medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
James Aldrich wrote:
>The problem with Dan Brown is that he continually appears in the media
>asserting the factual basis of the book. When challenged on his facts or
>scholarship he reverts to "it's just a story." He is an advocate of the
>wacky positions of his characters but won't engage in any debate of the
>material.
I think this is the heart of the problem. If the author says it's fiction, we can have fun with it. If he asserts that it's "factual" then people are going to think it _is_ factual. Unfortunately it does sound like there's so much to critique in it that it practically _does_ take another book to point out everything that's wrong with it.
Historians who know something about 16th-century England had the exact same problem with the movie "Elizabeth" awhile back, especially since the opening scenes include a series of wildly unlikely to impossible events. A major premise of the movie was also flawed (Elizabeth consciously presenting herself for 'adoration' in place of the pre-Reformation devotion to the Virgin Mary).
If the moviemakers had presented it as fiction, it wouldn't have been nearly as much of a problem. As it was, they touted its "educational" value and even provided "study guides" for teachers to use with the movie. The grinding of historians' teeth was clearly audible <g>.
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0 Chris Laning
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+ Davis, California
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