the dosage. In other words, what will be forgotten is dictated by what has been taken. As we learn later, Langdon’s memory loss was directly and deliberately caused by a drug administered by the Consortium as part of its conspiracy. Langdon’s amnesia does much more than introduce this relatively obscure mental condition to the reader; it also serves as an effective

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strategy in creating hidden but logical twists in the plot. Despite his shortterm memory loss, Langdon still has a sketchy and often blurred impression of certain things or people he encountered before he was drugged. These isolated but recurrent images indicate the gaps in his memory but they have not disappeared for good. From time to time, they resurface in his mind and provide him with a missing link in the sequence of events. By following what Langdon can and cannot remember, the reader discovers a series of clues to the mysteries in various scenes and can restructure the narrative based on the actual sequence of events.

Transhumanism and Eugenics As a fanatical advocate of transhumanism, Zobrist attempts to save the human race through an extreme measure of birth control, namely, changing a gene through a virus called “Inferno”. Transhumanism is a worldwide cultural and intellectual movement that aims to enhance the intellectual and physical capacities of human beings, and overcome disability, disease, pain, aging, and accidental death by developing and applying new technologies such as mind-enhancing drugs, plastic surgery, and gene therapy. It is also concerned by the potential problems caused by such technologies. Ever since British biologist Julian Huxley coined the term for the movement and defined its objectives in an article in 1957, transhumanists have persistently promoted humankind’s transcendence of itself in its entirety through the application of advanced sciences and technologies. In chapter 67, Sinskey briefs Langdon that the goal of transhumanism is to “use technology to transcend the weakness inherent in our human bodies” (293). One of the early references to transhumanism in the novel is the initial “S.C.” on the computer in the apartment that Langdon and Brooks stay in and then flee from. It is not the initials of Sienna Brooks’ name; instead, it is dropped here as a hint of her transhumanist code name. Transhumanists use the first and middle initial, plus a number, as their names. Brooks’ number and her connection with transhumanism will be exposed later. Eugenics has a longer history than transhumanism. It originated in France and then developed in America during the second half of the 19th century. It was practiced widely in the world in the early 20th century. British geneticist Francis Galton labeled his research on desirable traits of humans as “eugenics” in 1883, and it has remained a controversial theory and approach even though it influenced many governmental policies regarding genetic screening, birth control, marriage restrictions, compulsory sterilization, and forced abortions. For decades, eugenics met

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tremendous resistance and was criticized for its coercive and restrictive approaches. In the same chapter of the novel, the narrator cites Nazi scientists as infamous proponents and practitioners of eugenics: “Ethnic cleansing at the genetic level” (294). Over the years, both concepts have garnered a lot of support and criticism. Some people see them as feasible ways of ensuring the survival of humankind; others discard them as extreme ideas. However, as Alan Boyle, the science editor of NBC News, pointed out, “And that makes it one of the world’s most fitting ideas for a Dan Brown thriller, particularly one that’s set in Florence.”1

Science & Technology SPD-SmartGlass The Mendacium, “the Latin word for Pseudologos – the Greek god of deception” (344), with “a price tag of over 300 million US dollars” and equipped with “a lead-lined, military-grade, electronic command center” is the Consortium’s luxury yacht. As the narrator tells us, “The Mendacium was, in effect, the portable office building from which the owner ran his empire” (19). To ensure his privacy, the office of Laurence Knowlton, the senior facilitator working aboard the yacht, was built with SPD (Suspended Particle Devices)-SmartGlass, which can change from transparent to opaque as needed. Invented and patented by Kent State University in the late 1980s, SPD-SmartGlass is a new type of special glass, with a liquid crystal film placed between two pieces of glass, used in architecture and decoration. SmartGlass can be controlled by electricity, temperature, light, and pressure. The majority is electrically-switchable glass. Users are able to switch from transparency to opacity by turning the power on or off. SmartGlass is widely used in different areas, including public services, commerce and entertainment, advertising, the media, exhibition purposes, public security, as a projection screen in companies and hospitals, the partition glass in conference rooms and monitor rooms, and an anti-theft device in museums, banks, and shopping malls.

1

Alan Boyle, the Science Editor of NBC News, “In Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno,’ numeric riddles and controversial science mix,” “Today”, NBC News, May14, 2013, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.nbcnews.com/science/sciencenews/dan-browns-inferno-numeric-riddles-controversial-science-mix-f1C9909472

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Micro Air Vehicle Langdon and Brooks are constantly being chased by micro air vehicles (MAV) in Italy. The vehicle is hardly detectable because of its tiny size. Despite being less than 20 centimeters long, it has a wide cruising range, a flight time of more than 15 minutes, and is capable of performing various tasks, including transmitting real-time pictures. It is considered to be the primary scout and assault weapon of the future. MAVs have wings modeled on insects and birds, airplanes, and helicopters, and can be used to search targets, detect biochemical weapons, and relay communication. They may operate in various environments, either cities or jungles. MAVs have sensors, and can also be used for non-military purposes to search for survivors, detect poisonous gas, and kill pests. The drone follows Langdon and Brooks through many chapters; used as a surveillance vehicle, it has remote controls and a camera on it so the SRS agent can keep a close eye on both of them and find out where they are at any time.

Viral Marketing Before they can find Dante’s death mask, Langdon and Brooks have to get through the Gates of Paradise, the pair of doors in the baptistery of the Florence Cathedral, without being noticed. Brooks points at Giotto’s bell tower and screams, “He’s going to jump!” Everyone immediately looks up, “searching the top of the bell tower.” Within just a few seconds, panic spreads in the crowd across the square and everyone “was craning their necks and looking upward. Viral Marketing, Langdon thought” (237), as he took advantage of this momentary chaos to swing the door open so he and Brooks could quietly slip into the darkness of the baptistery. Originally, viral marketing, a concept first introduced by Tim O’Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Media, referred to marketing strategies intended to advertise new products or promote brand names through social media or networking services. A simple way to achieve this purpose is to spread messages by word of mouth. This is exactly what Brooks does in that scene. Today, viral marketing can be executed in all kinds of ways, from printed materials to digital media, email, web, and cell phone services. The word “viral” implies the manner and speed the marketing message spreads, just like viruses or computer viruses. Such a marketing strategy is effective in that it saves the high cost of advertising yet helps the product sales grow exponentially. It has become a common buzzword in business

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and social life. Brown’s inclusion of it in the novel is part of his usual attempt to mix his suspense-filled story with something familiar to all readers.

Solublon Bag The “Inferno” virus, which has the potential to change the future of humankind, is placed in a Solublon bag, also known as a polyvinyl acetate (PVA) bag, manufactured by a Japanese company called Aicello. It can be easily de-composed into water and carbon dioxide by bacterial strains. After dissolving, PVA enhances the air permeability and water retention of the soil so it is eco-friendly. It is the only type of vinyl polymer that can be used as energy by bacteria. Cheap and with excellent resistance to gas, oil and dissolvent, PVA is widely used in food and medication packaging. There is a range of cold- and hot-water-soluble PVA films to cover different needs. Zobrist chooses this bag to store his virus because it is a perfect container. It is durable enough to last a certain period of time before dissolving into water, without leaving any trace. The bag appears in several chapters as Langdon, Sinskey, and Brüder watch Zobrist’s video, analyze the details of the footage, and try to find it before it dissolves and releases the virus into the air. First, Langdon sees the plaque that “read IN THIS PLACE, ON THIS DATE, THE WORLD WAS CHANGED FOREVER” and then “the distended bag,” with its viscous contents “slowly swirling” and “smoldering almost” (345). Sinskey tells Langdon that based on the information from the manufacturer of the bag, she believes it is going to dissolve the next day. Langdon fully realizes that the bag has literally become a ticking time bomb. He has to find the location and contain the bag before it dissolves. Otherwise, “there will be no way to stop the contents from spreading” (378).

