An Obsession with Anne Frank: Meyer Levin and The"diary"

Lawrence Graver's thorough investigation of the controversy surrounding Anne Frank and the play based on her diary is as intense as a page-turning mystery novel. Graver weaves the tale of bringing Anne Frank's world-famous diary to the stage, and casts an overlooked player in a major role. Meyer Levin, a Jewish writer relatively well-known in the 1950s, and one of the most successful Jewish writers to write about Jewish themes at that time, was the first to review Anne Frank's diary in the States. In fact, he was instrumental in getting the diary published, and he forged a friendship with Otto Frank. The friendship turned sour as Levin fought for rights to compose the stage script for 1955's "The Diary of Anne Frank." In a legal battle that lasted thirty years, Levin vs. Frank lost Levin his rights to the script he felt best represented Anne--and her Jewishness. Frank and Doubleday sided with the well-known Hacketts--who would win a Pulitzer for their then-loved, now-criticized Everyman version of Anne's diary--and staged the play to rave reviews around the world. Levin took his script to Israel, fighting legal battles in court even to stage it there. Graver does an excellent job of exposing the story and the personalities of all its characters, including Lillian Helman. But Graver rightly shies away from demonizing Levin and canonizing Frank, or vice versa. His loyalty is first to accuracy, and an account that could easily become polarized by a mission to perpetuate the saintliness of Anne Frank and her family comes off as more complex and, ultimately, more informative.