'Da Vinci Code' author offers peek inside

'Da Vinci Code' author offers peek inside

By Sarah Lyall Copyright by The New York Times

TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 2006

LONDON Not much was proved about copyright law Monday in the High Court here, where the author Dan Brown is defending himself against charges that he stole the central themes of his novel "The Da Vinci Code" from another book.
But as Brown took the stand for the first time, the packed courtroom heard a great deal about his background and how he goes about producing his bestselling novels.

He often writes his last chapter first. His wife, Blythe Brown, does much of his research, though he does not always read the things she tells him to read.

He grew up without a television and inherited a love of brain puzzles and codes from his father, a math teacher who devised elaborate treasure hunts leading to the family's Christmas presents.

And in a revelation that is sure to cheer up Random House, his current publisher (and the defendant in the lawsuit), Brown said that Simon & Schuster, who published his earlier books, did a terrible job of promoting them.

His wife had to take charge of the marketing campaign herself, Brown said in a statement presented to the court. The couple had to finance their own publicity tour and "were forced to literally sell books out of our car."

He said he considered giving up writing altogether.

Brown was appearing as the star witness for Random House, which has been sued by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, two of the three authors of a nonfiction book called "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail." The third author, Henry Lincoln, is not participating in the lawsuit.

Leigh and Baigent contend that Brown violated their copyright by taking his book's central theme – what they call its "architecture" - from theirs.

For his appearance, Brown discarded his customary black-turtleneck- and-tweed-jacket combination in favor of a more formal blue blazer and yellow tie. But it was an incongruous juxtaposition - the relaxed, confident and quintessentially American Brown surrounded by a gaggle of legal personages comically attired in Dickensian wigs and robes and calling each other things like "My Lord" and "My Learned Friend."

At one point, the attorney for Leigh and Baigent, Jonathan Rayner James, asked Brown if his local bookstore, the Water Street Bookshop in Exeter, was "the only bookstore in New Hampshire."

"New Hampshire is a small state," Brown responded, "but not that small."

