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Anne Frank’s Steamy Secret Annex
According to a new fictionalized life of Anne Frank, the secret annex might have been a little bit, er, steamy.
Annexed, penned by British YA author Sharon Dogar, will be published in both Great Britain and the United States this fall. It tells the story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager whose eloquent diaries of her life in hiding from the Nazis were published after her death in the German concentration camps. But the tale is told from the vantage point of Peter van Pels, the teenage boy whose family shared the cramped attic hiding space with the Frank family and with whom Anne shared a brief romance.
According to Anne’s diary, the relationship between her and Peter van Pels, who also died in the concentration camps, never went much further than many shared confidences and a few experimental kisses. However in Dogar’s re-telling of the tale, things get quite heated between the pair. While her publisher confirms the author removed scenes of the pair making love from the final version of the book, he also said that the author believes Anne and Peter “had sex.”
Not surprisingly, the surviving members of the Frank family are not happy. Buddy Elias, Anne’s first cousin and childhood playmate, told the British Telegraph, “I do not believe their terrible destiny should be used to invent some fictitious story.”
While one hates to call BS on writers using real events and classic novels to create their own original tales (if we did, amazing books ranging from Bel Canto to Wide Sargasso Sea would not exist), Annexed feels more than a bit icky. That’s not totally Dogar’s fault. As authors ranging from Francine Prose to Cynthia Ozick have pointed out, The Diary of Anne Frank holds the iconic status in our culture that it does as a result of many editorial omissions and revisions that began with Anne herself, but continued on with her father and others who wished tell the story of her life in ways that buttressed points they wanted to make.
So what makes Dogar so wrong? Well, there is a big difference between omitting material (as Frank’s father and early editors did) and making the stuff up. Maybe there is just something about telling tales about children who ultimately died horrible, horrible deaths, but Annexed has the feel of something that would have been better off not written – or, at least, not written the way it is. If Dogar wanted to make-up a tale about two teenagers hiding from the Nazis who enjoy a brief affair before being found and sent to their deaths, there was nothing to stop her. That’s why it’s called fiction.
What do you think? Would you buy this book for your child or read it yourself?
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0 Comments
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Oh, no. | In Our Study commented on Jun 23 10 at 9:42 amMarj commented on Jun 22 10 at 12:20 pmI do find it distasteful, so will not be reading it. I agree that it would be better if they went with straight-up fiction. Whether or not Anne and Peter took their relationship further is ultimately none of our business and irrelevant. They both died horrible deaths, and any story involving them with always be shadowed by that knowledge.
alison commented on Jun 22 10 at 2:14 pmIf she had gone with straight up fiction, her book would be forced to stand on its own merits. By fictionalizing Anne Frank, the author has created interest (negative interest is still interest) in her novel and the quality of her writing is beside the point. This is really no different from fan fiction and as such it probably should not have been published, no matter how good or bad it may be as a work of fiction.
Amy commented on Jun 23 10 at 9:43 amBeyond distasteful. I won’t read it. Maybe in another century it would feel different, but the Frank family’s history is just too recent. When you have relatives still living who remember them, that’s just too soon.
Barbara commented on Jun 23 10 at 11:58 amComments
Completely disgusting without redeeming value. In death Anne Frank has been raped. Doger has not stepped over a dead body – a child’s murdered body no less, she has stomped on it – for a few quick bucks. Obviously she doesn’t give a damn either about surviving family members who have already gone through hell. What is the difference between what she has committed and the nazis who took out the gold fillings from the teeth of the people they killed? They were out for the bucks too; the only difference being that she hadn’t killed Ms. Frank herself first.
Jackie S Brooks commented on Jul 14 10 at 4:38 pmComments
It should be withdrawn, but I guess that’s too much to hope for in this sick world. I certainly won’t be reading it. Sharon Dogar should be ashamed of herself.
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