About the Author: Isak Dinesen

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Isak Dinesen

1885–1962 The story you are about to read is an

allegory by Isak Dinesen that tells a

traditional-sounding tale. However,

Dinesen is best known for Out of Africa,

an autobiographical account of her years

in British East Africa, now Kenya.

Born Karen Blixen in Denmark, Dinesen’s

spirit of adventure was often at odds

with her sheltered upbringing. After her

father died and the cousin she loved

refused to marry her, she defiantly set

sail for Africa to marry the cousin’s twin

brother, Bror Blixen-Finecke. In 1914, the

couple established a coffee plantation

in what is now Kenya. Blixen-Finecke

was a wayward, faithless husband who

often left Dinesen on her own. After the

couple divorced in 1921, Dinesen ran the

six-thousand-acre farm by herself for

ten years.

Although Dinesen is often regarded as

the European author who best captured

the beauty of the African landscape, she

wrote equally accomplished works about

northern Europe and the Danish upper

class. Many of her stories celebrate the

power of women. After she returned

to Denmark in 1931, she published

Seven Gothic Tales, stories set in Europe

hundreds of years ago and featuring

mysterious events and persecuted

heroines. She published Out of Africa in 1937.

Links to biographical information about the author.

http://www.nndb.com/people/288/000179748/

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-price-of-distinction-6559

http://www.lifetimetv.co.uk/biography/biography-karen-blixen