About Karen Blixen's Life

About Karen Blixen's Life

Interview with

Karen Blixen Biographer, Linda Donelson

Author Karen Blixen, who wrote under the name of Isak Dinesen, was born in 1885 at Rungstedlund, her family's estate to the north of Copenhagen. In 1914 she emigrated to Kenya together with her husband, Swedish nobleman Bror von Blixen-Finecke, who she divorced in 1924. Karen Blixen returned to Denmark in 1931 to once again live at Rungstedlund.

Her first book Seven Gothic Tales was published in the USA in 1934 and became a huge success. It is however her book Out of Africa, 1938, that made her name known around the world. This wonderful story about Karen Blixen's life was made into a movie with the same title.

Blixen continued to write, in both English and Danish, until her death in 1962.

The latest biography about Blixen is Out of Isak Dinesen by physician Linda Donelson who lived on a research farm in Kenya near Blixen's estate.

Scandinavian Press: Why are you fascinated by Karen Blixen?

Linda Donelson:Fromchildhood when I read a story that I knew was true I needed to learn more about it. So when I read Out of Africa I immediately wanted to read more, and there was not much information available. I waited for a long time for someone to write a book about Karen Blixen; and in fact there was a book that came out shortly after I read Out of Africa, but it was an academic treatment and did not discuss Karen Blixen's life in Africa at all. So I decided to write a book that, for example, my mother-in-law would enjoy--not an academic approach but a good, readable story.

SP: Why do you feel people in general are more fascinated by Karen Blixen than they are by regular authors?

LD: Certainly she tried to give herself an image even during her lifetime that would make people remember her. She made herself controversial. She wanted people to think of her as eccentric. But even without this her life was intrinsically fascinating. There are so many twists in it that make it almost more interesting than a novel. Her story attracts people. 50 million people in countries around the world went to see the movie Out of Africa--about Karen Blixen's life in Africa--and that's truly extraordinary. I think her story is fascinating because it is a woman's story--a courageous woman. She remains in the public consciousness--as she intended. It is interesting to note that she sold only about 100,000 copies of Out of Africa in her lifetime, but since 1980 a million and a half copies of the book have been sold.

SP: Would she be as fascinating if she were not a baronessand not lived in Africa?

LD: I haven't thought of it in those terms. I think that initially people are interested in her story not so much because she was a baroness. Certainly she wrote a bestseller (Seven Gothic Tales) before anyone knew she was a baroness. People are interested in a woman who had the courage to be a pioneer farmer in Africa at the turn of the century. I think probably that is one of the major elements in what drew people to her book Out of Africa in the first place, and then of course the way she wrote it was so poetic that it gripped their attention. In addition to that, I think there was an element of looking for a particularly romantic story in 1938 when so many tragedies were occurring around the world and everyone was oppressed by the Great Depression. It was an escape for them to think about the exotic paradise that she described in Africa.

SP: How would you describe the influence of men in her life?

LD: I would like to say first of all that Karen Blixen was born a person who needed to spend a lot of time in her imagination. Several things developed from this. First her imagination led to her creative life. Secondly she used her imagination to keep her very emotional character in a state of balance. Whenever she became upset she would retreat into her imagination. I'm approaching your question this way because throughout her life she seems to have idealized the men in her life, to make heroes of them. So her father became a hero to her, and throughout her life she would think about his spirit as a means of inspiration and support to her in times of great sadness. And the same was true of her husband, Bror, who I believe she also idealized. She sought him as a spiritual support, she relied on his energy and his inspiration to keep her in Africa and to keep the ideal of pioneer farming alive in her mind. And she idealized him even more after he left her. In fact it is quite interesting to read her letters and see that she refers to the years "when we were happy"--meaning the years when she was married to Bror. Yet if you follow the letters month by month and year by year you really can't find any period when they were happy. So she idealized these years after the divorce.

SP: What was the real Bror Blixen like?

LD: He really was a person that everyone liked. He was full of fun, he was energetic, he was very kind. Everyone mentioned kind things that he did and in fact it is quite striking that Karen Blixen said in her letters frequently that he was such a good nurse to her whenever she was ill and whenever she had an injury. He was very good at binding wounds and taking care of her and running the bath, and massaging. I think he was a goodhearted person, and this generosity spilled over in his being a womanizer. He shared his affections in every possible way. I found him a sympathetic figure.

SP: Was there anything in particular that she loved about Africa?

LD: She was attracted to the African way of life because there was a silence about Africans that contrasted with European society. In her writing, not just in Out of Africa but in her short stories also, she glorifies the primitive. She was part of the Romantic school that believed the native was wiser than industrial man.

SP: What was it about Karen Blixen that we did not get to see in the movie Out of Africa?

LD: That she was as strong as any of the men in her life. It was her way of dealing with life that was simply different from a man's approach. There were some key moments in her life when she could have avoided some of her unhappiness. For example, certainly many recognize that the decision to marry Bror was a time when she might have avoided some problems by not going through with it. However, she opened an entirely new world to herself by going into the experiment, and I think it was a courageous move to marry Bror, but much more to go to Africa at a time when very few women would have considered doing such a thing. They would have protested that they could not cope with the weather and the illness she was sure to encounter there and all the other trials. I think another major moment of decision for her was at the time she returned to Africa in 1920. Bror was convinced that the farm should be sold, that the economic conditions in the country were developing in such a way that they could sell the farm and make a profit, and use their money in some other endeavour. That was quite a significant moment and I think perhaps Bror was right.

Karen Blixen was someone who lacked self-confidence. She had self-doubts throughout her life.

She had many friends and she was greatly admired by her own family. She was a fascinating person in her own time even to her family. She loved to be playful. She kept people interested in life. She gave marvelous dinner parties. She had wonderful ideas for decorating, for flowers, for furniture, for conversation. Her family loved it when she was around. She was always getting people to dress up, and to do little skits. She had a dry wit, displayed in her short stories. Wit is of course very much part of the Danish character. Danes have a way of never taking tragedy too seriously. It is too bad that people have been left with the impression of a sickly, elderly woman. She was full of life until the end.

SP: There has been much written about Karen Blixen. How is your book different?

LD: First of all, it seems that the other biographies have been more interested in Karen Blixen as a literary figure; they emphasize her literary career. They have spent a small amount of their space on the African period. I find that unusual, because Karen Blixen herself felt that her years in Africa were the most important of her life. The other biographies have also missed an important aspect of Karen Blixen's life, that it is a wonderful story.