Kathleen’s Reviews > Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller > Status Update

I kind of love Dinesen’s last self-destructive hurrah in America. She was squeezing every last bit of life out of the time she had left. May we all live to be old enough to get by on champagne, oysters, and grapes and not give a damn

Dinesen’s relationship with Bjørnvig reminds me of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s with George Dillon, and how ultimately exploitative they were at the less famous, younger man’s expense. Dinesen’s wider global acclaim I hadn’t understood; incredible that Hemingway considered her an equally worthy recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature

Everyone who’s a decent writer seems to find themselves a secretary. Can I focus on that first before I ever start writing anything? 😅

I’m becoming more and more sympathetic to Isak Dinesen as an old lady. She’s aware of and accepting of her delusions. And still seeking to find her truth / heroism in a context that no longer asks her to be extraordinary

Dennis is dead, the farm sold, and she’s returned to Europe 35lbs heavier and with resurgent syphilis. I can’t imagine the weight of that sadness… but to write her way out

You wonder how much Blixen is self-aware of her own neuroses. She seems to be, but just doesn’t care (which is rather badass). Would wonder if it’s really true, though, that suffering is the cost of being a true storyteller?

« I think that true art is always part magic. » As quoted by Karen Blixen

In Kenya she found the wild and the aristocratic splendor she always dreamed of. And also syphilis.

Impressive that Dinesen’s short stories started getting published so young, but then a dearth of writing and reflecting as she was « aristocrating » around Europe.

Wow. This hits home too much. Young, intense, imaginative, and creative, but one of a set of three raised in a secure but under-stimulating environment, lacking a teacher / role model to encourage their artistry 🫢