An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus Under the influence of An Essay on the Principle of Population, a treatise written by Thomas Malthus, Zobrist believes that without proper control of population growth, humankind will be extinct one day. He completely embraces the ideas of Thomas Malthus, the prominent British mathematician and demographist of the 19th century, especially his prediction about “an eventual global collapse due to overpopulation” (145). In Zobrist’s view, plague and sickness are natural by-products of population growth. Being a fervent transhumanist, he decides to take the

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matter into his own hands by creating the virus and leaving a video clip behind as a warning, as he believes that the only remedy for imminent disaster is to control birth rates around the world. The treatise was published anonymously in 1789 based upon the economic theories of David Hume, Adam Smith, and David Ricardo. Malthus believed that populations multiplied geometrically while food arithmetically, and population would outstrip food supply. In chapter 33, Brown quotes from the Malthus’ treatise, “The power of population is so superior to the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race” (145). In the video clip that he leaves behind, Zobrist lays out his scheme and delivers his rationale and justification for what he is about to unleash on the world. He specifically cites the arguments and predictions of catastrophe from Malthus and uses the images from Dante’s Inferno as stern warnings: Dante’s hell is not fiction…it is prophecy! Wretched misery. Torturous woe. This is the landscape of tomorrow. Mankind, if unchecked, functions like a plague, a cancer… (144)

In addition, he vents his frustration on WHO and the whole world for refusing to take his advice and doing something quickly. “To do nothing,” he warns, “is to welcome Dante’s hell” (145).

Literature The Divine Comedy by Dante There is always a sentence, a keepsake, or a motif in fiction that serves as the guiding thread. In Inferno, it is The Divine Comedy, an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri. It is composed of more than 14 thousand lines in three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Each consists of 33 cantos with 3-line stanzas. With the initial canto as the introduction, the total number of cantos in the poem is actually 100. The number 3 symbolizes the Holy Trinity. Also, there are 9 levels in each of the three realms: 9 circles in Inferno, 9 rings of Mount Purgatory, and 9 celestial bodies of Paradiso, which in Christianity signifies “the miracle of miracles.” Written in the first-person point of view, the poem is about Dante’s dream of his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Allegorically, it is about his psychological journey toward God. Lost in dark woods and assailed by three beasts, Dante cries for help and is rescued by the soul of

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Virgil, who guides him through Hell and Purgatory, while Beatrice, Dante’s ideal woman, leads him through Heaven and eventually to God. In his interview with Scott Simon for the National Public Radio, Brown discussed how Dante’s masterpiece inspired the writing of his Inferno: “I have written a lot about the fine arts, but I’d never written about the literary arts, and so on some level Dante really, you know, spoke to me, as new ground but also familiar ground. Like the Mona Lisa, The Divine Comedy is, you know, one of those great ... human artistic achievements that transcends its moment in history and becomes a cultural touchstone. Feels like very — perfect ground for Robert Langdon.”1

But Brown’s Inferno is quite different from his Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. In Joan Acocella’s opinion, it “is not exactly an ecclesiastical thriller” even though “it constantly imports imagery from the Western world’s most famous eschatological thriller, Dante’s Inferno.”2 Over the centuries, artists and writers have drawn on Dante’s Inferno for their imagination. In chapter 6, the first part of Dead Souls, a novel by the Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol, is mentioned as a modern adaptation of Dante’s Inferno; in chapter 100, there is a reference to the image of the “wasteland” in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. What distinguishes Brown from them is that he has made a conscious decision from the beginning that the plot development in his novel would not adhere strictly to the sequence of events in Dante’s epic, and that his narrative would not get bogged down by familiar details that have already been copiously praised and studied by Dante’s fans and critics. His innovative way of exploiting Dante is to keep Dante’s Inferno as a fixture in the narrative framework of his novel, dropping references to Dante, evoking parallel images from Dante’s poem, or inserting catchphrases and key lines whenever necessary. For instance, he quotes from Dante’s Inferno more than 140 times, many quotes are repeated more than once, but he also delineates additional visions beyond what can be seen in Dante’s Hell. As Brown builds the narrative in his novel, Inferno, based on Dante’s epic, Inferno, Zobrist relies on Dante’s poem as the source of his ominous prophecy. Zobrist is known to be a devoted fan of Dante. He certainly 1

NPR Staff, “Dan Brown: ‘Inferno’ Is 'The Book That I Would Want To Read’,” The National Public Radio: Author Interviews, May 18, 2013, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.npr.org/2013/05/18/183902954/dan-brown-inferno-is-the-bookthat-i-would-want-to-read. 2 Joan Acocella, “What the Hell: Dante in Translation and in Dan Brown’s New Novel,” The New Yorker, May 27, 2013, Books section.

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knows Dante’s Inferno by heart, and he repeatedly quotes him in speech and video messages, and he quotes Machiavelli about overpopulation. He even owns Dante’s death mask and writes his cryptic message inside it. At the end of chapter 31, he sends Sinskey a “fair warning”; she sees it as a “terrorist threat” and warns him that he will be placed on the watch list and eventually caught. But he answers with an eerie grin, “Then it appears our dance has begun” (140). There is no doubt in his mind that the only way of preventing the world from turning into an image of Dante’s Hell is to sterilize one-third of the population with his “Inferno.” He hopes it will perform the same miracle that the “Black Death” did for Europe before the Renaissance. In his article on Brown’s Inferno as a “modern parody” of Dante’s Inferno, Glenn Erickson suggests that “Dante the author and Dante the character are Dan Brown and Robert Langdon, respectively.” Also, in Erickson’s view, “Virgil’s role is played, in a sense, by Zobrist, who leads Langdon through Hell by means of a series of clues.”1 It is an interesting way to look at Zobrist’s role in the novel in connection to Dante’s poem. In terms of their life experience and writing career, Dante is quite similar to Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet (343-278 BC) during the Warring States period of ancient China, who wrote Li Sao, one of the all-time masterpieces in classical Chinese poetry. Qu’s poems have been studied for more than 2,000 years, and he is an iconic figure in Chinese culture as people celebrate his life and writings on a national holiday every year. Similarly, Dante has long been a source of inspiration in Western literature. Harriet Rubin, a noted Dante scholar, mentioned that years ago, T.S. Eliot claimed, “Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them, and there is no third”; and Matthew Pearl, another Dante scholar, wrote in response, “Dante’s half of the world enlarges every year.”2 The sensational reception of Brown’s Inferno, especially the zealous response to the intricate connection between Dante’s poem, Inferno, Brown’s novel, Inferno, and the “Inferno” created by Zobrist, proves that “The Divine Comedy is still alive in our culture.”3

1

Glenn W. Erickson, “Letting the Genre out of the Bottle: Dan Brown’s Inferno as Modern Parody,” in Secrets of Inferno: In the Footsteps of Dante and Dan Brown, eds. Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer (New York: The Story Plant, 2013), 71. 2 Harriet Rubin, Dante in Love: The World’s Greatest Poem and How It Made History (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005), 36. 3 Joan Acocella, “What the Hell: Dante in Translation and in Dan Brown’s New Novel,” The New Yorker, May 27, 2013, Books section.

