The Secret History is the story of Richard Papen, one of six close friends studying the Classics at a fictional Vermont university. The novel begins with an older Richard discussing a murder that took place within the group and the destruction it wrought on he and his friends. The novel then proceeds to explore the motivations behind the murder and the effects it had on his life and the lives of its friends after their college years.
According to Michiko Kakutani, some aspects of the novel are reflective of Nietzsche's model of Dionysian and Apollonian expression in The Birth of Tragedy . Kakutani, speaking in the New York Times , states "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."
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