The REAL Locations from Donna Tartt’s The Secret History

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  • Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
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Комментарии • 151

  • @meggie3141
    @meggie3141 Год назад +168

    The podcast Once Upon a Time at Bennington College dives SUPER deep into Donna’s time at college and traces all of the places/people/experiences that ended up in the book! It also charts Bret Easton Ellis’ time there, too, since they were classmates. It’s gets very juicy, very chaotic, and really it’s just very cool to have like this weird behind the scenes knowledge of TSH & Less Than Zero - I recommend it! 💓

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +11

      Oh baby, that pod is gonna accompany me when I return home next. I want that juicy gossip!!

    • @bebopdestroyer4641
      @bebopdestroyer4641 Год назад

      before she got SUING

    • @bebopdestroyer4641
      @bebopdestroyer4641 Год назад

      CEASE AND DESIST

    • @tickledtodeath0
      @tickledtodeath0 Год назад +1

      Yep. I was just going to say the same thing. My roommate Madi is interviewed a bit and my name in mentioned because I did the illustration on Madi’s publication of Tartt’s Elvis in Hell story.
      Madi and I had/have? a band thing
      youtube.com/@JollyRamey

    • @lilblondiee
      @lilblondiee 7 месяцев назад

      wait do you mean the one on spotify with the pink profile picture?

  • @thevegfriend100
    @thevegfriend100 5 месяцев назад +18

    5:10 No way the owner/manager’s last name is Corcoran!!! I guess Bennington had a LOT of influence!

  • @allywolken
    @allywolken 11 месяцев назад +37

    crazy how she rarely changed the names of the places and it makes it all the more real

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  11 месяцев назад +4

      right? When you're around the area, it feels like you are in the novel

  • @lauraanne7108
    @lauraanne7108 Год назад +53

    I visited Bennington College a few months ago as a prospective student, with my mom who went during the same time as Donna Tartt, and after visiting I knew I had to take my moms (and the entire internet book community) suggestion and read the book. I loved it and was picturing Bennington the whole time. Such a great video!!!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +5

      !!! wowowow. I can't tell you how amazing this comment is. Did your mother chat with Donna at all when they were students? And how amazing is Bennington's campus??! I feel like I'm not grounded in reality when I walk around there.

    • @Montrealphotochick
      @Montrealphotochick Год назад +13

      Im the mom!! Your video is a great visit through town and the locations in the book. Did you know the Blue Benn is now owned by a Bennington grad who is running it in the style it always was! I did not know Donna at the time. I was a couple years younger than her class but I did talk to Bret a few times. (Bret Ellis). I consider myself so very lucky to have gone to Bennington in the mid 80s. Bennington Alum are a super tight community which has been a wonderful part of my life. I majored in literature and early childhood studies. I had to laugh at Redeemed Repair making the video! Now I must reread Secret History. I don’t think I’ve read it since it came out. Best regards !!

    • @Montrealphotochick
      @Montrealphotochick Год назад +4

      And yes. Campus is dreamy!!!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +4

      @@Montrealphotochick I love this comment thread so much. Family affair!! How cool to talk to Bret!! I am completely fascinated by Bennington College, so it's so neat to hear your history with it. I didn't know that about Blue Benn, but I love it!! Thank you so much for dropping this comment

  • @SavidgeReads
    @SavidgeReads Год назад +65

    F**king hell Anna. You’re just too good. Too good. Loved this. I’ve not read TSH for YEARS but it’s a book I don’t think I’ll ever forget and this brought all the feels back. J’adore. Loved the abandoned stadium. Wow. Thank you, from basic Simon.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      If you're Basic Simon, I'm the most basic. Love to you and your wonderful comment. It was a nice holiday pastime to drive around and film. The stadium is now an unlocked level for nightmares, though😳

    • @juliak1615
      @juliak1615 8 месяцев назад

      I second this! What a gem on RUclips. Brb re-reading The Secret History, on this perfectly bleak day.