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Paintings The Map of Hell by Sandro Botticelli Early in the novel, The Map of Hell plays a key part in Langdon’s code-breaking journey. The image of the painting that Langdon finds in the test tube has actually been digitally modified by Zobrist. It becomes the first obstacle in Langdon’s mission. The original painting was created by Alessandro Filipepi, who was better known as Sandro Botticelli, a distinguished painter of Florence in the late 15th century and the pioneer of Italian portraiture. Brown calls him “one of the true giants of the Italian Renaissance” (61). Botticelli was born into a middle-class family in Florence. Few details are known about his early experience, but records show that he became an apprentice to Filippo Lippi at a young age. Botticelli earned his fame early in the 1470s and received the patronage of the Medici family, which enabled him to get in touch with the upper class and art circle celebrities. In 1477, Botticelli completed The Allegory of Spring for Lorenzo Medici’s newly-bought mansion. The painting is regarded as one of his two most noted works (the other is The Birth of Venus). Botticelli had reached his peak and became the most renowned artist in Florence. In chapter 14, Langdon recognizes the image at once. “An elaborate blueprint of the underworld, The Map of Hell was one of the most frightening visions of the afterlife ever created. Dark, grim, and terrifying, the painting stopped people in their tracks even today” (61). In Langdon’s view, The Map of Hell is definitely “One great work of art inspired by another” (62), and it presents one of the best visions of the hell depicted in Dante’s Inferno. He feels certain that he should check out the original in Florence because he believes that what he is seeing in the projector is an altered version. A close look at the original leads him to the next clue. With the discovery of the subtle difference between the modified version and the original piece in the old city, Langdon quickly finds the clue, “CERCA TROVA” – “Seek and You shall find,” which in turn reminds him of his odd vision in the hospital and leads him to the next painting by Giorgio Vasari.

Battaglia di Marciano by Giorgio Vasari The words, Cerca trova, were hidden, as an anagram, near the top of the “famous mural that hangs in the Palazzo Vecchio” (108-109), Battaglia di Marciano, by Giorgio Vasari, a famous artist and historian, and the most well-known disciple of Michelangelo. Vasari was a prolific

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painter, renowned for his series of frescos in Florence’s city hall. Although apprenticed to Michelangelo, Vasari was fond of formalism. Despite his great success in art, however, Vasari was more popular as an architect than as a painter. The Palazzo degli Uffizi, whose top floor is now the Uffizi Gallery, is one of his major architectural achievements. And the corridor that connects the Uffizi with the Palazzo Pitti was also designed by him. Vasari was also an influential art historian. His book, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, a collection of biographies of Italian artists, is the most important resource for those studying Italian art during the Renaissance. In chapter 18, Langdon first refers to Vasari as an artist who was also obsessed with Dante. Later, in chapter 25, he calls Vasari “the world’s first art historian” and his seminal book “his most enduring legacy” (113). Also, at the end of chapter 23, Langdon suddenly realizes what the words he was repeating back at the hospital really mean – “I wasn’t saying ‘very sorry, very sorry.’ I was saying the artist’s name – Va…sari, Vasari!” (110).

For the Love of God by Damien Hirst The controversial sculpture, For the Love of God (2007), by Damien Hirst, the most influential member of the Young British Artists, is “a bold piece of modern art” (155). The sculpture consists of a life-size human skull in platinum cast encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. The symbols of luxury, desire, and corruption were used to disguise death. Such an absurd form was widely criticized, and it “caused an uproar when it was shown inside Vasari’s famed Studiolo” (155). It is no longer on display but Langdon remembers its details very well. He believes that the sculpture may be the key to his clue. Its empty eye sockets symbolize “the eyes of death” and therefore could be related to the riddle, “The truth can only be glimpsed through the eyes of death” (155), which he and Brooks are trying to decipher.

History The Medici Family It is nearly impossible to imagine the city of Florence without the Medici family. As the most influential and richest family in the city for centuries, the Medicis made great contributions in various fields during the Renaissance, including poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, music,

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history, philosophy, and political theory. The family collected books and manuscripts and encouraged cultural activities. Its patronage benefited many prominent artists and scholars, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, and Michelangelo. The works of art and buildings commissioned by the Medici family can still be seen across Florence today. The Vasari Corridor is a good example of that. Vasari created the elevated enclosed passageway that connects Palazzo Pitti and Palazzo Vecchio for the Medici family because they could not stand the smell from the Ponte Vecchio butcher shops. In addition, the Medici family had a lasting influence on other spheres in society, from politics to culture and the banking system. It dominated Florence from the 14th to the 17th centuries, and presented three popes and two queens of France. Most of the artistic and cultural achievements in Florence during the Renaissance were supported by the Medici family even though they were not part of the nobility or the government.

7. Institutions: Big, Powerful, and Obscure From his first novel, Digital Fortress, to The Lost Symbol, Brown has tried to anchor his stories in reality by incorporating various institutions and organizations into his narrative. Some of them are highly classified governmental institutions while others are widely known to the public due to frequent coverage by the media. If used creatively, their different histories, agendas, and functions could spark intricate conflicts of interests or ideologies, thus helping the author generate some highly charged action and non-stop rivalry among the leading characters. However, this is by no means an easy task as it requires extensive research and nifty narrative maneuvering to weave everything into a complex and yet believable plot.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Since the start of the new millennium, the threat from old and new infectious diseases, such as TB, AIDS, SARS, Ebola, avian influenza, and the West Nile Virus, has become more frequent, rampant, and deadly. Thanks to ever-growing globalization, each manifestation of an infectious disease is more endemic and therefore becomes more difficult to isolate or contain than ever before. Governments around the world realize that no single country could effectively prevent these diseases from crossing its borders, and that it is urgent to establish a united organization to coordinate international policy making, preventive processes, and disease containment. The European Commission believed that CDC, or the

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Network of Infectious Diseases of the European Union, should take the lead in fighting infectious diseases among its member states. To this end, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was established in Stockholm, Sweden in 2005. It functions as an EU agency for the purpose of coordinating Europe’s defense against infectious diseases. ECDC replaced the Network of Infectious Diseases and took over the duties previously covered by the Health Security Group. On its website, ECDC states that its mission is “to identify, assess and communicate current and emerging threats to human health posed by infection diseases.” Its primary task is to put a continent-wide system of disease surveillance, early warning, and response procedure in place. Through collaboration with member states, it not only handles data collection and public dissemination of information but also offers scientific opinions and technical assistance. To ensure effective coordination within the EU, each member state has a designated Coordinating Competence Body (CCB), and it is up to each member state to decide to which level it will delegate the interactions. ECDC has a relatively small group of employees for its routine operation and laboratories but it works with experts from all over Europe and the research institutes in public health of every member state. It encourages experts from different fields to register for its “Candidate Expert Director,” so their expertise and service may be solicited by ECDC based on needs. ECDC’s director is in charge of the daily management, drafting, and implementation of work programs; its management board is responsible for approving work programs and the annual budget; and its advisory committee, which is composed of representatives from every member state, coordinates the exchange of information and communication among all member states. ECDC is capable of assessing EU public health policies and providing assistance to EEA, EFTA, and member states as well as applicant states of the EU. And it cooperates with other international organizations, such as WHO, if needed. In chapter 77, after Langdon is caught by the SRS agents, Sinskey explains to him that the agents “are an SRS team – Surveillance and Response Support. They work under the auspices of ECDC” (341). “Essentially, they are a SWAT team for the mitigation of acute, largescale health risks” (341), but Sinskey “borrows” them from ECDC for support. She is following Langdon to Florence because he is her only hope of locating Zobrist’s “inferno.”

