| Popular literature has been treated unfairly for a long time because it is not thought to be serious or elegant. However, this present thesis argues that American popular fiction writer Dan Brown and his four novels -- Digital Fortress (1996), Angels & Demons (2000), Deception Point (2002) and The Da Vinci Code (2003), which have been translated into more than 40 languages and reprinted to produce more than 80 million copies in just two years after publication, can soundly refute such biased and arbitrary opinion regarding popular literature. From the perspective of cultural study, they set quite a successful example of popular literature of which the social function is far from the traditional entertaining one. The "Dan Brown vortex" and the "Da Vinci Code phenomena" have subsequently happened because of the great popularity and the heated debates and criticisms aroused by the controversial religious contents and their serious themes related to Dan Brown's popular fictions. So, to try to find out the secrets behind the success of Dan Brown and his novels in relation to popular literature is the main task of this thesis. Apart from analyzing Brown's textural features, generic and thematic traits, this thesis also contends that these four best-sellers attempt to break down the demarcation between literary fiction and popular fiction. In fact, they are as entertaining as popular literature and as enlightening as serious fiction too.
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