Karen Blixen

Blixen in Kenya, 1918

Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke (April 17, 1885 – September 7, 1962), née Dinesen, was a Danish author also known by her pen name Isak Dinesen. Blixen wrote works both in Danish and in English; but is best known for Out of Africa, her account of living in Kenya, and for her story, Babette's Feast, both of which were adapted into highly acclaimed motion pictures. Dinesen's short story writing was influenced by the Bible, the stories of the Arabian nights, Aesops Fables, the works of Homer, and the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, her fellow Dane.

Her memoirs of pioneering a coffee farm in Africa, where she had an affinity for all that was natural, brought her worldwide recognition as an authoress. Dinesen felt the native people – the Somali and the Maasai tribes of Eastern Africa – with their rich tradition of oral storytelling, had an ear for her romantic and "old fashioned" style of writing. She loved particularly to tell stories with rhyme because it was something unique to their culture. Blixen described them saying about her storytelling, "...'Please, Memsahib, talk like rain,' so then I knew they had liked it, for rain was very precious to us there."

Early Years

Karen Dinesen, called by her friends throughout life, Tania, was the the daughter of army officer Wilhelm Dinesen, and Ingeborg Westenholz, (and sister of Thomas Dinesen.) She was born on Rungsted, on the island of Zealand, in Denmark. Her father, a colorful character himself was a soldier-of-fotune and adventurer who lived and worked as a fur trapper among the Sokaogan Chippewa in America. He returned to Denmark but not before fathering a child with a Native American woman among the Chippewa. He wrote of his experiences in North America in the book.........? Karen's family, among the aristocratic and upper classes, sent her to school at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen. She also attended schools in Paris, and Rome. She wrote eloquently in both her native tongue and in English.

She began publishing her short stories in various Danish periodicals in 1905 under the pseudonym Osceola, the name of the Seminole Indian leader, probably inspired by her father's time in America. Wilhelm Dinesen killed himself in 1895 after being diagnosed with syphilis and when Karen was only ten years old. In many ways, as an adventurer and writer, Karen was her father's daughter; and even with the disease syphiliis whose frightening spectre would cast a pall over her future, as well.

Life in Africa

In 1914 Karen Dinesen married to her Swedish second cousin, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, giving her the title Baroness. The couple moved to Kenya, and celebrated their wedding in Mombasa the day after their arrival. As pioneers to Africa they operated a coffee plantation bought with funds donated to them by their families. Initially life in Africa for the pair was blissful as Karen wrote, "Here at long last one was in a position not to give a damn for all conventions, here was a new kind of freedom which until then one had only found in dreams!" Bror, however, gregarious and outgoing was a womanizer and frequently away for long periods on safaris or military campaigns. It was during this period (1915-1916), the first year of their marriage that Karen may have contracted syphilis from Bror. Although she never showed extreme symptoms of the disease, its diagnosis would caste a pall over the rest of her life. In those times, syphilis was treated with arsenic and mercury; two such treatments that most likely contributed to her health problems over the years. The couple separated in 1921 and were divorced in 1925.

After, she met and fell in love with English big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton, with whom she lived from 1926 to 1931. She was pregnant by him at least twice but suffered a miscarriage both times, likely due to her already fragile health. Their intimate but sometimes volatile relationship, compounded by Finch Hatton's later death in a plane crash in 1931 and the failure of the coffee plantation (due partly to the Great Depression's world wide effects), took their toll. She was forced to abandon her beloved farm in 1931 and returnn to Denmark.

Life as a writer

She returned to Denmark and began writing in earnest. In 1934, Seven Gothic Tales, her authorial debut, was published under the pseudonym of ‘Isak Dinesen’, Isak meaning laughter and Dinesen, being her maiden name. She published it in English because there was more chance of it having an audience and wider appeal. This first book, highly enigmatic and more metaphoric than 'Gothic', won great recognition, and further publication of the book in United Kingdom and Denmark would follow. Her second book, now the best known among her other ones, was her memoir Out of Africa published in 193. It chronicles her life as a pioneer on a coffee firm and firmly established her reputation, world wide acceptance as an author. She was awarded the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat in 1939.

During World War II, when Denmark was occupied by the Nazis, Blixen started to write her only full-length novel, the introspective The Angelic Avengers, under another pseudonym 'Pierre Andrezel', which was published in 1944. The horrors experienced by the young heroines were interpreted as an allegory of Nazism.

Her writing during most of the 1940s and 1950s consisted of tales in the storytelling tradition. The most famous is Babette's Feast, about an old cook, who has not been able to show her true skills, until she has an opportunity at a celebration. An Immortal Story, in which an elderly man tries to buy youth, was adapted onto the screen by Orson Welles, a great admirer of her work and life, in 1968.

