Letters from Africa, 1914-1931

by Isak Dinesen, Karen Blixen, Frans Lasson (Editor)

Here is a rich new biographical perspective on the brilliant storyteller whose sophisticated romantic fiction...made her an international success and a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature..._these letters+ contain the raw material that was later transformed into her classic memoir Out Of Africa.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Classics, Danish, History

516 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Pseudonym used by the Danish author Karen Blixen.

Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke (Danish: [kʰɑːɑn ˈb̥leɡ̊sn̩]), born Karen Christentze Dinesen, was a Danish author, also known by the pen name Isak Dinesen, who wrote works in Danish, French and English. She also at times used the pen names Tania Blixen, Osceola, and Pierre Andrézel.

Blixen is best known for Out of Africa, an account of her life while living in Kenya, and for one of her stories, "Babette's Feast," both of which have been adapted into Academy Award-winning motion pictures. She is also noted for her Seven Gothic Tales, particularly in Denmark.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads has many benefits, and one certainly is to remind us of the books we read and loved a long time ago. Today Karen Blixen's Out of Africa showed up in my news feed, and I was catapulted back in time, about ten years, I would say (estimating where I lived and how old my children were, the only system I rely on to keep chronological order).

I actually haven't read Out of Africa itself, but remember spending months with this thick collection of letters between Blixen family members, reading every single one of them carefully. After a visit to Karen Blixen's house and museum in Denmark, I was spellbound by her for a while, and read most of her short stories, as well as quite a lot of literature on her experience both in Europe and Africa. I read museum catalogues as well and was captivated by the photographs that showed her frail body and strong mind. And on display in the museum was my favourite cartoon that showed Hemingway bowing to her, insisting that she should have had his Nobel Prize!

"After you, baroness..."

Oh, that stirs up quite a lot of bitterness in me, as I think they should both have had it, along with Clarice Lispector, Virginia Woolf and plenty of other WRITERS! But I am digressing. Always planning to read her chef-d'oeuvre last, after studying her letters and short fiction, I somehow stopped on the finishing line. Therefore I am still looking forward to reading that novel with the lovely first sentence: "I had a farm in Africa..." that I have started on so many times I know it by heart. It is such a melancholy, poetical way of looking back on her lost life in Africa.

The letters give the real life background to that nostalgia: they tell of family frustration, problems of various kinds (financial, social, emotional), and they do that in their own unique way of letter communication. As opposed to fictional works, they don't explain the wider context of a conversation. They don't fill in explanations on family relationships, on things that happened between letters.

But they give details and authentic voices, and Karen Blixen's family is a collection of extraordinary people, all with voices well worth hearing. Between the lines we see the sad love stories, the health issues, the conflicts take shape, and we follow the economic struggles. Finally, the farm in Africa is lost.

I don't think I would recommend to start with these letters and the short stories like I did, and as I have still to read "Out Of Africa", I am not the right person to recommend it either, but I can say from the bottom of my heart that Karen Blixen is a fascinating personality who lived through one of the most exciting eras in world history with a brilliant intelligence and a mission!

That is reason enough to start getting to know her from any one of the many possible angles. And I am still on a mission to read her masterpiece!

[Katrina Sark · Rating 4 out of 5]

