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Should Anne Frank's life be novelised? With added steam?

A place to debate issues or to rant about what's on your mind. In addition to discussions about historical fiction, books, the publishing industry, and history, discussions about current political, social, and religious issues and other topics are allowed, so those who are easily offended by certain topics may want to avoid such threads. Members are expected to keep the discussions friendly and polite and to avoid personal attacks on other members. The moderators reserve the right to shut down a thread without warning if they believe it necessary.
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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Wed July 14th, 2010, 2:59 am

Pride & Prejudice was not about real people who died fewer than 100 years ago in what was arguably the most henious series of events to have occured in human history. That would be the difference.

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Wed July 14th, 2010, 3:04 am

Its the story of a girl that died in a horrific way in 1940? something.

I guess I don't see the point of putting a halo on the girl's head and not allowing anything being written about her because it makes people feel uncomfortable. Not everyone has to read it, but for those who want to they should be given the chance.
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Michy
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Post by Michy » Wed July 14th, 2010, 4:08 am

It's not about halos or plaster saints; of course Anne was a real flesh-and-blood person with faults just like everyone else. When I say her diary is an icon it's not that I'm putting her on a pedestal and trying to make a saint out of her, it's that I see her as one of the few voices who speak for the 6 million people who were annihilated. For a writer to take her personal account and turn it into what amounts to entertaining reading cheapens it and, as someone else has said, is disrespectful to the memory of Anne and the others.

I think for me the problem is that it is still too recent. I wasn't alive during that time, obviously, but it is still troubling to me that something so atrocious could have taken place if not within my lifetime, then within my parents' lifetime.
Perhaps 100 or 150 years from now someone could create a "steamed-up", fictionalized account of Anne's life and it wouldn't bother me. Of course, I won't be alive then so I'll never know.

And, of course, many people don't and won't feel the same way I do about this. No doubt the book will sell thousands (if not millions) of copies and the author will make a pile of money off it.
Last edited by Michy on Wed July 14th, 2010, 4:17 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Wed July 14th, 2010, 10:30 am

Actually, its been 60 years so I think that's a decent amount of time.

And there are a lot of people who wrote interesting, compelling and heart wrenching books about the Holocaust. The book Night comes to mind.
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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Wed July 14th, 2010, 1:37 pm

The author absolutely can write what she wants, but people are going to be upset about this.

The difference between Anne Frank's diary and books written by adults is greater than you might think. Anne's private thoughts as she was living in that annex were completely open and unguarded. Yes, I know her father kept some things out when it was first published, but these are the impressions of a very young person living through a horrible time. Is it really possible to improve upon something like that?

The rememberances of an adult cannot possibly be compared to the freshness and openness of a sheltered 14 year old girl. There is no perspective. It is all raw emotion.

It's one thing to add imagined elements to a story written by an adult, and another to build on the private thoughts of a young girl. Perhaps the diary being published in the first place should be considered an invasion of privacy. Compounding that seems at least a little bit wrong.

That said...does anyone want to read a fictionalized and steamed up version of Night?

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Post by boswellbaxter » Wed July 14th, 2010, 2:11 pm

[quote=""LoveHistory""] Perhaps the diary being published in the first place should be considered an invasion of privacy. Compounding that seems at least a little bit wrong.

That said...does anyone want to read a fictionalized and steamed up version of Night?[/quote]

As I recall (it's been a while, and I'm too lazy to dig out my copy), Anne hoped that the diary might be published after the war ended (she mentions something in the diary to that effect after hearing an underground radio broadcast), but I doubt her aspirations went so far as to have 21st-century adults sexing up her story.
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Susan
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Post by Susan » Wed July 14th, 2010, 2:40 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]As I recall (it's been a while, and I'm too lazy to dig out my copy), Anne hoped that the diary might be published after the war ended (she mentions something in the diary to that effect after hearing an underground radio broadcast), but I doubt her aspirations went so far as to have 21st-century adults sexing up her story.[/quote]

Yes, your memory is correct. Anne also wanted to be a writer when she grew up.
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Divia
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Post by Divia » Wed July 14th, 2010, 4:32 pm

[quote=""LoveHistory""]
That said...does anyone want to read a fictionalized and steamed up version of Night?[/quote]

I'm not sure you can sex up night. However two teenagers stuck in a small space together is bound to create some tensions, for sure.

I suppose in the end it doesnt matter what any of us thing, The book will be published.
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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Wed July 14th, 2010, 5:03 pm

Another vote of disgust, distaste, and disbelief. I certainly shall not be reading or buying this work.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Wed July 14th, 2010, 6:52 pm

[quote=""Susan""]As someone who teaches Anne's diary to 8th graders, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Apart from explaining some British-isms and the context of World War II, I found that my urban 8th graders had no trouble understanding Anne's thoughts and feelings.[/quote]

Which version of the diary do you teach, Susan? The 1950s version or the more recent one with bits added back in? As I recall there was a whole debate over whether sections, often very personal, which Anne didn't intend for publication should be included.
Divia wrote:Actually, its been 60 years so I think that's a decent amount of time.
That raises an interesting point. When does contemporary life become history? When it's no longer within living memory? But UK schools cover the 1960s and 1970s in history class.
Michy wrote:Not knowing if Anne and Peter had sex, and not knowing the even bigger question of who tipped off the SS to their hiding place, are part of their story and should be left as-is.
Actually I would be interested in reading a novel which focused on the betrayal and how it came about. Although I think I'd prefer the writer used made-up characters appropriate to the period and context rather than writing about any of the people who were accused - because so much mud has already been thrown and nothing has ever been proved. The house was overlooked by so many others and what I didn't realise, the annexe feature it had was a typical design feature for that type of house - so it would be easy for a neighbour to see a window open after working hours and put two and two together.
Last edited by Miss Moppet on Wed July 14th, 2010, 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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