''The Secret History'' is the first novel by the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
author
Donna Tartt
Donna Louise Tartt (born December 23, 1963) is an American novelist and essayist.
Early life
Tartt was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta, the elder of two daughters. She was raised in the nearby town of Grenada. Her fa ...
, published by
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
in September 1992. Set in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, the
campus novel tells the story of a closely knit group of six
classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
students at Hampden College, a small, elite
liberal arts college
A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capac ...
located in Vermont based upon
Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
, where Tartt was a student between 1982 and 1986.
''The Secret History'' is an
inverted detective story
An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The story then describ ...
narrated by one of the six students, Richard Papen, who reflects years later upon the situation that led to the murder of their friend Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran – wherein the events leading up to the murder are revealed sequentially. The novel explores the circumstances and lasting effects of Bunny's death on the academically and socially isolated group of classics students of which he was a part.
The novel was originally titled ''The God of Illusions'', and its first-edition hardcover was designed by the acclaimed New York City graphic designer
Chip Kidd
Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for book covers.
Early childhood
Born in Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by American popular culture. Comic books ...
, and Barbara de Wilde. A 75,000 print order was made for the first edition (as opposed to the usual 10,000 order for a
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
) and the book became a bestseller. The book has since been credited as popularizing the growth of the
dark academia
Dark academia is an internet aesthetic and subculture concerned with higher education, the arts, and literature, or an idealised version thereof. The aesthetic centres on traditional educational clothing, interior design, activities such as writi ...
literary sub-genre.
Synopsis
In 1983,
[The novel was published in 1992 and Richard states he left for Hampden "nine years ago" in the ]prologue
A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...
. Richard Papen leaves his hometown of Plano, California, to study literature at the elite Hampden College in Vermont. Richard finds he cannot enroll in the classes of Classics professor Julian Morrow, who limits enrollment to a hand-picked clique of five students: fraternal twins Charles and Camilla Macaulay, Francis Abernathy, Henry Winter, and Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. After Richard helps them with a translation, they give him advice on endearing himself to Julian. Eventually, Richard is accepted into Julian's classes.
Richard enjoys his new status as a member of the clique, but notices several odd behaviors from the others: they seem to constantly suffer small injuries, boil strange plants on the stove, and attempt to hide bloody clothing. Though Henry seems to have a strained friendship with Bunny, they spend the winter break together in Rome, while Richard lodges in an unheated warehouse. He nearly dies from hypothermia and pneumonia, but is rescued when Henry returns unexpectedly from Italy.
As 1983 rolls into 1984, tensions between Bunny and the group worsen. Bunny constantly insults the others and begins behaving erratically. Richard learns the truth from Henry: the clique, minus Richard and Bunny (and with Julian's approval), attempted to hold a Dionysian bacchanal in the woods near Francis's country estate. While in a fevered trance, Henry accidentally killed a farmer. Bunny found out by chance and has been blackmailing the group ever since. No longer able to meet Bunny's demands, and fearing that he'll expose them as his mental state deteriorates, Henry slowly convinces the group to kill Bunny. They confront Bunny while hiking, and Henry pushes him into a ravine to his death.
As an unseasonable snowfall causes the manhunt for Bunny to grow much larger than expected, the group struggles to maintain their cover, joining search parties and even attending Bunny's funeral. Though the police presence eventually dies down, the group begins to crack under the strain: Francis's hypochondria worsens, Charles descends into alcoholism and abuses Camilla, Richard becomes addicted to pills, and Henry realizes he has no moral objections to murder. Richard learns that Charles has had sexual relationships with both Camilla and Francis. As Charles becomes even more possessive of his sister, Henry arranges for Camilla to move from their shared apartment to a hotel.
Julian receives a misdelivered letter purporting to be from Bunny, detailing the bacchanal murder and Bunny's fear that Henry is plotting to kill him. Though Julian initially dismisses it as a hoax, he realizes the truth when he notices the letterhead from Henry and Bunny's hotel in Rome. Julian flees campus and never returns, disappointing Henry, who sees the act of cowardice as a betrayal of his mentor's professed Greek and Roman virtues.
When Charles is arrested for driving drunk in Henry's car, Henry fears Charles will turn him in, while Charles fears that Henry may kill him to keep his silence. Charles barges into Camilla and Henry's hotel room and tries to kill Henry with Francis's gun. Henry disarms Charles, though Richard is shot during the struggle. After security arrives, Henry professes his love for Camilla and fatally shoots himself. The police report concludes that Richard was shot while trying to prevent Henry's suicide.
With Henry's death, the group disintegrates, and only Richard graduates from Hampden. Francis's family discovers his homosexuality and forces him to marry a woman, leading him to attempt suicide, which he survives. Charles flees rehab with a married woman to live in squalid conditions in Texas. Left behind to care for her ailing grandmother, Camilla becomes increasingly isolated, and turns down Richard's proposal of marriage. Richard returns to California and becomes a lonely academic specializing in Jacobean tragedies.
