- Robert Langdon: The protagonist is a professor of symbology at Harvard University. He is described as always wearing chino pants, a turtleneck sweater and a tweed coat. He was first flown to CERN to investigate Leonardo Vetra's murder; this is where he meets Vittoria and they both travel to Italy to save the Vatican. Lastly, upon further research, Robert's last name is a tribute to John Langdon who created all the ambigrams for Angels and Demons.
- Leonardo Vetra: A scientist at CERN and an ex priest. He steadily worked on bringing together science and religion (people of both backgrounds despise each other). He was working on the antimatter, when the Hassassin tortured, branded and killed him.
- Vittoria Vetra: Adopted daughter of Leonardo and a scientist at CERN. She helped to create antimatter with Leonardo, utilizing her background in biology and physics.
- Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca: The "Camerlengo", papal chamberlain or assistant during the election for the next Pope. Upon reading, one learns the Camerlengo is the killer of the pope who turns out to be his biological father. He also created the Illuminati ruse, calling himself "Janus" to the Hassassin. Janus was code for the two-faced Roman god for beginning and end.
- Commander Olivetti: The commandant of the Swiss Guard, who at first opposes Robert because he is skeptic about antimatter, Illuminati etc. After talking with the Hassassin by phone, he gains confidence that there is a threat and begins leading the team of guards to find the antimatter. He gets killed by the Hassassin in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria.
- Hassassin: A hired killer by the Carmlengo (Janus) who has no problem murdering or killing people. His justification is that his deeds are for the better for the church. Throughout the story, he murders Leonardo Vetra, the Preferiti (4 most likely cardinals to become pope) and Commander Olivetti. He dies from falling to his death and breaking his back on a pile of cannonballs.
- Maximilian Kohler: The director of CERN who has paralysis. He has a state of the art wheelchair with a built-in computer, telephone, video camera, and a gun. He contacts Langdon to help him find the killer Leonardo Vetra. He blames the Church for his paralysis, because his very religious parents refused to let him receive medicine.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Characters in Angels & Demons
This purpose of this blog is to give a brief overview of all main characters.The main characters are:
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Post Modernism in Angels & Demons
Angels & Demons was written in 2003, which places it in the center of the postmodernism time period. Some major examples found throughout my novel are:
- Point of View: Postmodernism emphasizes a multiplicity of voices, and in Angels & Demons this is clearly visible. Brown shifts between chapters from the protagonist Robert and his mission to find the antimatter and save the Vatican. Then next chapter, has the antagonist Silas setting up the public murders of the cardinals or helping the Illuminati. With Brown doing this, it helped set up more suspense because one knows Roberts full story of what is happening but one only sees bits and pieces of what Silas is doing. It helps give an idea of what will happen next, but then Brown throws a twist in instead which completely shocks the reader.
- Technology: Technology is everywhere in Angels & Demons, from the opening pages when the next generation x-33 takes Robert from New York City to Switzerland in an hour. Also the antimatter, new technology, was placed under the Vatican and used as a bomb. Even the Vatican, a seemingly old place, is filled with state of the art security systems and bomb defusing equipment.
- Values: Postmodernism could be said to embody the philosophy "think globally, act locally." This trait can be seen in Maxim Kohler, director of CERN and Commander Olvetti. Both want to keep the antimatter a secret when they find it has be stolen and is being used as a terrorist weapon. Both are thinking locally as to what will be best for the reputation of CERN or the Vatican. Not for the people surrounding the Vatican and would have been decimated if the antimatter wasn't properly disposed of.
MLA Citation: Harper, Sue, Douglas Hilker, and Peter J. Smith. "Pg 453-456." Elements of English 12. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2002. Print.
*Note all quotes are taken directly from Pg 453-456 of Elements of English 12 textbook.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Angels & Demons Interesting Information
This is an on-going post with cool information I have came across throughout Angels & Demons.
