#donna tartt tsh

[academic-vampire]

The Secret History

[poppletonink]

The Secret History: A Playlist

A Good Song Never Dies by Saint Motel

The Secret History by The Chamber Orchestra Of London

Writer In The Dark by Lorde

Mad World by Tears For Fears

Money Money Money by ABBA

Say Yes To Heaven by Lana Del Rey

Je te laisserai des mots by Patrick Watson

Achilles Come Down by Gangs Of Youth

Take Me To Church by Hozier

Young And Beautiful by Lana Del Rey

Claire De Lune by Claude Debussy

The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen

Exit Music (For A Film) by Radiohead

Cold Cold Cold by Cage The Elephant

Dark Red by Steve Lacy

Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Lorde

No Surprises by Radiohead

Skyfall by Adele

[0bsessiv3s0ul]

I can't wait for Autumn 🍂🍁

[observinghenrywinter]

I love people who know my tasteee

[moth-into-flames]

of course he's read the secret history!!

[worm-generator]

man. the secret history has become so synonymous with dark academia that when u look through the tag its just knit sweaters and latte art. like please show me a text post about how fucking unhinged richard was for staying in a room with a Literal hole in the wall during the dead of winter and almost dying of hypothermia.

[urfavoritedcwhore]

“it’s starting to smell like pumpkin spice!”

“it’s starting to smell like scary movies!”

no.

it’s starting to smell like, the snow in the mountains was melting and bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to realize the gravity of our situation.

[bleeding-daydream]

[smeagol-on-my-deagol]

the fact that richard sees/wants us to see judy poovey as sort of dumb, while also seeing/wanting us to see julian morrow as some revolutionary mind when they're having the same damn thoughts is crazy to me

like near the end of the first chapter when we hear some about the class discussion, one of the points julian discusses (in simple terms lol) is how people who tend to bottle things up and stay composed all the time end up causing greater amounts of destruction when they "lose control" than people who allow themselves to lose control on occasion, but he does it with many words and references

and richard is like "wow this is awesome how sick is this guy"

then at the beginning of chapter two, judy poovey is telling richard about the time henry beat the fuck out of spike romney and she says something about how when uptight people lose it they REALLY lose it, but in terms just as simple as those

and richard just goes "yeah, i guess"

which there for sure is something to be said about the way people use words and the difference that use of language has on the way people feel about certain concepts, but you know

[lizzyaka]

One thing i can yap and yap on about for ages is the fact that the greek class cant for the life of them grasp the fact that bunny is upset by the murder of the farmer

When henry is telling the story of the bacchanal to richard, he says bunny couldnt understand how serious the situation was because he was freaking out which is funny, because he was the only one who understood

Henry also said that bunny wasnt upset about the murder but rather about the fact that theyd gone without him, and that he couldn't possibly care that theyd killed a man because he wasnt "exactly the most moral man" as if u needed to be fucking gandhi to realize that killing someone is wrong

When bunny started acting out they were all convinced he was doing it out of spite or to get under their skin, completely ignoring the signs that showed he was having a complete nervous breakdown and was slowly losing his mind because of what they had done

This is because they themselves did not see the act as something that was morally wrong, but rather an inconvenience for them. Like francis said, it wasnt voltaire they killed. They were so out of touch with reality that they lived not in this world but in one where morality doesnt exist, one they are the center of where the gods personally descend to be by their side. They lived in their ancient tales and greek poems. Bunny was the only one who was grounded and they cant understand that. It doesnt even begin to cross their minds. And its the same with bunnys death, they dont care about the morality of it because in their mind they are closer to gods than to humans and gods do whatever they please. They can kill a farmer and who cares? Its not like he was voltaire. They can kill their friend and who cares? Heroes kill and heroes die all the time.

this distance between them and the real world is the most important part of their characters because it explains everything else, from the incest to henrys suicide. Bunny was the only one who was rooted to reality which is what always set him apart from the rest and most importantly why things started to spiral out of control as soon as they killed him. He was their anchor to the real world and to sanity.

[qiornono]

it’s that time of year again where i reread tsh for the bajillionth time so here is the greek class!!!

[joytri]

anarchism and god complex

[poppletonink]

BOOK REVIEW: The Secret History - Donna Tartt

★★★★★ - 5 stars

“I hope we're all ready to leave the phenomenal world and enter into the sublime”

When Richard Papen joins Julian’s Greek Class at Hampden College, separating him off from the rest of the school, he makes five new friends: Henry, Bunny, Francis, Charles, and Camilla. But while these friendships blossom, something darker does too, like a storm overhead of the sea. When Richard moved to Hampden College, he expected to have a normal college experience, but instead he found something much more sinister. This is a story of beauty, terror, love, and pain. Filled with witticisms, and literary references, The Secret History draws readers into to its twisted tale.

While the first half of the novel is like Dead Poets Society but with college students, the second half is an abnormal roller coaster, with heightened drama and intense violence between characters.

The Secret History is littered with arguably pretentious references to other pieces of literature such as Paradise Lost, Othello and The Iliad. It is highly recommended that readers have google translate on standby whilst reading this book, in order to understand exerts in Greek, Latin and French which crop up throughout the novel.

Filled with beautiful quotes that reflect the world around us in a way that makes readers feel like they are reading a philosophical theory at times, such as “Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful we quiver before it.”

A whirlwind of disturbia, and a campus-based masterpiece, it is safe to say that the Secret History deserves its high status within Dark Academia circles. With an average rating of 4.15 stars on Goodreads, The Secret History will leave you with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness for the characters you grow to know, questions about the way the world works, and an overwhelming urge to learn a dead language.

[notsofriendlyfriendlyreminder]

bro. bro you are romantisizing the secret history. bro you are enamored with the greek class just like richard. bro you are ignoring the bad things and creating aesthetics based on a book telling a murder of a young man. brother.

[observinghenrywinter]

[winterbear-a]

Charles Macaulay

'Not sure if I need a glass of wine or a gun or both.'

—Charles Macaulay, The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992).