  • @taylorfusion
    @taylorfusion Год назад +11

    Wow! That was a great video. You brought me down memory lane. I was at Bennington for all of 1984 and I have to tell you, I recall many many names there, and certainly many faculty members, but I never once saw Donna. There were lots of so-wanna-be cool kids from wealthy families And I’ve got lots of photos. Parties at Booth house, pornos playing on the ceilings, LSD trips, classes with Bill Dixon at Jennings, my own studio in the carriage barn at the top of the stairs, hanging out with Stephen Sandy, doing garden work for Ken Kensington Jeffrey Levine pulling me out of a jam,music jam sessions, tennis on clay, courts.
    That shot you took where you were standing in front of Jennings, looking towards the Commons (dogs running rampant, btw!) was my first trek on a cold March day, one of the first students to arrive, after the end of the past classes, NRT. Had no idea what I was getting into coming from the Midwest in the middle of a term. Then during the summer, when all the kids went back to New York, or wherever they lived, I stayed and worked on the maintenance team cutting lawns, filling potholes with hot asphalt, oh man, I lived in that house you showed in North Bennington. It was above a general store I believe. Maybe it still is!
    24 years old in 1984 and I had no idea there were three soon to be published authors in my midst, (my roommate was a writer as well) in an off-campus house “hill house“ had my first and only visit by a cold presence that can only be described as supernatural. And that house, incidentally inspired the book, the haunting of Hill House, by Stephen King, as I recall. I think Shirley Jackson also lived in North Bennington, where she wrote “the lottery“
    I haven’t been back since 1984, but your video makes me want to take the trip again. Of course, all the elders have passed on, but the secrets are still there!
    I probably should read Donna’s book. I just discovered the podcast “once upon a time… At Bennington College“ and Ima trippin’ again.
    Saw a lot of what is talked about, and certainly, the rumors that we all heard between professors and students seem to be true.
    I had a lot of fun, but I had my head down in the saxophone for sure. Thanks again for an awesome road trip back in time.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +3

      !!!! Wowowowowow. I have to say this is one of my favorite comments of all time. The atmosphere of Bennington is still pretty much how you described. There’s still stories of how the kids at Bennington party. The campus keeps getting better, so if you have a chance to visit, it’s absolutely worth it!!

  • @r.enee.morris
    @r.enee.morris Год назад +19

    She goes above and beyond every time!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +4

      She's gonna milk being from the area The Secret History is from every time 🤪

  • @JT33303
    @JT33303 27 дней назад +1

    Hi Anna, I’ve just finished the book this afternoon and it’s one of the best I have ever read. I’m stunned after seeing these places because in my imagination they’re just how I pictured them! Thank you and love from the UK

  •  Год назад +11

    omgggg i love finding out tidbits about the novel's inspiration 🤩 kind of a long read but esquire's "the secret oral history of bennington" goes REALLY in depth about tartt's time at bennington and it's fascinating (and sometimes hilarious)

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      Ooooh, I'd actually love to read that. I am absorbed by the atmosphere of this novel. So much mystique around it!!

  • @FishareFriendsNotFood972
    @FishareFriendsNotFood972 4 дня назад

    Few places have as evocative an atmosphere for me than Vermont in the fall

  • @karakask5488
    @karakask5488 Год назад +12

    That was awesome! Thank you for doing this. Donna Tartt is one of my all time favorites, I got to meet her once, I made a fool of myself but she still signed my books, it was definitely a highlight of my life. This was such a cool idea for a video!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +3

      I have to know... is she short or tall?

    • @karakask5488
      @karakask5488 Год назад +1

      @@AnaWallaceJohnson She was slightly taller than me, so I'd say about 5'6" ish

  • @SeanPFarley
    @SeanPFarley Год назад +3

    This video is everything. Why it took me this long to stumble upon it with all my random rabbit-hole meanderings regarding Donna and this amazing novel, I couldn't tell you. But to see even just a few places from what is my favorite novel...well, I smiled the whole way through. Even with the abandoned race track. Donna's reference is the gun-shy greyhound Francis has, right? Anyway, thank you. I am in grad school at the stunning age of 48 and my creative thesis is a memoir anchored by The Secret History. Like Richard, I, too, moved from the bleak paths of California to the gloriousness of New England (not Vermont, sadly, but Boston). While there, at 21, suffering my own weird despair, I stumbled upon The Secret History in the library - and I have adored it ever since. Seeing pieces of it "live" in this video is such a treat!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      WOW! Oh my gosh, I love this story and I am so happy you found this video. Since making this video, I feel like my relationship to the novel has become even stronger. Congrats on grad school--it's a huge step and I'm sure you'll do amazing things : )

