The article analyzes functions of allusions to Ancient Greek and Roman culture in the novel The Secret History (1992) by contemporary American author Donna Tartt. This academic novel comprises heterogeneous elements of popular literature and overwhelming influence of Antiquity which shapes the plot of the novel and its escapist and decadent ideology. Narrative strategies can be compared to the role of chorus in an antique tragedy. Return to the past is both a compositional strategy and cultural orientation of the characters. Methodology of cultural semiotics of Yu. Lotman allows to define the function of Antiquity in the novel as code which “transforms self-perception of the text-generating personality and translates meanings into a new semiotic system”.
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