Anne Frank, Again

Image from my Anne Frank in Translation exhibition by Kathy Knapp

This Sunday, I will have the honor of leading a book club conversation focused on Ruth Franklin's The Many Lives of Anne Frank.  This is a truly special biography which explores the complexity of what can ever truly be known about Anne as a person and as a writer within the context of her status as an icon. In it, Franklin argues: "“For the Diary to realize its potential as a book that can combat prejudice of all kinds, it must perform the difficult balancing act of being at once universal and particular.” 

As the numerous examples featured in the book demonstrate, this is a notoriously difficult thing to do. And yet, as Gillian Perry argued in The Legacy of Anne Frank, Anne comes the closest to success of pretty much any historical figure of the 20th century. 

How this came to be was the subject of my 2021 exhibition Anne Frank in Translation.

When I first worked on it, I wondered what else could possibly be said about Anne Frank. Since it opened, I've come to view it as one of my best traveling exhibits. The premise is simple, and yet the potential for discussion and consideration is seemingly endless. 

If you happen to be free this Sunday at 10:30 am, please join me for this discussion. You don't have to have read the book yet, but you will certainly want to by the end.