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World Health Organization As stated on its website, WHO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is “responsible for providing leadership on global health matters.” It has played an important role in providing higher standards of service in health care to the world. The World Health Assembly, the legislative and supreme body of WHO, meets every year to approve the budget and work programs of the director, admit new member states, and discuss other important issues. WHO has six regional offices in Africa, the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific. The flag of WHO is the flag of the UN covered by a serpent-entwined rod, which was wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine. As the rod symbolizes the spinal column of human beings and the serpent stands for recovery, the symbol has been used in modern times as the symbol of medicine and health care in the United States, Britain, Canada, and Germany, etc. WHO plays an instrumental role in Brown’s Inferno. Under the leadership of its director-general, Dr. Sinskey, it conducts a secret investigation of Zobrist’s threat of spreading an airborne plague with his virus, “Inferno.” With the SRS agents on loan from ECDC, Sinskey keeps a close watch on Langdon’s every move and follows him everywhere he goes. Her purpose is not merely to ensure his safety because she hopes that Langdon will lead her to the hiding place of Zobrist’s “Inferno” and she can neutralize the virus before it is released into the air. In chapter 22, after her lecture at the UN, Sinskey is brought to a secret meeting with Zobrist at the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan. Zobrist warns her about the frightening impact of overpopulation in the world, and accuses WHO of doing nothing. “And in the face of this disaster,” he says, “the World Health Organization – the gatekeeper of the planet’s health – is investing in things like curing diabetes, filling blood banks, battling cancer” (102). He asks Sinskey why WHO “does not have the guts to deal with this issue head on” (102). Sinskey defends WHO rigorously, citing its huge spending on birth control, its high alertness to “the direct correlation between population density and the likelihood of wide-scale epidemics,” and its ability to “prevent future pandemics” (104). But the statistics and graphs that Zobrist quotes from the reports issued by WHO disturb her and give her “a sense of helplessness” (138). And, despite her persistent regret over her inability to conceive a child, “she almost felt relieved that she had not brought a child into the world” (138).

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Clearly, Sinskey’s reaction to Zobrist’s extreme solution to the population issue is ambivalent. As the leader of the UN’s top agency for communicable diseases and epidemic prevention, she cannot tolerate Zobrist’s threat of bioterrorism, but as a biologist she perfectly understands the serious nature of the looming disaster and the lack of easy solutions for it. At the end of the novel, Brown shows us that Sinskey is not the only person who is disturbed by conflicting thoughts like these. Langdon realizes that everyone, including himself, should do something about the issue.

The Military Police of Italy During their quest to find the solution to The Map of Hell, Langdon and Brooks are first blocked by the Military Police of Italy, or the Carabinieri, at the entrance to the old city of Florence and then pursued through the Boboli Gardens. The involvement of such an elite unit of the Italian police force in the case shows the serious nature of the matter because one of its top missions is to deal with sensitive, complex, and dangerous emergencies, such as organized crime, subversive activities, and threats of terrorism. Founded by King Victor Emmanuel I, the Carabinieri is a paramilitary force and one of the four Italian armed forces. Its major duties include crime-fighting, maintaining social security, patrolling borders, and even national defense. It carries out its duties through three units: The Mobile Unit Division, Special Operational Group, and Special Tasks Departments. Also, Carabinieri officers handle the surveillance and security at Italian embassies and consulates abroad. Their uniform is very distinctive in design and color.

Association for Research into Crimes Against Art The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) is a research organization founded by The Secret History of Art. On its website, ARCA clearly states that its aim is “promoting the study and research of art crime and cultural heritage protection.” Its objective is to monitor new trends in the study of art crime and promote the responsible stewardship of artistic and archeological heritage. It is mostly funded by grants and individual donations, and sponsors a wide range of academic and outreach events every year, including conference and postgraduate certificate programs. Headquartered in Italy, ARCA has an advisory board with members from different fields and different countries. Over the years,

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it has cooperated with experts in law, security, museum science, art history, archeology, and cultural resources management to promote its own development and the exchange of knowledge. In chapter 72, Langdon does some research on The Horses of St. Mark’s because he believes that it holds “the explanation of a critical element of the mysterious poem printed on Dante’s death mask.” So, he “paid a visit to the ARCA Web site to confirm his theory. The Association for Research into Crimes against Art offered no definitive ranking, but they did offer a concise history of the sculptures’ troubled life as a target of pillage and plunder.” On the website Langdon also finds a startling hint that “the doge ordered the heads cut off the Horses of St. Mark’s” (317). For this detail, Brown seems to be referring to a blog post written by an ARCA lecturer in June, 2011, but he adds more definitive information about the history of its theft. It is another compelling example that shows not only Brown’s good use of his extensive research but also a conscientious effort to incorporate something new into his story. For a small and obscure research group like ARCA, it must be a thrill to be introduced to Brown’s millions of fans.

8. Techniques: Strategic Blankness and Omission Compared with other sensational bestselling authors in recent years, such as J.K. Rowling and Stephen King, Dan Brown is more interested in probing the widespread bafflement with spirituality and the subconscious fear of failure in the new millennium. His works blend the grim issues, which are usually addressed in “serious literature,” with the casual narrative forms of popular novels. The intent is to let readers appreciate a subtle rendition of serious themes while savoring the joy of reading an entertaining novel. Inferno, his sixth novel and his latest addition to the well-acclaimed “Robert Langdon Series”, takes readers to Florence, the center of the Renaissance. In a review for The Daily Mail, A.N. Wilson notes, “It’s all twaddle, but at least it is entertaining twaddle.”1 A review from The New York Times says that Inferno “is jampacked with tricks” and “Brown winds up not only laying a breadcrumb trail of clues about Dante (this is Inferno after all) but also playing games with time, gender,

1

A.N. Wilson, “Bilge, but one hell of a page turner,” The Daily Mail Online, May 13, 2013, accessed August 5, 2014. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2324012/Dan-Browns-Infernoreview-Bilge-hell-page-turner.html

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identity, famous tourist attractions and futuristic medicine.”1 Although it has more than 460 pages, the story of Langdon’s new quest happens in only two days. With the same fast-moving pace we have seen in his previous novels, Inferno moves forward with a gripping narrative full of twists and turns in plot, constant shifts in temporal and spatial settings, ancient riddles in history, and spectacular wonders in art and literature. Readers of the novel feel like they are following Langdon, from museums to gardens in cities of Italy and Turkey, in his attempt to locate and neutralize the “Inferno” before it brings about a huge world catastrophe. No one will be able to put this page-turner down until they reach the very end of the story.

The Omission or “Blankness” in Narrative The meaning, or the ultimate value, of a literary work depends on the interactive exchange between the reader and the text through interpretation. How to turn the reader from a passive receiver into an active contributor who imparts the “real existence” of a text is the primary challenge that most writers face. Wolfgang Iser, the German literary scholar known for his reader-response theory, believes that creating some “blankness” in the narrative is the best way to facilitate the exchange between the reader and text, and encourage the reader to become a daring experimenter with the story. Brown knows the potential of the “blankness” well, and he has employed such a technique brilliantly in all his novels. In a way, each of his novels is built on his artistry of “blankness.” In his Inferno, a text that has been perceived by many critics to be more literary and devoid of shoddiness and overwriting, his technique has reached a high degree of excellence. The nonlinear narrative structure tends to divide the story into fragmentary segments. This is a standard narrative style in postmodernist fiction, a style that breaks down the traditional narrative development from the beginning to the climax and end. Postmodernist fiction does leave plenty of “blankness” for the reader, but it is never easy to fill the void or gap between the different segments in the narrative because they are deliberately fragmented and disconnected. Brown, however, adopts a different approach. He presents a series of mysteries as the missing but traceable links between the fragments of his narrative. As readers take the initiative to decipher the suspense and fill in the blanks, they will reconstruct the normal timeline and sequence of events on their own. True, 1

Janet Maslin, “On a Scavenger Hunt to Save Most Humans,” The New York Times, May 12, 2013, Books of the Times section.