1) This is an experimental plane called the X-33. It is the future of commercial flight, with the capability to travel from New York to Switzerland in an hour! Robert flies in this plane twice in the book, once from from New York to Switzerland and from Switzerland to Italy.
2) Ambigrams are found throughout Angels & Demons, and are used by the Illuminati to brand Vittoria's dad and the 4 cardinals. There is a total of 5 ambigrams and they are:
3) The Vatican City is, in my opinion, the biggest part of the setting because its where the climax and also most of the action occur. There is lots of subtle facts about the Vatican City throughout Angels & Demons. For example Robert and Vittoria get the pleasure of going inside the Vatican's Archives. Some documents are thousands of years old in there!
4) The Secret Vatican Archives are a restricted section inside the Vatican where important documents owned by the Vatican are stored. There is an estimated 84 km of shelving, with around 35,000 volumes in the catalogue alone. The oldest surviving document in the archives dates back to the 8th century; according to the official Vatican website.
Article Analysis #1
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=3&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Dan+Brown&TI=Angels+And+Demons&finalAuth=true
My first secondary source article I used is titled "The Formula: The Novels of Dan Brown". It was a lengthy article that covered an array of literary techniques used by Dan Brown. Also it compares the similarities and differences between four of Brown's novels. The essay was written before The Lost Symbol was published. The main techniques I found are the formula, characters and time-scheme.
The Formula: The formula for Brown's novels, in the eye's of Doris L. Eder (article author), it begins with a corpse being found in an extraordinary position. In Angels and Demons, the novel starts with the body of Vittoria's dad found in his lab with an ancient ambigram branded onto his chest. An example of the formula in another work by Brown can be found in Deception Point. A geologist is hurled from a helicopter to his death in the opening pages of the novel. Moreover Brown ends all of his novels with a romantic engagement to help bring the plot in full circle. My article spoiled it for me, but apparently Robert and Vittoria are together in the end of Angels and Demons. In Digital Fortress it concludes with a romantic encounter between David Becker and Susan Fletcher, the novels to main characters.
Characters: Next are the consistent use of dark, eerie antagonists in all of his novels. Angels and Demons has the Arab Hassasin, who has the tendency to creep around dark areas and sometimes drops off the body of a dead cardinal in a church. Comparatively, in The Da Vinci Code the antagonist is a self-mortifying albino monk named Silas. On the other hand, the lead characters are always a male and female protagonist. There are Robert and Vittoria (Angels and Demons), Susan and David (The Digital Fortress) Rachel and Micheal (Deception Point) and Robert and Sophie (The Da Vinci Code). Every female protagonist in Brown's stories also share similar personality traits, such as: beautiful, brainy, quick-witted, resourceful, courageous and vulnerable.
Time-Scheme: Lastly, all of Brown's novels take place over a very short period of time. Angels & Demons starts with a call from Switzerland at 5:18am and the antimatter is set to blow up at midnight the same day. In the course of a single day, Robert travels from New York to Geneva, Switzerland to the Vatican City and all around Italy. Brown's other work Digital Fortress takes place over a Saturday and a Sunday and The Da Vinci Code takes place over two days. He even offers advice to other authors struggling to be published to write their story lines with a time deadline. Hes been quoted saying "nothing intensifies dramatic tension like time pressure".
My first secondary source article I used is titled "The Formula: The Novels of Dan Brown". It was a lengthy article that covered an array of literary techniques used by Dan Brown. Also it compares the similarities and differences between four of Brown's novels. The essay was written before The Lost Symbol was published. The main techniques I found are the formula, characters and time-scheme.
The Formula: The formula for Brown's novels, in the eye's of Doris L. Eder (article author), it begins with a corpse being found in an extraordinary position. In Angels and Demons, the novel starts with the body of Vittoria's dad found in his lab with an ancient ambigram branded onto his chest. An example of the formula in another work by Brown can be found in Deception Point. A geologist is hurled from a helicopter to his death in the opening pages of the novel. Moreover Brown ends all of his novels with a romantic engagement to help bring the plot in full circle. My article spoiled it for me, but apparently Robert and Vittoria are together in the end of Angels and Demons. In Digital Fortress it concludes with a romantic encounter between David Becker and Susan Fletcher, the novels to main characters.
