Dinesen, Isak (ē`säk dē`nəsən), pseud. of Baroness Karen Blixen, 1885–1962, Danish author, who wrote primarily in English. In 1914 she married Baron Blixen and went to live in British East Africa, on a coffee plantation. She was divorced in 1921 and took over the management of the plantation where she lived until 1931, when falling coffee prices forced her to return to Denmark. From her experiences she wrote her autobiographical Out of Africa (1937), which became a successful film. Dinesen is best known for her tales, many of which have eerie, supernatural elements. Her works include Seven Gothic Tales (1934), Winter's Tales (1943), Last Tales (1957), and Anecdotes of Destiny (1958). Writing despite severe illness, Dinesen finished the African sketches Shadows on the Grass in 1960.

Bibliography

See her Letters from Africa, 1919–1931 (1981); biography by P. Migel (1967) and studies by E. O. Johannesson (1961), R. W. Langbaum (1964), F. Lasson and C. Svendson (1970), D. Hannah (1971), J. Thurman (1982), and B. Wamberg, ed. (1985).

Dinesen, Isak

orig. Karen Christence Dinesen later Baroness Blixen-Finecke

(born April 17, 1885, Rungsted, Den.—died Sept. 7, 1962, Rungsted) Danish writer. Dinesen married her cousin, a baron, and they moved to Kenya; Out of Africa (1937; film, 1985), a memoir of her years on their coffee plantation (1914–31), reveals a deep love of Africa and its people. Her characteristic writings took the form of highly polished narratives in the Romantic tradition, set in the past and pervaded with an aura of supernaturalism; they incorporate themes of eros and dreams. Her collections include Seven Gothic Tales (1934) and Winter's Tales (1942).