Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke

Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke in Kenya, 1918.
Born:	April 17, 1885 Rungsted, Zealand, Denmark
Died:	September 7, 1962 Rungsted, Zealand, Denmark
Occupation:	Writer
Influences:	William Shakespeare

Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke (April 17, 1885 – September 7, 1962), née Karen Dinesen, was a Danish author also known under her pen name Isak Dinesen. Blixen wrote works both in Danish and in English. She is best known, at least in English, for Out of Africa, her account of living in Kenya, and one of her stories, Babette's Feast, both of which have been adapted into highly acclaimed motion pictures. Karen Blixen in Kenya, 1918 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Denmark. ... Map showing location of Zealand within Denmark. ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Denmark. ... Map showing location of Zealand within Denmark. ... For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The French word née (feminine) or né (masculine) (or the English word nee) is still commonly used in some newspapers when mentioning the maiden name of a woman in engagement or wedding announcements. ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Out of Africa is a memoir by Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of Danish Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke), first published in 1937. ... Babettes Feast (Danish: Babettes gæstebud) is an Academy Award winning 1987 Danish movie. ...

Early Years

The daughter of writer and army officer Wilhelm Dinesen, and Ingeborg Westenholz, (and sister of Thomas Dinesen), she was born into a Unitarian bourgeois family in Rungsted, on the island of Zealand, in Denmark, and was schooled in art in Copenhagen, Paris, and Rome. Thomas Fasti Dinesen VC , Croix de Guerre (9 August 1892 – 10 March 1970) was a Danish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ... Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). ... Map showing location of Zealand within Denmark. ... For other uses, see Copenhagen (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area  - City 1,285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban 5...

She began publishing fiction in various Danish periodicals in 1905 under the pseudonym Osceola, the name of the Seminole Indian leader, possibly inspired by her father's connection with American Indians. From August 1872 to December 1873, Wilhelm Dinesen had lived among the Chippewa Indians, in Wisconsin, where he fathered a daughter, who was born after his return to Denmark. (Wilhelm Dinesen hanged himself in 1895 when Karen was nine because he was diagnosed with syphilis). A pseudonym (Greek: , pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons legal name. ... Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 20, 1838) was a war chief of the Seminole Indians in Flo. ... For other uses, see Seminole (disambiguation). ... This article is about the people indigenous to the United States. ... For other uses of Chippewa, see Chippewa (disambiguation). ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Area  Ranked 23rd  - Total 65,498 sq mi (169,790 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 310 miles (500 km)  - % water 17  - Latitude 42° 30′ N to 47° 05′ N  - Longitude 86° 46′ W to 92° 53′ W Population  Ranked... Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum. ...

Life in Africa

In 1914 Karen Dinesen married a distant Swedish cousin, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, and the couple moved to Kenya, where they established and ran a coffee plantation, hiring African workers. 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 von Blixen-Finecke (July 25, 1886 – March 4, 1946) was a Swedish baron, writer, and African big-game hunter; he was the original archetype of the Great White hunter One of a pair of identical twins born to an aristocratic Swedish family (his twin, Hans, died in a plane... For the several U.S. counties named Coffee, see Coffee County. ...

The two were quite different in education and temperament and Bror Blixen was unfaithful to his wife. She developed syphilis toward the end of their first year of marriage, which some say was eventually cured, created medical anguish for years afterwards. The Blixens separated in 1921 and were divorced in 1925.

During this time she met and fell in love with the English big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton, who used her home as a base for his safaris from 1926 to 1931. She became pregnant by him twice but suffered miscarriages, probably due to her already fragile health. Finch Hatton died in the crash of his light airplane in 1931. At the same time, the failure of the coffee plantation (due partly to the world-wide economic depression) forced the abandonment of her beloved farm and her return to Denmark, where she stayed for the rest of her life. Denys George Finch Hatton (April 24, 1887 - May 14, 1931) was a big-game hunter, and the lover of Karen Blixen, who wrote about him in her book Out of Africa. ... For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation). ...

Life as a writer

On returning to Denmark Karen Blixen began writing in earnest. Her first book, Seven Gothic Tales, was published in the US in 1934 under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen. This first book, highly enigmatic and more metaphoric than Gothic, won great recognition, and publication of the book in the UK and Denmark followed. Her second book, now the best known of her works, was Out of Africa, published in 1937, and its success firmly established her reputation as an author. She was awarded the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat (a Danish prize for women in the arts or acedemic life) in 1939. Strawberry Hill, an English villa in the Gothic revival style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole Gothic fiction is an important genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. ... The Tagea Brandt Rejselegat (Travel Award) is awarded annually, on the 17th March, to distinguished Danish female academics, artists and writers. ...

