#Strange Secret History

[heart-wit-strength]

Just learned that pre-season 2 amphibia fandom collectively decided on Drosselmeyer being Marcy's last name before MTAG revealed Wu, and it blows my mind

[jaemiecook]

If he’s in classical literature and his name is Henry, he is at least a little gay.

BUT if his last name just so happens to start with a ‘W’ he is probably a red flag.

[sweetly-yours-and-mine]

going to drop this here and run

[best-character-named-x-poll]

send in your submissions, current and past polls can be found on my pinned post

have you done your daily click

[flowersforfrancis]

[pathos-bathos]

Book reccomendations in the academic spirit

[lightaphorism]

A little treat for me; I also love when the people at the till talk to you about the books you’re buying it’s very sweet smile :)

[lemonhemlock]

not to be a hater on main but i just stumbled on a tik tok claiming that tsh both takes itself too seriously and could use more absurd comedy and it nearly made me punch a wall

[colorsrosy]

[persephoniabypluto]

Henry Marchbanks Winter

Homeric scholar, b. December 1960s

[quidam-sirenae]

Literally anytime I see someone try to formulate a “happy ending” for the secret history that doesn’t end in everyone studying classics I instinctively think of it as a tragedy. They live a kind of life where to lose Greek would be to lose their personhood I think.

[dzgrizzle]

I'm honored and excited that I was invited to be a DragonCon panelist on “Hallowed Halls & Twisted Magic: Dark Academia” on the DragonCon Urban Fantasy Track (Friday 9/1/23 at 10 am). I've made lots of notes this weekend about Dark Academia literature, movies, and TV series I love. Also making notes about the differences between non-supernatural Dark Academia (like The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann, the movie Kill Your Darlings, and the E.M. Forster novel and movie Maurice) and supernatural Dark Academia (like Fraternity by Andy Mientus, Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, and the novels & TV series Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and A Discovery of Witches). I will try not to be too excited and fanboyish when I'm on the panel at DragonCon, but it will be difficult!

[theladwhoisweird]

It is not death that a man should fear but, he should fear never beginning to live. - Marcus Aurelius

[schlock-luster-video]

Happy birthday, cult film icon Juliette Lewis! Here's some art inspired by From Dusk Till Dawn and The Basketball Diariesto celebrate!

[latinokaeya-moving]

cool. so is it a recognisably khaenriahn name that ppl can immediately point out or

[astrum-aetherium]

Hey! I just started reading The Secret History and I’m loving it however I checked the trigger warnings and one of them was racism? I’m not that far into the book but mind telling me who was being racist and how so (and to what minority)? I wanna know if maybe this book might be a little too much for me :( Thank you!

hi! thanks for reaching out! i value and respect your interest and caution in regard to that detail in the book greatly. yes, there is (at least one) racist scene in the secret history that is entirely tasteless and wholly unnecessary in my opinion, as it contributes absolutely nothing to the plot and leaves the reader just as confused and appalled as the focalizer (as richard is the one to witness it).

that specific scene takes place around the 400-page mark as far as i can remember, shortly after there is some speculation that drugs had been involved in bunny's death. none of the main characters are the racist ones in question — it’s an old man at a bar. he yells out hurtful statements and horrifying slurs to a muslim person as a reaction to a bar brawl. richard only watches it unfold and doesn’t pay it much attention aside from that. our dearly beloved (not) ms. tartt even goes as far as reading the whole thing out in the audiobook, too. it pisses me off. the slur is ghastly, absolutely unforgivable, as is the sole existence of that scene in the first place.

in addition, bunny himself, aside from being openly homophobic, is often seen making somewhat racially undertoned remarks. it’s been a while since i’ve read the book in its entirety, so i can’t be sure as to what exactly he said and about which minorities, but it does appear here and there if memory serves right — however, not to the degree of that horrid bar scene. what irritates me about it the most is the fact it is completely unnecessary. it doesn’t contribute anything to the plot, as mentioned. it’s just there, which makes it that much more questionable and problematic. i remain fully disappointed with the presence of that passage in the book.

i hope this offered you an acceptable insight. however it affects your opinion, know that your decision will be a completely valid one. even though i declare TSH one of my favorite books of all time, i always make sure to emphasize the various problematic aspects of that novel (and there are a few) and how greatly i dislike them. as i mentioned in one of my past posts about my general opinion on the book, i will never understand why donna tartt made those questionable, strange decisions — and not just once, in the goldfinch as well. if you know, you know. it'll remain a mystery to me.