Donna Tartt, The Secret History

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Abstract

Donna Tartt reputedly received a $450,000 advance for The Secret History. In addition to being a commercial success, the novel has been translated into over twenty languages and has received much critical acclaim. One of the novel’s epigraphs is from Book 2 of Plato’s Republic: “Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our story shall be the education of our heroes”. Part murder mystery, part Bildungsroman and part campus novel, The Secret History tells the story of a group of Classics students who, in the act of re-creating a Dionysian bacchanal, accidentally kill a stranger, and then, to cover their tracks and preserve their freedom, murder one of their own group. The...
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationLiterary Encyclopedia
Subtitle of host publicationAmerican (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present
EditorsEmory Elliott, Dale Enggass, Christopher Hugh Gair, Mathew Hofer, Stephen E. Meats, Kerry Myler, Justin Parks, Nick Selby
Volume3.2.4
Publication statusPublished - May 2005

Bibliographical note

Citation: Sullivan, Lindsay. "The Secret History". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 May 2005

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