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readers often had trouble following the chronology in his previous novels due to his use of the nonlinear narrative structure, but Inferno shows a great improvement in this regard. Even though the novel leaves a lot of open space between the past and present, readers still can trace the causal relationship between the two and stay on the correct course while venturing through the maze of Inferno with their own decoding map. In developing the main plot, Brown wittingly omits some of the details about the incidents that have taken place in the past. Instead, he focuses his narrative on what is happening here and now. In doing so, he forces readers to fill in the blanks with their own knowledge and imagination. In his previous novels, the narrative mostly evolves in a similar pattern of dramatizing Langdon’s decoding quest: “accepting an invitation first, beginning his quest full of unpredictable surprises and dangers, and miraculously defusing the crisis at last.” Anyone who tries to follow the same pattern in Inferno will be totally lost and disappointed. Langdon’s decoding quest starts at the outset of narrative. One Sunday evening, he finds himself lying in bed in an Italian hospital suffering from a delirium after sustaining a head injury that resulted in the loss of short-term memory. He has no idea what happened to him and where he is. Worst of all, he is not even aware he is in imminent danger from an assassin who is lurking around the hospital. He tries to recollect what he has done in the last two days and figure out why he is in Florence rather than his school, Harvard, but to no avail. With the help of his doctor, Sienna Brooks, Langdon begins the painful process of regaining his memory. According to the Gestalt psychology theory, whenever one sees something incomplete, one tends to be motivated by a strong impulse to fill in the blanks, verify uncertainties, and seek “completeness.” Similarly, the “blankness” in Langdon’s initial motivation stimulates readers to follow his quest for the truth closely and fill in the blanks in the circumstances under which he has somehow “accepted an invitation” for this code-breaking mission. The narrative alternates freely between the major and minor threads of the plot, presenting the story in a fragmentary fashion and delineating events and characters from different times and places through seemingly random juxtapositions. Inevitably, it poses all kinds of challenges and prompts readers to construct the meaning of the story by filling in the blanks. Minor threads often provide some missing information and assist the reader in filling the gaps within the novel, but they also create new “blankness” in order to keep the reading going. In chapter 2, Langdon is told by the doctor that he is suffering from mild amnesia because of a bullet in his head. This chapter ends abruptly after the doctor is shot dead

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and the assassin is aiming her gun at Langdon. However, the ending of chapter 2 turns into a mystery as chapter 3 deviates from the assassin’s threat and brings up the scene of the Consortium on the sea eight kilometers off the Italian coast. Readers have to leave Langdon’s fate aside for a while and pick up the new thread about the Consortium, the organization that has been hired by a mysterious client to chase Langdon. Here, new blankness is created about this anonymous employer. Readers are anxious to know the identity and motive of this client. Chapter 4 returns to Langdon’s quest, the main thread of the plot. He and Brooks are getting into a taxi in a panic, but Langdon is still being tracked by the female assassin, who reports to the Provost in chapter 5 that she has lost Langdon again, and that the object is on the professor. Just as the facilitator Laurence Knowlton is about to check the video left by Zobrist and then release it as requested, chapter 6 drops the thread and goes back to the main thread, offering more information about the object Langdon is carrying. Readers are told that the Consortium is trying to get the object from Langdon by any means. Obviously, the blankness about the Consortium’s motive for eliminating Langdon is thus filled, but new blankness appears: What is the “object” anyway? And what is the relationship between the video and the whole story? Readers have to keep these questions in mind for now and read on. What blankness like this does for the narrative is set up a series of gaps in the sequence of events, which creates suspense. They appear one after another like a chain. Once one is filled or resolved, the next one appears. This is how the circular pattern of Brown’s narrative attracts, teases, and manipulates its readers. Almost all distinguished writers in world literature are fond of and good at using “blankness” to stimulate their readers’ imagination. One of them is Ernest Hemingway, whose Iceberg Theory, or the theory of omission, promotes the same technique of strategic blankness. If executed properly, Hemingway explains, the reader will have a feeling for those things left out by the author as strongly as though the writer had stated them in writing. What Hemingway suggests is that it is better to show “one-eighth of the iceberg” above the water and leave the rest to the reader’s imagination. In Brown’s novels, omission is pretty common and blankness is everywhere. However, he differs from other writers in that he never leaves the blanks totally unattended. He is rather a director of pranks. Just as readers follow his hints and find the missing link or detail, Brown reveals something that will reverse their assumption completely. A case in point is Langdon’s discovery of the real identity behind the transhumanist code name, FS-2080, one of Zobrist’s close followers. First, Langdon (and the

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reader) is led to believe that it must be Ferris but it turns out to be Brooks. An observant reader might have picked up some doubt about her early on. In chapter 8, for instance, the address she left at the hospital is false, and in chapter 19, the SRS agent finds out that she is the real owner of the apartment. These details indicate that Brooks’ identity is a mystery, and set up a major twist in the plot. Readers pursue the leads diligently in the hope of finding the missing detail to fill the “blankness,” but their findings or conclusions are repeatedly negated by new revelations in subsequent chapters. Such a reading experience requires a dedicated participation that alternates between frustration and exhilaration. It is an act of commitment, but quite a stimulating and enlightening one.

Ethical Concern The technique of strategic blankness or omission is also used subtly and extensively in Brown’s treatment of sensitive themes and issues. Many of them have been presented and even debated in his novels but he mostly prefers to lay out different perspectives and invite readers to draw their own conclusions. Literature is basically an art of ethics. Compared to other writers, Brown is more daring in his exploration of new perspectives and new approaches. His storyline is not just structured with quirky twists; it is always accompanied with a somber reflection on freedom of choice and all the ambiguities, uncertainties, and responsibilities that come with it. All Brown’s novels, from Digital Fortress to Inferno, deal with vital and unavoidable issues, especially ethical ones, ranging from religion to science, politics, and family. In Inferno, by selecting the dismal picture of overpopulation as the central theme of the novel, Brown ventures into new terrain. In a way, his Inferno may be regarded as the companion piece to The Lost Symbol since both address concerns about the future of humankind. In The Lost Symbol, the author explores the commonality between humanity and divinity based on the antithesis between religion and science. In his view, the only difference between man and God is that man has forgotten about his own sacredness. However, he is confident about man’s future. In Inferno, contrary to his usual optimism, Brown presents an unpleasant picture due to the worsening crisis of overpopulation. Since WWII, there has been a drastic growth in world population. Some demographers have proclaimed, based on censuses and predictions, that there will be a “population explosion,” which will surely lead to successive crises involving natural resources, food supply, and ecology. It has become a sensitive topic for debate among politicians, scholars, and ordinary people because it is

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politically incorrect to radicals, conservatives, and religious fanatics. To put it simply, it is a hot issue that generates a lot of uncertainty, anxiety, and animosity, and affects everyone in the world today and for generations to come. As a perceptive writer who has dealt with other major issues in his early novels, it is not surprising to see Brown take on overpopulation as the central theme of Inferno. In an interview with John Dankosky for the Connecticut public radio station, WNPR, Brown said, I’m of the belief, as are many people, that all of these environmental issues we see right now – lack of fresh water, possibly global warming, too much pollution, plagues – these are the sort of things that are not actually problems. They’re symptoms of an underlying disease, which, in my opinion, is overpopulation.1

Zobrist, the genetic scientist in the novel, holds the same opinion, and he advocates mass killing as the immediate and drastic means of eliminating the root cause of the problem. Naturally, people like Langdon and Sinskey disagree as they find Zobrist’s approach insane and inhuman. As a staunch supporter of transhumanism, Zobrist firmly believes that man could eventually evolve into perfection. However, the biggest obstacle is man himself. According to Zobrist, overpopulation will lead to not only man’s destruction but also change in his inner world. Once faced with the depletion of natural resources, humans will become morally evil and commit the seven deadly sins described in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. To prevent this, Zobrist promotes Machiavelli’s idea that “plague is the most natural way to cleanse the Earth” as the only solution to the problem. He creates the virus and calls it “Inferno” as he believes that man can reach heaven only through the passage of Inferno. He plans to contain the problem of overpopulation by unleashing the next Black Death. Sinskey and Langdon are determined to do everything possible to prevent this disaster from happening. In their view, Zobrist’s concern with overpopulation is not unfounded but his solution is irrational – no one can justify sacrificing some human lives for the sake of saving others. However, the more they find out about Zobrist’s plan and understand the bleak prospects surrounding the issue, the more confused Sinskey and Langdon feel. They find themselves trapped in a huge ethical dilemma. On the one hand, they must stop Zobrist from carrying out his bioterrorist 1

John Dankosky, “Dan Brown on Overpopulation, God, and Global Warming,” an interview with WNPR News, June 6, 2014, accessed August 5, 2014. http://wnpr.org/post/dan-brown-overpopulation-god-and-global-warming.

