Karen Blixen 1885 - 1962

Elsk din skæbne!

dansk English

Karen Blixen blev født ind i en aristokratisk-højborgerlig familie, men følte fra ung en stærk trang til selvstændig udfoldelse og udtryk. Hun rejste med sin forlovede til Østafrika i 1914 og grundlagde en kaffefarm. Oplevelserne i Afrika fik afgørende betydning for hendes forfatterliv. Eventyret endte dog med skilsmisse og senere konkurs, men under opholdet blev de 'Syv fantastiske Fortællinger' til, som hun senere skulle debutere med på amerikansk. Og hendes anden bog, 'Den afrikanske Farm' trækker direkte på Afrika-erfaringerne. Karen Blixen er på alle måder en 'fremmed fugl' i dansk litteratur, svær at indplacere. Hendes fortællinger om mennesker, der kæmper for at opnå deres mål, men må erkende, at en skæbne behersker deres liv, er egentlig utidssvarende - men måske netop derfor fascinerende. Det er en alvidende fortæller, der lægger skæbnespillet tilrette, men omhyggeligt undgår at formulere egentlige moraler. Den inderste kerne må hver enkelt læser selv finde. Hendes stærke selvbevidsthed og mytologiseringen af hendes eget liv som 'skæbne' har måske stærkere end hendes værk slået hende fast i publikums bevidsthed. Senest med filmen 'Out of Africa', hvor Meryl Streep spiller Blixen. Fra slutningen af 40’erne samlede hun en kreds af unge mænd (bl.a.forfatterne Thorkild Bjørnvig og Ole Wivel og litteraten Aage Henriksen) omkring sig på Rungstedlund, hvad der fik afgørende, nærmest skæbnesvanger betydning for dem.

Karen Blixen (a.k.a. Isak Dinesen or Pierre Andrézel) was born into an affluent aristocratic family. From her youth, she felt a strong urge for self-expression and self-realization. She followed her fiancé to eastern Africa in 1914 and founded a coffee farm here. Her African experience had a crucial impact on her life as a writer. Although the adventure ended in divorce and subsequent bankruptcy, she wrote the 'Seven Gothic tales' during her time in Africa, the stories that would later be the basis for her debut in America. Her second book, 'Out of Africa', is based directly on her experiences in Africa. In every way, Karen Blixen is an odd bird in Danish literature, evading categorization. In a sense, her stories are out of step with their time, dealing as they do with people who struggle to achieve their goals but who are forced to acknowledge that Fate determines their lives – but perhaps that is what makes them so fascinating. The omniscient narrator sets up the drama of fate but carefully avoids articulating a moral of the story. Instead, she leaves it up to the reader to define the core message. Her keen self-awareness and the myths built around her own life as 'fate' may have contributed more than her work to securing her a place in the public mind; most recently with the film 'Out of Africa', where Meryl Streep plays Blixen. From the late 1940's she gathered a circle of young men (including the writers Thorkild Bjørnvig and Ole Wivel and lecturer Aage Henriksen) around her in her home in Rungstedlund, something that was to have a crucial, almost fateful impact on the lives of these men.