《安妮日记》在美出版历经曲折

文/埃里克·科拉里 译/郑文博 审订/缪肖强

《安妮日记》在美出版历经曲折

文/埃里克·科拉里 译/郑文博 审订/缪肖强

Documents show that publishers were initially wary.

档案记载，出版商最初都谨小慎微。

I t has been over 60 years since The Diary of Anne Frank was first published in the United States. Frequently listed among the most signi fi cant books of the twentieth century, the classic account of the 13-year-old girl who hid from the Nazis with her family in an attic in Amsterdam has long been an international bestseller. Many came to know the story in grade school, or through the adaptations for stage and screen. Few realize how dif fi cult it was for the story to be published, and how even more dif fi cult it was to get the book adapted for the stage. Several collections across the Harry Ransom Center help to tell this story.

《安妮日记》在美国首次出版至今已有60余载。这部作品是一个13岁女孩的经典记述，当年她和家人为躲避纳粹迫害而躲藏于阿姆斯特丹的一间阁楼。该书屡次入选20世纪最重要书籍，一直全球畅销。许多人读小学时就知道了安妮的故事，或者看过改编的舞台剧和影视剧。没有多少人知晓当初出版有多艰难，更别说将书改编成舞台剧了。存放于哈里·兰塞姆研究中心的一些收藏品有助于揭开这段历史。

[2] 1945年，安妮的父亲奥托·弗兰克从奥斯威辛集中营获救后，发现自己是家中唯一的幸存者。他从梅普·吉斯那里拿到了他女儿的日记，正是这位世交帮助弗兰克一家藏身，并在他们被捕后不久从家中找回了这些文稿。1947年，弗兰克亲自整理编辑了这些日记，以“秘密后屋”为名由阿姆斯特丹互通出版社出版发行了荷兰语版。

[2] After his liberation from Auschwitz in 1945, Anne’s father Otto Frank discovered he was the sole survivor ofthe family. He was given his daughter’s diaries by Miep Gies, a family friend who had helped hide the Franks and had recovered the documents from the house shortly after the family’s arrest. Frank edited the diaries himself, and had them published in Dutch under the title Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex) by Contact Publishing of Amsterdam in 1947.

[3] In the years after, Frank struggled to find an American publisher. After the manuscript was offered to several publishers, it eventually made its way to Alfred Knopf, Inc. in July of 1950. According to the rejection letter found in the Alfred Knopf, Inc. Records at the Ransom Center, the reviewer found the manuscript to be “childish” and “very dull reading”:

[3]之后几年，弗兰克一直找不到可出版此书的美国出版商。手稿提供给一些出版商后，最终于1950年7月转到阿尔弗雷德·克诺夫出版社。根据兰塞姆研究中心“克诺夫出版社档案”中找到的拒绝信，当时出版社审稿人认为该稿“读来幼稚”且“十分枯燥”：

[4] “Despite the unusual circumstances of the two years it covers (during which time 13-year-old Anne Frank and seven others were hiding out from the Gestapo in Amsterdam), this diary is a dreary record of typical family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions.

“The style, occasionally effusive, never compelling, is not at all distinguished. The perceptions, naturally childish, are never sparked by originality. It is not in any way a literary achievement, and would not add prestige to a publisher’s list.”

[4]“尽管这本日记描述了那两年不同寻常的处境（在此期间，13岁的安妮·弗兰克与其余7人一直在躲避阿姆斯特丹的盖世太保），但记录的都是家庭常有的争吵、琐碎的烦恼和青春期情感，笔调枯燥。

“文字偶尔情感四溢，却始终无法吸引人，写作风格毫不鲜明。文中观点自然幼稚，没有任何独创性。无论如何，这部作品都算不上文学杰作，也不会给出版商带来声誉。”

[5] The report is notable for a numberof reasons. First, it reflects a growing fatigue in the United States regarding Holocaust stories only five years after the end of the war. The full extent of the atrocities of the Nazi regime had yet to be disclosed and there was a belief that, in the post-war period, focusing on such dark stories made it impossible for society to move on. The document is also a great example of how publishing houses reviewed manuscripts, and an inside look into how sometimes they got it wrong.