1914
p.5 – To Mary Bess Westenholz, April 1, 1914 – When I observe the various races here I feel that the superiority of the white race is an illusion. We are able to learn much more than they; even the Somalis have difficulty in handling a machine, and can only just manage a lamp (yesterday they let one smoke in my fine white bathroom so that it was black all over). But when it comes to character I think they surpass us. When I think that we have 1200 young men on the farm here, who live ten or twelve to a wretched little grass hut, and that I have never seen an angry face or heard quarreling, that everything is always done with a song and a smile, that from what I have heard, coarseness or impertinence are completely unknown concepts, that they are constantly seen with their arms about each other and pulling thorns our of each other’s feet – and think what trouble there would be with 1200 white workmen, I think they are better people than we are. They never drink, but are very addicted to every kind of tobacco, to smoke and to chew, and become intoxicated to the point of ecstasy with meat, which they love, and dancing.
p.12 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, May 28, 1914 – All the white people out here are pressing the government to raise the “Hut Tax,” the tax on natives, from 3 rupees to £1, in order to make them work; I think it is a sorry idea to force an entire nation that is now rich, into poverty in such a way, but on the other hand, I don’t think the natives can go on living in their present fashion; life has grown too easy for them, after the tribal wars; to a certain extent the wild animals, and especially the dangers of Arabian slave traders, have disappeared; previously the men had enough to do as hunters and warriors, not they do absolutely nothing, let the women, as before, work the soil and the cattle, and degenerate. As a whole I don’t think black and white can live together in one country; the black will be destroyed.
p.26 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Nov. 18, 1914 – It is always irritating to hear the white people here, especially the Englishwomen- although some of the Swedes have learned it from them – talking about having “laid the boys down and given them 25-50 and so on.” They do not understand the language, and beat them for a misunderstanding, so they are reduced to rags. The women are the worst. So the result is that they cannot get any boys, which not surprising; I myself would certainly not go and work anywhere where there was a risk of being thrashed. None of our neighbours can get a boy and are furious with us; all the boys who were working here during the last rains are coming back now from as far away as Embu and Kisumu, we have hundreds more than we can use, and they work well here, but if we do not take them on they prefer to go back rather than work anywhere else. It is the same with houseboys.
1916
p.35 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Christmas Eve, 1916 – The other day we drove out to an absolutely delightful place, Amanzimtoti, with a splendid beach, like Fanø. I am learning to drive and it is tremendous fun to drive oneself.
1917
p.41 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, February 17, 1917 – I do so much want to start painting again and hope I will have time when I get everything in order at home. Some time when I get back to Denmark I will go to art college. I think that one must have a certain amount of experience before one can assimilate one’s personality in some kind of art, but I think that later one can then transform it again into the art; I believe that I have much more feeling for color and line now than a few years ago.
p.44 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, April 19, 1917 – Life here is very like it was in Denmark about the year 1700. We get mail at most only once a month, the roads are impassible as soon as the weather is bad; for instance, it is impossible for me to get into Nairobi at the moment. Bror rides in and out, but as you can only ride at a walk in the mud I find it too much bother.
p.46 – June 1, 1917 – Out here the was is becoming a heavier and heavier burden for us, it makes everything difficult and some things impossible, and the worst thing of all is that they have to take so many natives down to G.E.A. as porters, so the labor problem casts a longer and longer grim shadow over all the plans. I am glad that I have such good boys, Fara, Juma…
1918
p.67 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, May 17, 1918 – Naturally Finch-Hatton and van de Weyer stayed to dinner – it is the custom in this country that people decide to stay on from one hour to the next – and for the nigh as well; then I went to Nairobi next day with Finch-Hatton for lunch. I am really sad that he has gone; it is seldom that one meets someone one is immediately in sympathy with and gets along so well with, and what a marvelous thin talent and intelligence is. Then a certain class of Englishmen have an extraordinary pleasant nature; Alan Thompson, my travelling companion on the voyage home in 1915, was rather similar, but still far less charming than Denys. He has now gone to Egypt to get flying instruction, probably in Cairo, and will go on to Mesopotamia; I sincerely hope that I shall see him again. I think it is great good fortune for a country to have a class of people who have nothing other to do than follow their own bent, and who have been brought up to observe the phenomena of life from above – and if I had a son I would send him to Eton. In Denmark where everyone has grown up in the same restricted conditions I think it would be a good thing to have a little injection of different ways of thinking now and again; out here one sometimes feels that most people’s horizon at home is restricted to an unfortunate extent.
p.69 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, May 20, 1918 – Society here is divided up by a strictly defined order of precedence which rests almost solely on the length of time one has been out here. All the “old” Settlers club together and look down on the new arrivals with the greatest superiority. People like Delamere and Cole and van de Weyer, who were here before the railroad came, and quite unbeatable, and those who arrived las year or this are of absolutely no consequence. Incidentally, Galbraith Cole was once deported because he shot a native who had stolen his sheep; but he came back again when war broke out.
1919
p.98 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Feb. 26, 1919 – Finch-Hatton was ill with fever and stayed out here, he is still here now, and I am delighted to have him; I don’t think I have ever met such an intelligent person before, and one does appreciate that here. I must stop now as I am going out with Denis. There are big clouds promising more rain – “nun muss sich alles, alles, wenden.” I hope that with you too everything is filled with promise after this terrible year.
1922
p.124 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Jan. 23, 1922 – I am adding a couple of lines to my letter to tell you that I am probably going to take the step you so much wish for; Bror and I are going to get divorced. I would ask you not to talk about it, but I wanted to tell you. Please understand that the decision has not been made before because Bror has been in such a terrible situation here. He has been without work and money, wanted by the police; he has been hiding out in the Masai Reserve without a tent or shoes. It was impossible for me, in consideration of other people here and of myself, to start to talk of divorce. But I think that things will go better with him now; he is probably going to get married as soon as it can be arranged, to an English lady who wants to help him.
