#the secret history donna tartt

[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.

[vangoghschair]

What I thought TSH was going to be:

Spilled wine; burning love letters; dainty breakfasts; pristine bookshelves; philosophy debates; romanticised elitism; riches beyond comprehension; red lipstick; quiet; poetry novels laying open on desks.

What is actually is:

Champagne in a teapot; wearing bedsheet togas; cocaine in a burger king parking lot; cutting hair with nail scissors; drinking in a country house; fucking at a funeral; sleeping in a warehouse or a giant snail; running out of money; "cubitum eamus"; homoerotic everything; finishing assignments before the professor shows up.

[honeymilkbubbletea]

Another ✨️WORK IN PROGRESS✨️ cause I can't bring myself to finish anything lately

It looks better in my head and I WILL make it look better

I just have to gather some stamina...

[brokendowmess]

“I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive.”

The Secret History. Donna Tartt,

[dearestofallpoets]

Boutta "Cubitum eamus?" my way into a pretty boy's arms

[darkacademianew]

The Secret History out of context:

Richard repairing mandolins

Richard cutting his hair with nail scissors

Bunny vomiting in a broom closet

Francis and Charles banging at their friend's funeral

Charles sleeping in a giant pink snail

Richard and Francis choosing the perfect flower for Charles

Charles in tears totally touched by their choose

[mediumguyenergy]

thinking about Bunny with all of his faults, and terrible jokes and humour in general, just absolutely loving Henry the most out of everyone in the entire world and him being the one that Henry killed with his bare hands

[tishalfdeadwaffles]

(The secret history spoiler warning)

unironically the thing I love most about the secret history is that it’s messed up by all means. Each character from the Greek class is messed up one way or another, and their faults, their fatal flaws—they’re not just any flaws no, they’re flaws that make these characters horrid. Yes they had cute interactions, yes I always think about their time in the countryhouse, when they were by the lake and Camilla injured her foot, Francis in his robe and Henry in his suit with the trousers rolled up to the knees, looking like a banker in an old impressionist painting, as he wades into the water, Charles saving Richard a sandwich and almost getting in trouble for it, bunny being kind to Richard at the start of the book and trusting him to the very end, the way bunny and Marion were so old married couple coded, Judy Poovey talking Richard’s ears off and being a girl 🎀, Henry beating up that jock for Camilla

Despite all this, Charles remains an incestuous drunkard and an abuser, Francis remains a melodramatic man who’d ask just about anyone he thinks attractive to bed on the first meeting, he’s also an anxious mess and refuses to believe there are consequences to his chain smoking, Camilla is manipulative and we know little of her bc of Richard’s idolisation, Richard morbidly longing for the picturesque at the expense of others’ lives and viewing the Greek class through rose tinted glasses, bunny was a homophobe and racist and leeched off everyone’s money—he literally put Richard on the spot during one of their first interactions in the book when he took him to the Brasserie and had Henry pay for everything—and looking through his sick friend’s diary and he was so darn annoying I couldn’t stand him at all in the first read, and even that might as well be exaggerated because it’s only Richard’s perspective on him, and bunny seemed to be well liked in the university by those outside the Greek class. I don’t even know where to start with Henry, I’m gonna have to make a separate post for him alone at this point. And even Judy, remember when Richard met her in the bathroom and she was talking about her slamming into Camilla when Camilla JUST entered the place, and when Camilla called her out Judy just dunked her beer on her because being drunk is a perfect excuse to see that as the right thing to do? And then when Henry and Charles went up to defend Camilla Judy called them abusers for defending her? 😭 though Henry breaking Spike’s bones is another thing to be honest. and don’t get me started on the bacchanal—the four of them killing an innocent man in their frenzy and getting away with it and brushing it under the rug later on. They’re literal murderers, and that’s before the plan of murdering Bunny was introduced

and ALL of them are chainsmokers and alcoholics to a dangerous point, can you even imagine the smell?????

anyhow, the main point of this ramble, is that to get a good sense of what this book is really about, I’d suggest rereading it at least once. Donna is a master of her craft, and this work of hers is anything but shallow, even the flaws are so perfectly placed and shadowed by our unreliable narrator to the point where there’s a big bunch of readers who completely ignore them (think of how there’s critics and readers who assume that Lolita is a romance novel) , but if you look from a more rational angle you’ll understand what Donna was trying to communicate

and I love love love how she did all of this

[glass-crabs]

richard, walking in: hey do you want a sna— WHOA WHAT HAPPENED

henry, looking up from his book: oh, that? (gestures to bunny's dead body on the floor)

henry: he was being homerphobic.

richard: but he's always— wait. did you say homerphobic?

(earlier)

bunny: you know i just dont think the odyssey is that good

gunshots

[shakespearesdaughters]

Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature?

Donna Tartt, The Secret History

[thesecretstoriesofme]

I think about The Secret History by Donna Tartt a considerable amount this time of the year. Maybe it is the snow that lays and the paralyzingly freezing weather that Richard endured.

The most prominent reason though is one all consuming thought. A bunny, like an actual rabbit bunny, has been living in my neighborhood without a home. In summer it was a cute sight seeing it nibble on grass and flowers. Now in winter I am scared. Im scared because the snow on the mountains was melting and bunny has been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.

When I walk around the beautiful snow footprints trailing after me. Is there a bunny lying dead under my path?

[notsofriendlyfriendlyreminder]

bourgeoisieses by Conan Gray is so Richard Papen coded

[vangoghschair]

Something too many people forget is that Camilla is boyish. She's beautiful but she also looks just like her brother. They're both described to be androgynous so it upsets me when I see Camilla drawn or fan casted as an incredibly feminine looking woman instead of a strong-jawed, masculine-featured beauty.

So maybe instead of Anya Taylor Joy and Elle Fanning, look at Saoirse Ronan and Hunter Schafer.

[honeymilkbubbletea]

History when it's secret or something 🤷‍♀️

WORK IN PROGRESS

[bleachedduck]

"Does such a thing as 'the fatal flaw,' that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside of literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs."

—Donna Tartt, The Secret History.

[dearestofallpoets]

Is Donna Tartt working on a new book or do I have to keep using the personality I stole from her three current books for the rest of my life?