Characters: Next are the consistent use of dark, eerie antagonists in all of his novels. Angels and Demons has the Arab Hassasin, who has the tendency to creep around dark areas and sometimes drops off the body of a dead cardinal in a church. Comparatively, in The Da Vinci Code the antagonist is a self-mortifying albino monk named Silas. On the other hand, the lead characters are always a male and female protagonist. There are Robert and Vittoria (Angels and Demons), Susan and David (The Digital Fortress) Rachel and Micheal (Deception Point) and Robert and Sophie (The Da Vinci Code). Every female protagonist in Brown's stories also share similar personality traits, such as: beautiful, brainy, quick-witted, resourceful, courageous and vulnerable.
Time-Scheme: Lastly, all of Brown's novels take place over a very short period of time. Angels & Demons starts with a call from Switzerland at 5:18am and the antimatter is set to blow up at midnight the same day. In the course of a single day, Robert travels from New York to Geneva, Switzerland to the Vatican City and all around Italy. Brown's other work Digital Fortress takes place over a Saturday and a Sunday and The Da Vinci Code takes place over two days. He even offers advice to other authors struggling to be published to write their story lines with a time deadline. Hes been quoted saying "nothing intensifies dramatic tension like time pressure".
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Article Analysis #2
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=ko_k12hs_d21&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U14066943&n=10&docNum=H1000152387&ST=dan+brown&bConts=6319&finalAuth=true
The second article I have chosen is titled Dan Brown. It is a very detailed biography of Dan Brown's life. It includes lists and brief descriptions of his works, his scholarly childhood and awards for his literature.
This article is key for my blog because it is full of background information on my author and my novel. It also gives me an advantage on inferencing my novel. An example of this is while reading, a special bond is building between the two main characters Vittoria and Robert. "Langdon [Robert] gave Vittoria an impressed nod. She smiled back, and for an instant Langdon felt an unexpected connection... a thread of magnetism between them." (pg 288)
My article talks about Brown's style, and all four of his other novels end with romance between the two main characters. Therefore I have inferenced that there is a very high possibility that Robert and Vittoria will be romantically engaged by the end of the story.
The second article I have chosen is titled Dan Brown. It is a very detailed biography of Dan Brown's life. It includes lists and brief descriptions of his works, his scholarly childhood and awards for his literature.
This article is key for my blog because it is full of background information on my author and my novel. It also gives me an advantage on inferencing my novel. An example of this is while reading, a special bond is building between the two main characters Vittoria and Robert. "Langdon [Robert] gave Vittoria an impressed nod. She smiled back, and for an instant Langdon felt an unexpected connection... a thread of magnetism between them." (pg 288)
My article talks about Brown's style, and all four of his other novels end with romance between the two main characters. Therefore I have inferenced that there is a very high possibility that Robert and Vittoria will be romantically engaged by the end of the story.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Survey of Author and Secondary Sources
Angels and Demons' author Dan Brown has intrigued me since I first encountered his work, The Da Vinci Code. Even though the movie I started to watch was already half over, I immediately became hooked. I love the fast pace plot of his stories, intertwined with subtle history references, codes and puzzles. He has the ability to pack 700 pages of action into a twenty four hour story line (a true gift). His other novels are:
MLA:
Doris L. Eder, "The Formula: The Novels of Dan Brown." Contemporary Literary Criticism 209, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=3&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Dan+Brown&TI=Angels+And+Demons&finalAuth=true
- Digital Fortress (1998) St. Martin's Press
- Deception Point (2001) St. Martin's Press
- The Da Vinci Code (2003) Random House*
- The Lost Symbol (2009) Random House*
* Other installments of the Robert Langdon series
From research, I have deduced that his intellectual style of writing spawned from attending one of the top high schools in the USA, Philips Exeter Academy. Also I believe he would have been strongly influenced to lead a educational lifestyle from his father Richard G. Brown. He was a professor of mathematics at Exeter and wrote textbooks for 30 years.
