The Curator: The Secret History
and how I’ve spent my entire life trying to find anything else like it
My obsession with dark academia as an aesthetic and as a genre started, as many things do, with Harry Potter.
Harry Potter movies five through seven are dark academia to the core: boarding schools with moody architecture, prep school fashion choices, dark neutral color palettes, candlelight, a perpetual look of boredom, mortal danger, libraries.
According to the internet, I am not alone in this origin story. Wikipedia traces the dark academia aesthetic to the maturing HP fanbase frequenting Tumblr circa 2015. The Potterheads took to the interwebs and we’ve never been the same!
Despite my intense denial, HP is a children’s fantasy series that didn’t start getting dark until book five. My argument, and I know most Tumblr girlies would agree, is that the Mother of Dark Academia is Donna Tartt. Her supreme spawn is The Secret History. And there has never been anything like it since.
I first read The Secret History sometime after college but before COVID (that’s how we tell time now, right?). There’s a Goodreads entry on my Read shelf in December of 2017, but I am certain the reading was more like 2014, mostly because what I was doing in 2017 involved a lot more vodka and a lot less reading.
The point is, I don’t remember what led me to pick up The Secret History or even what was happening in my life at the time. All I know is this fiercely ‘90s novel about insufferable students at an elite East Coast college at some point caught my attention and has now completely ruined me for the dark academia genre for the rest of my life. Thanks, Donna.
I’ve read dozens of “dark academia” novels suggested by internet publications of varying degrees of authority. I’ve created dark academia Pinterest boards. I’ve even attempted my own lists. But it’s all a lie. This is a list of one. THERE IS NO OTHER.
No other novel lives up to Tartt standards. I need creeping dread, snobby college students, top-notch fashion, dead languages, subtext, subversion, all the things this newsletter is predicated on. And nothing else lives up to the hype.
Sure, I have read some good “dark academia” books, but nothing is quite right. Ordinary Monsters and Ninth House were great, but they’re fantasy. Some seem to only be on the list as campus novels but lack the dark part (The Marriage Plot, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, The Idiot). Or maybe they’ve got the death thing going but lack the snobbery high-brow-ness (I Have Some Questions for You, The Likeness). These are great books. But they are not The Secret History.
Just take a look at Ms. Donna Tartt. Visually stunning. Sometimes androgynous. Terribly fashionable. Committed to her craft. The embodiment of dark academia.
This week’s review is quite obviously on The Secret History. Another one-booker for you to get deep with.
So, Donna, I say to you.
I will follow you into the dark.
FURTHER READING →
I find negative reviews of The Secret History riveting. Someone at the University of Michigan really hated it. I would love to know what kind of books this person does like.
This OG NYT review from 1992 was actually printed on paper.
The Cut’s Anna Silman recommends The Secret History to everyone.
The TikTok dark academia subculture explained.
If you need other campus novel recommendations, I wrote about those here
BOOK REVIEW →
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Donna Tartt published The Secret History in 1992. It’s about six elite classics students who take their professor’s teachings a bit too literally, going beyond the normal boundaries of consciousness to test their basest desires and ending up in the garden of evil.
I love this book. I chose to reread it for this newsletter, and it took me months to get through because it’s dense and gorgeous and marvelous. It was even better the second time around.
But it is also a controversial book - so many hate its guts. It pains me to hear this blasphemy, but that’s the game, isn’t it?
In that lovely negative review I linked above, the author argues that The Secret History “is devoid of character. There’s plenty of personality, Tartt makes sure of that, but the people are not people. The dialogue feels natural, the heavy style feels settled, but there’s nothing going on beneath the surface. “
Way to hit the nail on the head and still not know what you are hammering!
Once again I find myself shouting into the void EVERYTHING IS GOING ON beneath the surface. That’s where the party is but you have to look closely and pay attention. This book is a study in close reading, in understanding subtext, in negative space. The simplest description is a metaphor for the characters’ mental states. Every statement or passage deals in complex themes - appearances as worth, externality vs. internality, descent into madness, beauty as terror.
I understand how the reviewer might say “The people are not people”. The thing that makes this book a masterpiece is the continuous layer of creeping dread. Our inability to honestly know any character but the narrator Richard, an unwitting outsider just like us, creates a constant sense of vague apprehension unlike anything I’ve ever read (many attempt, few succeed). Sir! You are correct, these people are not people and that’s why I feel something! I was squinting at the page, looking for more - insight? Understanding? Things? What is happening here? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!
[Success, whispers Donna]
But you never really get to know Julian or Henry, Francis, Charles, and Camilla. They are like shadows you can’t catch. We know what they look like and what old-fashioned elite prep school outfits they wear and what they chain smoke or drink and if their houses are messy. They speak but mostly off-page; we live in Richard and the things unsaid. We read between the lines and the glances. Back and forth we swivel our heads like watching a tennis match where you can’t ever seem to find the ball.
I love LOVE (did I say love?) that this book. It is both cerebral in its themes and base in its plot. You have students studying a completely useless classic language (in any utilitarian sense) caught against the basest of human crimes (murdah dear Watkins!). My most favorite passage in the novel (besides the prologue which is one of the greatest openings of all time) is a perfect encapsulation of this dichotomy:
“Death is the mother of beauty,” Henry said.
“And what is beauty"?”
“Terror".”
“Well said,” said Julian. Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.”
I looked at Camilla, her face bright in the sun, and thought of that line from the Iliad I love so much, about Pallas Athene and the terrible eyes shining.
