Khalepa ta kala

The Greeks did it in style, they made a bad day on Eastenders look like a drop in the ocean. I remember studying the Classical Example during my second year at university and really enjoying the Greek plays that we had to read. The Bacchae was written by Euripdes in around 400BC, and won him a posthumous first prize in an ancient Greek literary contest, called the Dionysia. The play itself tells of how the god Dionysus takes revenge against the city of Thebes after he is exiled by Pentheus, his cousin and unbelieving that Dionysus is really a deity. The eventual outcome of Dionysus's revenge is brutal and murderous; Pentheus is decapitated by his own mother, and he turns Pentheus's father and wife into snakes. It beats Eastenders any day.

It wasn't until a couple of years later that I ended up revisiting the themes involved in The Bacchae, in a book called The Secret History by Donna Tartt. The story follows Richard Papen, who has just started at University in Vermont, and his group of five friends who are all reading ancient Greek.

The narrative devices used by Donna Tartt are very interesting, and serve a useful purpose in creating the relationship betweenm the narrator, Richard, and the reader. The use of the homodiegetic 'I' in The Secret History, opens up the theme of confession in the character of Richard. It draws the reader into the thoughts of our narrator, and the use of time highlights the fact that Richard is trying to make sense of his own actions through his narration. The narrator uses the prologue to make his confession of being partially responsible for the murder of Bunny, one of his classmates. Despite seemingly giving away the crux of the story immediately, what it does instead is set up the sense of fatality that follows the narrators story. I brings back the Greek idea of the Fates, and how destiny is preordained and it is the story of how the characters reach that point which becomes the main point of interest.

Donna Tartt uses the narrative to create a sense of separation between the narrtor, and 'his' character. Richard looks back, disbelieving of the events that took place as he tries to make sense of it all. The reader is constantly reminded that Richard is recalling his experiences from a more reasoned viewpoint in the occasional narrative moments of "I suppose that..." and "Now I see that..." These devices help to bring the reader closer into the mind of Richard and his perspective, and what is even more interesting, is that the reader begins to understand the reasoning behind Bunny's murder. Through the use of the prologue, and through Richard's narrative, the reader begin to understand why Bunny had to be murdered by his friends, and it becomes very easy to agree with those reasons.

I mentioned at the beginning of this novel's affliation with the classics, indeed there are many latin and Greek words inserted into the dialogue and the narrative. What I enjoyed most about this novel is the way that Tartt draws the reader into the mysterious world of ancient Greece through the main characters. The use of idiolect help to create an 'otherworldly' feel, Henry in particular seems so obsessed by this world that it only ever appears fully alive when he is immeresed in its philosophy and traditions. It is the attraction to this beautiful, mysterious world that eventually causes the defining moments within the story, enabling the characters to become murderers by leaving "the phenomenal world, and enter into the sublime".

Although on the surface The Secret History might appear to be just another college campus tale of murder and deceit, it delves much deeper than that. The themes invoked by the main characters bring up many of the questions raised by the Greek playwrights of old, and the reader genuinely feels drawn into this ancient world. Ulimately it is the attraction of this world that bring about the downfall of the characters involved, and each fatal flaw wins through; it is a place where beauty is harsh.