Lastly, Brad Meltzer is another author who I have found to have a similar style of writing. Meltzer focuses on conspiracies as well, but tends to keep his stories domestic to the United States. I plan to read one of Meltzer's works after I finish Angels and Demons to understand their different writing styles.
Secondary Sources:
1) http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=ko_k12hs_d21&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U14066943&n=10&docNum=H1000152387&ST=dan+brown&bConts=6319&finalAuth=true
MLA:
Secondary Sources:
1) http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=ko_k12hs_d21&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U14066943&n=10&docNum=H1000152387&ST=dan+brown&bConts=6319&finalAuth=true
MLA:
"Dan Brown ." Gale Literature Resource Center 10/15/2009. n. pag. Contemporary Authors Online. Web. 12 Oct 2011. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=ko_k12hs_d21&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U14066943&n=10&docNum=H1000152387&ST=dan brown&bConts=6319&finalAuth=true.
MLA:
Doris L. Eder, "The Formula: The Novels of Dan Brown." Contemporary Literary Criticism 209, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=3&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Dan+Brown&TI=Angels+And+Demons&finalAuth=true
Friday, 16 September 2011
Book Choice
Title: Angels & Demons
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Pocket Books in 2000
# of Pages: 480
Firstly, my two favourite genres of literature are mystery and thriller. I also prefer fictitious novels to non-fiction ones because I find they can possess a more interesting, modifiable plot. I choose Angels and Demons as my independent study novel because it is a fictional thriller story. Also I have seen the movie The Da Vinci Code and it has sparked an interest in Dan Brown's 3 part Robert Langdon series. Angels and Demons is the first novel in the 3 book series.
Unfortunately I have not been able to start my novel because I have been busy with work and my family. However, from reading a background of the story I have gathered an idea of the setting. It takes place over the time period of a day, in and around the Vatican City (a country located inside Rome, Italy). It involves the main character Robert Langdon on an adventure to prevent the Illuminati, a highly controversial cult organization, from destroying the Vatican City with stolen antimatter. From this small description, the plot already sounds interesting because of elements like the Illuminati, antimatter and old, dark parts of Catholicism.
Some secondary sources I have found are the movie of Angels and Demons, background information on wikipedia.ca and criticism from theopencritic.com/?p=17. I am waiting until I finish the book to watch the movie, because books tend to have more to the plot than movies. Also I hope the criticism I have read is incorrect, because it states "Buy it. Read it. Forget it."
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Pocket Books in 2000
# of Pages: 480
Firstly, my two favourite genres of literature are mystery and thriller. I also prefer fictitious novels to non-fiction ones because I find they can possess a more interesting, modifiable plot. I choose Angels and Demons as my independent study novel because it is a fictional thriller story. Also I have seen the movie The Da Vinci Code and it has sparked an interest in Dan Brown's 3 part Robert Langdon series. Angels and Demons is the first novel in the 3 book series.
Unfortunately I have not been able to start my novel because I have been busy with work and my family. However, from reading a background of the story I have gathered an idea of the setting. It takes place over the time period of a day, in and around the Vatican City (a country located inside Rome, Italy). It involves the main character Robert Langdon on an adventure to prevent the Illuminati, a highly controversial cult organization, from destroying the Vatican City with stolen antimatter. From this small description, the plot already sounds interesting because of elements like the Illuminati, antimatter and old, dark parts of Catholicism.
Some secondary sources I have found are the movie of Angels and Demons, background information on wikipedia.ca and criticism from theopencritic.com/?p=17. I am waiting until I finish the book to watch the movie, because books tend to have more to the plot than movies. Also I hope the criticism I have read is incorrect, because it states "Buy it. Read it. Forget it."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)