“And if beauty is terror,” said Julian, “then what is desire? We think we have many desires, but in fact we have only one. What is it?”
“To live,” said Camilla.
“To live forever,” said Bunny, chin cupped in palm.
The teakettle began to whistle.
Just take a moment to visualize it. See it? That’s the feeling.
Even though Richard is the narrator, Henry is the star. Both villain and hero, martyr and playwright. I won’t say much about him so as not to ruin it, but Tartt does such a phenomenal job of hiding his motivations, just like she hides everything else. Is he a victim of his homelife, or a narcissistic psychopath? Is he Juilian’s pawn, or a master deceptor? The world may never know.
The supporting cast is top-notch as well. Richard is not completely isolated, so we have people to compare the weird five to. Judy Poovey is perhaps the greatest supporting character ever written. A foil to Henry, Judy is irritatingly brash and un-self-aware, but actually cares for Richard’s well-being, unlike anyone else.
I’ve done a lot of character study here, but well, that’s what The Secret History is. Tartt also writes the most beautiful sentences, especially describing nature. There is some murder and mystery, which keeps the plot moving, even though she subverts the usual order of things. When we think it’s finally over, we realize there are 200 more pages in this flip-floppiest book [how!]. The Secret History is the holy grail and I can only hope someday to write something half as good. Cheers to you Donna!
Moodometer: For when you want to pretend it’s a perpetual fall full of dark libraries, penny loafers, and madness.
Rating: I give this book a 5 Creeping Dreadful Stars
READING →
Robert Bloch’s Psycho. One of my favorite Bookstagrammers started a buddy read of this slim 173-page novel that inspired one of my most favorite old-timey movies and the best part of the Universal Studios tram tour. I couldn’t pass up the chance to read a spooky classic with some internet friends.
BUYING →
I had $10 B&N rewards to burn so I took my list from last week and came home with North Woods (for book club) and Our Share of the Night (spooky szn + dark academia + women’s translated fiction = winner). I’m considering staying home from work just to read these.
WATCHING →
NFL Football. Even though I can’t watch my out-of-market OG team (the Saints, and no I’m not from Louisana I just like dressing out for an event), we’ve been enjoying the fall family Thanksgivingy Sunday vibes while finding other teams to root for (my local team LA Rams, funtime LV Raiders). Also, the snacks and chili and cornbread are ::chef’s kiss::.
COOKING →
I don’t cook a lot, mostly because I don’t know how, but also because of my tiny galley kitchen and a continual desire to do almost anything else instead. However. For those Sunday football vibes, I capitulated to this chili recipe, and shit, was it perfect. Everyone likes their chili best, but this was the meaty beany masterpiece I was looking for. Secret ingredients include homemade chili seasoning, brown sugar, and some good old Coors Light.
NEW BOOKS →
Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig - Another repeat offender! Chuck just won’t let me live. One of the most prolific bookstagrammers @jordys.book.club calls it “batshit bonkers bizarre” and one of his best reads of the year. Gonna have to wait for a stable mindset post-wedding to check this one out…“Creepy and insidious, Black River Orchard whets your appetite and then turns you inside out."-Hailey Piper.
Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang - I saw someone compare this new novel to Station Eleven and didn’t need to hear a thing else to know I want to read it. “It is a daringly imaginative exploration of desire and deception, privilege and faith, and the roles we play to survive. Most of all, it is a love letter to food, to wild delight, and to the transformative power of a woman embracing her own appetite.”
Penance by Eliza Clark - I did not manage to finish my advance copy of Penance before pub date because… it’s a weird one. The combo of podcast transcripts, interviews, letters, and lore retellings feels like it would be better as an offbeat podcast (weird). I will finish this before I give my final rating, but everyone else seems to love it: "Eliza Clark is a genius with voice and a master of flipped expectations. Penance astonished me with its breadth, wit and confidence. A wickedly clever deep dive into the nastier corners of the national psyche--you've never read anything like this." -Julia Armfield.
LINKS →
CrimeReads investigates the most haunted movies in Hollywood history including (surprise) Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
The winners of the Ocean Photographer of the Year include a paper nautilus, a spider squat lobster, and a porcelain crab.
The NYT is recommending Veronica Mars as one of the best things to stream on Hulu and I couldn’t agree more. This is my favorite TV show perhaps of all time. Other hard hitters include Freaks and Geeks, The Craft, and It’s Always Sunny.
RESTACK OF THE WEEK →
Good writing is good writing; good people are good people. Amy is both. Her long COVID stack is so much more than her illness. It’s about caring for ourselves as much as we’ve cared for others, accepting our limitations, and finding (impeccable) humor in the everyday. This is one of my favorites so far.
LET’S CHAT →
This week, let me know what book has changed your reading life, be it personally or which you use to measure the worth of other works. You obviously know mine.
Or per ush, let me know what you’ve been reading in the comments. I’m always game for a good rec (or warning, grievances, etc. ). If you tell me your favorite TV show or movie lately, I’ll give you a book recommendation.
In Case You Missed It 🖤
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
I am about a third of the way into Rebecca Makkai’s novel, I Have Some Questions for You, set at a fictitious New Hampshire boarding school. The sense of place and school culture is strong, and it’s quite the page turner. Please consider adding it to your Secret History/HP collection.
I am *also* eternally looking for a book like The Secret History! I've decided that there should be a ten-year ban on books being comped to it, haha.