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:
  • 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:


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
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