Donna Tartt  1963
Major Works
Novels
- The Secret History. New York: Knopf, 1992.
- The Little Friend 2002.
Short Stories
- "A Christmas Pageant." Harper's 287.1723 (December 1993): 45+.
- "A Garter Snake." GQ 65.5 (May 1995): 89+.
Nonfiction
- "Sleepytown: A Southern Gothic Childhood, with Codeine." Harper's 286 (July 1992): 60-66.
- "Basketball Season." In The Best American Sports Writing, 1993, edited and with an introduction by Frank Deford. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
- "Team spirit: Memories of Being a Freshman Cheerleader for the Basketball Team." Harper's 288 (April 1994): 37-40.
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Donna Tartt: A Biography
By Laura Anderson (SHS)
Born in 1963 in Greenwood, Mississippi, Donna is the elder
of two daughters born to Don and Taylor Tartt (Padgett, 1).
She spent her childhood growing up on the edge of the Delta
in Grenada, Mississippi. Tartt is said to
have cultivated an early love for literature; and by the young
age of five, Tartt had written her first poem (Kaplan, 1).
 After
high school in 1981, Tartt entered the University of Mississippi
in Oxford. Willie Morris noticed one of her stories and told her,
"I think you are a genius." Donna Tartt was then accepted into
Barry Hannah's graduate short story course. After her freshmen
year, Tartt transferred to Bennington College in
Vermont Donna then started to work on her novel The Secret History.
Knopf publishers bought her novel, and it was published on January 3,
1993 (Penguin, 1). Tartt has written one novel, The Secret History and two short stories, A Christmas Pageant and A Garter's Snake. Alan Pakula bought the rights to Tartt's book and plans to make a movie in the future (Showbiz, 2). Many critics agree that this is only the beginning for Donna Tartt (Ent. Weekly, 2).
Film rights to The Secret History were sold
to director Alan Pakula; but Pakula died in 1998, and the project
plans lapsed until Gwyneth Paltrow expressed interest. The film
is now reportedly in production at Miramax under the actress,
with Paltrow's brother Jake set to direct.
Tartt's second novel is getting rave reviews. Written
ten years after The Secret History and published
in 2002, it is called The Little
Friend.
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A Review
of The Secret History 
by Laura Anderson (SHS)
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt is a mystery novel that focuses on the study of
classical and modern art (Daphne's, 1). This novel is based on
six students who are majoring in ancient Greek at Hampden College in
Vermont (Yee, 1). Henry, Francis, Charles, and Camilla hold
a ritual in hopes of meeting Dionysus, the Greek God of wine.
During this ritual they lose control of their bodies and commit
unpremeditated murder. Richard, a new member in the group, finds
out about the murder and decides to keep their secret.
Later, when Bunny, another member in their close-knit group finds
out, he is also murdered (Kaplan, 125). Bunny was a
greedy, unreliable character who could not be trusted. Therefore,
he created his own demise.
 When
the book begins, the characters are a close group of friends, but after
the murder, "their friendships start to disintegrate" (Hajari,
126). "These students shared a certain coolness, a cruel,
mannered charm which was not modern in the least, but had a strange
cold breath of the ancient world" (Hajari, 126). In a review of
the book Shaprio and Sawhill state, "She (Tartt) adorns them with
quirks, but none has a personality" (128). These reviewers were
talking about the characters in The Secret History,
whom I thought were developed well enough. Tartt gave
the reader a sense of who each person is and how much it would take for
them to commit murder. These two critics also said, "Tartt's
amateur device of keeping them (the characters) constantly drunk or on
drugs gets tedious fast." I also felt that Tartt overused the
students' regression into alcohol and drug use. Many
paragraphs continually speak of the students getting up to get a drink
or passing out on the couch. Nevertheless, I can imagine these
characters doing this, and Tartt's descriptions of drunkenness give
this novel an enormous amount of truthfulness and verisimilitude.
I think for Henry, Francis, Camilla, Charles and Richard, Bunny's
murder is a way for them to get rid of their own problems and
worries. Bunny is their ultimate scapegoat. However,
Bunny's murder only brings them more fear. It might have
temporarily taken care of their problem, but in the end it created more
horror for the group than they could have ever imagined. "The
rest of this book involves the ramifications of the crimes, the group's
remorse, and in the end the group's ultimate breakup" (Allen, 132).
Two critics have seemingly opposite opinions of The Secret History.
Fosburgh says, "The book is beautifully written, suspenseful from start
to finish. I could not put it down" (127). Another
critic says, "It was meant to be a tale of golden youth tarnished, of
privilege and intellect run amok. The Secret History is instead 544 pages of low-wattage Crime and Punishment.
Sadly, it is the reader who does the time" (Kaufman 132). I would
not say the book was full of low-wattage material. I also could
not say I thought it was suspenseful from start to finish. The
first hundred pages could not keep my attention, and I often laid the
book down. Though after I read some more of the book, it
grasped my interest. The only complaint I have about the book is
that it focuses to much on the students' drinking and not enough
on developing the plot. The other thing that bothered me was the
sexual orgy that took place during the ritual (Kaplan, 126). I
decided to leave this part out of my paper because I did not
think it held that much importance. I would not recommend this
novel for a young student because of what happens during the
ritual.
Fosburgh says, "It hung about me in an
unsettled way" (127). I have also found myself thinking about the
book and about how some of the students' situations are similar
to some of my own. Most people know a character like Bunny.
You might have a relative or friend who is greedy, self-absorbed, and
obnoxious, but could we ever bring ourselves to murder?
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Related Websites
Donna
Tartt's second novel is a story of mystery, murder and a 12
year old named Harriet. It's also one of the most anticipated
books this year ... and one that fans have been waiting for
the last ten years. Join Lynn Neary for a converation with author
Donna Tartt, in this hour of Talk of the Nation
from NPR News
December
2, 2002.. Martha Woodroof of member station WMRA in Charlottesville,
Va., reports on the career of author Donna Tartt. Her childhood
and upbringing chart much of her new book, The Little
Friend.
Ray
Suarez has a pre-Halloween conversation with two writers of
the horror genre -- Anne Rice and Donna Tartt. whol read from
their work, talk about the history and tradition of gothic literature.
Danny
Dee's review of The Secret History.
Reviews
of The Secret History and author bio
from Barnes and Noble.
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Bibliography
1. Daphne's reviews. http://www.mindspring.com/~driordan/authors/tartt.htm
2. Entertainment Weekly. alt.culture. http://www.pathfinder.com/altculture/aentries_ew/d/donxtartt.html
3. Kaplan, James. The Secret History. http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/8543/dtop.htm
4. Longman., ed. Contemporary Literary Criticism . Vol 76. White Plains, N.Y., 1986.
5. Mississippi Writers Page: Donna Tartt (1963- ). http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/tartt_donna/.
6. Penguin. http://www.penguin.co.uk/Penguim/Books/0140167773.html
7. Shirley, Aleda, et al., eds."Donna Tartt." Mississippi Writers: Directory and Literary Guide. University Press, The University of Mississippi, 1995: 68.
8. Showbiz. Secret movie http://web3.Starware.com/dailydose/askMrShowbiz/archive/02_19_96.html
9. Tartt, Donna. The Secret History.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1992.
10. Yee. review of Secret. http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/danny/book-review/h/The_Secret_History.html
11. The Best American sports writing, 1993, edited and with an introduction by Frank Deford. Houghton Mifflin
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