Her 'tales' take not only the traditional style of storytelling, but also (most of them) actually take place against the periodical background of 19th century or even before. For the reason of this deliberate 'old-fashioned' taste, Blixen mentioned in several interviews that she wanted to express the spirit that does not exist in modern time any longer; sense of destiny and courage. Indeed, many of her ideas, eloquently yet mysteriously expressed in her stories, can be traced back to those of the Romanticism. For those who want to understand of Blixen’s concept of art of story, ‘Cardinal’s First Tale’ from her fifth book ‘Last Tales’ would probably make the most direct reference in author’s own words.

Though Danish, Blixen wrote her books in English and then translated her work into her native tongue. Her English had unusual beauty, great skill, and precision. (Blixen's later books usually appeared simultaneously in both Danish and English). As an author, she kept her public image as a charismatic, mysterious, old ‘Baroness’ with insightful third eye (which is, again, in classical tradition of a storyteller), and established herself as, if not of the main stream, an inspiring figure in Danish culture. She was widely respected by her contemporaries, such as Ernest Hemingway and Truman Capote, and during her tour to US in 1959, the list of writers who paid visit includes Arthur Miller, E. E. Cummings and Pearl Buck. Blixen was nominated for the Nobel Prize twice, in 1954 and 1957.

Illness and Death

Although it was widely believed that syphillis continued to plague Karen throughout her lifetime, extensive tests were unable to reveal evidence of syphillis in her system after 1925. Her writing prowess suggests that she did not suffer from late syphilis nor from cerebral poisoning due to mercury treatments. She did suffer a mild permanent loss of sensation in her legs that could be attributed to chronic use of arsenic in Africa.

Throughout the 1950s Blixen's health quickly deteriorated (in 1955 she had a third of her stomach removed due to an ulcer), and writing became impossible although she did do several radio broadcasts.

In her letters from Africa and later during her life in Denmark, Karen Blixen wondered if her pain was psychosomatic. Publicly she blamed her trouble on syphilis—a disease that afflicted heroes and poets, as well as her own father. Whatever her belief about her illness, the disease suited the artist's design for creating her own personal legend.[1]

Unable to eat, Blixen died in 1962 at Rungstedlund, her family's estate, at the age of 77, apparently of malnutrition. The source of her abdominal problems remains unknown.

Rungstedlund Museum

Karen Blixen lived most of her life at the family estate Rungstedlund, which was acquired by her father in 1879. The property is located in Rungsted, 13 miles NNE of Copenhagen, Denmark. The oldest parts of the estate date back to 1680, and it has been operated both as an inn and as a farm. Most of Blixen's writing took place in Ewald's Room, named after author Johannes Ewald. The property is managed by the Rungstedlund Foundation, founded by Blixen and her siblings. The property opened to the public as a museum in 1991.

Her Legacy and Works

Karen, the suburb of Nairobi where Blixen made her home and operated her coffee plantation, was named after her. There is a Karen Blixen Coffee House and Museum, set near her former home.

• The Hermits (1907, published in a Danish journal under the name Osceola)
• The Ploughman (1907, published in a Danish journal under the name Osceola)
• The de Cats Family (1909, published in Tilskueren)
• The Revenge of Truth (1926, published in Denmark)
• Seven Gothic Tales (1934 in USA, 1935 in Denmark)
• Out of Africa (1937 in Denmark and England, 1938 in USA) ISBN 0140009132)
• Winter's Tales (1942)
• The Angelic Avengers (1947)
• Last Tales (1957)
• Anecdotes of Destiny (1958)
• Shadows on the Grass (1960 in England and Denmark, 1961 in USA)
• Ehrengard (posthumous 1963, USA)
• Carnival: Entertainments and Posthumous Tales (posthumous 1977, USA)
• Daguerreotypes and Other Essays (posthumous 1979, USA)
• On Modern Marriage and Other Observations (posthumous 1986, USA)
• Letters from Africa, 1914 – 1931 (posthumous 1981, USA)
• Karen Blixen i Danmark: Breve 1931 – 1962 (posthumous 1996, Denmark)

Further Reading

Donelson, Linda ( ) Out of Isak Dinesen: Karen Blixen's Untold Story ISBN 0964389398

Trivia

Karen Blixen's grand nephew, Anders Westenholz, is also an accomplished writer, who among other things have written books about her and her literature.

External links

• Karen Blixen – Isak Dinesen website
• Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen short biography
• Karen Blixen's Kenya
• Karen Blixen Museum, Denmark
• Karen Blixen Museum, Kenya
• The Paris Review Interview

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