  • @cathyg.9996
    @cathyg.9996 Год назад +16

    I absolutely loved this video Ana! It was like being in the novel. I’m a big fan of Donna Tartt and this was perfect ❤️ If she’s still writing one book every 10 years, then the next one will hopefully be out sometime in 2023. Did you read her other 2 novels?

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +3

      Thank you so much, Cathy! I haven't read the other two. I think I may be more inclined to pick up The Little Friend. Although, if a new book is due soon, maybe that one first :))

  • @Azidust
    @Azidust 3 месяца назад +4

    I thought I was the only one obsessed with the location 😂😂

  • @shawnmccomb
    @shawnmccomb Год назад +10

    I don’t think you understand…………………………………………………………………… I’m obsessed.

  • @sophiethepegasus
    @sophiethepegasus Год назад +17

    Ana, wow, this blew it out of the park. This is GROUNDBREAKING and i love the energy you put into i.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      thank you, thank you!! It was so much fun to see where the author takes inspiration.

  • @itssaiyana
    @itssaiyana 7 месяцев назад +2

    While watching this video, I thought about how pretty you are and how the warm, light energy of yours is. This video is perfect. Thank you!
    (I subscribe immediately)

  • @BaileyJean1001
    @BaileyJean1001 Год назад +12

    Once again, a true masterpiece!

  • @babysp1c3666
    @babysp1c3666 Год назад +4

    I’ve had this book on my shelf for sooo long but I’m dying to get home and read it all ASAP after watching this

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      omg, snuggle up and flip those pages, baby!! it's your sign

    • @babysp1c3666
      @babysp1c3666 22 часа назад

      Finally a year later I’m reading it and feverishly returning to this video every so often to visualise it all! About 250 pages in and so many of these locations are unfamiliar to me so far and I’m so excitedddd for them to turn up😋

  • @LezjianJen
    @LezjianJen 8 месяцев назад +2

    This is freaking fantastic and made me giggle a few times! You rock!! Wow

  • @thevibrantvixen
    @thevibrantvixen Год назад +2

    😮 Ana! … you have outdone yourself! Blown away. Thank you. Perfection.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one. Great holiday activity :)))

  • @sixtodelgadosandoval5747
    @sixtodelgadosandoval5747 Год назад +1

    Thank you so much for this. This is absolutely brilliant. I hope to one day visit, I've never been to the Northeast yet it's one of my biggest dreams in life.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      Oh, you MUST come! Late September to October is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

  • @NapoleanBuonaparte
    @NapoleanBuonaparte 9 месяцев назад +3

    The first 30 seconds felt like Donna Tartt herself was speaking.
    I don't know if you did that deliberately or it was just by chance.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  9 месяцев назад

      By chance, but I’ll take that as a huge compliment-thank you :)

  • @mashaaa468
    @mashaaa468 9 месяцев назад +2

    Could anyone let me know the page number for the Hoosatonic Inn please? Great video by the way, now I can picture theses places in my head when I read the book!

  • @amesforbooks1343
    @amesforbooks1343 Год назад +2

    The lengths you will go to for your subscribers Ana...WOOF!
    I read TSH for the first time with Jaylen's bookclub and although I enjoyed it I was missing the deeper understanding and feel of the place that you have. Thank you so much for sharing (and for the maniacle cackles) 📚🎭

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      Thank you for reading to join the bookclub. I hope you didn't mind me saying, "like" all the time in the live stream 🥲

  • @nailea9950
    @nailea9950 Год назад +2

    Omg!!! I just started TSH I’m 200 pages in this is so perfect!

