Blixen-Finecke, Karen

Blixen-Finecke, Karen 

(pseudonym, Isak Dinesen). Born Apr. 17, 1885, in Rungsted; died there on Sept. 7,1962. Danish writer and journalist.

Blixen-Finecke was first published in 1907. From 1914 to 1931 she lived in Kenya. Her first book Seven Gothic Tales appeared in English in 1934 and in Danish in her own translation under the title Seven Fantastic Tales in 1935 (pseudonym, Isak Dinesen). At the heart of Blixen-Finecke’s stories are imaginary historical subjects in the style of the Danish and Western European romantics. The book The African Farm (1937; called Out of Africa in English) and the novella Farah (1950) are filled with sympathy for the Negro population of Kenya oppressed by the colonialists. Blixen-Finecke was the author of Daguerreotypes (1951), a collection of essays on the morals and customs of the 19th century. The collections of stories Winter’s Tales (1942), Phantom Horses (1955), and Anecdotes of Destiny (1958) are characterized by profound psychological insight.

WORKS

Fra det gamle Danmark, vols. 1–2. Copenhagen, 1963.
Mindeudgave, vols. 1–7. Copenhagen, 1964.
Essays. Copenhagen, 1965.
In Russian translation:
“Skorbnaia niva.” In the collection Datskaia novella XIX-XX vv. Leningrad, 1967.

REFERENCES

Kristensen, S. M. Datskaia literatura, 1918–1952. Moscow, 1963.
Rosendahl, I. Karen Blixen. Copenhagen, 1957.
Langbaum, R. The Gayety of Vision: A Study oflsak Dinesen’s Art. New York, 1965.
Migel, P. Titania. New York, 1967.