[In Dalton Trumbo's fascinating novel fragment Night of the Aurochs] the subject of Jews and Nazis is mixed with the themes of sex, power, and guilt….

Near the end of his life, former Auschwitz commandant Grieben, the narrator of Trumbo's novel, begins to believe that he knew Anne Frank, that he was kind to her before she died, and that she appreciated his kindness….

It is perfectly logical for Trumbo to have made Anne Frank's unfinished life pivotal to the action of his unfinishable novel. After 16 years of work—interrupted by several screenplay assignments—Trumbo had completed only 10 chapters (100 printed pages), less than a third of the projected whole. Thanks however to Robert Kirsch's excellent editing and his inclusion of Trumbo's detailed synopses, letters, and notes, Night of the Aurochs (primitive, bison like creatures allegedly kept by Goering), tells two very interesting stories: the private history of a...