I'm sure a lot of people posting in the Secret Societies board have read Umberto Eco's intelligently written adventure story, 'Foucault's Pendulum' and I'm asking a very simple question from those who have;...does it seem like Dan Brown dumbed down Eco's story to gain a wider audience?
Certainly there are significant differences, so plagiarism is not the issue, but the 'overall' story is not dissimilar at all.

So...is The Da Vinci Code just a dumbed down Foucault's Pendulum?

It seems no-one has read Foucaults Pendulum...or if they did they would have been able to make connections with Dan Browns characters and the student of the Templar trials in Eco's excellent book.

Or maybe I'm just seeing things...

Sorry, haven't read it but I just bookmarked it on Amazon. Prolly be a couple of months before I get to it though, I have kind of a stack going right now.

Sorry Masqua, it wasn't fiction that got me interested in secret societies, and it sure as hell wasn't the Dan Brown craze!

Then again, others have said Dan Brown has copied the story from Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

My only opinion on all these works of fiction is that, as a whole, they are designed to throw you off track.

I see you've met akilles.

Tell you what, when I read the book, I will post my comments on it here, so don't have it deleted or locked quite yet. I read The DaVinci Code voraciously, like in three nights; so if Foucaults Pendulum is as good as The DaVinci Code, it shouldn't take long once I get my hands on it.

akilles...I agree that fiction novels are, for the most part, utterly and only entertainment. However, there are other fictions which are meant as vehicles to carry the seeds of awareness. Dan Browns ultimate goal was just that...using a fictional adventure to raise awareness to the conspiracies surrounding the Grail legends.

DaVinci's Code, as you say, is certainly based on 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' by Baigent and Leigh and I doubt that you would call that entirely a fiction (well...perhaps you could). Associated with that particular historical background in the story, Brown tosses in lots of associations with secret societies like Opus Dei in order to entertain the adventurers with conflict and murders.

The point is...Brown wrote the book not so much for the fictional misadventures of his characters as for the education of a public who otherwise would never have read about such things. In effect, he has brought 'Secret Societies' to the forefront of millions of readers.

In this thread, I propose that Umberto Eco was doing the same thing, however, his book is written in a much more scholarly style and aimed at an educated audience. Also, his aim is not based on the Christian mysteries but is more global. The 'baddies' are less Opus Dei and more Illuminati.

Axeman...thanks for the interest, I'm sure you will enjoy the book and I look forward to your comments...think Templar and Grand Plan and you have the direction of the story.

Are you familiar with R.A. Wilson's Illuminatus Trilogy?

It covers similar ground in a much different style. Unfortunately, while Wilson may have brought parts of the issue to light, his aim in publishing the book are obviously disinformation.

Although he is in effect telling people not to take it all seriously (any conspiracy, that is), there is actually a better wisdom behind it, and that is, we need to have a good laugh at whats wrong with the world, not mope and be self-destructive, but look for the humor in life, despite the negative.

I remember I picked it up working in a library, when I was what ML calls me to this day (where's the teary eyed smilie?), a young Goat! I couldn't comprehend why the author would deliberately interweve fantasy and reality so much, and I thought it wrong of him to do so, as it kept people from understanding.

In truth, that is what we need to understand, where fantasy ends and reality begins, how people will use fantasy against us, and we will believe for we WANT it to be reality.

Akilles...I haven't read RAW's book but googled what I could on the 'Trilogy'.
It seems you're right on the money with your take on it...that it is disinformation. This is exactly why I normally stay away from such fictions and your point is well taken.
When I began reading a lot (at age 10 or so), it was basically Science Fiction during it's heyday in the 60's. These authors like Bradbury, Farmer and Asimov were, to me, the prophets of future social structure and in a lot of ways, it turns out this was so...
Somewhere along the line, sword and sorcery became a replacement for pure science fiction...necromancers instead of spacefaring adventurers. This had the effect of souring me on fiction entirely. I'd already had my fill of it with the Conan books and started looking for a more relevant type of reading material. This is how I became interested in all things theological.
Rather than be caught up in a whirlwind of fantasy, I needed to see what such mental meanderings were based on...and so my interest in Jeremy Benthams head, La Morte D'Arthur, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (ad nauseum)
I believe Umberto Eco belongs in that family of writers and philosophers...writing in order to create interest among the readership of those mysteries which surround our theologies.

Here is an excerp from Foucaults Pendulum, where a character (supposedly the Count St. Germaine) is describing the third century AD;

"The age of the Antonines...The world was full of marvellous correspondences, subtle resemblances; the only way to penetrate them- and to be penetrated by them- was through dreams, oracles, magic, which allows us to act on nature and her forces, moving like with like. Knowledge is elusive and volatile, it escapes measurement. That's why the conquering god of that era was Hermes, inventor of all trickery, god of the crossroads and thieves. He was also the creator of writing, which is the art of evasion and dissimulation and a navigation that carries us to the end of all boundaries, where everything dissolves into the horizon, where cranes lift stones from the ground and weapons transform life into death, and water pumps make heavy matter float, and philosophy deludes and deceives..."

Personally. I think ML was giving you a compliment when he called you 'young Goat'...we need these young Goats to chew the indigestibles of this world and turn them into something useful.

I kind of think that folks are taking away from RAWs series, The Illuminati Trilogy. If you ever have a chance to read/listen to him speak, you will get a whole new outlook on what really is happening.

Basically, Robert Anton Wilson is not putting down disinformation or even putting down many of the so-called conspiracy items, as he is simply saying, consider what you are looking at, find out where the toilets are, and look for where they put out the trash.

In other words ... Don't sell your soul for the sweet balm of unthinking acceptance.

[edit on 15-2-2005 by sigung86]