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threat, but on the other, they just cannot think of a better solution to this growing problem. Witnessing the confrontation between the two sides, readers will probably feel compelled to take a side, thus finding themselves in a similar dilemma. To some extent, the problem of overpopulation is a problem of moral ethics that confronts everyone today. What Brown shows in the novel is not just a fierce debate on overpopulation. He also reveals people’s growing anxiety over their daily existence, both at present and in the near future, as the boundary between good and evil has become more blurred than ever in today’s world. Indeed, we may enjoy a greater degree of freedom and have more choices in life, but we often fall into an abyss of confusion, uncertainty, and insecurity. Brown urges us to question the conventional distinction between good and evil, find out if there is good in evil and vice versa, and thereby redefine the two for ourselves. In chapter 38, when Sinskey arrives at JFK for her flight back to Geneva, she receives a note from Zobrist, the man she has just placed on the bioterrorist watch list. It is a quote from Dante’s The Divine Comedy, “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis” (163). The quote appears frequently, and turns out to be the most important topical line in the novel. What it implies is that everyone has to take a stand on matters of importance. Characters in the novel follow their conscience in dealing with the problem of overpopulation. Zobrist is fixated on his plan, and no one and nothing can change his mind. He even proves his determination by jumping from the spire of a tall building. Brooks, the lover of Zobrist and also a believer of transhumanism, changes her mind at the last moment, and rejoins Langdon’s quest to find the virus and destroy it in time. Sinskey hesitates to take action after learning that Zobrist’s virus would not kill people but only destroy the reproductive systems of one-third of world’s population. The shift of these characters’ positions actually reflects their newly discovered understanding about good and evil. For instance, Sinskey knows very well that the “Inferno” would create tragedy for numerous families because she broke up with her fiancé due to her infertility. However, she finally accepts such a solution in consideration of the overall development of humankind. The story ends with Brooks and Sinskey going back to the headquarters of the WHO in Geneva to persuade experts there. Who is right and who is wrong? Is there any right and feasible way to resolve this issue of overpopulation? Brown refrains from offering any tentative answer himself. Instead, he leaves the question lingering in the gray area between ethics and science or, rather, good and evil. He insists,

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“I feel like my job is to get readers interested in the topic. Whether or not they agree with whatever they take away from the book is really irrelevant.”1 But Brown’s neutrality on the issue seems to be compromised by his depiction of Langdon’s final reflection in the epilogue: “In dangerous times, there is no sin greater than inaction” (462). In his The Act of Reading, Wolfgang Iser defines the act of reading as a process of “becoming conscious,” which “enables us to formulate ourselves and thus discover an inner world of which we had hitherto not been conscious.”2 Iser promotes his well-known technique to create such a process that “allows the reader to formulate ‘alien’ thoughts and perspectives but also to question existing perspectives and norms.”3 Brown’s Inferno is a perfect demonstration of such a technique. Brown should be applauded for raising the awareness of this controversial issue beyond scholars and politicians. The strategic omission, or blankness, in his narrative prompts readers to turn the pages continuously, but the blankness in his thematic treatment inspires readers to think more about this sensitive but urgent issue long after they have closed the book.

1

John Dankosky, “Dan Brown on Overpopulation, God, and Global Warming,” an interview with WNPR News, accessed August 5, 2014. http://wnpr.org/post/dan-brown-overpopulation-god-and-global-warming. 2 Wolfgang Iser, The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1980), 58. 3 Ibid, 147.

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INDEX

A Farewell to Arms, 340 A Tale of Two Cities, 340 Acocella, Joan, 362 Adams, John, 184, 291 Ah-Q, 57, 279 Ambigram, 145-146 Amir, Samra, 49 Anagram, 17, 241-243, 260, 280, 352, 364 Anderson, Carl, 136 Antimatter, 100-102, 105-106, 108109, 113, 122-123, 135-138, 149154, 274 Aristotle, 113, 140 Bacon, Francis, 291, 300 Bai, Juyi, 91 Bakhtin, Mikhail, 266 Balzac, Honoré de, 105 Bamford, James, 198 Beasley, Jonathan, 8 Bergofsky Principle, 74 Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 101, 122124, 128-135, 141-143 Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 101, 129, 133-134 Fountain of God of Sea, 128 Fountain of Moro Fountain of the Four Rivers, 101, 129, 134, 142-143 Habakkuk and the Angel, 101, 128, 133 Black Death, 339-340, 344, 363, 375 Bock, Darrell, 226 Bongaarts, John, 342 Book of Genesis, 125

Borromini, Francesco, 128 Botticelli, Sandro, 124, 330, 345, 352, 364 The Allegory of Spring, 364 The Birth of Venus, 364 The Map of Hell, 330, 352, 364, 369 Bowers, Bradley, 3 Brown, Dan, 1, 4, 7-10, 16, 21, his parents, 22, at the Exeter Academiy, 23, his English teacher, 24, at Amherst College, 24-25, his music, 26-29, met his wife, 29-30, his teaching, 30, his first novel, 32, 42, 49, 93, 117, 209, 318, 358, 363, 370 Angels & Demons, 1, 4-5, 9, 21, 30, 34-35, 37-38, 40, 42, 95, 97-99, 103, 108, 114, 117-118, 120, 122-125, 127-131, 136140, 142-147, 150-151, 153158, 273-274, 279, 282, 289, 340, 345-346, 362 "Cranes at Dusk," 26 Dan Brown, his CD, 28 Deception Point, 1, 5, 9, 21, 3840, 42, 95, 147, 160-161, 165, 170-171, 174, 179, 181, 189190, 195, 197-198, 200-201, 204-208, 273-274, 340, 356 Digital Fortress, 5, 9, 21, 30, 3238, 42, 47, 52-54, 57, 59, 6268, 70-71, 73, 75- 78, 80-86, 88-89, 91, 93-95, 189, 273274, 345, 356, 366, 374 "digital fortress", 55-58, 60-65, 71-72, 75-77, 85-90, 93-95

The Dan Brown Craze "Flock of Mice," 26 "Happy Frogs," 26 Inferno, 3, 5-6, 9, 13, 17, 48-49, 95, 99, 327-329, 334-336, 339341, 343-345, 352, 354-356, 361-364, 368, 370-372, 375, 377 the "inferno" virus, 360, 363, 371, 376 Perspective, his CD, 26 "Seven Powerful Tips", 38, 120 "Suzuki Elephants," 26 SynthAnimals, 26-27 The Da Vinci Code, 1-2, 4-5, 712, 14-17, 21, 24-25, 39-46, 48-49, 54, 95, 97-99, 147, 160, 190, 209-211, 214-216, 221, 223-227, 229-231, 233, 235, 238-241, 248, 252, 261, 263, 266, 268-274, 279, 282, 289, 302, 319, 326, 340, 345, 356, 362 The Lost Symbol, 5-6, 9, 13, 43, 47-49, 95, 99, 209, 273-275, 279-280, 282, 284, 286, 288289, 295, 301-302, 310, 312, 316-326, 329, 340, 345, 356, 366, 374 Brown, Richard G, 22, 47 Brumidi, Constantino, 290, 303 "Brute-Force Attack," 71, 73-75, 77-78 Bubeck, Craig, 93 Bulatao, Rodolfo, 342 Burstein, Dan, 11 "Caesar Cipher Box," 189 Caesar, Julius, 71 Cai, Jun, 15-16 Cao, Xueqin, 328 Caravaggio, 128 Carmine, Alex, 282 Castle of St. Angel, 129-130 CERN, 99, 105, 107-108, 110, 136, 138, 147-148, 158 Cervantes, Miguel de, 223

