The Secret History discussion

To you, what does the title "The Secret History" mean?

I think "The Secret History" means the entire class kept the murder secret!

In the prologue it tells us what already happened and as the reader, you're trying to figure out the history of the events. Of course, not all of them will be revealed to you.

Whilst this doesn't answer the initial question exactly I felt this might be relevant (copy and paste alert!):"The Secret History is a title Tartt borrowed from the sixth century court historian
Procopius' chronicles of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, because both books give
accounts of a horrible reality underlying a facade of normality (Steinz 1992:1).3 Thus,
incidentally, the author's acquaintance with things classical, and the possibility that the
novel may be concerned with classical themes, are revealed to the discerning reader, by
way of intertext, even before the first page is turned."

It's not worth the effort or your time; believe me. It's been some time since I read it but it really annoyed me. The story was implausible and the characters needed to be slapped. The main problem (as I remember it) is that a charasmatic teacher talked his students into commiting a crime. Only trouble was the author failed to convince me that this particular teacher was at all charasmatic. As a result the story just falls apart.

Charismatic

Actually the teacher didn't talk his students into it. He didn't even know about it until the end, and his reaction was pivotal to the meaning in a way I am still trying to figure out. I thought this book was fascinating because I can tell the whole thing (including the weird character relationships, such as sexual relations between twins, etc.) is echoing certain Greek mythology motifs, only I don't know my Greek mythology well enough to identify all of them. I think the mysterious coldness underlying the teacher's seemingly charismatic personality, which only shows up at the end, is a kind of commentary on the attitude of the gods themselves. But back to the original question...

I think "The Secret History" also has something to do with history itself. There is that beautiful dream passage the book ends with-- in which Henry shows up in some kind of history museum type place... and of course the whole story is based on a historical, no longer used language... a language that could perhaps tell tales we no longer understand, and explain secret meanings that our language can't find words for... and yet in many ways our culture is deeply based in that mythology.

I just think that what did Henry said to Camilla before you know ....is history and we will never know

Reinhard wrote: "It's not worth the effort or your time; believe me. It's been some time since I read it but it really annoyed me. The story was implausible and the characters needed to be slapped. The main problem..."
a. the teacher did not talk them into the murder
b. we were.... supposed to hate the characters?
I hate this book too, just hoping to prompt discussion

The tittle could imply a thousand things, but in reality it doesnt even tell us one. This book is indeed a masterpiece, but most fail to understand the way of the book. This isnt a "dark academia" "crazy characters" typa book. This book, if you have not noticed, plays with the reader and thus the viewe of the chracters. If you think it that way one could see the secret histoy as the reality of what really happens in the book, but is unseen by us because we´re fooled. Or the secret history implies our different viewe of the story, therefore its a different one really happening in the book. Both just play with your head.

Blair wrote: "Charismatic"

Period.

Reinhard wrote: "It's not worth the effort or your time; believe me. It's been some time since I read it but it really annoyed me. The story was implausible and the characters needed to be slapped. The main problem..."

That’s the entire point. The characters are purposely unlikeable because Donna was making fun of pretentious people she went to college with and warning readers against being like them.

I love the fact I didn't understood (and kind of still don't) the meaning of the title. It's part of the beauty of this book

Mindi wrote: "Actually the teacher didn't talk his students into it. He didn't even know about it until the end, and his reaction was pivotal to the meaning in a way I am still trying to figure out. I thought th..."

I did not notice the echoing of tragic Greek motifs and tropes. Probably because I don't know anything about Greek tragedy lol. I find this really interesting though.

I connected the title to the mystery religions/cults that existed in ancient Greece (according to wikipedia, I don't really know what I'm talking about). I think these groups conducted bacchanalias(?) where they got really drunk and did crazy shit. But they were "mystery" religions so we still don't know a whole lot about them. Henry and the rest are trying to revive a "secret history."

For me, the title symbolizes Richard's past, the time when he was a part of the group that changed his life forever. Yes, it also reflects ancient Greece (probably), but for me it will always be about the memory of it all, Richard's view on everything that happened.

It's the unseen history of the murder, imho. Not only because the murderers are never discovered, which would be trivial, but mostly because it narraters how a simple but terrible gestures progressively deteriorates the dynamics among the groups.