esrosedotblog

I didn't think much of The DaVinci Code myself. I thought the chase novel was a bit over wrought and, to tell the truth, I am not interested enough in christianity to care whether secret societies concocted large flim flams about the story of Jesus. I know that someone did and it is not very subtle. He was a great figure in his time and a bunch of profiteers turned his story upside down to get a religion organized. The work still continues today. Nothing very subtle, that!

But the novel is far more convoluted and filled with wonderful bits which I did enjoy; the description of art and objects and places and situations that do exist. It is fun to watch a chase unfold even if you don't give a shit about the paper thin characters. They have even made an illustrated version of the novel which, in its way, is far more interesting than the book itself. It has good reproductions of the art and it even has a picture of that nasty self-torture thing one of the pious characters wears to keep his mojo up.

Now, in real life, come the detractors and the lawsuits for plagiarism. Success always breeds this kind of thing but it would seem that there is some substance to the charges and the arguments in the case reveal the shakiness of a lot of the 'facts' on which the novel is based. This rundown, The Da Vinci Crock in Salon, nicely summarizes the situation and the work from which the novel was evidently cribbed and an account of the resulting lawsuit.

It is always fun to watch people scurrying around with this kind of thing when the real world is plagued by so many problems that require real examination and attempts for solution. Of course, that too is the story of christianity; all about itself and who has the biggest stick to beat the subject to death.

But, we must have our fun too and this is just more plot about the plot within a plot about a plot. How very interesting. And all those books sold!