Once Upon a Time… at Bennington College

3.7 (181)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
WEEKLY SERIES

It’s the groves of academe: Bennington College, the wildest and wickedest school in America. In the last great decade: the 1980s. Bennington class of ’86, class of Bret Easton Ellis, future writer of American Psycho and co-leader of the literary Brat Pack; Jonathan Lethem, future writer of Motherless Brooklyn and MacArthur Fellow; and Donna Tartt, future writer of The Secret History and Pulitzer Prize winner. All three are, at various times, infatuated and disappointed with one another, their friendships stimulated and fueled by rivalry as much as affection. And all three will mythologize Bennington in their fiction—fiction that, as we’ll discover, isn’t always fiction, is often fact—and thereby become myths themselves. From Vanity Fair's Lili Anolik, comes the latest installment in the Once Upon a Time… franchise, Once Upon a Time… at Bennington College. This is a tale of money, murder, madness, and—of course—genius. This is, too, a multi-dimensional expose: the secret history of The Secret History revealed; the secret history of three of the greatest writers of Generation X revealed; and the secret history of Generation X itself revealed. Once Upon a Time at...Bennington College is an Audacy original. This follows Season One: Once Upon a Time...in the Valley, a real-life psychological thriller about underage adult star Traci Lords.

See All Season 2 (16)

3.7

out of 5

181 Ratings

The host voice

2022-10-16

Candy O fom hogtown

The story is good but excruciating to listen to the host because she speaks so close to the microphone I can hear her saliva building up and for someone who has a high sensitivity to sounds - it’s physically painful to listen so I had to stop
Misguided

2021-05-30

Steve Lavender

A very informative and well researched history, but problematic. I am convinced by the argument that Traci Lords was ambitious and manipulative, that she knew what she wanted and pursued it aggressively. But so what? She was a child, and deserved to be protected, if even against her own bad judgement. This series ignores that completely.
Vapid, shallow tripe

2022-03-15

HarrietBrown666

I thought this would be about the intersecting lives of rising literary powerhouses. But this podcast has no substance at all. The syrupy, giggly host wastes time fawning over the tediously obnoxiously vain Bret Easton Ellison; she glosses over substance to focus on Ellison’s Wayfairers and indulge him his petty grievances. What about Quintana, Joan Didion’s daughter at Bennington? What about Donna Tartt? We’re only given shreds and asides. Mostly this rag consists of a bunch of C-level students rehashing passé glories that hold no value to objective listeners whatsoever. Who green lit this steaming tripe? I demand a redo of worth!
Florid,rambling and disjointed

2022-01-09

Kbuds

I really wanted to enjoy this podcast, but I found the narrative style overly flowery and unfocused.
Nope nope nope

2021-12-19

anaoaxaca

Terrible narrative structure, navel gazing, unnecessary editorials that turn the focus back on the host of this podcast. I have no idea what the point is, not have I learned anything after listening to four episodes. I wanted to like this but it is gossipy garbage that doesn’t know how to tell a story. I’ve stopped listening.
She was 15 is the ONLY argument

2021-08-17

Reeege

Kinda gross
10/10

2021-04-27

dulceSomyself

Great Storytelling!
Perfect

2021-01-22

AliCjay

So good ! Please make this a movie Much love from BC 🇨🇦 ✌🏻
Painfully Bad Narration

2021-01-26

Sarah898989

The narration is painful to listen to and I still can't figure out exactly what this podcast is supposed to be be about. Still the story was interesting enough to listen to, despite the annoying narrators.
Well paced

2020-12-27

soodge123

A touchy subject during a touchy time. Well researched and presented. Complicated stories evoke different feelings in different people and this provides enough great information to formulate your own opinion.

It’s the groves of academe: Bennington College, the wildest and wickedest school in America. In the last great decade: the 1980s. Bennington class of ’86, class of Bret Easton Ellis, future writer of American Psycho and co-leader of the literary Brat Pack; Jonathan Lethem, future writer of Motherless Brooklyn and MacArthur Fellow; and Donna Tartt, future writer of The Secret History and Pulitzer Prize winner. All three are, at various times, infatuated and disappointed with one another, their friendships stimulated and fueled by rivalry as much as affection. And all three will mythologize Bennington in their fiction—fiction that, as we’ll discover, isn’t always fiction, is often fact—and thereby become myths themselves. From Vanity Fair's Lili Anolik, comes the latest installment in the Once Upon a Time… franchise, Once Upon a Time… at Bennington College. This is a tale of money, murder, madness, and—of course—genius. This is, too, a multi-dimensional expose: the secret history of The Secret History revealed; the secret history of three of the greatest writers of Generation X revealed; and the secret history of Generation X itself revealed. Once Upon a Time at...Bennington College is an Audacy original. This follows Season One: Once Upon a Time...in the Valley, a real-life psychological thriller about underage adult star Traci Lords.