Synopses & Reviews
In June 1942, Anne Frank received a red-and-white- checked diary for her thirteenth birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in an Amsterdam attic to escape the Nazis. For two years, with ever-increasing maturity, Anne crafted a memoir that has become one of the most compelling documents of modern history. She described life in vivid, unforgettable detail, explored apparently irreconcilable views of human nature—people are good at heart but capable of unimaginable evil—and grappled with the unfolding events of World War II, until the hidden attic was raided in August 1944.
But Anne Frank's diary, argues Francine Prose, is as much a work of art as a historical record. Through close reading, she marvels at the teenage Frank's skillfully natural narrative voice, at her finely tuned dialogue and ability to turn living people into characters. And Prose addresses what few of the diary's millions of readers may know: this book is a deliberate work of art. During her last months in hiding, Anne Frank furiously revised and edited her work, crafting a piece of literature that she had hoped would be read by the public after the war.
Read it has been. Few books have been as influential for as long, and Prose thoroughly investigates the diary's unique afterlife: the obstacles and criticism Otto Frank faced in publishing his daughter's words; the controversy surrounding the diary's Broadway and film adaptations; and the claims of conspiracy theorists who have cried fraud, along with the scientific analysis that proved them wrong. Finally, Prose, a teacher herself, considers the rewards and challenges of sharing one of the world's most read, and most banned, books with students.
How has the life and death of one girl become emblematic of the lives and deaths of so many, and why do her words continue to inspire? Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife tells the extraordinary story of the book that became a force in the world. Along the way, Francine Prose definitively establishes that Anne Frank was not an accidental author or a casual teenaged chronicler, but a writer of prodigious talent and ambition.
How has the life and death of one girl become emblematic of the lives and deaths of so many, and why do her words continue to inspire? Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife tells the extraordinary story of the book that became a force in the world. Along the way, Francine Prose definitively establishes that Anne Frank was not an accidental author or a casual teenage chronicler, but a writer of prodigious talent and ambition.
Review
“Francine Prose...takes Annes story and adds to it a new perspective....Prose tells this story with tremendous beauty, pathos and a profound awareness of tragic coincidence.” San Francisco Chronicle
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“This is an amazing book…thorough, thoughtfully, beautifully written…[It] focuses on Anne Frank as an accomplished writer…I was thrilled to find it.” Miami Herald
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“Provocative…penetrating…With ANNE FRANK, then, Prose means to remove Frank from the wistful amber of her posthumous celebrity and reveal her to us in a more realistic light.” Los Angeles Times
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“Prose admirably recreates the events in the attic over the yearsno small feat[with] all the drama of a classic whodunit…Transcendent criticism…[A] case so brilliantly proven.” Chicago Tribune
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“Compelling…With compassion and grace, Prose looks at Anne Frank as Anne wished to be seen: above all, as a writer.” Christian Science Monitor
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“Proses book is a stunning achievement…Now Anne Frank stands before us…a figure who will live not only in history but also in the literature she aspired to create.” Minneapolis Star Tribune
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“A deeply felt reappraisal of the work and its global impact.... [Prose] makes a persuasive argument for Anne Franks literary genius.” New York Times Book Review
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“Passionate…A sensitive, beautifully written and fascinating account of the myriad aspects of Anne Franks life, death and diary” Haaretz (Israel)
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“Provocative.... A penetrating analysis.” Los Angeles Times
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“Substantially researched and wide-ranging…This probing and informed book introduces readers to a far more complex and accomplished young woman than the Anne we met in our adolescence.” Jewish Book World
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“Illuminating…A compelling story…Francine Prose explains some of the many sides of this remarkable story.” Washington Post
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“Talented author Francine Prose approaches Anne Frank with the awe and respect of one writer for another…Proses research uncovers what many will be surprised to discover.” Jerusalem Post
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“Impassioned…compelling…No one has made the case as convincingly and forcefully as Francine Prose does that Anne Frank aspired to be taken seriously as a writerand should be.” San Diego Union-Tribune
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“A fascinating book...riveting to read...” Anne Roiphe, Moment Magazine
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“A valuable resource…useful and well-written and researched” Philadelphia Inquirer
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“Prose is commanding and illuminating...definitive, deeply moving inquiry into the life of the young, imperiled artist.... Extraordinary testimony to the power of literature and compassion.” Booklist (starred review)
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“Prose is clear-headed, tough, and fair, and her book, though in places immensely sad, is superb. It should be cherished alongside the masterpiece that inspired it.” Boston Sunday Globe
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“An impressively far-reaching critical work, an elegant study both edifying and entertaining...full of keen observations and fascinating disputes.” New York Times
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andquot;An adroit and lively portrait.andquot;andmdash;Kirkus Reviews
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andldquo;Lively, complex, and inclined to shock, Guggenheim (1898andndash;1979), the modern art collector, emerges as the embodiment of the age in Proseandrsquo;s judicious biography.andrdquo;andmdash;Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
“A definitive, deeply moving inquiry into the life of the young, imperiled artist, and a masterful exegesis of Diary of a Young Girl…Extraordinary testimony to the power of literature and compassion” -Booklist (starred review)
In Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife, Francine Prose, author of Reading Like a Writer, deftly parses the artistry, ambition, and enduring influence of Anne Franks beloved classic, The Diary of a Young Girl. Approved by both the Anne Frank House Foundation in Amsterdam and the Anne Frank-Fonds in Basel, run by the Frank family, this work of literary criticism unravels the complex, fascinating story of the diary and effectively makes the case for it being a work of art from a precociously gifted writer.
Synopsis
A spirited portrait of the colorful, irrepressible, and iconoclastic American collector who fearlessly advanced the cause of modern art
Synopsis
One of twentieth-century Americaandrsquo;s most influential patrons of the arts, Peggy Guggenheim (1898andndash;1979) brought to wide public attention the work of such modern masters as Jackson Pollock and Man Ray. In her time, there was no stronger advocate for the groundbreaking and the avant-garde. Her midtown gallery was the acknowledged center of the postwar New York art scene, and her museum on the Grand Canal inand#160;Veniceand#160;remains one of the worldandrsquo;s great collections of modern art. Yet as renowned as she was for the art and artists she so tirelessly championed, Guggenheim was equally famous for her unconventional personal life, and for her ironic, playful desire to shock.
and#160;
Acclaimed best-selling author Francine Prose offers a singular reading of Guggenheimandrsquo;s life that will enthrall enthusiasts of twentieth-century art, as well as anyone interested in American and European culture and the interrelationships between them. The lively and insightful narrative follows Guggenheim through virtually every aspect of her extraordinary life, from her unique collecting habits and paradigm-changing discoveries, to her celebrity friendships, failed marriages, and scandalous affairs, and Prose delivers a colorful portrait of a defiantly uncompromising woman who maintained a powerful upper hand in a male-dominated world. Prose also explores the ways in which Guggenheimandrsquo;s image was filtered through the lens of insidious antisemitism.
About the Author
Francine Prose is the critically acclaimed author of nineteen novels, including the National Book Award Finalist Blue Angel and My New American Life. She has written three other novels for young adults: After, winner of the California Young Reader Medal, an IRA/CBC Young Adults' Choice, and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age; Bullyville, a PW Best Book and Book Sense Children's Pick; and her most recent, Touch. She is also the author of two picture books, Leopold, the Liar of Leipzig and Rhino, Rhino, Sweet Potato. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, Francine Prose was Director's Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. She lives in New York City.