  • @Nastya_Suvorova
    @Nastya_Suvorova Год назад +2

    god I need to reread this masterpiece now that I know what it really looks like😍 thank you thank you thank you!!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      😊😊😊 thank YOU! 'tis the season to crack it back open

  • @tiachu
    @tiachu Год назад +1

    One of my favorite books, thank you SOOO MUCCH FOR MAKING THIS VID WOW IM IN AWE

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      I'm glad the novel was brought to life for you!! I agree, the novel is the best of the best

  • @HA-bh1wh
    @HA-bh1wh Год назад +3

    Excellent

  • @boldbearings
    @boldbearings Год назад

    Great write up and presentation.
    You legit look like young Donna Tartt.
    If they do the bio, jump on that part. 🌟

  • @georgianatrutescu
    @georgianatrutescu Год назад +1

    Lovely!! So nice to see all these places, thank you for sharing with us! Fab idea!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      It was so much fun! (I wore the same outfit for 4 days straight shhhhh)

    • @georgianatrutescu
      @georgianatrutescu Год назад

      @@AnaWallaceJohnson Oh, my!! That's so funny, I couldn't tell there were multiple days shooting the video!! 😂

  • @jobuckley2999
    @jobuckley2999 Год назад

    Brilliant! Fun! Exciting! Loved it! Thanks Oleg. Oh. Ana you were pretty great too!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      HAHA round of applause for Oleg, the man behind everything

  • @kimberlyrichardson2848
    @kimberlyrichardson2848 Год назад +2

    You’re freaking brilliant.😎

  • @staciave
    @staciave Год назад +1

    spectacular!! makes me wanna do my own lil walking tour

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      If you can find a place, I highly suggest. Shirley Jackson also based many of her novels around the campus/ Bennington, so it's got a lot of ~flair~*

  • @cosmoshivani
    @cosmoshivani 4 месяца назад

    so beautiful.. this had me crying 😭😭

  • @ghitaelidrissi1
    @ghitaelidrissi1 8 месяцев назад

    amazing fkn video!!! and such a vibrant personnality, ty for this

  • @lisaplummer8144
    @lisaplummer8144 Год назад +3

    You spoil us rotten. ❤

  • @btamez7669
    @btamez7669 Год назад

    i read the book for the live chat but this is beyond.... perfection!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      Hope you enjoyed the chat! I was a bit nervous and over caffeinated, but it was so fun! 😋

    • @btamez7669
      @btamez7669 Год назад

      @@AnaWallaceJohnson I did!! thank you!!! i loved to listen you all of your opinions especially yours since your content speaks to me so much 💛🧡❤️

  • @bloodandaces9693
    @bloodandaces9693 7 месяцев назад

    I knew it took place in a liberal arts college in Vermont but I somehow imagined the setting as a bit more gothic or romanesque? I guess I was imagining my own uni haha. A really great and descriptive video!! Love the pretty views!!

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  5 месяцев назад

      I totally get what you mean. I think the last castle looking building is the main idea people have in their head. But it’s still so wild to me that these places fully exist!

  • @tnan123
    @tnan123 Год назад

    Beautiful tour. Thanks for sharing these places.

  • @libraryofjonathan
    @libraryofjonathan Год назад

    Great video! I might have to look into reading The Secret History.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      It's a fun one. Big 'ol book you can read in a week or so, if you're 100% in tune. Fun ride you won't regret even if you love or hate it

  • @mame-musing
    @mame-musing Год назад +2

    Now I have to read the book sooner than later. This was a great video.
    (The other day I saw that Jenna Bush Hager just announced The Secret History is the next pick for her book club. Coincidence? 🤔 📚😎)

  • @veroni1321
    @veroni1321 Год назад +1

    Ana you impress me every time you are wonderful and fabulous as well

  • @rebekahmenn2118
    @rebekahmenn2118 Год назад +1

    What a great video! I did not like the book at all, but I love this creative video.

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      Totally get it! I'm happy to provide at least some entertainment during the reading process

  • @faezafaeza7798
    @faezafaeza7798 Год назад +1

    Been waiting 💝

  • @jolafaith
    @jolafaith Год назад

    Oh my god! This was wonderful!!