387

Chang, Eileen, 92 Chen, Zhixing, 344 Cheng, Gang, 15 Christ, Jesus, 7-8, 120, 122, 213, 216, 226, 228, 242, 251, 256, 261, 271 Christie, Agatha, 329 Church of the Illumination, 101 Churchill, Winston, 180 Clark, Jr., Leland, 313, 325 Cold War, 84, 198-199, 316 Columbus, 69-70, 82-84, 140, 255, 285, 291, his son, Diego, 82-83 Conrad, Peter, 50 Copernicus, 34, 115, 140 Cox, Simon, 273 Cryptex, 212, 214, 244-247, 259260, 268 Cryptography, 10, 22, 32, 44, 50, 55, 59-60, 62, 65, 75, 77-82, 84, 89-90, 93, 99, 104, 189, 216, 270, 279, 355 Cultural thriller, 52, 190, 224, 227, 229 Da Vinci, Leonardo, 3, 7, 25, 30, 39, 124, 209, 211, 224-228, 231, 241-242, 244-245, 248-250, 252, 270-271, 303, 345, 348, 366 Battle of Anghiari, 348 Modonna of the Rocks, 242-243, 249, 251-252 Mona Lisa, 7, 40, 43, 226, 233, 242, 249-250, 252, 260, 267, 271, 362 The Last Supper, 7, 25, 226, 228, 249-251, 255, 271, 303 The Vitruvian Man, 211, 225, 241, 248-249, 270 Dankosky, John, 375 Dante, 48, 330-332, 334, 339-340, 348-349, 353-354, 359, 361-365, 370, 375-376 The Divine Comedy, 331, 340, 353-354, 361-363, 375

388

Index

Dante's Inferno, 49, 339-340, 354, 361-364 Davidson, Keay, 137 Deacon, Michael, 2-3 Defoe, Daniel, 322, 328 Delta Force, 161, 174, 183, 195, 197-199, 202-203, 205-206, 356 Dice, Mark, 117 Dickens, Charles, 340 Dirac, Paul, 136 Doubleday, 41, 44, 273 Doyle, Conan, 105 Dream of the Red Chamber, 63, 334, 336 Dunn, Jeff, 93 Dürer, Albrecht, 299, 301, 305-306, 310

Freemasonry, 115-116, 147, 235, 239, 273-274, 278-281, 283-284, 286-288, 290, 294-297, 300, 304305, 308-310, 321, 323 Frost, Robert, 28 Fu, Shao, 14

Eco, Umberto, 17 Foucault’s Pendulum, 17 Edwards, Kenneth, 137 EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), 85 Ehrman, Bart, 261 Eliot, T.S., 362-363 The Waste Land, 362 EOS (Earth Observation System), 191-192, 196 Erickson, Glenn, 363 Exeter, New Hampshire, 1, 22, 26, 43, 47, 50

Handwerk, Brian, 286 Harry Potter, 1, 3, 22, 42, 270 Harvard University, 8, 99, 104, 209, 215, 275, 279, 296, 309, 330, 340, 372 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 169 He, Ma, 15 Hegel, 281 Hemingway, Ernest, 233-234, 272, 340, 373 Hesse, Monica, 328 Hieronimus, Robert, 304 Hirst, Damien, 365 Hitchcock, Alfred, 88, 329 Hixson, J.B., 1 Hodapp, Christopher, 306, 310 Hollywood, 26, 29-30, 44, 89, 269 Holy Blood, Holy Grail, 46 Holy Grail, 46, 212-214, 216, 222223, 238-239, 244, 251-252, 255257, 259-260, 263-264, 268, 272, 280 Howard, Ron, 44 Hugo, Victor, 62, 170 Huxley, Julian, 357

Fasman, Barry, 28 Faulkner, William, 9 Feng, Menglong, 327-328 Fielding, Henry, 328 Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 233 Flender, Harold, 204 Florence, Italy, 49-50, 249, 330332, 346-348, 354, 358-359, 364367, 369-370, 372 Flowers in the Mirror, 17, 52, 168 Fokkema, Aleid, 103 Forster, E.M., 62-63 Franklin, Benjamin, 288 Franz Kafka Prize, 14

Galileo, 14, 34, 101, 115, 131, 140141, 366 Galton, Francis, 357 Gogol, Nikolai, 362 Gorky, Maxim, 166 Gothic fiction, 99, 334, 338 Greek mythology, 254-255, 259, 305, 355 Greimas, Algirda J., 151 Guigunu, 15

The Dan Brown Craze Illuminati, 34, 97, 99-101, 104, 109, 114-117, 122, 129, 131-132, 134135, 140-142, 144-146, 280 Iser, Wolfgang, 371 The Act of Reading, 377 Istanbul, Turkey, 333, 350-351, 355 Jameson, Fredric, 161, 268 Jin, Shengtan, 94, 107, 157, 173, 203 Jin, Yong, 17 Journey to the West, 334 Joyce, James, 10 Ulysses, 10 Kaufman, Jason, 37, 40-41 Keats, John, 69 Kelloge, Carolyn, 209 Kemp, Martin, 225 Kerridge, Jake, 340 Keystone, 212-213, 215-216, 225, 246, 256, 268, 271 King, Stephen, 370 Klages, Mary, 6 Knights Templar, 230, 237, 246247, 253, 256-257, 263-264 Krader, Lawrence, 312 Kua Fu, 46 Langdon, John, 146, 280 Lao She, 328 Lawrence of Arabia (movie), 69 Lazarus, David, 210 Leddy, Chuck, 327 Leigh, Richard, 46 LHC (Large Hadron Collider), 137138 Li, Chuanqi, 11 Li, li, 15 Li, Ruzhen, 52, 168 Li, Yu, 171, 206 Library of Congress, 276-277, 290, 322 Lin, Daiyu, 57 Lippi, Filippo, 364 Lord Byron, 349

389

Louvre Museum, 124, 211, 213, 231-232, 241, 249, 269 Lu, Jiande, 13 Lu, Xun, 279, 328, 355 Brief History of Chinese Fiction, 355 Lubbock, Percy, 223 The Craft of Fiction, 223 Machiavelli, 363, 375 Magdalene, Mary, 7, 25, 213, 226, 228, 251, 255-257, 259, 261, 263, 271-272 Mai, Jia, 15-16 Encryption, 15-16 Malthus, Thomas, 360-361 Mao, Zonggang, 114, 155 Martin, Keith, 79 Maslin, Janet, 12, 41, 97, 270, 274 Melencolia I, 299, 305-306 Melville, Herman, 12, 52, 270, 355 Moby Dick, 12, 52, 270, 355 Michelangelo, 123-125, 127, 149, 291, 307, 312, 345, 353, 364-366 Battle of Cascina, 348 The Last Judgment, 125-126, 348 Miesel, Sandra, 226 Milton, John, 127, 131, 134, 144 Paradise Lost, 144 Minzesheimer, Bob, 342 Mo Yan, 19 Modiano, Patrick, 329 Morrison, Toni, 10 Moses, 125, 288, 291, 293, 307 Mulan (movie), 229 Nabokov, Vladimir, 99 Napoleon, 236, 347, 349 NASA, 38-39, 137, 147, 161-169, 171-173, 177, 180, 182, 185-188, 191-197, 199-200, 202, 204-205, 356 National Cathedral, 183, 277, 292, 298, 300-301, 322 Nelson, Victoria, 266 New Age Movement, 229