1923
p.146 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Jan.28, 1923 – the British Government’s dealings with India, I think they will have to be if they are really enthusiastic about and faithful to “the Empire.” I personally have so little racial feeling that I find it hard to understand them. I feel class differences so much more than racial, and would rather spend my time with an Arabian chief or an Indian priest than with a waiter from home.
p.159 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, July 8, 1923 – Maria Montessori constantly warns that children should never be “hustled” and I think this is so right; adults must adjust their minds to a different speed when they talk to them, and in general children only really understand a story and enjoy it when they hear it for the second time – or third or fourth – it is told, and the natives are the same and always take particular pleasure in hearing something repeated, as many times as possible.
p.163 – To Ellen Dahl, August 2, 1923 – Incidentally, I think that there is a really fine time ahead for women and that the next hundred years will bring many glorious revelations to them. For there is hardly any other sphere in which prejudice and superstition of the most horrific kind have been retained so long as in that of women, and just as it must have been an inexpressible relief for humanity when it shook off the burden of religious prejudice and superstition, I think it will be truly glorious when women become real people and have the whole world open before them. Each year brings so many small advances, automobiles, for instance, which after all we can drive every bit as well as men! And can you remember that when we were young girls we really could not walk in the street alone after dark? All that has quite changed now. And it is reasonable enough for the women’s movement to vacillate a good deal before finding its – more or less – real answers; but I will never cease to be grateful to the old warriors, - from Camilla Collett to Aunt Ellen, because they worked with might and main for it, although they would probably not acknowledge the “cause” in its present-day guise as their legitimate child!
Last time I was at home I was greatly interested in reading about Maria Montessori and her system of education for very small children, and I think that most of her ideas about them apply to the natives here, and that they should be treated in the same way. I wish that I might some day be in the position to get a Montessori-trained teacher out here and start a school.
p.169 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Aug. 19, 1923 – The way in which girls are brought up is really shameful. I am quite certain that if I had been born a boy I would now, with exactly the same intelligence and other abilities that I have, have been able to look after myself really well. But even now I would surely be capable of it if only I had some help to start with.
p.171 – To Thomas Dinesen, September 25, 1923 – That such a person as Denys does exist – something I have indeed guessed at before, but hardly dared to believe – and that I have been lucky enough o meet him in this life and been so close to him – even though there have been long periods of missing him in between – compensates for everything else in the world, and other things cease to have any significance. But by the way, if I should die and you should happen to meet him afterwards, you must never let him know that I have written to you like this about him.
p.176 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Dec. 15, 1923 – I notice in the same paper that Thit Jensen is advocating “Birth Control” at home. It is surprising that it seems something quite new at home; in England and America I think it is completely established as the only responsible thing. I see nothing at all against it from the moral point of view – except from the standpoint of really religious persons, but how, for instance, can they defend the use of lightning conductors or vaccination?
p.177 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Dec. 23, 1923 – In the hope of attracting workers to the farm I am going to start a school here in the new year; I have wanted to do this for a very long time, but Dickens was very opposed to it, but now has come to think better of it. We will use rooms in “Charlie’s House,” Thomas knows where that is, and I think it will be a great pleasure. It will only be in the evening so as not to interfere with work on the farm.
I think that every large farm ought to have a school; there is no point in saying that natives are more happy in their primitive state; besides that being very questionable in itself, it is impossible to keep them there and by making no attempt to educate them all that results in that they get hold of all the worst aspects of civilization, like the frightful type of “Nairobi boys” that has developed since I first came out here, which is on a par with those at home with “their hair over their eyes.”
1924
p.196 – To Thomas Dinesen, March 15, 1924 – Denys is staying here at present and I have never been as happy, not half as happy, in my life as I am now. You, who have known what it means really to care for someone – and not because of reasons of circumstance and habit and so on, as seems to be the case in most marriages and love affairs that I have known, but solely because one has met with the most wonderful being on earth – you can understand what it means to be happy in this way, and how it occupies all one’s thought and all one’s being, so you will excuse a short letter. Don’t mention this to the others. Now it, for instance, I should die and you should later meet Denys, must you ever let him know that I have written or spoken of him to you; you are in fact the only person I have mentioned it to and it is actually a joy to have someone to talk to and who understands one. I know you can understand that there is a good deal of anxiety bound up in this shaurie; for me it has come to be more and more the only thing that matters in my life, and how will it end? – well, that is not exactly what I mean, but the very fact of possessing something or having possessed something that is of such immense value to one, brings its own terror with it, and all my circumstances are so uncertain.
p.224 – To Thomas Dinesen, Aug. 3, 1924 – I believe that for all time and eternity I am bound to Denys, to love the ground he walks upon, to be happy beyond words when he is here, and to suffer worse than death many times when he leaves. If I did not have the Somalis and natives to fall back upon here the middle-class English people I am forced to associate with would drive me mad. I like the aristocrats and bohemians, whom perhaps you do not; but on the other hand you as a man have more possibility for getting to know, or living among, the lower classes or proletariat. You once spoke of signing on as a seaman; I really think you should do that now. Or to might serve you equally well to spend a year in Somaliland and Abyssinia.
1925
p.232 – To Ingeborg Dinesen, Apr. 20, 1925 – Now I am thinking of sticking to my own plans and leaving here on Friday or Saturday morning, traveling via Hamburg and so getting home on Saturday or Sunday evening, which I hope will suit you.
p.233 – There are two things that I want to do when I am at home: paint, and learn to cook. Do you think I could take lessons in the royal kitchens? Perhaps, if they still exist the Misses Nimb would take me on as a pupil for old acquaintance’s sake.

