“Beauty is harsh”: aesthetic Gothic and psychological ruin in Donna Tartt`s The Secret History

Abstract

The following paper investigates Donna Tartt’s first novel, The Secret History (1992), from an aesthetic Gothic viewpoint. The thesis aims to showcase aestheticism as a destructive force that produces Gothic dangers that lead the novel’s characters to psychological ruin. The introduction contains a brief overview of the novel and author, as well as the aim of the thesis. The literature review provides a theoretical background of aestheticism and Gothic tropes, which will be the basis for the analysis. Additionally, previous research about the novel will be discussed in the literature review in order to highlight the research gap. The empirical section contains an analysis of aesthetic principles in correlation to the Gothic consequences it produces (such as murder, loss of ethics, and mental destruction). Therefore, aestheticism and Gothicism will be analysed together. The conclusion will contain the main findings of the work. Keywords: Donna Tartt, The Secret History, aestheticism, Gothic literature