I faced a variation of this challenge writing the biography of Upton Sinclair (with a focus on his feminism). All other biographers had been men. It was a struggle to get published but eventually I succeeded with University of Nebraska Press.
I disagree completely with the notion of “cultural appropriation,” that only someone from a group can write about that group. If an author does his/her research, they can write about anything that interests them. Can only a Jewish writer write about the Holocaust? No. One of my reading interests is the Spanish Civil War. Can only a Spaniard write about the War? No. Some of the best writing about the War has been done by an English author, Paul Preston. It’s only in this country it seems that people have gotten in a dither about this.
Ruth, you wrongly disparage Meyer Levin in his insistence that someone Jewish was the more appropriate person to write a play from Anne Frank's diary than people such as the Hollywood screenwriters, the Hacketts, who knew nothing of the Antisemitism that led up to the Holocaust nor anything about Anne Frank's experience in Holland before or during the hiding period, and certainly not what she experienced after being arrested and deported. Topping this off was the fact that they were the choice of Lillian Hellman, the self-hating Jew known for her Antisemitic comments, who wanted nothing Jewish in the play, even to the extent of having the Hacketts, draft after draft, remove the few Jewish pieces they had put in. Perhaps to properly judge Levin one would have had to witness first hand the concentration camps and the stacks of corpses as he had in the days immediately after the liberation, and then to know that he was searching for a Jewish voice that could communicate to a general audience the horror and butchery of Jew-hatred. In Anne Frank, he found this voice. And then Anne Frank's true thoughts and experiences were distorted and what she truly wanted to say was silenced.
Ralph, thanks for reading! Of course all you say is correct - but remember that even before the Hellmans came on the scene, Levin was outraged over the idea that Carson McCullers would do the play. Indeed, you're right that Levin was deeply affected by his experience of witnessing the liberated camps. My point is that this led him to overlook aspects of Anne's identity other than Holocaust victim--teenager, woman, Dutch person, etc.
I faced a variation of this challenge writing the biography of Upton Sinclair (with a focus on his feminism). All other biographers had been men. It was a struggle to get published but eventually I succeeded with University of Nebraska Press.
I objected to the movie about Jackson for the same reason. Thanks for the link to the podcast episode.
A Small Light is very worthwhile. Worth reading Cynthia Ozick’s powerful and angry essay about the use and abuse of the Anne Frank story.
I really enjoyed reading this. Good luck with the manuscript!
Also...this totally doesn’t pertain to me because I want all of my characters to be fat, funny-ish, fifty year old privileged Jews!
Go Ruth!
I disagree completely with the notion of “cultural appropriation,” that only someone from a group can write about that group. If an author does his/her research, they can write about anything that interests them. Can only a Jewish writer write about the Holocaust? No. One of my reading interests is the Spanish Civil War. Can only a Spaniard write about the War? No. Some of the best writing about the War has been done by an English author, Paul Preston. It’s only in this country it seems that people have gotten in a dither about this.
Ruth, you wrongly disparage Meyer Levin in his insistence that someone Jewish was the more appropriate person to write a play from Anne Frank's diary than people such as the Hollywood screenwriters, the Hacketts, who knew nothing of the Antisemitism that led up to the Holocaust nor anything about Anne Frank's experience in Holland before or during the hiding period, and certainly not what she experienced after being arrested and deported. Topping this off was the fact that they were the choice of Lillian Hellman, the self-hating Jew known for her Antisemitic comments, who wanted nothing Jewish in the play, even to the extent of having the Hacketts, draft after draft, remove the few Jewish pieces they had put in. Perhaps to properly judge Levin one would have had to witness first hand the concentration camps and the stacks of corpses as he had in the days immediately after the liberation, and then to know that he was searching for a Jewish voice that could communicate to a general audience the horror and butchery of Jew-hatred. In Anne Frank, he found this voice. And then Anne Frank's true thoughts and experiences were distorted and what she truly wanted to say was silenced.
Ralph, thanks for reading! Of course all you say is correct - but remember that even before the Hellmans came on the scene, Levin was outraged over the idea that Carson McCullers would do the play. Indeed, you're right that Levin was deeply affected by his experience of witnessing the liberated camps. My point is that this led him to overlook aspects of Anne's identity other than Holocaust victim--teenager, woman, Dutch person, etc.