[Inga Riber Kristiansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bogen består af 530 sider (Del 1 280 sider, del 2 250 sider).

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Få forfattere har evnen til at blæse mig så fuldstændig bagover som Karen Blixen. Jeg synes, hun skriver umanerligt godt, og med sådan en følelse og indlevelse, at man føler, at man selv står ved siden af hende og ser, hvad hun ser. Jeg kan se, lugte og høre savannen omkring hende, mærke hendes frustrationer og le over de underfundige oplevelser, hun har i Afrika. Jeg er kommet til at elske Ngong og Afrika på grund af Karen Blixen. Og i brevene gør hun sig endda flere overvejelser omkring ægteskab, kønsmoral, ligestilling og hvad der gør livet værd at leve som jeg slugte råt. Jeg er ikke enig i hende i alt (f.eks. hendes syn på klassesamfund og storvildtsjagt), men jeg er godt nok enig i meget - og selv hvis jeg ikke var, ville det være ligegyldigt. Karen er god at diskutere med, at tale med og lytte til. Og hun er åben over for andres indtryk og holdninger, og udtrykker sine med respekt. Jeg er fuld af benovelse for hende. Hun var en benhård, stærk og modig kvinde, men var også ofte sårbar, fortvivlet og frustreret og kunne føle sig udenfor. Hun var tydeligvis lykkelig for og stolt over sin farm ("For dem betyder det en Masse Penge, det ved jeg; men for mig betyder det hele mit Liv." - brev til Thomas 12. juni 1923) og de natives hun havde ansvaret for.

En ting, der slog mig, var hvor ofte hun var syg - enten pga. syfilis, spansk syge, malaria, snue osv. I brevene hjem er hun relativt ofte sengeliggende eller har netop rejst sig fra sygelejet. Men man skal ikke have ondt af hende af den grund - "noget skal man jo fejle", som hun skriver.

Noget andet slående ved brevene var hendes tætte forhold til familien, især til moderen og broren Thomas. Det er tydeligt, at der var uendelige mængder kærlighed imellem dem, og især søskendeforholdet var præget af en usædvanlig grad af kærlighed, respekt og forståelse imellem bror og søster.

Hvis jeg var teenager, ville jeg have billeder af Karen Blixen og hendes citater overalt på mine vægge. Hun var sej.

