In a recent post I blasted Anne Frank as a “one trick pony” and said that it was disgraceful that the young author had rested on her laurels after writing a single book. I went on to take the world of literary criticism to task for fawning over a writer who seemed even more stubborn than J.D. Salinger in her refusal to write a follow-up. I now regret those remarks, and I apologize to the entire Frank family.
As embarrassing as it is now, my refusal to read The Diary of Anne Frank in the 5th grade was not popular with my teacher at the time either. I still firmly believe that reading another person’s diary is morally wrong, whether the school district insists upon it or not, but recent e-mails to me have made it clear that this is an exceptional case, so I’m now rethinking my policy.
One ironic thing is that I’ve done the full tour of the Anne Frank House and I quite enjoyed it. I vaguely remember there being detailed explanations of what we were looking at, and I think for a brief time I must have understood the gravity of the story. But in my defense, the famous Amsterdam attraction is very near the Grey Area, which has probably the best reputation for quality among all Amsterdam coffee shops. So it was a strange twist of fate that made me forget most of what I saw, and it wasn’t really my fault at all. If anything, I’m the real victim here.
Nevertheless, I regret my previous statements and I intend to go back to the Anne Frank House soon, and this time I’ll go straight there.
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