Begun in 1982 and published in 1992, The Secret History is the first novel by Donna Tartt. A singular writer, Donna Tartt devoted ten years to writing each of her books, thus signing The Master of Illusions, The Goldfinch and The Little Buddy. In The Master of Illusions, she plunges her reader into a singular universe from which he will not come out unscathed. A true masterpiece, The Master of Illusions continues to shine more than twenty years after its first publication, establishing itself as a classic of literature.
The Master of Illusions: A Novel of Learning
In her novel, Donna Tartt depicts the first steps of Richard Papen, a nineteen-year-old scholar, at the University. Preferring to escape the family nest of his native California, he went to study at Hampden University, a small university located in Vermont. Guided by his opportunism, Richard knows how decisive his first year of university is for him. Thus, as soon as he arrived, his ambition was to study ancient languages. But, this discipline is only taught to a small circle of students very closed where rigor, erudition and secrecy are the watchwords. This mysterious group consists of Henry Winter, Charles Macaulay and his twin sister Camilla, Francis Abernathy and Bunny Corcoran. Completely fascinated by these sophisticated and inaccessible students, Richard has only one idea in mind: to be part of them.
It is therefore not without difficulty or strategy that the young student manages to integrate the group of friends. From that moment on, he gained access to an extraordinary training entirely dedicated to ancient languages. Within this group, he discovers the joys of student life turning his small insignificant life into a truly thrilling life. As if in a dream, his weeks are punctuated by alcoholic weekends in the countryside and by ancient translations, against the backdrop of the beauty of Vermont's landscapes. It is therefore at the heart of a timeless poetic setting that Donna Tartt gives us a novel of learning about student life. In addition, the story echoes the campus-novels of Bret Easton Ellis, to whom she dedicated her first novel.
In the tumultuous secrets of an academic elite
Beyond a novel of learning, The Master of Illusions highlights an academic elite in all its perversity, "an innocent perversity". It is with efficiency and precision that Donna Tartt offers a remarkable sociological analysis. With her pen, she dissects and tries to unravel the secrets of this elite. And the secrets we discover are tumultuous. For the narrator, to belong to this circle of the upper bourgeoisie is to shine and dominate the upper echelons of society. Soon, he discovers a world where luxury and intellectual arrogance mingle with alcohol, drugs and sex. But, the darkness of the novel is deeper than this classic decadent triptych. It reveals itself through the practice of strange rites that will lead us to a drama.
In the prologue of the Master of Illusions, Donna Tartt tells us that a murder has been committed. Thus, in a palpable tension, the writer leads this group in a slow progression, where carelessness and euphoria give way to madness, until its paroxysm. It is over the pages that we, the readers, inexorably witness the rise of this tension, as the noose tightens around Richard and his friends. And Richard begins to feel this tension when strange clues are spreading. He senses that his new friends are hiding a terrible secret from him, creating a game of attraction and repulsion between them. As a result, the perfect vision of an academic elite shifts into a disenchantment between blackmail, betrayal and cruelty.
A psychology of characters
In The Master of Illusions, Donna Tartt offers us a deep and complex psychology of each protagonist. As we evolve in the narrative, we discover the portraits of these atypical and offbeat students. All beautiful, rich and brilliant, they cultivate through the reading of the Ancients, "a Byzantine way of life".
At the head of this group is the charismatic figure of Professor Julian Morrow. An original teacher and aesthete, he taught classics to only five students until Richard's arrival. He manifests himself as an ambivalent character, sometimes amiable close to the father figure, sometimes despotic with bad influences. Nevertheless, it is a character who remains in the background in the novel.
The leader of the gang, Henry Winter, appears as a separate being totally revered by others, including his teacher with whom he has a special relationship. A dark genius, he lives in his own world, making him a complex and elusive character. Rich and eccentric, Francis Abernathy is, by far, the most worldly character of the group. As for Bunny Corcoran, he is a dunce of the gang while embodying the perfect stereotype of the American bourgeois. As a result of the tragedy, he finds himself excluded and on the fringes of the group.
