Welcome to Tom Beyer's Home Page!
I have been a professor of Russian at Middlebury College for the
past thirty years. First and foremost I am a teacher of Russian language
and literature and you can access my course web pages as well as a
list of my publications above.
As a scholar I wear three hats. Recently I have devoted time and
attention to the novels of Dan Brown. I am currently preparing a book
on Brown's next novel, The Solomon Key. I also taught a seminar
that helped produce a compete annotated version of The Da Vinci
Code. With the novel just released in paperback in the United
States and the forthcoming movie in May, check out your knowledge
of the Code at the left.
On the following pages you can learn more about Russian language
and culture under Russia Today, including a way to learn the Russian
alphabet a fast and fun way.
As a literary scholar I have devoted special attention to the writer
Andrei Bely and the phenomenon of Russian Berlin. I am also embarking
on a new project Russian Brooklyn, to document the Russian emigration
to the New York area since the 1970's.
For the past twenty years I have explored new ways to have technology
complement my teaching and research. An early overview of my work
at Middlebury with the Internet was presented at the NEConference on Language Teaching.
Some Old and Some New
Even before the publication of Dan Brown's
next novel, purported to be titled The Solomon Key, articles,
books, and yes even web pages such as this are beginning to appear. Many of
these are commercial ventures hoping to capitalize on the economic success
of Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, and those books and other efforts
connected with it.
My own goal is more modest: to provide a set of links
to information (mostly electronic) that will enhance the reading and answer
questions raised by pointing to sources and themes contained in the novel.
Before I begin let me record my own debt to the two
already existing attempts as of September 1, 2005: Greg Taylor, DaVinci
in America: Unlocking he Secrets of Dan Brown's The Solomon Key (already
renamed as The
Guide to Dan Brown's The Solomon Key)
and W. Frederick Zimmermann, The
Solomon Key and Beyond: Unauthorized Dan Brown Update.
How does one begin to comment on an unreleased novel?
Dan Brown himself has left us several hints concerning Robert Langdon's next
adventure. The presumption is that it will center on Washington
D.C., reference the Masons and the connection
of American political figures tot hat organization. Some speculate that there
will also be a connection to the Mormons and
Joseph Smith based on a 1974 lecture.
All of this is great fun if you love puzzles, codes,
or are simply curious. This is just a beginning. For those interested in the
eventual outcome, visit my own The
Keys to The Da Vinci Code. We begin with a set of links to what we assume
will be essential knowledge for reading the novel.
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