I am been studying the life and works of Oscar Wilde for a few years now. I am writing what I call a "dissertation" (in quotation marks because I have not yet begun my PhD. However, I hope to possibly use this work for my actual dissertation when the time comes). As a part of this study, I have also researched and read various books that influenced Wilde himself. (Keep an eye out, in future posts, for my discussion of Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin). Imagine my thrill with reading a more contemporary book (published in 1992) that reminds me of Oscar Wilde, his ideology, and his works. Oscar Wilde is still an influence on today's writers.
A few months ago, I ran across a book called The Little Friend by Donna Tartt in a little library/book drop. What caught my attention was the vintage doll pictured on the cover of the book. (I collect dolls, as well as other vintage and antique oddities). Once I began reading this book, I could not put it down. I was so impressed with the author's literary writing style. Once I read this Southern Gothic novel, I just had to read more of her works. I was especially intrigued by the dark academia in and of The Secret History. (Please note: the remainder of the post contains spoilers).
I have always enjoyed books (and movies) with academic settings. I also love it when characters hover on the border between good and evil. A dark cloud hanging over those questionable characters draws me in even more. The Secret History has all the above. It includes an interesting psychological study.
Something else that stood out to me about this novel is the idea that academic studies are too often not often valued by society. I could relate to that. I could empathize with these questionable characters in this respect.
However, what really caught my eye (and my heart, because of these years of Oscar Wilde research) is the influence I just have to think Oscar Wilde had on Donna Tartt and her writing of this novel. Let me discuss some of the similarities. I think you may see some of my points.
First allow me to point out some of the similarities between The Secret History and Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
1. Both novels include a character who influences another with Greek ideals - Lord Henry Wotton in Dorian Gray and Julian Morrow in The Secret History.
2. All influencers need an influencee. Both novels contain a character that is the influencee, or one who becomes quite close to the influencer - Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray and Henry Winter (and to a lesser extent, Bunny, Richard, Francis, Camilla, and Charles) in The Secret History. Both Julian and Lord Henry mold their disciples into the image they create.
3. Is there not even a similarity in the names - Dorian and Julian and Henry and, well, Henry?
4. The influencers in both novels encourage their disciple(s) to lose control of themselves, to let it all go.
5. Both novels have disastrous results - a suicide, an accidental death, a murder, and an accidental suicide in The Picture of Dorian Gray and two murders (one premediated) and, later, a suicide in The Secret History.
6. Descriptions of seedy bars and drug use in The Secret History are reminiscent of the opium den visited by Dorian Gray.
7. Both novels have a moral gray area.
8. In both novels, there is no guilt for atrocities committed by protagonists.
9. Both novels reflect both the good and bad of Greek ideology.
Now to the similarities between The Secret History and the life of Oscar Wilde himself.
1. Oscar Wilde, who majored in classics at Oxford and was a scholar of all things Greek, was a proponent of aestheticism or art for art's sake and beauty for beauty's sake. This is an idea that is prevalent in The Secret History.
2. Francis, a character in The Secret History, is said to have reminded the narrator, Richard, of Alfred Douglas. Lord Alfred Douglas was Oscar Wilde's secret lover.
3. Honesty is called a dangerous virtue in The Secret History. How can this not remind one of an Oscar Wilde epigram?
4. Julian Morrow is not only similar to Lord Henry Wotton; he is similar in many ways to Lord Henry's creator. He is charming, well-spoken, and has an heir of innocence with just a touch of questionable ideas. He is, in a word, delightful.
5. The young students of Julian Morrow become convinced that experience is everything. There's another Oscar epigram in there.
6. Carnal and spiritual are woven together in The Secret History, as they were for Oscar Wilde. It must be those ancient Greek ideas.
7. Henry Winter, our wealthy young murderer in The Secret History, was said to relate to the poor. He even attracted our outcast narrator. Oscar Wilde was similar. He recognized differences in nineteenth-century class, but he was attracted to those who were not considered respectable. He detested all things middle class.
8. The character Bunny Corcoran, even though he was, so I have read, inspired by Tartt's college friend, author Bret Easton Ellis, also bears some resemblance to Lord Alfred Douglas - particularly in Tartt's descriptions of Bunny's outbursts.
9. Oscar Wilde always had a fascination with Catholicism and, in fact, converted to this religion on his deathbed. Catholicism figures into the storyline of The Secret History. Even the pagan Julian Morrow shows a respect for the Catholic faith.
10. Superstition plays a role in the ideas of the characters in The Secret History. Oscar Wilde was, himself, quite a superstitious individual. There is even a psychic who plays a minor role in the novel. Likewise, a fortune-teller, played a minor role in Osar Wilde's life.
11. Oscar often referred to those with whom he disagreed as Philistines, a term used in The Secret History.
12. Perhaps the greatest possible reference to Oscar Wilde arises in the the contrast between Julian and Oscar Wilde. Julian ran when he was confronted with possible legal repercussions for his influence. Oscar Wilde did not. He, in fact, blatantly refused to run from his legal problems, even when his friends attempted to convince him running was the best plan. Henry Winter considered Julian a coward for running. Oscar refused to be called a coward, whatever it may cost him. Henry Winter became like Oscar, perhaps, when he chose suicide over cowardice.
13. There is also an interesting critique of aestheticism in the pages of The Secret History. I will quote from this critique here: "There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty - unless she is wed to something more meaningful - is always superficial. It is not that your Julian chooses solely to concentrate on certain, exalted things; it is that he chooses to ignore others equally as important" (511). The reader is left to wonder which ideology Donna Tartt prefers.
These comparisons are all the more fascinating to me because I recently read an interview with Donna Tartt. In this interview, Tartt responded to a question about which author from the past she would most like to meet with the answer "Oscar Wilde." Perhaps there is a clue in there.
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