[5]这份报告之所以值得关注，有若干条理由。首先，它反映了在二战结束仅仅五年之后，美国对纳粹大屠杀相关故事的疲倦感日渐增长。纳粹政权的暴行还没有得到充分揭露，却有人认为战后继续关注这些黑暗往事难以推动社会前进。这一评论也是个很好的例子，说明了出版社如何评估原稿，同时让人得以深入了解审稿人有时如何做出了误判。

[6]一年之内，双日出版社（克诺夫出版社与双日出版社最终于2008年合并）获得了《安妮日记》在美国的出版权，但出版社推迟了出版时间。美国犹太人委员会出版的《评论》杂志的几位编辑获悉该日记，于是写信给双日出版社，希望获准刊发手稿的部分章节。根据存放在兰塞姆中心关于《评论》杂志的档案，双日出版社最初拒绝了，表示希望找一家“报价高的杂志社”联合发表。但他们失败了，又回头找到《评论》杂志，以250美元的价格出售了连载权与版权。因此，《安妮日记》在美国首次出版便是刊发在1952年 5月号和6月号《评论》杂志上。由于反响非常热烈，双日出版社继续出版了日记全文。

[6] Within a year, the American rights to the Diary of Anne Frank were picked up by Doubleday (Knopf and Doubleday would eventually merge in 2008), but Doubleday delayed publication. The editors of Commentary magazine, published by the American Jewish Committee, learned of the Diary and wrote to Doubleday requesting permission to publish excerpts of the manuscript. According to the records of Commentary, held at the Ransom Center, Doubleday initially refused, stating that they had hoped to syndicate the story“in a magazine that pays top prices.”When they failed to find a magazine, Doubleday returned to Commentary, who paid $250 for the serial rights and copyright credit. Thus, the fi rst time The Diary of Anne Frank appeared in print in the United States was in the May and June 1952 issues of Commentary. The response was enthusiastic, andDoubleday moved forward with publishing the full manuscript.

[7] After the overwhelming success of the book version of The Diary of Anne Frank, Otto Frank turned his attention toward a stage adaptation. Novelist Meyer Levin wrote one adaptation, but when Frank couldn’t find a producer for it, he looked for other adapters. Among them was Lillian Hellman, who declined the opportunity. According to an interview David Goodrich had with Garson Kanin, who directed the Broadway production, Hellman said, “I think it is a great historical work which will probably live forever, but I couldn’t be more wrong as the adapter. If I did this it would run one night because it would be deeply depressing. You need someone with a lighter touch.”Hellman ultimately recommended Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, who would go on to write the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. Hellman, for her part, invested in the producing company for The Diary of Anne Frank. Her contract and investment statements are included in her papers at the Ransom Center. The play opened on Broadway on October 5, 1957, and ran for over 700 performances.

[7]纸质本《安妮日记》获得巨大成功后，奥托·弗兰克将注意力转向戏剧改编。小说家迈耶·列文写了一部改编本，但是弗兰克找不到制作人，于是寻求其他改编者。莉莲·赫尔曼是其中之一，但她婉拒了这个机会。根据大卫·古德里奇对该作品百老汇舞台剧导演加森·卡尼的采访，赫尔曼曾说过：“我认为这是一部可能流芳百世的历史大作，但让我改编绝不合适。如果我来改编，可能只能演一晚，因为内容太过压抑。这需要风格更明快的人来做。”赫尔曼最终推荐了弗朗西斯·古德里奇和艾伯特·哈克特夫妇，他们接手创作的剧本后来获得了普利策戏剧奖。赫尔曼则投资了《安妮日记》的制作公司。她的合同和投资声明都保存在兰塞姆中心她的档案里。1957年10月5日，舞台剧《安妮日记》在百老汇首演，公演超过700场。

（译者单位：浙江农林大学外国语学院）

How The Diary of Anne Frank First Made It to the U.S.

By Eric Colleary