Elinor Brecher, who writes obituaries for The Miami Herald, is the author of ``Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors (Penguin Group, 1994). She asked this of Francine Prose, author of ``Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife'' (Harper, $24.99):

Q: On pages 174-175, you explore the issue of the Diary's potentially positive impact on people faced with moral and ethical decisions. While I agree that it's possible for "one citizen of Ukraine or one Argentine policeman [to] opt for humanity and choose life over death,'' does that really matter anymore? Neither the Diary nor any other Western -- and certainly Jewish -- work of literature is likely to reach -- much less influence -- a huge segment of the world's population, which views morality and ethics through a completely different prism.

A: You'll notice that, like the people I interviewed at the AF Foundation, I say ``one policeman, one Ukrainian.'' Not for a moment do I imagine that literature can be used to turn the tide of history, though of course religious texts have been used to change history for the worse. But on the other hand I think it's quite likely that at least one moral conscience, and maybe a few more, have been awakened forever by reading a book such as Anne Frank's diary, which forces us to see the world through the eyes of someone else, a fellow human being.

• 11 a.m. Saturday in Chapman. With her will be Ana Menendez Mary Gordon, Michael Thomas and Sam Tanenhaus.

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