5 Comments

Ah The Secret History just cannot be matched! I love the link to Lemony-Snicket! I never read the books as a kid but I loved the movie. Now I am interested to see what I missed out on

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Yes it's amazing!

The new Series of Unfortunate Events tv series is pretty good, but of course nothing compares to reading the books.

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I loved this piece so much. I've never thought of the Camilla theory before. (And I felt similarly about her character / Richard's infatuation. It made me think of how Hemingway portrayed the woman in the only book of his I've ever read, The Sun Also Rises, and how there was a scene where they were dancing and the MC described her as like...a beautiful statute they were dancing around? And it made me wonder if Hemingway at least understood that that was how he was portraying her, or if he was clueless. And I felt like this book was the same...did Tartt do it on purpose because Richard was the narrator, or did she not envision any depth in Camilla? Fodder for a whole 'nother piece!!)

Also, thank you for the shout-out!! But even more exciting was the shout-out to Lemony Snickett. Original dark academic!!

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If that wasn't clear, I mean the woman is a beautiful but lifeless fixture the men admire while they move around in the story, and she's just pretty and stagnant. Purposeful? Not? Annoying? (Yes!)

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Thank you, we're so glad you enjoyed it!! And we loved reading your piece on The Secret History!

Ooh I love that comparison. In some ways, they are all just different versions of the manic pixie dream girl trope; the woman's character and personality are only relevant if she has some kind of effect on the man - she is an object in his world. (And your comment about Hemingway is making me wonder if Hemingway and Fitzgerald were the OG creators of the manic pixie dream girl)

- Shruti

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