  • @katheriner37
    @katheriner37 Год назад

    Bravoooooo! Now I need to finish the book lol

  • @SchDari
    @SchDari 11 месяцев назад

    Thank you, so much!❤

  • @jaynm
    @jaynm Год назад

    wow the racetrack is beautiful.

  • @SthethSavvy
    @SthethSavvy 7 месяцев назад

    Wow, thank you so much ❤

  • @seashanties8927
    @seashanties8927 Год назад +1

    Adored this ❤

  • @cindyo6298
    @cindyo6298 Год назад

    Oh I loved this!!

  • @talianiwa
    @talianiwa 2 месяца назад

    what a video!! sooo cool

  • @CJReads
    @CJReads Год назад +1

    This vid goes so hard

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      the ppl from the racetrack almost got me and this would've never happened

  • @miss_piggyy
    @miss_piggyy Год назад

    great video❤

  • @gmv17
    @gmv17 Год назад

    this is so good

  • @megkennedy2626
    @megkennedy2626 Год назад +1

    so cool

  • @graceknuckey9909
    @graceknuckey9909 Год назад +1

    5:12 Redeemed Repair being owned by Steven Corcoran UMMM

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад

      It's so wild to me that it's a fully functioning, actual place!!

  • @czowiekpismo9541
    @czowiekpismo9541 8 месяцев назад +2

    As an European no thanks, I prefer all the places I've imagined 😅

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  7 месяцев назад

      Haha! I feel you! Let that imagination run free

  • @Joy-tq2de
    @Joy-tq2de Год назад

    2:55 it’s Charles!

  • @SpringboardThought
    @SpringboardThought Год назад

    Hah so fun!

  • @francisconogueira6850
    @francisconogueira6850 Год назад +2

    This content is for free but should be paid .

  • @ahleahhook9791
    @ahleahhook9791 Год назад

    its like Forks Washington for the DA minded

  • @lauradone9232
    @lauradone9232 Год назад +4

    I read the secret history this year, honestly...wasn't the biggest fan. It was fairly misleading and had the most insufferable characters. This video definitely lines up with what I had in my head when I was reading though 👍🏼

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      Totally understand your points! At least, you know your inner narrative during the reading was 100% spot on

  • @thomasseabolt9385
    @thomasseabolt9385 Год назад

    You comment 'how these characters deviated from my own world'... Well not from mine. TSH literally hit home.

  • @jennymcevoy8961
    @jennymcevoy8961 Год назад

    ❤❤❤

  • @alsopato
    @alsopato Год назад

    holy shit

  • @loukiadams5340
    @loukiadams5340 Год назад +2

    I love this, AWJ! But unfortunately, I did not love The Secret History at all. Tartt writes the characters very well and they're supposed to be clever, and yet the dialogues that they say are dumb and vacuous. And Julian was described as charismatic, and yet where's the charisma? I've also read The Goldfinch, and just like TSH, it gave me NOTHING...

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +3

      I love this comment! I wanna hear other takes on the novel and what was a high or low point for the reader. Julian is one of the most abhorrent characters in literature for me, so I definitely agree. I think the depth of the main characters felt purposely shallow, as they're children (though old enough to be adults) cosplaying as heroic intellectuals that they have no right being! If that all makes sense!

  • @zia9861
    @zia9861 Год назад +1

    i love this so much i need to throw up

  • @inhale.exhale.2527
    @inhale.exhale.2527 11 месяцев назад

    laikan gallant! that's far better than clark kent. 😁

  • @5hif7yx86
    @5hif7yx86 Год назад

    was recommended this video by the youtuber @honorluca. Its great. Subbed for sure.

  • @username_123
    @username_123 Год назад

    damn, you are beautiful

  • @xgrayvision
    @xgrayvision Год назад

    this is absolutely amazing! thank you for your service 🫡

    • @AnaWallaceJohnson
      @AnaWallaceJohnson  Год назад +1

      I sweat and cried to make this, so I'm happy you enjoyed 🤪🤪