The novel ends with Richard recounting a dream of meeting Henry in a desolate futuristic museum. Henry claims that he is not dead, but merely "having trouble with his passport." He departs for another appointment, leaving Richard to contemplate his unhappiness.
Characters
* Julian Morrow: an eccentric classics professor at Hampden who teaches only a small group of students whom he selects for their intellect, connections, and wealth. Julian was a prominent socialite in the 1940s, associated with
T. S. Eliot. The independently wealthy Julian donates his salary to Hampden, with which he has a strained relationships. Julian extols the virtues of Greco-Roman society, and is viewed as a father figure by his students, who are taught nearly exclusively by him.
* Richard Papen: a transfer student of modest means from California, he is insecure with his background and so embellishes it to fit in with his fellow classics students. Richard reluctantly follows Henry's plans but does not put up serious resistance.
* Charles and Camilla Macaulay: Charming but orphaned fraternal twins from Virginia. The complex relationship between the twins is characterized by jealousy and protectiveness. The twins frequently host the group for dinner. Camilla is a love interest of both Richard and Henry.
* Henry Winter: a
polyglot
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...
intellectual prodigy and published author with wealthy
new money
''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...
parents and a passion for the
Pāli canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
During th ...
,
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, and
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, he is the unofficial leader of the group and is Julian's favorite student. Despite his intellectual talents, Henry did not graduate high school due to injuries from an accident.
* Francis Abernathy: a generous and
hypochondriac
Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has repeatedly changed. It has been claimed that this debilitating cond ...
student from an
old money background, whose secluded country home becomes a sanctuary for the group. Francis has an overprotective mother with a history of drug addiction who sent him to several elite European boarding schools.
* Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran: a jokester who despite appearances of wealth, is in fact penniless and unabashedly takes advantage of his friends. Bunny's bigoted attitudes such as
anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...
antagonize other group members. Bunny is the least academically talented of the group; he has severe
dyslexia
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
and did not read until age 10. Unlike other group members, Bunny has a girlfriend and friends outside of the group.
* Dr. Roland: a doddering old professor of psychology, who Richard works for as a research assistant.
* Georges Laforgue: a professor of French, and Richard’s first academic advisor.
* Judy Poovey: one of Richard's dormmates. Also a California native, she has a one-sided sexual infatuation with him, and he only goes to see her when he wants something from her.
* Marion Barnbridge: Bunny’s girlfriend, who for one reason or another keeps her distance from the group.
* Cloke Rayburn: a drug dealer, and Bunny's best friend from high school.
* Katherine and Macdonald Corcoran: mother and father of Bunny and his brothers Teddy, Hugh, Patrick, and Brady. Mr. Corcoran, a former
Clemson football
The Clemson Tigers are the American football team at Clemson University. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic C ...
star, passed on many of his mannerisms to his sons.
Themes
''The Secret History'' partially draws its inspiration on the 5th-century BC Greek tragedy, ''
The Bacchae
''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. ...
'', by
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
.
According to
Michiko Kakutani
Michiko Kakutani (born January 9, 1955) is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998.
Early life ...
, some aspects of the novel are reflective of
Nietzsche's model of
Apollonian and Dionysian
The Apollonian and the Dionysian are philosophical and literary concepts represented by a duality between the figures of Apollo and Dionysus from Greek mythology. Its popularization is widely attributed to the work ''The Birth of Tragedy'' by Fri ...
expression in ''
The Birth of Tragedy
''The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music'' (german: Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik) is a 1872 work of dramatic theory by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It was reissued in 1886 as ''The Birth of Tragedy, Or ...
''. Kakutani, writing for the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', said "in ''The Secret History'', Ms. Tartt manages to make...melodramatic and bizarre events (involving Dionysian rites and intimations of satanic power) seem entirely plausible."
Because the author introduces the murder and those responsible at the outset, critic
A. O. Scott labeled it "a murder mystery in reverse." In 2013,
John Mullan wrote an essay for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' titled "Ten Reasons Why We Love Donna Tartt's ''The Secret History''", which includes "It starts with a murder," "It is in love with Ancient Greece," "It is full of quotations," and "It is obsessed with beauty."
Reception
The book received generally positive reviews from critics. Michiko Kakutani called the novel a "ferociously well-paced entertainment", which "succeeds magnificently" and heavily attributed the success of the book to Tartt's well-developed writing skills.
Sophie McKenzie
Sophie McKenzie is a British author of books for young adults. Many of her novels have won several awards, the most famous being '' Girl, Missing''. Others include '' Blood Ties'' and ''The Set Up''. McKenzie writes full-time and lives in Lond ...
, writing for ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', called it "the book of a lifetime", stating that it was "perfectly paced" and the characters are "fascinating and powerfully drawn". However,
James Wood of the ''
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review of ...
