Karen Blixen(1885 — 1962)
Karen Blixen
Royaume de Danemark
8 min read
Danish writer (1885-1962), author of *Out of Africa*, an autobiographical account of her life in Kenya. She ran a coffee plantation in British East Africa for seventeen years and wrote under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen.
Famous Quotes
« I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. »
« If I had known it was my last time, I would have looked longer. »
Key Facts
- 1885: Born in Rungsted, Denmark
- 1914: Moved to Kenya with her husband Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke
- 1931: Returned to Denmark after the coffee plantation went bankrupt
- 1937: Publication of *Out of Africa* under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen
- 1962: Died in Rungsted, having been considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Works & Achievements
Her first short story collection, published in English under the pen name Isak Dinesen, it was an immediate success in the United States. These tales blending fantasy, romanticism, and irony established Karen Blixen's international reputation.
An autobiographical account of her seventeen years in Kenya, considered her masterpiece. This lyrical and melancholic work, adapted into a film in 1985 starring Meryl Streep, established Karen Blixen as a major voice in world literature.
A short story collection published during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, in which Karen Blixen explores themes of fate and freedom. It was circulated clandestinely as an act of cultural resistance.
A late collection confirming Karen Blixen's singular style: nested narratives, aristocratic characters, and a deep philosophical dimension — acclaimed by international critics.
A novella telling the story of a French cook who has taken refuge in Norway and offers a sumptuous banquet to a Puritan community. Adapted into a film in 1987, it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
A nostalgic memoir revisiting her years in Africa and her former Kikuyu servants. This work complements *Out of Africa* and bears witness to Karen Blixen's deep attachment to Africa and its people.
Anecdotes
Karen Blixen married Swedish baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke in 1914 primarily to obtain the title of baroness and move to British East Africa. This marriage of convenience came at a high price: her husband gave her syphilis, a disease she was treated for multiple times in Nairobi and Copenhagen, and from which she suffered for the rest of her life.
For seventeen years, Karen Blixen single-handedly managed a coffee plantation of nearly 1,800 hectares in the Ngong Hills, Kenya. She oversaw hundreds of Kikuyu and Somali workers on a daily basis, administered justice for her employees according to local customs, and became a respected figure in the surrounding African community.
English aviator Denys Finch Hatton, the great love of Karen Blixen's life, took her up in his plane several times over the Kenyan plains to show her the savanna from above — an experience she described as one of the most beautiful of her life. In 1931, Finch Hatton died in the crash of his small Gipsy Moth aircraft, leaving Karen devastated.
Forced to sell the plantation in 1931 due to falling coffee prices and drought, Karen Blixen returned to Denmark penniless. It was this painful loss that drove her to write: she transformed her African memories into literature, publishing *Out of Africa* in 1937 under the male pseudonym Isak Dinesen in order to be taken seriously in a literary world dominated by men.
Toward the end of her life, Karen Blixen was several times considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but never received it. In 1954, Ernest Hemingway won the prize and publicly declared that Isak Dinesen deserved it more than he did — a rare and sincere tribute from one great writer to another.
Primary Sources
“I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet.”
“I am truly happy here, happier than I have ever been anywhere else. Africa has given me something that Europe could never give me.”
“The natives of East Africa are natural storytellers. They have a way of telling a story that gives it a mythic dimension, as though every event carries within it the echo of all similar events that came before.”
“A story ought to have something inevitable about it, like the song of a bird. We must receive it as a gift from fate.”
Key Places
The Dinesen family estate where Karen Blixen was born in 1885 and died in 1962. Now the Karen Blixen Museum, the house preserves her manuscripts, library, and personal belongings.
The roughly 1,800-hectare farm that Karen Blixen managed from 1914 to 1931 at the foot of the Ngong Hills, near Nairobi. The central setting of *Out of Africa*, it has since been converted into a museum.
Capital of British East Africa, which Karen Blixen visited regularly for business, medical care, and social life within the European colonial community.
Karen Blixen stayed here on several occasions to receive treatment for syphilis and to meet with her publishers following the international success of her works.