Karen Blixen Summary

Isak Dinesen - (1885 - 1962) (Born Karen Christentze Dinesen; also known by her married name Karen Blixen; also wrote under the pseudonyms Tania Blixen, Osceola, and Pierre Andrézel) Danish sho... Read more

Isak Dinesen was the pseudonym used by the Danish author Karen Dinesen Blixen-Finecke (1885-1962). Her stories place her among Denmark's greatest authors.Isak Dinesen was born on April 17, 1885, the d... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Langbaum [Isak Dinesen's] literary career falls into three distinct periods. There is the first, spectacular period, represented by her first three books—Seven G... Read more

Critical Essay by Paul Bailey The first thing that needs to be said about this exceptional volume of letters [Letters from Africa 1914–1931] is that it has been attributed to the wrong author. ... Read more

Updike is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, essayist, poet, dramatist, and critic. In the following essay, adapted from the "Introduction" to a special edit... Read more

In the following essay, Johannesson examines the similarities between the philosophical views expressed in many of Dinesen's works and those of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, nota... Read more

In the following essay, Whissen examines the theme of the artist in several of Dinesen's works. He contends that she sees the artist as God-like, but that the human artist "is not the ma... Read more

Stambaugh is an educator, novelist, and critic whose works include The Witch and the Goddess in the Stories of Isak Dinesen (1988). In the following essay, she examines Dinesen's "comple... Read more

In the following essay, Black describes Osceola as a collection of "three kinds of fantastic tales" whose "interrogations of reality" satirize bourgeois values and sensibil... Read more

Critical Essay by Joan Palevsky [Carnival, Entertainments and Posthumous Tales] are of a piece with her already published works. But, since they are the last we shall have of Dinesen, certain observat... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael Irwin Fifteen years after her death Isak Dinesen seems to be little read in this country. She has become a cult figure without a cult. Few modern writers of comparable status... Read more

Critical Essay by Elizabeth Ely Fuller As one would expect in a collection of this kind, most of the tales [in Carnival: Entertainments and Posthumous Tales] do not compare in vision and quality with ... Read more

In the following essay, Washington chronicles the influence of Dorothy Canfield on Dinesen's literary career, particularly her assistance in getting Dinesen's collection of short stories... Read more

In the following essay, Stoddart underscores the importance of storytelling and elucidates the theme of gravity in the stories of Seven Gothic Tales. There is really no getting away from the business ... Read more

In the following essay, Sexson utilizes Hebraic law to interpret Dinesen's “The Blank Page.” Thus we cover the universe with drawings we have lived. —Bachelard, The Poetic... Read more

In the following excerpt, Hansen provides a thematic and stylistic overview of several of Dinesen's stories. Aristocratic Conduct of Life and Bourgeois Lifelessness Winter's Tales Shortl... Read more

In the following essay, Stambaugh examines Dinesen's portrayals of the effects of patriarchal Christianity on men and women in her short fiction. Dinesen's opposition to Christianity app... Read more

In the following essay, Bassoff finds thematic connections between three Dinesen stories: “The Diver,” “Babette's Feast,” and “The Ring.” In “Th... Read more

In the following essay, which was originally published in 1992, Kyndrup provides a stylistic analysis of “The Roads Round Pisa.” Introduction Isak Dinesen's writings constitute a ... Read more

In the following essay, Wilkinson views “Sorrow-Acre” as a rewriting of Paul la Cour's “Sorg-Agre” and elucidates Dinesen's authorial intent with the story. I... Read more

In the following essay, Gossman describes the use of the theme of destiny and the search for human identity in three of Isak Dinesen's short stories. Many stories by Isak Dinesen explore a patt... Read more