The testimony, too, seemed almost bizarre at times, with Brown discussing, for instance, such points as "when I learned that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute" and how, wanting to write about a secret society in "The Da Vinci Code," he decided to focus on a shadowy group called the Priory of Sion instead of on the Masons.
"I decided to shelve the Masons for another day," he said in his statement.
A bona fide publishing phenomenon, "The Da Vinci Code" has been the runaway best seller of the 21st century so far.
It has spawned countless spin-offs and literary refutations; created an industry in which impassioned readers make pilgrimages to the historical sites it mentions, searching for clues to the Holy Grail; and been denounced by some Christians angered at what they contend are its heretical ideas.
A thriller about a professor who sets out to solve a murder in the Louvre in Paris and stumbles into a shadowy world of secret societies, hidden messages and ancient conspiracies, the "The Da Vinci Code" has been made into a movie, starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou and scheduled for release on May 19.
"The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" is a work of nonfiction - "historical conjecture," is how its authors describe it - positing that Jesus survived the Crucifixion and went on to marry Mary Magdalene, that the couple's descendants are still flourishing today, that factions within the Roman Catholic Church are eager to suppress that information and that the Holy Grail may not be a vessel or chalice, but rather a bloodline - the bloodline of Jesus and Mary.
Brown has acknowledged that he used "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" - published in the United States as "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" - as a source for his book, but has contended it was just one of many books and documents he and his wife consulted.
His protagonist specifically refers to the book in a pivotal scene in "The Da Vinci Code" - an homage, Brown said. The name of one of his characters, Leigh Teabing, was devised as an in- joke, an anagram of the names Baigent and Leah.
Baigent and Leigh's case will rise or fall on how much they can prove that Brown relied on their book in writing his. So far, their lawyers appear to have only scratched the surface of the issue, although they have in their possession what Brown says are all his notes, outlines and research materials.
In his statement to the court, he argued that "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" is full of material that does not appear in "The Da Vinci Code," and vice versa. "I would like to restate that I remain astounded by the claimants' choice to file this plagiarism suit," he said. "For them to suggest, as I understand they do, that I have 'hijacked and exploited' their work is simply untrue."
LONDON Not much was proved about copyright law Monday in the High Court here, where the author Dan Brown is defending himself against charges that he stole the central themes of his novel "The Da Vinci Code" from another book.
But as Brown took the stand for the first time, the packed courtroom heard a great deal about his background and how he goes about producing his bestselling novels.
He often writes his last chapter first. His wife, Blythe Brown, does much of his research, though he does not always read the things she tells him to read.
He grew up without a television and inherited a love of brain puzzles and codes from his father, a math teacher who devised elaborate treasure hunts leading to the family's Christmas presents.
And in a revelation that is sure to cheer up Random House, his current publisher (and the defendant in the lawsuit), Brown said that Simon & Schuster, who published his earlier books, did a terrible job of promoting them.
His wife had to take charge of the marketing campaign herself, Brown said in a statement presented to the court. The couple had to finance their own publicity tour and "were forced to literally sell books out of our car."
He said he considered giving up writing altogether.
Brown was appearing as the star witness for Random House, which has been sued by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, two of the three authors of a nonfiction book called "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail." The third author, Henry Lincoln, is not participating in the lawsuit.
Leigh and Baigent contend that Brown violated their copyright by taking his book's central theme – what they call its "architecture" - from theirs.
For his appearance, Brown discarded his customary black-turtleneck- and-tweed-jacket combination in favor of a more formal blue blazer and yellow tie. But it was an incongruous juxtaposition - the relaxed, confident and quintessentially American Brown surrounded by a gaggle of legal personages comically attired in Dickensian wigs and robes and calling each other things like "My Lord" and "My Learned Friend."
At one point, the attorney for Leigh and Baigent, Jonathan Rayner James, asked Brown if his local bookstore, the Water Street Bookshop in Exeter, was "the only bookstore in New Hampshire."
"New Hampshire is a small state," Brown responded, "but not that small."
The testimony, too, seemed almost bizarre at times, with Brown discussing, for instance, such points as "when I learned that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute" and how, wanting to write about a secret society in "The Da Vinci Code," he decided to focus on a shadowy group called the Priory of Sion instead of on the Masons.
"I decided to shelve the Masons for another day," he said in his statement.
A bona fide publishing phenomenon, "The Da Vinci Code" has been the runaway best seller of the 21st century so far.
It has spawned countless spin-offs and literary refutations; created an industry in which impassioned readers make pilgrimages to the historical sites it mentions, searching for clues to the Holy Grail; and been denounced by some Christians angered at what they contend are its heretical ideas.
A thriller about a professor who sets out to solve a murder in the Louvre in Paris and stumbles into a shadowy world of secret societies, hidden messages and ancient conspiracies, the "The Da Vinci Code" has been made into a movie, starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou and scheduled for release on May 19.
"The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" is a work of nonfiction - "historical conjecture," is how its authors describe it - positing that Jesus survived the Crucifixion and went on to marry Mary Magdalene, that the couple's descendants are still flourishing today, that factions within the Roman Catholic Church are eager to suppress that information and that the Holy Grail may not be a vessel or chalice, but rather a bloodline - the bloodline of Jesus and Mary.
Brown has acknowledged that he used "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" - published in the United States as "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" - as a source for his book, but has contended it was just one of many books and documents he and his wife consulted.
His protagonist specifically refers to the book in a pivotal scene in "The Da Vinci Code" - an homage, Brown said. The name of one of his characters, Leigh Teabing, was devised as an in- joke, an anagram of the names Baigent and Leah.
Baigent and Leigh's case will rise or fall on how much they can prove that Brown relied on their book in writing his. So far, their lawyers appear to have only scratched the surface of the issue, although they have in their possession what Brown says are all his notes, outlines and research materials.
In his statement to the court, he argued that "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" is full of material that does not appear in "The Da Vinci Code," and vice versa. "I would like to restate that I remain astounded by the claimants' choice to file this plagiarism suit," he said. "For them to suggest, as I understand they do, that I have 'hijacked and exploited' their work is simply untrue."
LONDON Not much was proved about copyright law Monday in the High Court here, where the author Dan Brown is defending himself against charges that he stole the central themes of his novel "The Da Vinci Code" from another book.
But as Brown took the stand for the first time, the packed courtroom heard a great deal about his background and how he goes about producing his bestselling novels.
He often writes his last chapter first. His wife, Blythe Brown, does much of his research, though he does not always read the things she tells him to read.
He grew up without a television and inherited a love of brain puzzles and codes from his father, a math teacher who devised elaborate treasure hunts leading to the family's Christmas presents.
And in a revelation that is sure to cheer up Random House, his current publisher (and the defendant in the lawsuit), Brown said that Simon & Schuster, who published his earlier books, did a terrible job of promoting them.
His wife had to take charge of the marketing campaign herself, Brown said in a statement presented to the court. The couple had to finance their own publicity tour and "were forced to literally sell books out of our car."
He said he considered giving up writing altogether.
Brown was appearing as the star witness for Random House, which has been sued by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, two of the three authors of a nonfiction book called "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail." The third author, Henry Lincoln, is not participating in the lawsuit.
Leigh and Baigent contend that Brown violated their copyright by taking his book's central theme – what they call