# the secret history ![[thesecrethistory-frontcover.jpg|300]] cover of the first edition author: donna tartt cover artist: chip kidd - barbara de wilde language: english publisher: alfred a. knopf publication date: september 16 1992 publication place: united states media type: print (hardback & paperback) pages: 544 pp oclc: 26515217 dewey decimal: 813/.54 20 lc class: ps3570.a657 s4 1992 the secret history is the first novel by the american author donna tartt published by alfred a. knopf in september 1992. a campus novel it tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics students at hampden college a small elite liberal arts college in vermont the secret history is an inverted detective story narrated by one of the six students richard papen who reflects years later upon the situation that led to the murder of ir friend edmund "bunny" corcoran. 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 ey was a part the novel was originally titled the god of illusions and its first-edition hardcover was designed by the new york city graphic designer chip kidd 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) and the book became a bestseller. the book has since been credited as popularizing the cancerous growth of the 'dark academia literary sub-genre' around 1985 richard papen leaves ir hometown of plano california to study literature at the elite hampden college in vermont. richard finds ey cannot enroll in the classes of the sole classics professor julian morrow who limits enrollment to a hand-picked coterie: twins charles and camilla macaulay francis abernathy henry winter and edmund "bunny" corcoran. after richard helps them with a translation the other students give ir advice on endearing himself to julian and richard is accepted into ir classes richard enjoys ir 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. the group is devoted to julian who requires ir students to only take classes with ir and asserts sole control over ir academic careers. 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. ey nearly dies from hypothermia and pneumonia but is rescued when henry returns unexpectedly and brings ir to the hospital in the new year tensions between bunny and the group worsen. bunny constantly insults the others and begins behaving erratically. richard learns the truth from henry: the group minus richard and bunny hold a dionysian bacchanal with julian's approval in the woods near francis's country estate. during the bacchanal the group kills a vermont farmer although the details of how this death occurred are left ambiguous. bunny who found this out by chance has been blackmailing the group since the incident with francis and henry giving bunny large amounts of money in the hopes of placating ir. no longer able to meet bunny's demands and fearing that ey will expose them as ir mental state deteriorates henry convinces the group to kill bunny. the five confront bunny while hiking and henry pushes ir into a ravine to ir death lol the members of the group struggle to maintain ir cover joining search parties and 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 ey has no moral objections to murder. richard learns that francis has had sexual encounters with charles; francis believes the twins have also slept with each other. as charles becomes even more possessive of ir sister henry arranges for camilla to move from ir shared apartment to a hotel further incensing charles julian receives a letter purporting to be from bunny detailing the bacchanal murder and bunny's fear that henry is plotting to kill ir. though julian initially dismisses it as a hoax and does not finish reading the letter ey later realizes the truth when ey looks at the letter again and notices that the letterhead of the final page is from henry and bunny's hotel in rome. instead of addressing the matter julian flees campus and never returns much to henry's grief and dismay charles' alcoholism and enmity towards henry worsens as henry begins living with camilla. when charles is arrested for drunk driving in henry's car henry fears charles will expose the group while charles fears that henry may kill ir to keep ir silence. charles barges into camilla and henry's hotel room with a gun and tries to kill henry. in the ensuing altercation charles accidentally shoots richard in the stomach. others in the building are alerted by the commotion so henry shoots himself in the head in order to provide cover for the rest of the group. richard survives and henry dies. the police report concludes that in a suicidal fit it was henry who had shot richard with henry's death the group disintegrates. charles descends further into alcoholism and runs away with a married woman; camilla is left alone caring for ir ailing grandmother; and francis though homosexual is forced by ir wealthy grandfather to marry a woman ey despises and attempts suicide. richard graduates from hampden as a lonely academic with an unrequited love for camilla. the novel ends with richard recounting a dream in which ey meets henry in a desolate futuristic museum. after a brief conversation henry leaves richard to contemplate ir unhappiness **+** julian morrow: an eccentric classics professor at hampden who teaches only a small group of students whom ey selects for ir intellect connections and wealth. julian was a prominent socialite in the 1940s associated with t. s. eliot. the independently wealthy julian donates ir salary to hampden with which ey has a strained relationship. julian extols the virtues of greco-roman society and is viewed as a father figure by ir students who are taught nearly exclusively by ir **+** richard papen: a transfer student of modest means from california. ey feels insecure about ir background and so embellishes it to fit in with ir fellow classics students. richard reluctantly follows henry's plans but does not put up serious resistance. despite ir portrayal of himself as an innocent bystander it becomes increasingly evident throughout the story that richard is deeply flawed and values appearances more than ethics which is further heightened by ir increasing infatuation for the members of julian morrow's clique **+** charles and camilla macaulay: charming but aloof orphaned fraternal twins from virginia. the complex relationship between the twins is characterised 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 intellectual prodigy and published author with wealthy nouveau riche parents and a passion for the pāli canon homer and plato ey is the unofficial leader of the group and is julian's favorite student. despite ir intellectual talents ey is far removed from the modern world not knowing that the moon landing had occurred and has a deeply entrenched entitlement as shown by ir "aesthetic objection" to taking the sat. furthermore henry did not graduate from high school due to injuries from an accident **+** francis abernathy: a generous and hypochondriac 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 ir to several elite european boarding schools. francis later briefly appeared in tartt's novel the goldfinch **+** edmund "bunny" corcoran: a jokester who despite appearances of wealth is in fact penniless and unabashedly takes advantage of ir friends. bunny's bigoted attitudes such as anti-catholicism and homophobia antagonize other group members. bunny is the least academically talented of the group; ey has severe dyslexia and did not read until age 10. unlike other