Literary fiction takes a new dimension in Donna Tartt’s novels, where meticulous descriptions and characters invite readers into a fully fleshed out universe. Despite her expansive literary works, Tartt herself remains an elusive creative powerhouse.
Born in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1963, Tartt emerged as a literary force with her debut novel “The Secret History” in 1992. Inspired by family tales and her parents’ bookish habits, tartt developed a passion for reading and writing at a young age, and published her first poem when she was only 13 years old. Alongside her family, she cites charles dickens, edgar allan poe and her job at the local library as her earliest literary influences. Known for a decade-long writing process, Tartt continued her career with “the little friend”, which was published in 2002, and “the goldfinch” in 2013. The latter won her a Pulitzer prize and solidified her status as a literary genius.
Despite her low-profile demeanour, she passionately expounds on her creative process in interviews, offering glimpses into her expanded imagination and devotion to world-building. This process includes firstly writing everything by hand, stapling notes on the pages and using different coloured paper for each draft, and typing the story only after these initial steps are completed. Her creative routine is tedious and dedicated, which explains tartt’s decade-long hiatuses between book releases. In the past she condemned the “expectation that novels – like any other consumer product – should be made on a production line.”
“I tried to write faster and I don’t really enjoy it. I don’t enjoy the process. (…) no fun for the writer, no fun for the reader.” she stated in a rare interview for CBS Mornings. She also explains that “(her) novels aren’t really generated by a single conceptual spark, it’s more of a process of many different elements that come together unexpectedly over a long period of time.”
Tartt’s rare public appearances force devoted fans to cling onto every word, which she speaks in a captivating, yet formal voice. Subject to hearsay about her personal life, Tartt remains enigmatic about her personal life and displays a distinctive public image, characterised by her short bob and tailored suits, which she pairs with striped shirts and brightly coloured ties.
At the age of 19, Tartt began her studies at Bennington College, a small and prestigious liberal arts college in Vermont, where she began writing her first novel, “The Secret History”, a chilling narrative of a group of secluded students who murder one of their peers. In the 80’s, Bennington college inspired decadence and erudition. Besides Donna Tartt, Bennington’s graduates included Joan Didion’s daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, as well as Bret Easton Ellis, author of “American Psycho” to whom “The Secret History” is co-dedicated. When looking at the figures which populated Tartt’s cohort, it’s nearly impossible to not create connections between Bennington and the quaint fictional college town of Hampden, where “The Secret History” takes place. The forgotten stories of Bennington and their influence in Tartt’s novel continue to fascinate readers even now, three decades after the novel’s publication.
Despite readers’ curiosities about Tartt’s personal life, she is devoted to keeping away from the public eye, currently not having any social media presence. As “the goldfinch” was published almost a decade ago, her devoted fans are expecting a new novel in the following years. Until then, Tartt remains an elusive creative power, whose masterful use of suspense and surprises extends beyond the pages of her books, and takes on a role in readers’ lives.