Nogle af mine yndlingspassager fra brevene:

"Somalis kalder mig Arda Volaja - hvilket lader til at betyde alt muligt godt, den store, vise etc; den eneste de har kaldt det før, var Dronning Victoria! Saa jeg maa jo føle mig beæret og haabe, det ikke henviser til Ydret..." - brev til moren 6. okt 1914

"Alle Mennesker maa have nogen til at tro paa sig her i Livet, ellers bliver de aldrig til noget" - brev til moren 27. feb 1918

"Nu grønnes virkelig den fjerneste, dybeste Dal, - det er noget nær et Vidunder, hvor hurtigt alt herude forandres under Regnen; Ngong Hills og Reserven, der var brændte som en Gulvmaatte, lyser i det fineste, herligste grønne Skær, og hele Shambaen blomstrer. Naar nu bare det maa blive ved ... Her er dejligt, et Paradis paa Jorden, naar der kommer Regn nok. Og i Trængselstiderne kommer man paa en Maade til at elske dette genstridige Land endnu mere; jeg har den Følelse, at for Fremtiden vil jeg, hvor i Verden jeg er, tænke om der er Regn ved Ngong." - brev til moren 26. feb 1919

"Ellers har jeg det godt og har været lykkeligere end noget andet Menneske paa Jorden, fordi jeg har haft Denys boende her i en Maaned (...) At der existerer et saadant Menneske som Denys, - hvilket jeg nok har anet før, men knapt har turdet tro, - og at jeg har været saa lykkelig at møde ham i Livet og har levet ham saa nær, - selv om der har været lange Tiders Savn imellem, - det opvejer jo alt andet i Verden, og andre Ting betyder jo ikke noget i sig selv.
Forresten maa Du, hvis jeg skulde dø, og Du senere træffe ham, aldrig lade ham vide, at jeg har skrevet såådan til Dig..." - brev til Thomas 25. sep 1923.

"Nej, ser Du, jeg maa være mig selv, være noget i mig selv, have, eje noget som virkelig er mit eget, udrette noget som er mit og er mig, for at kunne leve overhovedet, og for at kunde have, og tænke at vedblive at have, den ubeskrivelige Lykke i mit Liv, som min Kærlighed til Denys er for mig. Og det har jeg ikke her, nu, - jeg har og er sletintet; jeg har svigtet min Engel Lucifer og solgt min Sjæl til Englene i Paradiset, og kan dog ikke være deri; jeg hører ikke til, kan ikke være noget Sted i Verden, og skal dog være i den; jeg hader, gyser for hvert Minut, og de kommer dog, ét for ét; det er, kort sagt, den rene Elendighed, og jeg ville ikke tro, hvis jeg hørte derom, at det kunde lade sig gøre at leve paa denne Maade." - brev til broren Thomas 3. apr 1926, sendt 5. sep 1926.

"Ak, tror Du, tror Du, Tommy, at jeg endnu kan "blive til noget", og at jeg ikke har forsømt alle mine Chancer her i Livet, mens Tiden endnu var, saa at jeg ikke har andet tilbage end at falme og gaa i Frø, have Taalmodighed selv og haabe, at andre vil have Taalmodighed med mig for at være et fuldkommen mislykket Menneske?" - brev til Thomas, 3. april 1926, sendt 5. sep 1926.

"Naar man nu vil maale eller vurdere sin egen Skæbne, saa er en af Vanskelighederne den, at man uvilkaarligt kommer tilbage til andre Menneskers Synspunkt og Maalestok (...) Men det, som det gælder om at blive klar over, er jo dog, hvorledes det forholder sig for én selv, - for det særligt anlagte og udviklede Menneske, man har med at gøre. Har jeg, for mig selv og fra mit eget Synspunkt, failed?" - brev til Thomas, 5. sep 1926.

"Og saa kan jeg sige, at hvad jeg især beundrer hos Dig, - som forresten ofte i mundtlige Diskussioner, - er Din Hensynsfuldhed overfor Dine Modstandere eller Anderledestænkende overhovedet. Du viser dem baade stor Forståelse i deres Synspunkter og Anskuelser, og meget Taalmodighed i Fremsættelsen af Dine egne. Dette er Ting, hvorpaa jeg ved at det skorter mig selv, som i det hele taget de fleste Polemikere. De allerfleste Mennesker taler i en Diskussion for sig selv, - og jo ivrigere de bliver, jo mere gør dette sig gældende, - de har hverken Interesse for at høre efter og lade sig berige af deres Modstandere, eller for at se til at berige ham. Derfor bliver en Diskussion saa uhyre ofte ørkesløs." - brev til Thomas 18. sep 1927

