Abstract

LOMBAARD, C.. Why the fuss over Brown's The Da Vinci code? The dynamism of "icons" and the in/stability of meaning. Koers (Online) [online]. 2009, vol.74, n.1-2, pp.285-298. ISSN 2304-8557.

Dan Brown's book, "The Da Vinci code" (2003) and the subsequent motion picture by the same title (2006), have created a considerable stir within, but not limited to, Christian circles. The cause of the controversy is that, despite Brown's overt presentation of this work as fiction, it draws on figures, events and themes regarded in religious circles as sacred - most particularly in Christian circles. Holy figures, events and themes are sensitive matters to believers: the meanings attached to them are regarded as essentially fixed, with connotations of permanence and eternity. Literature of many kinds, however, reinterpret set meanings, loosening their perceived inflexibility, thus opening up a dynamism quite foreign to popular notions of definite meaning.

Keywords : construction of meaning; icons as set meanings; reinterpretation of religion; The Da Vinci code.

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