The Da Vinci Code: History, Mystery or Fantasy?

Instructor:  John Fetzer, Department of German and Russian, College of Letters & Science

Description: This seminar will entail class discussions and student reports on a number of topics related to Dan Brown’s novel and the Ron Howard film adaptation of this work. These could include the following: Correlations and discrepancies between the original fiction and the film adaptation; Hans Zimmer’s score for the film: the function of film music; The Holy Grail and its many manifestations; The Knights Templar in the Crusades and beyond; The Cathars and other Heresies. The Inquisition and the Albigensian Crusade; DaVinci as a Renaissance uomo uiniversale: Artist (Mona Lisa, The Last Supper), Scientist, Inventor, Author, etc; The Priory of Sion and other Secret Societies. The “Grand Masters” Leonardo, Newton, et al; Symbolism in art, literature, and life. Symbology and cryptography; Canonical and Apocryphal texts, the New Testament Gospels and the Gnostic Gospels (of Thomas, Philip, Mary, etc.), the “Dossier Secret” and the Sangraal Papers; Mary and Mary Magdalene: Woman as Saint and Sinner (the “Ave-Eva” Syndrome); Opus Dei and the Work of God; Linguistic subterfuges: San graal, Sang raal, etc. Goals for learning include: careful and close reading of literary texts; perceptive viewing (and listening to the music) of films; distillation of fact from fiction in literary contexts; understanding the correlation between visual and aural elements in film; and clarification of terminology such as symbol, metaphor, gnosis, gospel, aprocrypha, canonical, etc.

Format: There will be one hour class meeting (for ten weeks), augmented by ca. 2 hours of work outside of class per week. The latter activities include: critical reading of the basic text and viewing of films and other recorded information related to the Da Vinci Code in 1101 Hart Hall. Required activities will include: participation in group discussion each session on specific, assigned topics (student take turns as discussion leader); each student will give one short oral report during the course; reading of the novel and viewing of the film; and writing a paper (2-3 pages) on a specific topic of the student’s choice. Grading: Grading criteria will be: 40% based on participation in class discussion group; 30% individual oral report; and 30% the short paper.

About the Instructor: John Fetzer received his BA from New York University, his MA from Columbia University, and his Ph.D.  in German Literature and Culture from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to coming to UC Davis in 1965 he taught at Columbia University, the University of Georgia, UC Berkeley and Northwestern University. He has been a guest professor at Dartmouth College and the University of Exeter, England. His publications include books on Romantic and modern German writers, and about fifty articles dealing with a wide variety of topics. After retiring in 1993, he has continued his teaching and research, while also devoting himself to musical composition, choral singing, as well as to daily tennis and weekly golf.