Literature / Writers Datebook: April 17
Brief biography of Karen Blixen (alias Isak Dinesen), considered the greatest Danish writer of the 20th century. She is famous for her accounts of experiences in Kenya and her short stories.
Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke (April 17, 1885 – September 7, 1962) was a Danish author who wrote under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen. She was born in Rungsted, Denmark. Her parents were Ingeborg Westenholz Dinesen and Wilhelm Dinesen, a writer and an army officer. She started her education in Copenhagen's Royal Academy of Arts, and later educated in Italy, France, Switzerland and England. At 22, she started writing short stories. Seven years later (1914), she married her Danish cousin Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, also a writer and a big game African hunter.
Life in Kenya, East Africa
The couple went to live on a coffee plantation in Kenya. Her life there is recounted in her autobiographical work Out of Africa, which was published when she was 52. It tells about her experiences as a coffee farmer in Kenya, revealing the sensitivity and depth of her love for the place. This highly successful book was the basis of a 1985 Hollywood Oscar-Award winning film of the same title starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, directed by Sydney Pollack.
Dinesen was undergoing unhappy times when she met and fell in love with English Denys Finch-Hatton, a game pilot. She divorced her husband but soon also lost her lover Finch-Hatton who was killed in a plane crash. Her troubles continued with another devastating loss when her farm failed commercially. Eventually she returned to Denmark to write.
Writing Career
She adopted the name pen name Isak and chose English as her literary language although she also translated some of her works in Danish.
Her books in English include Seven Gothic Tales (1934), Out of Africa (1938), Winter's Tales (1942) and The Angelic Avengers (1944), which was recognized by the Danish readers as a satire on Nazi-occupied Denmark.
In her last book, Shadows on the Grass (1961), she returned to Kenya for inspiration.
From 1950, she then embarked on a series of romantic tales that won her worldwide recognition. Such stories concerned with the problems of personal identity and destiny. 'Babette's Feast,' with lighter and humorous touch also became a successful film.
Rungstedlund Museum
Dinesen lived most of her life at the family estate Rungstedlund located in Rungsted, 13 miles of Copenhagen. The place was acquired by her father in 1879. Most of her writing took place in Ewald's Room, named after author Johannes Ewald, 18th-century Danish national playwright and poet. Founded by the Blixen's family, the property is managed by the Rungstedlund Foundation. It was opened to the public as a museum in 1991.
Legacy
The suburb of Nairobi where Dinesen made her home and her coffee plantation was named after her. Nearby, is the Karen Blixen Coffee House and Museum.
Karen Blizen died at the age of 77.
Photo credit:
Karen Blixen. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain. Baroness Karen Blixen-Finecke at Kastrup Airport CPH, Copenhagen 1957-11-02.
Resources:
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby (1993)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography. 3rd
Ed, ed. by Jennifer Uglow (1999)
(c) April 2009. Updated April 17, 2024. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment