Tartt, who was among one of the first to witness the contemporary literary hype machine, wrote The Secret History when she was at Bennington College in the mid 1980’s. The book received much acclaim and did what is most rare, become a best seller while not sucking horrifically.
I’ve re-read this book many times and always found it to be the perfect mix of literary pretensions, murder, and a buttoned up, and beautify considered, narrative voice. The plot centers on a clique of Latin students (located in some privileged eastern campus) intent on staging a secretive -old-God-invoking Bacchanal, which of course, leads to murder. All under the auspices of a brilliant yet mysterious Latin teacher.
Yeah. Good shit.
I know Hollywood had it’s mits all over this option, but nothing has yet to materialize that I know of, which of course is a very good thing. I dunno, maybe the Cohen Bro’s could do it right?
So if you think youthful, semi Gothic /pretension mixed with murder sounds like a good read, well “The Secret History” may be for you. As for me, I will always love this book mainly because, besides killing someone, this book was me, long ago and far away.
