Q&A with Dan Brown
Q.
Inferno refers to Dante Alighieri´s The Divine Comedy. What is Dante’s
significance? What features of his work or life inspired you?
A.
The Divine Comedy—like
The Mona Lisa—is
one of those rare artistic achievements that transcends its moment in
history and becomes an enduring cultural touchstone. Like Beethoven’s
Ninth Symphony,
The Divine Comedy speaks to us centuries after
its creation and is considered an example of one of the finest works
ever produced in its artistic field. For me, the most captivating
quality of Dante Alighieri is his staggering influence on culture,
religion, history, and the arts. In addition to codifying the early
Christian vision of Hell, Dante’s work has inspired some of history’s
greatest luminaries—Longfellow, Chaucer, Borges, Tchaikovsky, Liszt,
Monteverdi, Michelangelo, Blake, Dalí—and even a few modern video game
designers. Despite Dante’s enduring influence on the arts, however, most
of us today have only a vague notion of what his work actually
says—both literally and symbolically (which, of course, is of great
interest to Robert Langdon). A few years ago, I became very excited
about the prospect of writing a contemporary thriller that incorporated
the philosophy, history, and text of Dante’s timeless descent into
The Inferno.
Q. Where did do your research for Inferno? How long did you spend on it?
A. Researching
Inferno began with six months of reading, including several translations of
The Divine Comedy,
various annotations by Dante scholars, historical texts about Dante’s
life and philosophies, as well as a lot of background reading on
Florence itself. At the same time, I was poring over all the new
scientific information that I could find on a cutting edge technology
that I had decided to incorporate into the novel. Once I had enough
understanding of these topics to proceed, I traveled to Florence and
Venice, where I was fortunate to meet with some wonderful art
historians, librarians, and other scholars who helped me enormously.
Once
this initial phase of research was complete, I began outlining and
writing the novel. As is always the case, when a book begins to take
shape, I am drawn in unexpected directions that require additional
research. This was also the case with
Inferno, which took about 3 years from conception to publication.
With
respect to the process, the success of these novels has been a bit of a
Catch-22. On one hand, I now have wonderful access to specialists,
authorities, and even secret archives from which to draw information and
inspiration. On the other hand, because there is increased speculation
about my works in progress, I need to be increasingly discreet about the
places I go and the specialists with whom I speak. Even so, there is
one aspect of my research that will never change—making personal visits
to the locations about which I’m writing. When it comes to capturing the
feel of a novel’s setting, I find there is no substitute for being
there in the flesh...even if sometimes I need to do it incognito.
Q. What kind of adventure will Robert Langdon face this time? Can you give us any sneak peak at the new novel?
A.
Inferno
is very much a Robert Langdon thriller. It’s filled with codes,
symbols, art, and the exotic locations that my readers love to explore.
In this novel, Dante Alighieri’s ancient literary masterpiece—
The Divine Comedy—becomes
a catalyst that inspires a macabre genius to unleash a scientific
creation of enormous destructive potential. Robert Langdon must battle
this dark adversary by deciphering a Dante-related riddle, which leads
him to Florence, where he finds himself in a desperate race through a
landscape of classical art, secret passageways, and futuristic
technology.
Q. What made Florence the ideal location for Inferno?
A.
No city on earth is more closely tied to Dante Alighieri. Dante grew up
in Florence, fell in love in Florence, and began writing in Florence.
Later in life, when he was exiled for political reasons, the longing he
felt for his beloved Florence became a catalyst for The Divine Comedy.
Through his enduring poem, Dante enjoyed the “last word” over his
political enemies, banishing them to various rings of Inferno where they
suffered terrible tortures.
From Publishers Weekly
The threat of world overpopulation is the latest assignment for
Brown's art historian and accidental sleuth Robert Langdon. Awakening in
a Florence hospital with no memory of the preceding 36 hours, Langdon
and an attractive attending physician with an oversized intellect are
immediately pursued by an ominous underground organization and the
Italian police. Detailed tours of Florence, Venice, and Istanbul mean to
establish setting, but instead bog down the story and border on
showoffmanship. Relying on a deceased villain's trail of clues threaded
through the text of Dante's The Divine Comedy, the duo attempt to
unravel the events leading up to Langdon's amnesia and thwart a global
genocide scheme. Suspension of disbelief is required as miraculous
coincidences pile upon pure luck. Near the three-quarters point
everything established gets upended and Brown, hoping to draw us in
deeper, nearly drives us out. Though the prose is fast-paced and sharp,
the burdensome dialogue only serves plot and back story, and is
interspersed with unfortunate attempts at folksy humor. It's hard not to
appreciate a present day mega-selling thriller that attempts a
refresher course in Italian literature and European history. But the
real mystery is in the book's denouement and how Brown can possibly
bring his hero back for more. Agent: Heide Lange, Sanford J. Greenberger
Associates. (May)
The highly anticipated third book in 
