USA: Author Dan Brown's Lost Symbol book is released

Record ID: 792579

  • Title: USA: Author Dan Brown's Lost Symbol book is released
  • Date: 17th September 2009
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 15, 2009) (REUTERS) SIGN IN BOOKSTORE WINDOW ANNOUNCING ARRIVAL OF "LOST SYMBOL" BOOKSELLERS STOCKING SHELVES WITH BOOK BOOKS ON SHELF
  • Embargoed: 2nd October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA16JMDH5I8T5XFIA3LOE0RPDKX
  • Story Text: The hotly anticipated follow-up to author Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" was released on Tuesday (September 15) amid positive reaction from critics but the American novelist admitted he was under pressure to sell well.
    "The Lost Symbol" comes six years after Brown's last book and again follows the adventures of Harvard professor Robert Langdon. It hit U.S. bookstores at midnight with an unusually large print run of 5 million copies and expectations the book can revive the publishing industry.
    "The Da Vinci Code" sold 80 million copies worldwide, helped rejuvenate the book industry and was made into a film starring Tom Hanks that grossed more than $758 million, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.
    The mystery-detective novel set in Europe caused a controversy and drew censure from the Vatican for its story lines about conspiracy and the Catholic Church.
    In the "The Lost Symbol," Langdon becomes immersed in the secret world of Freemasons and their rituals taking place over 12 hours in a 600-page thriller set in Washington, D.C.
    Many expect the book to launch a tourist search for hidden Masonic symbols left by one of the nation's most famous Masons, President George Washington and his contemporaries when the city was being built.
    But Brent Morris, Managing Editor of the Scottish Rite Journal disputes this notion of hidden symbols.
    "George Washington was indeed a Freemason but there is no evidence, absolutely no evidence that George Washington ever left any secret Masonic emblem anywhere -- anywhere, much less the streets of Washington. When you look at the streets of Washington, it is a rectangular grid system that is overlaid with these traffic circles. The traffic circles were originally planned for artillery to protect the city and radiating out from the traffic circles are streets...I guess to the profoundly superstitious those that are on the constant lookout for black cats and broken mirrors, that some of these geometric figures must be terrifying."
    The Freemasons boast 14 U.S. presidents and a large percentage of the nation's founding fathers to their rolls.
    "When the country was formed, the founding fathers were great believers in freedom of religion, public education, freedom of the press. These were freedoms that were unheard of before that. In Europe you did not have these kinds of freedoms," said Richard Fletcher of the Masonic Service Association.
    The new book isn't expected to be as controversial as "The Da Vinci Code."
    "It's hard to imagine anyone, after reading 'The Lost Symbol,' debating about Freemasonry in Washington, D.C., the way people did Brown's radical vision of Jesus and Mary Magdalene in 'Code'," the Los Angeles Times said in a review.
    "That book hit a deep cultural nerve for obvious reasons; 'The Lost Symbol' is more like the experience on any roller coaster -- thrilling, entertaining and then it's over."
    The book is being released by divisions of Random House, a unit of German media group Bertelsmann AG.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register