Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 839.81372
EAN: 9780312135256
ISBN: 0312135254
Label: Picador
Manufacturer: Picador
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: 1995-10-15
Publisher: Picador
Release Date: 1995-10-15
Studio: Picador

With exceptional grace, Judith Thurman 's classic work explores Dinesen's life--her privileged but unhappy childhood in Denmark, her marriage to Baron Blixen, their immigration to Africa on the eve of World War I, and her passionate affair with Denys Finch Hatton. Until the appearance of this book, the life and art of Isak Dinesen have been--as Dinesen herself wrote of two lovers in a tale--"a pair of locked caskets, each containing the key to the other." Judith Thurman has provided the master key to them both.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Authoritative biography
Comment: "Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller" is a comprehensive and very insightful look at Karen Blixen, and reading this book you will have a very good idea of who she was, warts and all. Every now and then I had to wade through a boring page or two, especially the précis of some of her books. These short summaries were relevant and served to cast light on the thinking of the author, but I had to skip them. This book will appeal to literature buffs, and if you are not, it is still a good book and well worth reading.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: INTO AFRICA
Comment: A very interesting and thoroughly researched book on Isak Dinesen a/k/a Karen Blixen. A must read for any "Out of Africa" fan. Lots of great photos too!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A little disillusioned over here.
Comment: Ah, so I finally finished this biography last night. I had fallen in love with Out of Africa and Seven Gothic Tales, and in reading her biography, I had hoped to fall in love with Isak Dinesen, the Pellegrina. Sadly, I fell out of it.

The fault is not in the biography. It's a fascinating life, and it was good to have the blanks filled in as far as her childhood, and what happened in Africa, the continent to which she spoke and which spoke back to her. The popularity of her work, the American reaction to it, I found this all good reading. But you know, eventually, she turned into quite the old megalomaniac. Thurman shows us where it all came from. (spoilers ahead) Dinesen had always believed that she was special, and was infuriated by her family's insistence on equality, fairness and calm. She felt restrained by it, stifled, dismissed. She felt that the loss of her father was uniquely hers, that it mattered less in the lives of her siblings that their father killed himself. She wanted to somehow own or claim that.

And sadly, the circumstances of her erotic life seem to have warped her terribly. She had syphilis, and had to live carefully and chastely even while madly in love (though there is a question regarding this as far as her relationship with Finch-Hatten). I can see how this would do a woman in, I really can. She spoke of syphilis as both the price and the source of her gift, a horrible bargain with the devil that made her a genius at telling tales. But the cost was high, and the damage was deep.

The warping took various ugly shapes as she aged. She tried to usurp her sisters and brothers in the eyes of their children, found her nieces and nephews disappointing in their love of their parents. She berated and belittled her most faithful secretary and companion, Clara. She asked for and received constant adoration from younger men, letting them bask in the glow of her admiration and encouragement in exchange for a strict kind of allegiance. She manipulated, bored, dominated, demanded, and through it all, she suffered the humilation of syphilis and aging. While young, she wanted to be the thinnest in the room. She died of anorexia, unable and unwilling to eat, addicted to amphetamine.

That's what I get for reading a biography. I still love her work, and in truth, that's all any writer owes the reader; the work. That aspect of this life, the story of her writing, is especially well-covered and interesting. I enjoyed Thurman's biography, and I think it's extremely well-written and full of specific, interesting information and theories. I just feel personally disappointed in who Isak Dinesen turned out to be.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: "I Had a Farm in Africa..."
Comment: Isak Dinesen will always be remembered for her farm in Africa, although she had much more than that, not the least of which was a talent for writing and an appetite for life. Why dames like this are not admired by the feminists , I'll never know. She had it all: dough, looks, energy, courage. Doris Duke here in the States is a possible American version of this kind of gal; maybe Katherine Hepburn succeeded in creating the film persona of this sort of aristocratic "liberated" women, with family money backing her all the way. It's easy to be brash when you've got a sugar daddy who happens to be a Baron. Still, while many of her class were happy to do nothing with their lives in style, this one had the guts to make an extraordinary life. Thurman has written a thoroughly researched, beautifully edited appreciation of this woman. She tells the story well, but also provides a very convincing analysis of Dinesen's lifelong commitment to the art of fiction. A fascinating biography.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: story of an amazing Lady, living in tumultuous times
Comment: First captivated, despite the miscasting of Robert Redford, by the film "Out of Africa", I read on to find out who this woman was. I discovered she died the same year I was born, and lived through those marvellous decades that include WW1, the roaring 20's, the Depression, the boiling 60's and through to the 70's. What changes in the world she saw, and what stories she had to tell. I thought there was nothing left for me to learn about her; I've read her books & her letters, have visited her home in Rungstedlund, Denmark, watched documentaries about her, seen the films ("Babette's Feast", in addition to "Out of Africa", are based on her books). However, this biography is a revelation on every page. Minutely researched (obviously), Ms Thurman leads us through the details that explain why she did what she did, where she obtained her passion, and her compassion, and how she went from a sheltered Danish aristocratic life, to colonial Africa, and then to becoming a world-renowned author. Excellent read for all who love stories of the grand figures of the 20th century.

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