"Bjergtagen," or, in English, "Bewitched," by Meir Goldschmidt, a nineteenth-century Danish storyteller, makes use of the ancient folk-motif of the mortal woman seduced by a supernatural lover, a troll. Dinesen's story "The Ring" makes oblique reference to the motif and perhaps also to Goldschmidt's story, which is available in a number of translations in anthologies of Danish literature.

"On Mottoes of My Life," by Dinesen, in Daguerreotypes and Other Essays (1979), a book of essays, is a concise summation of her world view.

"The Dreamers," by Dinesen, in Seven Gothic Tales (1934), is a much longer narrative exploring the theme of "tragic wisdom" of the generative relation of loss and betrayal to consciousness.

A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (1977), tells of the deep love the author shared with his wife, Jean Palmer Davis (nicknamed "Davy"), of how the "Shining Barrier" of their...