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The Da Vinci Hoax
by L. John Harrison
An expanded version of a talk given on March 21, 2006.
The Phenomena
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, was published in April 2003 by Doubleday Fiction. As a marketing ploy for the book, Doubleday distributed 10,000 free advanced reading copies to bookstores and the media. This, as The New York Times noted, was more copies than any one of Brown's three previous novels had sold up till then.
Some early reviews gushed with praise. The Library Journal raved, "This masterpiece should be mandatory reading." The Chicago Tribune proclaimed the book contained "several doctorates' worth of fascinating history and learned speculation" while New York Daily News affirmed, "his research is impeccable." Such statements not only helped sell the book, they helped sell the legitimacy of its premise.
The Da Vinci Code became an instant success, debuting at #1 in Hardback Fiction on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has remained in the top five ever since. It has sold more than 40 million hardback copies worldwide in 44 different languages. This March 2006, Anchor Books is releasing a paperback edition with a first print of 5 million copies.
By the fall of 2004, CBS News was reporting that "Dan Brown's mystical thriller has spawned a mini-industry in European travel, with enthralled readers touring the locations in its plot to unravel its enigmas. From Scotland to France, they are scrutinizing old sites with new questions" ("Da Vinci Code Spawns Travel Fad", September 9, 2004). The Louvre Museum had a record number of visitors in 2005, up half a million over the previous year. While the museum officials accredit this to a number of factors, General Administrator Didier Selles admitted to the Associated Press that Dan Brown's novel was in part responsible for drawing fans to the museum, though likely "not in gigantic proportions." Travel companies like British Tours Ltd. and Fodor's are offering guided tour packages of sites represented in the novel, while Eurostar is mounting a campaign on the back of the movie to promote travel between Britain and France.
The movie version of the novel is about to be released by Sony/Columbia Pictures. It is directed by Ron Howard and stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. It opens at Cannes on May 19, 2006 and is almost assured of being a box office hit.
According to Forbes magazine Dan Brown was the sixth best-paid celebrity in the world, earning $76.5 million (US) between June 2004 and June 2005. The British Times reported in February, 2006 that Brown's "career earnings are estimated to be close to £200 million" and that he "has stopped taking commercial flights because of autograph hunters." The Advertizer (March 1, 2006) probably exaggerates when it claims the novel earned its author $106 million (US) in just one year and that Brown is said to be currently worth an estimated $470 million.
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