"Af de Kærlighedsforhold, som jeg har haft i mit Liv, er jeg kommet ud som de bedste Venner af Verden med min Partner. Det som har fængslet, eller betaget mig eller hvad Du vil, deri, har været et Menneskes Personlighed eller vore fælles Interesser af en eller anden Art, - eller ogsaa har det hele Forhold været, om jeg saa maa sige, som en Leg eller Dans. Jeg har vist ikke Evnen til at tage et sexuelt Forhold i sig selv med dyb Alvor. Saa dejligt som jeg synes det er at gaa paa Jagt eller til en Ballet eller at rejse med et Menneske som jeg er forelsket i, saa utaaleligt synes jeg det er at "være Genstand". Jeg har aldrig i mit Liv siddet og stirret noget Menneske forelsket ind i Øjnene; jeg tror ikke jeg vilde være kapabel dertil. Jeg kan sletikke lide at blive kælet for, finder det rent uudholdeligt at blive givet Kælenavne og made a fuss about." - brev til Thomas 19. nov 1927

"Moster Lidda skrev engang til mig at hun syntes, at saa længe man kunde lukke en Hund ind, som peb i Nattekulden, var éns Liv ikke uden Værdi. Jeg ved nu ikke, om man uden videre kan slaa dette fast (...) hvis man selv har opdrættet og anskaffet Hunden til sin egen Fornøjelse og transporteret den uden- eller indenfor Døren, saa synes jeg ikke, at man kan bedømme Anstrengelsen ved at lukke den ind som andet end Opfyldelsen af en paadragen Forpligtelse. Thi at lægge sig en Del, ikke nærmere definerede, Hunde til og saa lukke dem ud og ind, det mener jeg ikke kan kaldes en meget værdifuld Opgave for et Menneske.
Jeg synes nu, at en Mængde gifte Folk, især dem med store Familier, ofte paa den Maade kommer til en forkert Bedømmelse af Værdien af deres eget Liv, i Forholdet til ugifte og barnløse Menneskers. - De paadrager sig, udelukkende for deres egen Fornøjelse eller i deres egen Interesse, en Del Forpligtelser og mener nu ved at opfylde dem i sig selv at have tilført Livet eller Samfundet nye Værdier. - Og her synes jeg, som sagt, at det meget vel kan være hævet over al Tvivl, at Omgivelserne vilde være værre stillet, hvis de lod fem være lige overfor disse Forpligtelser, uden at det derfor er bevist at det ikke i alle Maader vilde have været ligesaa godt eller bedre, om de aldrig havde indladt sig med dem." - brev til Moster Bess, 29. juni 1928

"Jeg har netop, i Anledning af et Brev fra Katla, hvor hun spørger mig: hvor kan De være saa lykkelig og se saa meget i Tilværelsen? - tænkt over, hvad det egentlig er, som gør mig saa lykkelig her. Man kan naturligvis pege paa mange Ting og sige: det er det eller det; men hvad er Grunden til, at de har det rige Indhold for én? Ja, jeg synes jo længere jeg lever, at Sandhed er det vigtigste for mig, og paa samme Maade som Du siger: Kærlighed er det første, siger jeg: Sandhed er det første. - Og her kan jeg være sand, jeg kan være mig selv." - brev til moren 22. juli 1928

[Cherop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed these letters from Karen Blixen to various of her family members during the years she lived in Kenya whilst trying to make a success of her marriage and running the family coffee business. The letters give great insight into the relentless financial pressures and strains she was under, her isolation from the arts which she loved so much and her conflicted feelings/views of the "natives" as she liked to call the black people of the different tribal groups in Kenya. In her book "Out of Africa", you do not get a full sense of what she really thought of the natives. Her letters give a better glimpse of her true feelings though perhaps still not in the fullest sense. Despite her sometimes blunt views of things, she seemed to have an unexplainable love and affection for the people of Kenya.

The Dinesen letters were of great interest to me because I too am very much interested in Kenya and have a lot for it's people. The letters give me a glimpse into an outsiders view of life and people in the former colony and of what life was like for the people at that time. The letters no doubt are also of great interest to anyone interested in the early development of Kenya as a British colony. Ms. Blixen seemed to be ahead of her time in her thoughts about feminism, marriage and sexuality so her letters and life will also be valuable to anyone interested in these subjects.

