Language:
English
Year of publication:
1994
Titel der Quelle:
Modern Jewish Studies Annual
Angaben zur Quelle:
9 (1994) 61-75
Keywords:
Roth, Philip.
;
Frank, Anne,
;
Frank, Anne, In literature
;
James, Henry, In literature
;
Jewish girls Diaries
;
Jewish literature
Abstract:
Interprets Roth's novel as a reflection of the direction of post-Holocaust American Jewish literature and the legacy of Anne Frank's diary in it. The fictitious Jewish novelist Nathan Zuckerman looks for a literary apprenticeship; in the house of his mentor, he finds Henry James and Anne Frank resurrected. The question whether Anne Frank may be considered as the mother of the new Jewish literature (or whether its parent will be Zuckerman himself) depends on the question how to perceive "Het Achterhuis" - as a sentimental diary of a young girl, a document on the persecution of Jews, or a work of modern literature. In his attempt to master Anne Frank, Zuckerman either tries to marry her, to reduce her status to a writing child, or to turn her into his mad double, burdened by his own problems. In all of these he fails. Roth calls on the reader to regard Anne Frank as belonging to a third literary category, relating to both reality and fiction.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink