Dark academia's deadly allure and the timeless appeal of prep style

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2022

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donna Tartt's The Secret History turned 30 this year. Since the book's release, the novel has sold millions of copies and become a classic - the blueprint for a cluster of aesthetic and literary works under the label "dark academia." Host Brittany Luse and culture writer Alice Vincent examine the novel's long shelf life and why it's still relevent to young people today. Then she sits down with author Olivie Blake, who shares how authors are bringing new perspectives to the genre.

Then, Brittany is joined by Avery Trufelman, host of the podcast Articles of Interest. In her latest season, Trufelman explores the classic look of ivy style, and its journey from the hallowed halls of academic institutions to retail stores near you.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at [email protected].

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to It's Been a Minute From NPR.
0:06.0	I'm Brittany Luce.
0:07.5	And a warning to listeners, this segment contains mentions of sex.
0:11.3	Today, we're going to talk about one of my favorite books from back when I was in my early
0:17.0	20s.
0:18.0	The Secret History.
0:20.3	The Secret History is a moody novel by Donna Tarte, about a close-knit group of six
0:25.3	students studying classical Greek at an exclusive liberal arts college in New England.
0:30.7	The friends are bound not only by a love for ancient history, but by seduction, betrayal,
0:36.5	and murder.
0:38.5	Obviously, I ate it up.
0:42.8	The Secret History turned 30 this year.
0:45.1	And let me tell you, it was a hot book when it first dropped.
0:48.6	It sold out its first run like that.
0:51.4	And the Secret History is still hot today.
0:54.2	The book has sold millions of copies, and it's still making waves and zeitgeist.
0:59.1	But there's also been a recent trend that's giving the novel a little extra juice.
1:04.2	That trend is called Dark Academia.
1:08.6	Dark Academia is incredibly popular in book communities on social media.
1:13.5	On TikTok, the Dark Academia hashtag has over 3 billion views.
1:19.3	And YouTube is filled with dark academia vlogs.
1:22.3	Today is going to be a very fun day because we are doing an entire day of dark academia
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.