I wonder how soon it’ll be before we reach the point where books debunking The Da Vinci Code have sold more copies than The Da Vinci Code itself. Dan Brown’s book has become the new default question someone asks on finding out that I’m a medievalist-in-training. “Oh, wow,” they gasp. “That’s so interesting. I just finished reading The Da Vinci Code. I just love medieval stuff.” There’s no good way to respond to that, nor is there a good way to respond when they continue with, “I mean, I never knew Jesus got married!”
But nowNorris J. Lacy, a famous, respectable Arthurian* has published an article on The Da Vinci Code. It’s available for free from the same folks who bring you the journal Arthuriana.
Add to the list of tasks I’ll never get around to doing my planned parody of The Da Vinci Code, Duh Milton Bradley Code, the story of a world famous Scrabble player who tracks down the clues hidden by Milton Bradley in all of their famous games. From Baltic Avenue to Boardwalk, it’ll be a thrilling chase. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, immediately go to your bookstore and buy it! The reviews just write themselves. If only the book would. I’d be a modestly rich man once the Tom Hanks movie comes out.
*Respectable and famous are almost mutally exclusive terms with Arthurians, so this is a big deal indeed.