The price of success

Like many writers before him, Dan Brown faces pleasures and perils of fame

By HILLEL ITALIE

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Few authors have known such great and stunning fame as Dan Brown.

“We should all be pleased that it is still possible for a writer to achieve fame, as opposed to movie and rock stars, or politicians, or sports figures, or criminals, or supermodels,” says Michael Korda, the author and longtime editor whose many writers have included David McCullough, Jacqueline Susann and such politicians and movie stars as Joan Crawford and Richard Nixon.

Not every author is better off famous. J.D. Salinger became a recluse. Ralph Ellison never finished another novel. Grace Metalious of “Peyton Place” drank herself to death.

“You simply become somebody else. You become a public figure, a talisman, and that can be hard on a writer,” says Darden Pyron, author of a biography of Margaret Mitchell, who never published another novel after “Gone With the Wind.”

Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” arrives this fall more than six years after “The Da Vinci Code” came out and transformed him from an obscure crafter of thrillers into the author of a page-turner among page-turners.

“The Da Vinci Code” has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, was adapted into a blockbuster movie and made hits out of countless related works, including Brown’s previous novels. The story of symbologist Robert Langdon and his investigation into a murder in Paris, “The Da Vinci Code” inspired furious (and profitable) debate over religious history (the novel theorizes that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene) and the nature of secret societies.

In a statement issued April 20, Brown called his new novel a “strange and wonderful journey,” and added that “Robert Langdon’s life clearly moves a lot faster than mine.” Publisher Knopf Doubleday has announced a 5-million copy first printing, and the new book is already a hit, topping the best-seller lists of Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com.

Assuming he does publicity for “Lost Symbol” — his publisher says nothing has been decided — Brown will almost surely be a warier soul than the one many met in 2003. After doing several interviews upon the release of “The Da Vinci Code,” the author became more of a mystery as his book became better known. “Lost Symbol” took far longer to complete than his previous books. In his increasingly rare public statements, Brown has lamented that he can no longer fly on commercial planes, because of autograph seekers, and expressed shock at the vehemence of the questions he faced while promoting the book.

Like other celebrities, he has learned the meaning of being sued. His most extended comments in the past few years came in a 69-page court statement he submitted for a copyright infringement case filed against him (and eventually rejected) in London.

“As soon as ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was published and had become a runaway success, I found myself in a firestorm of controversy,” Brown wrote in his statement. “I had never experienced this kind of media attention, and it was very difficult at times [especially the criticism from Christians].”

Following a phenomenon is publishing’s toughest act. Joseph Heller took more than a decade to finish his first novel after “Catch-22.” “Forever Amber” novelist Kathleen Winsor wrote several books that didn’t approach the success of her first. Ellison spent the last 40 years of his life attempting to top “Invisible Man.” Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” was her only book.

Some writers never recover from their success. Metalious’ racy novel scandalized the small New Hampshire community were she lived. Her other books didn’t sell nearly as well and her notoriety drove her to alcohol and an early death, at age 39 in 1964.

Pyron, Mitchell’s biographer, said that the author was so diligent about writing thank-you notes and other letters about “Gone With the Wind,” that it took away time from a possible second novel. Mitchell would also complain — sometimes good-naturedly, sometimes bitterly — about her loss of privacy.

Elaine Showalter, a critic and former Princeton University scholar who has written about Metalious, Harper Lee and other authors, says she is more hopeful for Brown. He is not a literary writer, but a commercial one, working with a recurring protagonist, Robert Langdon. “It takes character” to keep going, she says, adding that Brown’s burden should be a happy one.