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've actually read this twice before years ago, and on the third time around this time I was looking for something specific in it (so still have it marked as to-read mainly to remind me) - but I seem to keep getting waylaid with other books..

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of letters written from Africa by Karen Blixen. The letters are written primarily to Blixen's mother, brother, sister, and an aunt. I find the letters to her mother and brother the most interesting. In them, she details life in Africa in all of its vivid richness. Letters to another relative tend to veer into philosophical territory and her views on the way life is lived or should be lived by humanity. Those letters could get extremely tedious.

I think that one has to have a general knowledge of the characters and setting of Blixen's Africa if one is to dive into these letters. Certainly, watching the film "Out Of Africa" will help you, as well as reading Blixen's book of the same name. There are many well-known figures who make appearances throughout the letters which the reader will know: the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII), some members of the Happy Valley set, and others.

Good reading if you can disregard the philosophizing.

[Veronica-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really an amazing reading of this extraordinary woman's life in Africa. Although it was a bit like hearing a one-sided telephone conversation with very little feedback from her correspondence to her family. Nonetheless, as irritating as that sometimes was, it was also a beautiful exposé of Karen Blixen's personal accountability that she poured her heart and soul into. Her letters home were filled with hardship, her marriage, her relationship with her friend and lover Denys Finch Hatton and the conditions surrounding the natives and the farm! A wonderful glimpse into an incredibly strong-minded and unique individual who pushed aside all the conventional standards of her time to live her own truth as fully as she could. Highly recommended.

[Laura Watt · Rating 4 out of 5]

after so enjoying Out of Africa last year, but noticing how impersonal much of Dinesen's writing is, I delved into this collection of her letters, written mostly to her mother and brother, in hopes of discovering more of her personal side. After reading into the year 1926, I have yet to have more than an elusive grasp of who this woman was, what she was like. Her writing still has a very formal air to it. It's also odd, reading someone's letters -- I feel a bit like I'm prying. Still, at times it's been fascinating, and I've dog-eared MANY pages to remember some passage or thought. Perhaps a biography of Dinesen should be next on my list? (1/00)

[Regina Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I expected and would have greatly appreciated more details of the author's life in Africa(à la Out of Africa), it was nonetheless wonderful to read her personal philosophies of life and to better understand her as a person.

[Nanci Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a LONG time ago, and really enjoyed it. However, I had forgotten the title so had trouble looking it up. Used Ask AI to get the title. Wonderful exchange of letters by two women friends on 2 continents during 1914-1931.

[Luana Milella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tutto quelli che credono di trovare nel romanzo “La mia Africa” il film, rimangono delusi, sebbene il romanzo sia bellissimo. La differenza sta nel fatto che il romanzo è incentrato tutto sull’amore viscerale per l’Africa, il resto si può solo intuire. Ma la vita di Karen Blixen, i suoi tormenti, il suo amore per Denys è tutto in questa raccolte di lettere. Se volete conoscere la Karen del film, interpretata magistralmente da Meryl Streep, dovete leggere queste lettere. C’è tutta la sua anima.

[Amberle Husbands · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a collection of letters, this was really entertaining. I bought it as a gift for my grandmother -- one of her favorite authors -- and ended up guilty of reading-before-wrapping. The story behind Karen Blixen's stories was actually very inspiring, and kept me moving from one segment to the next when I thought I should have lost interest, wrapped the book up, and sent it away. The thing that struck me most was her descriptions and emotional responses to lion hunting. While I'm not myself a hunter, seeing the feat through her eyes was certainly mind-opening. Definitely worth reading, but especially if you already have an interest in the author.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

if you want to know some of the back story behind "out of africa" this is a really enlightening read. some of her philosophizing gets irritating, but that's one of the dangers of reading the letters of a writer.

[Avary Doubleday · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reread for me. It's one I keep by the bed and read parts from time to time. Her letters cover much more than her life in Africa (which is my favorite part to read!) -- her philosophies of many aspects of life, some more interesting to me than others.

[Caulyne B · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are the letters that Out of Africa was based upon. A bit dense at times, but also surprisingly engaging if you're in the right mood.

[Bert Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up less than half way through. The narrative on life in Africa was interesting to a point, then repetitive.

[Nyange Nyange · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like this book iwant to learn things about inside

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dull-ish. Read Judith Thurman's bio instead.