The secret story

The Secret History (original title: The Secret History ) is the debut - Roman of the American writer Donna Tartt . The book was first published in 1992 by Alfred A. Knopf and became a bestseller. It has now been translated into 24 languages. The German translation by Rainer Schmidt was published by Goldmann-Verlag in 1993.

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Richard Papen, a 20-year-old ancient Greek student from a small town in California , is applying to ( fictional ) Hampden College in Vermont . He becomes a student of Professor Julian Morrow, whose Greek class, isolated from the rest of life at the university, consists of only six students: the well-read model student Henry, the bohemian Francis, Edmund, called Bunny, and the twins Charles and Camilla. Richard befriends them and soon spends all of his free time with them, which is often taken up by drinking parties in the rich Francis' house.

After a while, Richard realizes that his new friends seem to have a secret. Bunny, who lives a hedonistic way of life, attracts the group's anger because he keeps making hidden hints about a farmer who was found dead in a valley in Vermont during the semester. Richard finds out that Henry, Francis, and the twins booked tickets to Argentina, but they didn't make the trip. He confronts Francis and Henry and intuitively guesses what their secret is: “And the horrible thing was, somehow, that I did know. 'You killed somebody,' I said, 'didn't you?' " (Tartt, Donna: The Secret History , Penguin Books, 1993, p. 191).

Charles, Camilla and Francis have dared a bacchanal under the guidance of Henry to delve deeper into the subject of Greek lessons. Bunny showed little discipline in the preparations for the experiment and was therefore not there on the night when the friends killed a farmer while he was drunk. Based on a newspaper report about the murder, Bunny thinks up what happened and makes fun of it, frightening his friends with his half-knowledge about the incident.

Like a Greek tragedy , the plot inevitably takes its course. Bunny is becoming more and more of a threat to the friends, Richard is now also at risk because he, as a confidante, does not report the crime. Bunny, a previously relaxed and warm-hearted person, is becoming increasingly irritated when dealing with his friends. He blackmailed Henry and Francis, who soon ran out of assets. Even a trip to Italy, financed and accompanied by Henry, Bunny cannot change his mind. Seeing no other way to silence Bunny, the friends decide to kill him. After several attempts at planning or implementation have failed, the group meets Bunny on one of his dissolute walks and Henry throws him down a slope.

A few weeks after Bunny's death, Julian found a letter in his mail, allegedly from Bunny, in which he told his professor about the farmer's murder and about his fear that Henry would also kill Bunny. Julian thinks the letter is a stupid prank by a student. Francis and Henry, to whom Julian is reading the letter, notice the logo of an Italian hotel on the letterhead: It is the hotel where Bunny and Henry stayed. Julian now also realizes that the letter is real and that Bunny must have written it a few days before his death. However, he does not report his students to the police, but leaves college in a hurry and breaks off all contact with his class. This is particularly true of Henry, who has a strong bond with Julian.

After Bunny's murder, the group slowly but surely falls apart. Charles in particular suffers from fear of being discovered and has to undergo a police interrogation. He turns into an alcoholic. Charles, as Francis Richard reports, had an incestuous relationship with his sister Camilla, who begins a relationship with Henry. Fearing her brother, with whom she previously lived, she and Henry move into a hotel. One night Richard and Francis are visiting when, while drunk, Charles suddenly storms the room with a gun with the intention of shooting Henry. Henry manages to wrest the gun from Charles, and then commits suicide in front of his friends.

History of origin

Donna Tartt began writing the novel in 1986. The characterization of the fictional Hampden College in the novel has received her suggestions from Tartt's own student days at Bennington College , Vermont . Tartts college friend Bret Easton Ellis introduced her to the literary agent Amanda Urban. Tartt's debut novel became a bestseller and the first edition alone sold 75,000 times.

Structure of the novel

The actual novel is preceded by a dedication (including to Bret Easton Ellis), two quotations, an acknowledgment and a prologue . The quotes are excerpts from Friedrich Nietzsche's “Untimely Considerations” and Plato's “ The State ”. In the prologue, the now 28-year-old Richard Papen describes the events in retrospect and also refers to the title of the novel.

"I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell. "

Interpretation and borrowings

Tartts novel is peppered with classic quotations. In addition to Greek, Latin and French are also cited. Like many works by Greek philosophers, the book is divided into "Book I" and "Book II". As in classical Greek tragedy , fate plays a special role in Tartt's novel: the planning of Bunny's murder seems logical, since there is no other way to silence him. The act was also carried out by chance: Henry, Francis, Charles, Camilla and Richard happened upon Bunny in the mountains of Vermont while they were scouting the area for the murder of him.

Two of the former friends become enemies; Bunny, because he is a potential danger to the group and could betray them, and Charles, who has become unpredictable from alcohol and threatens his sister and Henry. Henry believes that he will never be happy with Camilla unless Charles forgives him, so Henry kills himself because of it.

Literary review

The book received excellent reviews worldwide. The New York Times wrote : "Forceful, cerebral and impeccably controlled, 'The Secret History' achieves just what Ms. Tartt seems to have set out to do: it marches with cool, classical inevitability toward its terrible conclusion."

The Sunday Times described the novel as "brilliant" . Likewise, The Times Literary Supplement praised The Secret Story as a "haunting, compelling and brilliant piece of fiction"

Tartt's novel was on the New York Times bestseller list for thirteen weeks.

Web links

• Reading sample on the publisher's website
• Interview with Donna Tartt about her debut, retrieved from the Internet Archive (as of October 26, 2013) ( Memento from October 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Books of The Times; Students Indulging In Course of Destruction . In: New York Times , September 4, 1992. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
2. ↑ Quoted from: The Secret History - reviews ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On: Book Drum. Retrieved July 1, 2014.