During World War II, when Denmark was occupied by the Germans, Blixen started her only full-length novel, the introspective tale The Angelic Avengers, under another pseudonym, Pierre Andrezel; it was published in 1944. The horrors experienced by the young heroines were interpreted as an allegory of Nazism. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... National Socialism redirects here. ...

Her writing during most of the 1940s and 1950s consisted of tales in the storytelling tradition. The most famous is "Babette's Feast", about a chef who spends her entire ten-thousand-franc lottery prize to prepare a final, spectacular gourmet meal. "The Immortal Story", in which an elderly man tries to buy youth, was adapted to the screen in 1968 by Orson Welles, a great admirer of Blixen's work and life. Babettes Feast (Danish: Babettes gæstebud) is an Academy Award winning 1987 Danish movie. ... The Immortal Story is a 1968 film direct by Orson Welles and starring Jeanne Moreau. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

Her "tales" follow a traditional style of storytelling; most take place against the period background of the 19th century or even earlier. Concerning this deliberately "old-fashioned" taste, Blixen mentioned in several interviews that she wanted to express a spirit that no longer exists in modern times: the sense of destiny and courage. Indeed, many of her ideas, eloquently yet mysteriously expressed in her stories, can be traced back to those of Romanticism. Blixen’s concept of the art of the story is perhaps most directly expressed in the story "Cardinal’s First Tale" from her fifth book, Last Tales. Romantics redirects here. ...

Though Danish, Blixen wrote her books in English and then translated her work into her native tongue. Critics describe her English as having unusual beauty, great skill, and precision.^{[citation needed]} (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 an insightful third eye, and established herself as an inspiring figure in Danish culture, although shunning the mainstream.

She was widely respected by her contemporaries, such as Ernest Hemingway and Truman Capote, and during her tour of the US in 1959, the list of writers who paid her visits included Arthur Miller, E. E. Cummings, and Pearl Buck. Blixen was nominated for the Nobel Prize twice, in 1954 and 1957. Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... Truman Capote (pronounced ) (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffanys (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a non-fiction novel. ... Arthur Bob Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. ... E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), popularly known as E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. ... Pearl S. Buck (birth name Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker, Chinese name 賽珍珠) (June 26, 1892 - March 6, 1973) was a novelist. ... Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ...

Illness and death

Although it was widely believed that syphilis continued to plague Karen Blixen throughout her lifetime, extensive tests were unable to reveal evidence of syphilis 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. General Name, Symbol, Number arsenic, As, 33 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 15, 4, p Appearance metallic gray Standard atomic weight 74. ...

During the 1950s Blixen's health quickly deteriorated, and in 1955 she had a third of her stomach removed due to an ulcer. Writing became impossible, although she did 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, although gastric syphilis, manifested by gastric ulcers during secondary and tertiary syphilis, was well-known prior to the advent of modern antibiotics. Percentage of population affected by malnutrition by country, according to United Nations statistics. ...

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, 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of Copenhagen, Denmark's capital. The oldest parts of the estate date back to 1680, and it had 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. For other uses, see Copenhagen (disambiguation). ... Johannes Ewald (1743 - 1781) was a Danish national dramatist and poet. ...

Legacy and works

Popular opinion holds that Karen, the suburb of Nairobi where Blixen made her home and operated her coffee plantation, was named after her - in actual fact, it was named after her cousin Karen Melchior. However, in Judith Thurman's very well-researched biography of Karen Blixen, she states that the buyer of the farm, Remy Martin, "...intended to turn the farm into a suburb of expensive homes...and he planned to call both district and the club "Karen" in Karen Blixen's honor." There is a Karen Blixen Coffee House and Museum, set near her former home. Karen is a suburb of Nairobi in Kenya, lying south west of the city centre. ... Nairobi (pronounced ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. ...

Some of her works were published posthumously, including tales previously removed from earlier collections and essays she wrote for various occasions.

• 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)
• 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)

Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ... Out of Africa is a memoir by Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of Danish Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke), first published in 1937. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

Trivia

Karen Blixen's grand nephew, Anders Westenholz, is also an accomplished writer, and has written books about her and her literature, among other things. Anders Westenholz[1] (born October 21, 1936) in Copenhagen is a Danish psychologist and writer. ...

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Karen Blixen

• Karen Blixen Museum, Hørsholm, Denmark
• Asteroid 3318 Blixen, named after the author
• The Paris Review Interview

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... The Karen Blixen Museum is the home of the author Karen Blixen (1885–1962), in Roskilde, Denmark. ... Hørsholm is a municipality (Danish, kommune) in Frederiksborg County in the northern part of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. ... 3318 Blixen is a main belt asteroid discovered by P. Jensen and K. Augustesen in 1985. ...

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
• Biography, Judith Thurman