Harvard University professor Robert Langdon is traveling in Paris at midnight received an anonymous phone call, that the Louvre Museum curator Jacques Saunière was killed。 After a call he comes to the museum, starts investigation and analysis of a series of mysterious symbols associated with Da Vinci’s works of art。 In the process of working together with Sonia's granddaughter, the deciphering genius, Sophie Neveu, to sort out the odd symbols and passwords, he finds a series of clues hidden in the works of art by Da Vinci。 He finds a key to unlock the mystery of obscure history, and launches a battle of wits competition with a mysterious mastermind with Neveu, and he is also chased。 Unless they can solve the perplexing mystery, the Priory of Sion painstakingly covered secret and ancient shocking truth will eventually disappear forever。

1。1 Dan Brown

Dan Brown is a famous American author of thriller fiction, and he came to be known for the bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code in 2003。 In Dan Brown’s novels, high-tech knowledge culture and ancient mysterious knowledge culture always merge and conflict。 From the novel point of view, Dan Brown’s works are the collections of elements of popular fiction such as murder, horror, detective, decryption, suspense, manhunt, romance, etc; but not with one current theme as the dominant, thus breaking the subject boundaries, to achieve a variety of themes of the organic combination。 At the same time, a lot of cultural knowledge is borrowed from the works。 Moreover, the stories full of ups and downs, suit both refined and popular tastes around the world and meet the reading needs of different groups of people from different angles。 Therefore, his works are regarded as the trend of “predicting the confluence of serious novels and popular novels”。

His books have dozens of translation versions, and they are sold over 200 million copies by 2012。 There are six works of Dan Brown have been published by now—Digital fortress(1998), Angels and Demons(2000), Deception Point(2001), The Da Vinci Code(2003), The Lost Symbol(2009), and Inferno(2013)。 Three novels of them, Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and Inferno have been adapted into films。

In June 22, 1964, Dan Brown was born in Exeter, New Hampshire。 He was the eldest one of three children in his family。 His father, Richard G。 Brown, was a professor of mathematics who won the presidency of the United States。 Brown’s mother was a religious musician。 Grow up in such a special environment, science and religion, the two seemingly different but closely related beliefs in the history of mankind, have become the themes of his creation。 

Dan Brown’s interest in symbols and ciphers springs from his family when he was a child because of his parents’ occupation and the special atmosphere。 At that time, code and cipher were of equal importance with the math, language, and music。 The youthful Brown always spent plenty of hours on working out the anagrams。 Especially on their birthdays and holidays, he and his siblings took part in intricate treasure hunts which were carefully planned and designed in great detail by their father。 On Christmas, for example, Brown may not receive a holiday gift from their parents, but when he followed the clues and passwords that the father hid on the map around the house, he usually found his own gift at the end of a very pleasant surprise。 Such a life background is a part of  the source of his novel’s creation。 The relationship of Sophie Neveu and Jacques Saunière in The Da Vinci Code is same as that between Brown and his father, and the story of Chapter 23 in this novel was inspired by one of his childhood treasure hunt games。文献综述

1。2 The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code is a long detective novel written by American writer Dan Brown。 It was published by Landon House in March 18, 2003。 This book is a sequel to Brown’s 2000 novel Angels and Demons。 It has 42 translation versions and breaks the record of American novel sales by 7 million 500 thousand copies, becoming one of the bestselling novels in history。 At the same time, it also arouse a huge controversy because of its statements about early Christianity, and was sharply criticized for the inaccurate history described in the novel。 In 2006, the novel was adapted for movie and was released。