Dan Brown, you've done it again. Set another record that is. Your reign over the New York Times best-seller list and spot on Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People pale in comparison to this accolade: facebook.com lists your Da Vinci Code as the highest-rated book among its users on its "Pulse" feature.
Angels and Demons is not too far behind, ranked fifth nationally. At Duke, The Da Vinci Code holds a respectable second place, with Angels and Demons at a steady seventh. This puts you in company with such notables as F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger and George Orwell-be proud, Dan, the college community has spoken.
What is particularly striking is not the runaway popularity of Brown's books among the college audience, but the ranking of another book which wrestles with similar topics. At least among college students, Brown has done what was once thought impossible: Bested the Bible in popularity, both at Duke and across the country. Two nights ago, the Bible slipped from 9th to 10th, unseated by 1984.
Brown's books thrive in part on the religious curiosity of the masses, but it's worth pausing to consider the trend of such curiosity across the ages. It was once the case that people found common ground in their holy books such as the Bible, the Koran and the Mahabharata: These were the stories-about courage, faith, truth-of which everyone had some working knowledge. Sacred texts were our point of unity, our language.
We no longer share the stories; we share in the skewering of them. Our contemporary religious curiosity is fueled by scandal and intrigue within religion. Brown's books draw on mysterious symbols-the Mona Lisa and the Knights Templar, for example-which apparently satisfy the public's thirst for the "whole" story.
Some argue that Brown's fiction may propel people to begin thinking anew about spirituality. A possible marriage between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene? Jesus' offspring walking about the earth? A Church cover-up? The racy possibilities are enough to breath life into old-time religion.
The question is whether the trade of Bible for Brown is a valuable one. Dan Brown may have cornered the market on tabloid thrillers, but there must be some reason that the Bible is the most widely read book on the planet. What about holy works of the Koran or the Mahabharata? They are great works of literature all, and they provide amusing anecdotes, honest insights into human nature and life lessons cast in shrewd parables.
Their resonance, like all things of value, is in their complexity. It's not easy to understand the Bible, and Robert Langdon won't have the answers at the end of page 387. It's a story worth reading because the stories within are not all black and white.
As a work of art-whether you consider it fact or fiction or somewhere in between-there is a literary genius and depth in the Bible. Its artful use of language (even in translation), its complex story-telling and its interpretation of history should be grounds alone for a look.
Brown's books, on the other hand, are not great works of literature. The story lines are one-track, the characters undeveloped, the plots mundane. Though fast-paced, you'd be hard-pressed to find a person willing to read his books more than once. Its window into history, while cleverly packaged in age-old mysteries, is almost entirely fabricated.
That our literary canon is limited to easy-to-read thrillers is somewhat disappointing. In times of old, authors drew inspiration from scripture and sculptors and painters portrayed scenes from sacred works. Most importantly, students learned to read and write through the wisdom of ancient myths and the words of prophets. Unlike our ancient counterparts, we've given up on Jonah and his whale and Krishna with his chariot.
Perhaps instead of turning to juicy secondary sources for our spiritual information, we should read the texts themselves and then make our judgments about religion.
Dan Brown may be a newcomer to the 50-million-plus-copies-sold club, but I'm afraid his tenure will be short-the Bible, the Koran and the Mahabharata have stood the test of time, and with their head start, I'm willing to bet that Moses, Paul, Muhammad and Arjuna have more staying power than Langdon.
Even if Facebook disagrees.
Emily Thomey is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every other Thursday.
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