History Trivia / TheSecretHistory

* WriteWhoYouKnow and WriteWhatYouKnow: It's long been known that Hampden College is based on Donna Tartt's own school, Bennington College, and that Bunny Corcoran is based on Donna Tartt's college friend Creator/BretEastonEllis (who she dedicated the book to). In recent years, journalist Lili Anolik has looked extensively into the topic. For a condensed version of her findings see her 2019 article [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190601231613/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a27434009/bennington-college-oral-history-bret-easton-ellis/ The Secret Oral History of Bennington: The 1980's most Decadent College]] and for a more extensive version, see her 2021,
14-part podcast [[http://www.lilianolik.com/once-upon-a-time-at-bennington-college Once Upon A Time… at Bennington College]]. The short version, though, is that ''The Secret History'' is far more extensively based on real life than previously known.

* WriteWhoYouKnow and WriteWhatYouKnow: It's long been known that Hampden College is based on Donna Tartt's own school, Bennington College, and that Bunny Corcoran is based on Donna Tartt's college friend Creator/BretEastonEllis (who she dedicated the book to). In recent years, journalist Lili Anolik has looked extensively into the topic. For a condensed version of her findings see her article [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190601231613/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a27434009/bennington-college-oral-history-bret-easton-ellis/ The Secret Oral History of Bennington: The 1980's most Decadent College]] and for a more extensive version, see her 14-part podcast [[http://www.lilianolik.com/once-upon-a-time-at-bennington-college Once Upon A Time… at Bennington College]]. The short version, though, is that ''The Secret History'' is far more extensively based on real life than previously known.

*** AuthorAppeal GuyOnGuyIsHot: There are reports from peers that Donna and her college boyfriend Paul [=McGloin=] sort of played by being gay men together, what she referred to in letters to a friend as the "Burning Boy" thing. After getting together, she started dressing like Paul and cut her hair short. She referred to him as "The Man" and he called her "my boy". She reports to a friend, with some relish, an incident where they were mistaken for a gay couple by a security guard and were the target of a homophobic slur. A friend of Paul, after a conversation with Paul about his relationship with Donna, wrote a diary entry describing Donna as "girl who looks like a little boy, whose sexuality seems to be that she wants to be treated like a homosexual man."

* WorkingTitle: During the writing process, Tartt had a few different titles for the book but wasn't married to any of them. She originally submitted the book under the title ''The God of Illusions'', which was chosen by polling a few friends and asking which of the potential titles they liked best. The publishers then changed it to ''The Secret History''.

* WorkingTitle: Tartt originally planned to call the book ''The God of Illusions''.

*** Julian is based on Claude Fredericks, the professor who taught Classics at Bennington. A GentlemanAndAScholar. He taught a few classes which were open, such as the Homer class Donna took with him, but his Greek classes were limited--in Donna's time, there were only 3 boys in that class. He had a hard-to-find office that felt like the inner sanctum. He was rumored to accept only $1 a year in payment.

*** When Donna and Paul [=McGloin=] got together, he has a serious girlfriend who he ended up leaving for her. The girlfriend's real name was Marion and nickname was Bunny.

* TropeCodifier: The novel has become one of the flagship media references for a visual style known as [[https://bookriot.com/dark-academia-books/ "Dark Academia"]], which glamorizes traditional academic pursuits in the Humanities--particularly at American and European universities with a gothic, old-world flair (and, in some cases, an implicitly high price tag on tuition). It's an UnbuiltTrope, as many of the critiques of genre that can now be found in online think pieces are present in the book too. The whole thing is inherently elitist. And being a poor student faking a Dark Academia look with stuff from the thrift-store is pretty doable, and it can be fun and exciting. And the spending years in higher education encourage students to obsess on a small niche topic, to the exclusion of the bigger world around you.

*** AuthorAppeal GuyOnGuyIsHot: There are reports from peers that Donna and her college boyfriend Paul [=McGloin=] sort of played by being gay men together, what she referred to in letters to a friend as the "Burning Donna" thing. After getting together, she started dressing like Paul and cut her hair short. She referred to him as "The Man" and he called her "my boy". She reports to a friend, with some relish, an incident where they were mistaken for a gay couple by a security guard and were the target of a homophobic slur. A friend of Paul, after a conversation with Paul about his relationship with Donna, wrote a diary entry describing Donna as "girl who looks like a little boy, whose sexuality seems to be that she wants to be treated like a homosexual man."

