A Critical Study Of Donna Tartt's The Secret History-With Contextual Consideration Of Aristotelian Dramatic Notions And Comparative Consideration Of Euripides' Bacchae

Donna Tartt's novel The Secret History is critically acclaimed as a"modern classic"because of its classical background, elegant style and suspenseful plotting. This dissertation is a study of the ancient Greek origin of the novel, focusing mainly on three questions: how ancient Greek thought has influenced the overall plot management of the novel; how Euripides'Bacchae is reproduced; and whether the novel and play are extensively comparable within a classical framework. About the origin of the novel's plotting a rather convincing explanation is found in Aristotle's Poetics. Aristotle's arguments about fear and pity to be produced by surprise and heightened by cause and effect, tragic situations, complex plotting involving reversal and recognition,"probable impossibilities"vs."improbable possibilities", etc. have all exerted great influence on Tartt's novel. Euripides'Bacchae is reproduced from different narrative perspectives, and proves pivotal to the plot development of the story. Based on Aristotle's drama theory, the novel and tragedy are comparable on a general basis, including plotting, major characters and themes. Ancient Greek tragic themes reflected in the Bacchae, such as the fallibility of human knowledge, hubris and nemesis, life, death and fate are all well represented in Tartt's novel. In a word, the unique artistic charm of The Secret History is inseparable from its ancient Greek literary origin.