'' gave it a mediocre review, writing: "The story compels, but it doesn't involve...It offers mysteries and polished revelations on every page, but its true secrets are too deep, too unintended to be menacing or profound." Critic
Ted Gioia
Ted Gioia (born October 21, 1957) is an American jazz critic and music historian. He is author of eleven books, including ''Music: A Subversive History'', '' The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire'', ''The History of Jazz'' and ''Delta Blu ...
wrote:
There is much to admire in Tartt's novel, but it is especially laudable for how persuasively she chronicles the steps from studying classics to committing murder. This is a difficult transition to relate in a believable manner, and all the more difficult given Tartt's decision to tell the story from the perspective of one of the most genial of the conspirators. Her story could easily come across as implausible—or even risible—in its recreation of Dionysian rites on a Vermont college campus, and its attempt to convince us that a mild-mannered transfer student with a taste for ancient languages can evolve, through a series of almost random events, into a killer. Yet convince us she does, and the intimacy with which Tartt brings her readers into the psychological miasma of the unfolding plot is one of the most compelling features of ''The Secret History''.
Planned and cancelled screen adaptations
The novel has been tapped by several filmmakers in the decades since its release for a possible film or television adaptation; however, all have been unsuccessful.
Producer
Alan J. Pakula
Alan Jay Pakula (; April 7, 1928 – November 19, 1998) was an American film director, writer and producer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture for ''To Kill a Mockingbird (film), To Kill a Moc ...
first acquired film rights at the book's publishing in 1992, with a planned screenplay by writers
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...
and
John Gregory Dunne
John Gregory Dunne (May 25, 1932 – December 30, 2003) was an American writer. He began his career as a journalist for ''Time'' magazine before expanding into writing criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays. He often collaborated with his wif ...
. Work was set to begin in late 1998 (director
Scott Hicks Scott Hicks may refer to:
* Scott Hicks (basketball) (born 1966), American former college basketball coach
* Scott Hicks (director)
Robert Scott Hicks (born 4 March 1953), known as Scott, is an Australian film director, producer and screenwrit ...
was rumored to have already been hired) when Pakula's death in a car accident in November caused the project to fall through.
The 2002 publication of Tartt's second novel ''
The Little Friend
''The Little Friend'' is the second novel by the American author, Donna Tartt. The novel was initially published by Alfred A. Knopf on October 22, 2002, a decade after her first novel, ''The Secret History.''
''The Little Friend '' is a mystery ...
'' caused a resurgence of interest in ''The Secret History''. A new adaptation was announced by
Miramax Films
Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey Weinstein, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California.
It was ...
, to be produced by
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein (; born March 19, 1952) is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films inclu ...
and headed by siblings
Jake
Jake may refer to:
Name
* Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name
* Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer
* Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach
Animals
* Jake (rescue dog), a ...
and
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...
, who hoped to star as the characters Charles and Camila Macaulay respectively. The death of the siblings' father
Bruce Paltrow
Bruce Weigert Paltrow (November 26, 1943 – October 3, 2002) was an American television and film director and producer. He was the husband of actress Blythe Danner, and the father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and screenwriter/director Jake Paltrow ...
in October of that year caused the project to be shelved again, and the rights were reinstated to Tartt.
[Klein-Nixon, Kylie. (6 October 2019).]
Death and The Secret History: Why Donna Tartt's first novel was never a movie
. ''stuff''. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
At the 2013 publication of Tartt's third novel ''
The Goldfinch'', interest in another adaptation was rekindled, this time for television with Tartt's school peers
Melissa Rosenberg
Melissa Anne Rosenberg is an American television writer, television producer, and screenwriter. She has worked in both film and television and has won a Peabody Award. She has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards, and two Writers Guild of A ...
and
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a w ...
at the helm (Ellis is the novel's
co-dedicatee). This attempt also fell through after Rosenberg and Ellis failed to find a network or streaming platform interested in the project.
Tartt's unhappiness with the
2019 film version of ''The Goldfinch'' caused many to speculate she would not allow further screen adaptations of any of her novels, leaving ''The Secret History'' in limbo. Tartt fired her longtime agent
Amanda Urban over the film and stated, "Once the book is out there, it’s not really mine anymore, and my own idea isn’t any more valid than yours. And then I begin the long process of disengaging."
[ Kreizman, Maris. (15 September 2019).]
Why Donna Tartt's ''The Secret History'' Never Became a Movie
. ''Town & Country''. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
Notes
References
External links
NPR: ''Talk of the Nation'': Donna Tartt interviewed by Lynn Neary (November 5, 2002)NPR: ''Talk of the Nation'': Donna Tartt and Anne Rice interviewed by Ray Suarez (October 30, 1997)Esquire: The Secret Oral History of Bennington: The 1980s' Most Decadent College: The prototypes of The Secret History's characters interviewed by Lili Anolik (May 28, 2019)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Secret History, The
1992 American novels
Campus novels
Alfred A. Knopf books
Novels with gay themes
Incest in fiction
Psychological novels
Secret histories
1990s LGBT novels
Novels set in Vermont
Books with cover art by Chip Kidd
American LGBT novels
1992 debut novels