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The waxwork of Anne Frank at Madame Tussaud’s, Amsterdam |
Versions, Omissions, Translations
of the so-called Anne Frank Diary
|
| The original, taken from the Dagboeken van Anne Frank, 1986 |
Almost literal translation into English |
Diary of Anne Frank, US, 1952; Anne Frank’s Diary, UK, 1958 |
US-English Critical Edition, 1989 |
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition, UK, 1997
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| 20 June 1942 (Vb) |
| Om nu het idee van de langverbeide vriendin nog te verhogen in m’n fantasie wil ik niet de feiten zo maar gewoon als ieder ander in dit dagboek plaatsen, maar wil ik dit dagboek, de vriendin-zelf laten zijn en die vriendin heet Kitty. |
To now further raise the idea of the long-awaited friend in my fantasy I don’t want to place facts in the diary just so ordinarily as anyone else, but I want this diary, itself to be my friend and this friend’s called Kitty. |
In order to enhance in my mind’s eye the picture of the friend for whom I have waited so long I don’t want to set down a series of bald facts in a diary like most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty. |
In order to enhance in my mind’s eye the picture of the friend for whom I have waited so long I don’t want to set down a series of bald facts in a diary like most people do, but I want this diary, itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty. |
To enhance the image of this long-awaited friend in my imagination, I don’t want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would do, but I want the diary to be my friend, and I’m going to call this friend Kitty. |
| 7 August 1943 (Vb) |
| Een onderbreking in de Achterhuisschetsen. |
An interruption in the Achterhuis-sketches. |
omitted |
An interruption in my sketches of life in the ‘Secret Annexe.’ |
omitted |
| 28 January 1944 (Vb) |
| ...welke blunders ze ook mogen slaan of welke onwaarheden en bedenksels uit de duim gezogen zijn. |
...whatever blunders they also may hit or whatever untruths and fabrications they cooked up. |
...however many blunders they make, and to whatever extent they allow their imaginations to run away with them. |
...however many blunders they make and to whatever extent their imaginations run away with them. |
...no matter how many blunders they make or how often they let their imaginations run away with them. |
| 29 March 1944 (Va+Vb) |
| Stel je eens voor hoe interessant het zou zijn, als ik een roman van het Achterhuis uit zou geven |
Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a novel of the Achterhuis |
Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a romance of the ‘Secret Annexe’ |
Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a romance of the ‘Secret Annexe’ |
Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a novel about the Secret Annexe |
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| As featured in Table 13 of Anna Frank’s Novel: The ‘Diary’ is a Fraud, but here with the original Dutch as well. In the entry of 28 January 1944 AMF was describing the accounts her housemates were giving to their protectors, and trying to say bedenksels ‘uit zijn duim zuigen’: to “dream/make sth. up, fabricate/manufacture/invent sth., spin a yarn, tell a tall tale” – Van Dale Woordenboek, N-E. |