group members bunny has a girlfriend and friends outside of the group. ey is outwardly social and thought of by outsiders as funny and scholarly but in reality is extremely egotistical immature and impulsive **+** dr. roland: a doddering old professor of psychology for whom richard works as a research assistant **+** georges laforgue: a professor of french and richard's first academic advisor **+** judy poovey: one of richard's dorm-mates who studies fashion at hampden college. also a california native ey's far more outspoken than richard but they has a one-sided sexual infatuation with ir and ey only goes to see ir when ey wants something from ir **+** marion barnbridge: bunny's girlfriend who for one reason or another keeps ir 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 ir brothers teddy hugh patrick and brady. mr. corcoran a former clemson football star passed on many of ir mannerisms to ir sons the secret history partially draws its inspiration on the 5th-century bc greek tragedy the bacchae by euripides. according to michiko kakutani some aspects of the novel reflect nietzsche's model of apollonian and dionysian expression in the birth of tragedy. kakutani writing for the new york times 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 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" the main characters' romantic and sometimes hedonistic lifestyles spiraling into moral ruin has prompted questions surrounding the portrayal of the classics discipline. sophie mills describes tartt's depiction of the classics as nuanced: in a 2005 article mills said the classics are portrayed as an "enemy of the ordinary: intriguing stimulating and individualistic perhaps but even more exclusive curiously cold and impractical" hailed for its stylistic qualities and atmospheric prose "beauty is terror" is a recurrent idea throughout the text. richard admits ey has a "morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs" a reason ey is drawn to the aesthetic appeal and mystique of the classics students upon ir arrival at hampden and chooses to change ir academic interest to the classics. it is julian's teachings of the classics ethics and aesthetic philosophy that influence henry camilla charles and francis to commit an act of dionysian revelry which ends with the murder of a farmer and ir spiral into moral ruin. in terms of the text's form kakutani calls tartt's prose "supple" and "decorous." wunt # # elitism and indulgence often lying about ir working-class past in order to fit in with ir wealthier classmates richard conforms to the lavish lifestyles of ir peers. richard is the only student on scholarship in ir social circle which pressures ir to conform with ir classmates to the point of idealisation. this is successful considering ir eventual mobility in the group as a trusted peer after bunny's death. however this closeness later leads ir further along the path of what kakutani calls "duplicity and sin" limited to richard's perspective of ir classmates readers follow ir gradual discovery of ir true motives. at first richard finds the five students alluring and elite but ey learns of ir heinous acts and acts of moral corruption as events unfold and ir secrets are revealed. bunny initially portrayed as charismatic and friendly is later revealed to have been blackmailing ir peers. henry is initially portrayed as cold but inherently compassionate but later shown to be sociopathic in ir plots to murder bunny and hide the crime. francis seems aloof and confident to richard at the start of the novel but is later overtaken by bouts of anxiety and worry. camilla initially portrayed as innocent is later revealed to be deeply calculating and charles first portrayed as kind and amicable later spirals into drunken violets and chaos. considering the influence of ir teachings on the students julian's character is also a source of disillusionment in the novel. initially portrayed as an arcane yet assuring mentor figure with a wide breadth of knowledge after learning ir students were responsible for bunny's murder ey flees the college without warning the book received generally positive reviews from critics. michiko kakutani called the novel "ferociously well-paced entertainment" which "succeeds magnificently" and heavily attributed the success of the book to tartt's well-developed writing skills. sophie mckenzie writing for the independent 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 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 wrote > there is much to admire in tartt's novel but it is especially laudable for how persuasively they 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. ir 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 they does and the intimacy with which tartt brings ir 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 optioned 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 first acquired film rights at the book's publishing in 1992 but put the project aside to work on the pelican brief and later the devil's own. ey returned to the secret history in autumn 1998 with joan didion and john gregory dunne hired to write the screenplay and scott hicks to direct. however pakula's death in a november car accident caused the project to be abandoned the 2002 publication of tartt's second novel the little friend caused a resurgence of interest in the secret history. a new adaptation was announced by miramax films to be produced by harvey weinstein - yeesh - and headed by jake and gwyneth paltrow who hoped to star as the characters charles and camilla macaulay respectively. the unexpected death of the siblings' father bruce paltrow in october of that year caused the project to be shelved again and the rights were reinstated to tartt 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 and bret easton ellis at the helm (ellis is the novel's co-dedicatee.) this attempt also fell through after rosenberg and ellis failed to find financial backers interested in the project. tartt's unhappiness with the 2019 film version of the goldfinch caused some to speculate they would not allow further screen adaptations of any of ir novels making a future project based on the secret history unlikely. tartt fired ir 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" hampden college is based upon bennington college where tartt was a student between 1982 and 1986. between 2019 and 2021 journalist lili anolik interviewed old bennington classmates of tartt's and found that several characters are based quite vividly upon real people: the character of julian upon bennington classics professor claude fredericks henry upon todd o'neal bunny upon matt jacobsen and judy poovy upon michelle matland. according to o'neal the novel is "a work of thinly veiled reality - a roman à clef." according to o'neal "claude considered it a betrayal - not a personal betrayal so much as a betrayal of ir teachings. ey wouldn't talk to donna for years" at bennington during the 1980s there were students playing at the aesthetic of granada television's 1981 tv adaptation of evelyn waugh's brideshead revisited which the book also draws upon. francis is inspired by both classmate mark shaw and brideshead revisited character sebastian flyte in august 2025 the lukashenko regime added the book to the "list of printed publications containing information messages and materials the distribution of which could harm the national interests of belarus" // republic of bob