Language:
English
Year of publication:
1996
Titel der Quelle:
Modern Judaism
Angaben zur Quelle:
16,2 (1996) 105-134
Keywords:
Frank, Anne,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Personal narratives
Abstract:
There are various readings of Anne Frank's diary (a lesson in the liberal-humanist worldview, a work by a young girl, etc.). Following John Berryman, considers the diary a work of art which defies the fearful reality. It is a story of the victim coping with the inexorable awareness of the Final Solution, although the Final Solution itself is not placed within the diary. Examines the means by which Anne represents the unbearable horror of existence in "the secret annexe" and the sense of the looming end. The very writing of the diary (and rendering it in artistic form) is a means of fighting this horror. Anne introduced an artificial interlocuter in her diary, Kitty, which let her represent the reality in a "naive, " romanticized, and even humorous form, and also expressed her disappointment in her human surroundings in the "annexe." The diary reveals the great maturity of its author, despite her age. Anne's main goal was to preserve her human identity despite the Nazis' intentions to erase it, together with all of Jewry.
Note:
Appeared also in "Anne Frank; Reflections on Her Life and Legacy" (2000).
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