Finally, twins Charles and Camilla Macauley are characters that arouse real fascination. They are both described by angelic beauty. The dark and innocent sensuality of Camilla, the only female figure, literally bewitches Richard. From then on, a love ambiguity emerges within the group. However, we discover that this ambiguity is immoral, since the brotherly relationship between the twins is, in reality, an incestuous relationship.
In a game of appearances
Throughout [the] Master of Illusions, the characters play a role. And it is the narrator who excels best. Aware of his difference, Richard keeps his status as a scholar and his Californian origins secret from the eyes of the group. It is building a rich colorful past. However, the group is not fooled, appearances are deceiving. Faced with this social disparity, he will never really integrate this elite. In this drama, he then only has the status of spectator who sometimes accesses apparent confidences. And it is in spite of himself that he finds himself involved in this terrible story. So would this be the price to pay to shine in society?
In this sense, The Master of Illusions highlights the importance of social status and appearances that must absolutely be preserved. If the group appears extremely united in Richard's eyes, it is really only a façade. This illusory friendship is ultimately marked by the loneliness of the characters. They are all dominated by violent feelings of guilt, perversity and even cruelty. Thus, through games of psychological manipulation, each character retains his share of mysteries and unknowns that will never really be revealed.
Elusive and ambivalent like Dionysus
The Master of Illusions is a dark novel charged with a heavy and mysterious atmosphere, on the border of the mystical. The story is carried by Greek mythology and more specifically by the myth of the god Dionysus. The choice of Dionysus on the part of Donna Tartt is not trivial. Indeed, he is one of the most complex and elusive gods in mythology, like his characters.
If we know Dionysus as the god of the vine and wine, he is above all the god of madness, ecstasy and excess. God-mask with many faces, he embodies ambivalence by uniting opposing forces, between the world below and Olympus, between before and after, between life and death. In a game of mirrors, we can see through the figure of Dionysus, the metaphorical reflection of the complex and ambivalent personalities of the protagonists.
In Search of the Master of Illusions
It was during a Greek class that Professor Julian Morrow narrated the myth of Dionysus and the festivals associated with it. Among these Dionysian festivals, there are private parties reserved for initiates. These are mystery cults that take place secretly at night, often in isolated places. In an initiatory journey, these festivals give rise to ritual practices such as dismemberment or omophagy. They aim to achieve, in an exaltation pushed to its climax, a form of liberation, described as a state of trance. In other words, it's about freeing your soul from your body.
Thus, it is these Dionysian festivals, called the Bacchanalia in the Roman version, that completely fascinate the characters. Thanks to ancient texts, they set out to reproduce one of these festivals in the hope of lifting the veil on the state of trance. While secrets and shenanigans multiply, The Master of Illusions reaches its climax at the moment when they perform the initiatory act. This success is achieved through rites and dancing in an emulsion of drinks, drugs and sex. But this absolute liberation leads them directly to drama. The story switches at this moment in a slow descent into Hell. Indeed, during this singular festival, the characters dominated by ecstasy commit the irreparable: murder. This murder then reveals all their deep darkness, which would lead them to a second murder. From then on, we reach a point of no return.
From the darkness, beauty arises
As for the motivations of this quest, we can find a beginning of answer in beauty. Indeed, transcendence is undoubtedly the embodiment of beauty, in its deepest essence. For the characters, beauty is intrinsically linked to darkness, otherwise it remains superficial. We can quote a passage from the novel: "Beauty is rarely sweet or comforting. Quite the opposite. True beauty is always very disturbing." It is therefore at the heart of madness that Donna Tartt reveals a sublime poetic vision of beauty.
"Terrible and bloody things are sometimes the most beautiful… "
In The Master of Illusions, Donna Tartt takes us into a dark and poetic story. Out of time, the beautiful landscapes of Vermont appear as the ideal place to replay the codes of the myth of Dionysus. Perverse fascination and mysteries punctuate the seven hundred pages and a few. While some secrets are revealed, others remain in the shadows. Nevertheless, one question remains: who is the Master of Illusions? Is it the teacher? Henry? Or Dionysus himself?