390 Newlon, Blythe, Brown's wife, 5, 27-30, 34-35, 37-41, 49 Newton, Isaac, 25,140, 213, 231, 238, 241, 247, 260, 272, 291, 300-301 Nicholl, Charles, 224 Nietzsche, Friedrich, 168 Noetics, 282, 312-313 NRO (National Reconnaissance Office), 161-162, 164, 167, 171, 190, 198-199, 202 NSA (National Security Agency), 31-33, 35-36, 47, 54-55, 67-68, 74-76, 78, 80-81, 84-90, 92-93, 95 Oedipus the King, 113 Olson, Carl, 226 Opus Dei, 212, 219-222, 230, 253, 255-256, 262-263, 268 Palace of Versaille, 128, 236-237 Parkes, Michael, 305 Pearl, Matthew, 363 Pei, I.M., 232, 253 "Pepin Donation," 121 Perdue, Lewis, 7, 44-45 "Perfect Square Cipher Box," 71-72, 76-77, 189-190 Petrarch, 345 Phillips Exeter Academy, 22-26, 31, 33, 47, 58 Planton, Stan, 34, 40 Plato, 291 Pocahontas (movie), 229 Poe, Edgar Allan, 9, 52 Poole, Garry, 210 Pope, Alexander, 247 "Popular literature," 13-14 "Popular novel," 3, 7, 12, 53, 319, 370 Postmodernism, 6 Postmodernist fiction, 274, 371 Price, Robert, 5, 7 Proust, Marcel, 63, 233 Pu, Songling, 210, 336

Index Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, 17, 210 Pustienne, Jean-Pierre, 233 Qiu, Yunru, 15 Qu, Yuan, 363 Li Shao, 363 Raphael, Santi, 123-125, 127-128, 132 Renaissance, 69, 123-124, 127, 132, 140, 224, 245, 248, 291, 305-306, 340, 344, 346, 363-366, 370 "Replacement Method," 71-73, 77 Richardson, Samuel, 322, 328, "Robert Langdon Series," 1, 4-5, 47-48, 50, 97, 99, 209, 319, 327329, 334, 340-341, 352, 370 Rogak, Lisa, 23, 36, 41, 53, 160 Roman Catholic Church, 97, 106, 115-118, 121, 124, 129, 132, 140, 145, 150, 153, 262, 307 Rome, Italy, 50, 70, 115, 120-122, 124-135, 141-143, 149, 239-240, 248, 290, 307, 348 Rosslyn Chapel, 213, 231, 239-240, 295 Rowling, J.K., 1, 10, 370 Rubin, Harriet, 363 Rue des Boutiques Obscures, 329 Rush, John, 314 Salomon (or Solomon), Haym, 288289 Schaffrath, Stephan, 98 Schneider-Mayerson, Matthew, 319 Schonfield, Hugh J., 253 Schwartz, John, 77 Segrè, Emilio, 136 "Serious literature," 13-14 "Serious novel," 53 Seville, Spain, 56, 68, 93, 240 SFF (Space Frontier Foundation), 199-200 Shakespeare, 291, 363 Sheldon, Sidney, 30

The Dan Brown Craze Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 69 Shi, Naian, 157 Sinclair, Upton, 12 Singer, Isaac B., 204 Sleeping Murder, 329 Smithsonian Institution, 315, 317318 Socrates, 214 Soviet Union, 81, 193, 195, 198199, 316 Spellbound (movie), 329 Spitznagel, Eric, 3 St. Peter’s Basilica, 70, 102, 118119, 121-124, 130, 133, 135, 143, 348 St. Peter’s Square, 101-102, 121123, 133, 149, 152 Star Wars (movie), 69, 293 Steinbeck, John, 270 Stevenson, Randall, 6 Stories Old and New, 327 Strobel, Lee, 210 Su, Shi, 201 Swiss Guard, 100, 113-114, 118, 148-150, 153 Symbology, 17, 104, 215, 245, 274275, 279, 283, 296, 325 The Abyss (movie), 313 The Aesthetics of the Chinese Novel, 334 The Ancient Mysteries, 276, 278, 280, 284, 290, 294-295, 297, 300, 306 The Apotheosis of Washington, 275, 290, 303 The Arabian Nights, 80-81 The Arctic, 39, 162-163, 165-168, 174, 181-183, 185, 188, 192, 202, 205, 207 The Bible, 7, 45, 70, 122, 124-125, 135, 217, 220-221, 227-228, 235, 250-251, 253, 257, 259, 261, 278, 287, 293, 301, 340 The Big Bang, 138-139 The Chigi Chapel, 128, 132, 143

391

The College of Cardinals, 102, 112, 118-119, 150 "The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon," 1-2, 9, 209-210 The "Dan Brown Craze," 2-4, 8-9, 14-17, 209 The Dictator (movie), 69 "The Emancipation Proclamation," 184 The Fibonacci sequence, 243, 271 The French Revolution, 232, 340 The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, 62, 170, 219 The Lost Empire (movie), 229 The Masonic pyramid, 274, 276278, 280, 283-284, 291, 294-298, 301, 307-308, 310, 212, 314, 320, 322-323, 325 The Medici family, 346-347, 364366 The New World, 69-70, 82, 140, 305 The Nobel Prize, 19, 136, 148 The Old Testament, 257, 307 The Priory of Sion, 214-215, 224, 230, 235, 238, 242-244, 247, 250, 254-255, 257, 261-264, 267 The Ritz, 233-234 The Roman Empire, 122, 143, 149, 257 The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 114, 155 The Romance of West Chamber, 173 The Rose Cross, 300 The Rose Line, 234-235, 255, 271 The Sistine Chapel, 112, 118-119, 125 The Temple Church, 231, 237 The US Capitol, 202, 275-278, 285, 289-291, 295-297, 303-305, 309, 315, 321-322 The Vatican, 34-35, 37, 97, 100102, 104, 106, 110, 112-115, 117122, 124-126, 128, 130-133, 136, 140, 148-150, 152-154, 159, 215,

392 220, 231, 240, 247, 263, 268, 274, 289, 296, 342, 345, 348 The Vatican Museum, 124-125 The Water Margin, 94, 107, 157, 217, 334 The Watergate Scandal, 180, 230 The Way, 253, 256-257, 268 Thriller fiction, 1, 3, 6, 11-12, 1519, 36-37, 39, 42, 44, 93, 99, 190, 204-205, 208-209, 266, 272, 318319, 328 Tian, Yang, 15 Tiber River, 121, 126, 130, 133 Ting, Samuel C.C., 137 Tobin, Greg, 97 Tolstoy, Leo, 62, 324 Transhumanism, 332, 357, 375-376 TRANSLTR (decoder), 54-55, 6061, 63-64, 68, 74-75, 80-81, 85, 87, 89, 93 Twain, Mark, 37, 180 Valadiera, Giuseppe, 128 Vasari, Giorgio, 331, 347-348, 353, 364-366 Battle of Marciano, 353 Venice, Italy, 326, 332, 348, 351, 355 Virgil, 362-363 Virgin Mary, 251, 259-260, 310, 351

Index

Wagner, Rachel, 7 Wang, Meng, 12 Wardman, Harry, 183 Washington, George, 285-286, 288, 292, 295, 323 Washington Monument, 278, 286, 295, 302, 322 Weishaupt, Adam, 116 Westminster Abbey, 238, 247 WHO (World Health Organization, 332-333, 337-338, 341, 361, 367368, 376 Wilson, A.N., 370 Wu, Xiping, 15 WWI, 340 WWII, 63, 67, 71, 80, 183, 316, 374 Xiao, Qian, 10 Yan, Lianke, 14 Yang, Renjing, 5 Ye, Lang, 334 Yin, Xiaodong, 15 Zhang, Hong, 15 Zhang, Qi, 14 Zhang, Youxing, 344 Zhou, Yuanxiao, 12 Zhu, Guangqian, 320 Zou, Tongwen, 15