*** When Donna and Paul [=McGloin=] got together, he has a serious girlfriend who he ended up leaving for her. The girlfriend's real name was Marion nickname was Bunny.

*** AuthorAppeal GuyOnGuyIsHot: There are reports from peers that Donna and her college boyfriend Paul [=McGloin=] sort of played by being gay men together, what she referred to in letters to a friend as the "Burning Donna" thing. After getting together, she started dressing like Paul and cut her hair short. She referred to him as "The Man" and he called her "my boy". She reports to a friend, with some relish, an incident where they were mistaken for a gay couple by a security guard and were the target of a homophobic slur. A friend of Paul, after a conversation with Paul about his relationship with Donna, wrote a diary entry
describing Donna as "girl who looks like a little boy, whose sexuality seems to be that she wants to be treated like a homosexual man."

*** Julian is based on Claude Fredericks, the professor who taught Classics at Bennington. He too had a hard-to-find office that felt like the inner sanctum.
*** In 1982 at Bennington, Claude Fredericks's Greek class consisted of Matt Jacobson, Todd O'Neal, and Paul [=McGloin=]. Todd is Henry; Matt is Bunny. Paul [=McGloin=] was Donna's boyfriend at the time, and one of the people she dedicates the book to.

*** Bunny and his way of (likely intentionally) being a conversational bull in a porcelain shop has long been attributed to Donna's school friend Creator/BretEastonEllis, and there's probably some truth to that. However, Anolik's work has found that another model for the character--probably a stronger one--was Matt Jacobsen.

*** In case you need any conformation of AuthorAppeal GuyOnGuyIsHot, there are anecdote about Donna dressing very androgynously and someone mistaking her and her at-the-time boyfriend Paul [=McGloin=] for a gay male couple, being homophobic to them, and this making her happy or at least intrigued.

*** Richard is an AuthorAvatar of Donna, although far more obliquely so than Henry and Bunny. Coming to the school as a transfer student (Richard did 2 years back home; Donna did 1) from a home they view as bleak and banal. where they never felt at home, trying to reinvent themself at college.

*** Richard is an AuthorAvatar of Donna, although far more obliquely so than Henry and Bunny. The outsider. Doesn't like to talk about their background, a hometown where they never felt at home, trying to reinvent themself at college.

* TropeCodifier: The novel has become one of the flagship media references for a visual style known as [[https://bookriot.com/dark-academia-books/ "Dark Academia"]], which glamorizes traditional academic pursuits in the Humanities--particularly at American and European universities with a gothic, old-world flair (and, in some cases, an implicitly high price tag on tuition). An UnbuiltTrope as many of the critiques of genre -- criticism of the elitism; the counter argument that it's a relatively easy look to fake with thrift-store items -- appear in the book itself.

* TropeCodifier: The novel has become one of the flagship media references for a visual style known as [[https://bookriot.com/dark-academia-books/ "Dark Academia"]], which glamorizes traditional academic pursuits in the Humanities--particularly at American and European universities with a gothic, old-world flair (and, in some cases, an implicitly high price tag on tuition). Dark Academia has occasionally been criticized (''The Secret History'' in particular) on the grounds that fans might internalize some of the elitist biases the concept implies. An UnbuiltTrope in the book itself, and it comments frequently on the class aspect and Richard's struggle to fit it, but also it's a relatively easy look to fake with thrift-store items.

* TropeCodifier: The novel has become one of the flagship media references for a visual style known as [[https://bookriot.com/dark-academia-books/ "Dark Academia"]], which glamorizes traditional academic pursuits in the Humanities--particularly at American and European universities with a gothic, old-world flair (and, in some cases, an implicitly high price tag on tuition). Dark Academia has occasionally been criticized (''The Secret History'' in particular) on the grounds that fans might internalize some of the elitist biases the concept implies.

* ReferencedBy: In ''Literature/TheRulesOfAttraction'' (1987), Creator/BretEastonEllis mentions his friend's not-yet-published book, saying:
--> That weird Classics group... probably roaming the countryside sacrificing farmers and performing pagan rituals.

*** Judy Poovy is [[https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/12/succession-secret-history-judy-poovey-connection thought]] to be based on Michelle Matland, who's now the costume designer on ''{{Series/Succession}}''.