Mobile
Monday, July 13, 2009
Arts / News Five books to read before The Lost Symbol
Posted By Chris Deal on Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Dan Brown has a new novel coming out this September. The Lost Symbol will see the return of the intrepid and heroic Harvard professor, Robert Langden, who is set to uncover a conspiracy, set in the heart of Washington, and will probably find a likable character introduced in the first few chapters to be the bad guy of novel. Instead of Opus Dei or the Illuminati, the big bad group is the Freemasons, those old guys who apparently secretly rule the world. Like the Illuminati, the Bilderbergers, the Lizard People and any other number of groups meant to represent someone the conspiracy theorist secretly doesn’t like but can’t, in a PC society, actually talk bad about without looking like a complete, racist nut job.
Conspiracy theories are fun, man. Just go to AboveTopSecret.com and take a look at what is the current tool the Man is using to control and take over the world. Apparently, the upcoming census is a way for the government to figure out how many camps they need to set up for the political opposition. And there was a solar storm predicted by a crop circle - only it wasn’t - but facts don’t get in the way of a good conspiracy.
This world is a complicated place, and it is human nature to look for patterns in the chaos. Hell, look at the ghost of Michael Jackson or his face on a tree stump. People need to be able to look at the world and try to make something out of it, and the complex form of modern international politics can take on the appearance of gibberish to all but the most highly trained political scientist. It is easy for the activities of any number of politicians and business leaders to take on a shadowy veneer. So, of course, Coke comes out with "new" Coke to boast sales of the cola and the British Royal Family killed Princess Diana because of her relationship with a *gasp* Muslim. Businesses make mistakes and people, even the widely beloved, die.
That in mind, if you’re in the mood for something in the conspiracy-vein before the latest contrived blockbuster hits the shelves, here's a few for you.
1. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco (640 pages, Mariner Books). The so-called thinking man’s Da Vinci Code, Foucault’s Pendulum is a dense, highly literate tale of a scholarly joke gone awry. Touching on the Knights Templar, the Gnostics, Freemasons, Illuminati, Elders of Zion, and even a Cthulhu cult all have something to do with this read.
2. The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson (805 pages, Dell). In no way for every reader out there, The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a sublime, surreal piece of cult-SciFi, Dan Brown with a sense of humor, seventy-five pellets of mescaline and five sheets of high-powered blotter acid.
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (192 pages, Harper Perennial Modern Classics). By far the most accessible of this, The Crying of Lot 49 is short and sweet and so amazingly bizarre in only the way Thomas Pynchon can be. Never read some Pynchon? Then pick this up to whet your appetite before his latest, Inherent Vice, hits in August.
4. Libra by Don Delillo (456 pages, Penguin Books). Taking a look at the granddaddy of conspiracies, Libra is a fictionalized account of the JFK assassination, getting into the head of Lee Harvey Oswald and those around him, using this poor schmuck to their own ends. It's hypnotic and heavy, like the Oliver Stone movie only, you know, good. The conspiracy is a common theme in Delillo’s work, popping up in White Noise, Mao II and others. Still, it’s funny, having this idea incorporated in the writings of two of the heavyweights of American Letters, Pynchon and Delillo - two of the four writers, including Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy - the esteemed critic Harold Bloom considers the best alive today. Roth touches the conspiracy in his alternative history, The Plot Against America.
5. Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K Dick (224 pages, Vintage). Philip K Dick was a weird guy, but has put to paper some of the greatest science fiction novels and stories. Chances are you’ve seen one of the bastardizations they call movies of his work. In one of his later books, Dick sees his analogue for Nixon, President Ferris F Fremont, taking power and using his Fappers to keep the opposition down. Incorporating Dick’s Gnostic worldview and a real life religious experience that altered the course of his life, Radio Free Albemuth is a fun read and a great introduction to this under appreciated writer.
Other stuff you should enjoy: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges, Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene, Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed, Neuromancer by William Gibson, Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, Tours of the Black Clock by Steve Erickson
Speaking of...
-
The Moffett Restaurant Group Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Barrington’s Restaurant
Oct 12, 2020 -
Cancer's better with a side of 'shrooms
Aug 7, 2020 -
The Art of Influence
Aug 2, 2020 - More »
Comments (5)
Showing 1-5 of 5
Latest in The CLog
More by Chris Deal
-
Taking a bite into Charlie Huston's vampire series
Oct 29, 2009 -
Literary monsters
Oct 14, 2009 -
Book review: Gordon Highland's Major Inversions
Oct 5, 2009 - More »
-
Knight and Day: Plot eclipsed by stars 1
Cruise and Diaz are main reasons to consider seeing mindless action flick.
-
Lunch Break (9/1/16): Organizers unveil "People, Not Polluters" platform in Charlotte as McCrory officials testify in Raleigh
The morning already passed us by. What the hell happened?
-
U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $4.5 Million to Boost Wastewater Capacity to Support Growth of Healthcare and Other Businesses in Greenville, North Carolina, Opportunity Zone
