Karen Blixen has been dominating my thoughts, the television screen, my Google log. I turn each electronic on and there she is, invading my space.
It started with Babette’s Feast, a foreign film whose existence I discovered only late last year. Babette’s Feast is an Academy Award winning adaptation of a story which was written by Isak Dinesen. As you know, Isak Dinesen was a pen name used by Blixen, a Danish Baroness who is most famous here in the states because of Meryl Streep’s portrayal of her in Out of Africa.
I finally watched Babette’s Feast last night compliments of my friend Donna who lent me the video before she herself had a chance to view it. I have the most gracious and generous friends and Donna is one of them. So, while the rest of the world was watching the Olympics, I was watching a 1987 foreign movie with subtitles, shushing Tom as he went out the door. You can’t talk when there are subtitles – you may miss the words.
Babette’s Feast is set in the Jutland, Denmark, during the last part of the 19th century. It revolves around two sisters who chose taking care of their father and his flock of spiritual followers in their small, poor village by the sea over love and fame. We follow the women through their early adult years, in which they were considered great beauties, their stoicism as they each in turn give up their future with great loves, their middle years, in which a mysterious French woman, Babette, arrives at their door, fleeing the French Civil War with a letter of introduction from one of the long ago suitors, and, finally, to the great feast Babette prepares for them and their now old and bickering flock of followers. Babette’s gift to them for their willingness to take her in comes when she wins 10,000 francs in the French lottery.
The movie is slow and it takes some time to appreciate the characters. The feast, ah, the glorious feast and the villagers pact to not enjoy it for fear of what evil it may bring, this is worth taking the time to watch the movie. It would be a great one to see with a discussion group after on all sorts of levels; literary, cinematically, gastronomically, spiritually.
The movie finished, I surfed the stations for a few minutes, and what do you suppose I came across? Karen Blixen burying Denys Finch Hatton on that lovely rise in Kenya. I have seen Out of Africa many times. I know this ending and I love the scene where she is invited into the men’s clubroom as she is just about to leave Kenya, her farm to be sold, her return to Denmark, the respect the men finally, reluctantly give her as she tosses down a whisky. What she endured from men to reach this point.
Karen Blixen is one of many authors I would have liked to have met. Her family wealth and prestige allowed her to do some remarkable things, like have a farm in Africa, but, her spirit and determination and her words took me to places in time I would not have otherwise been to.
I read Out of Africa after first seeing the movie so many years ago now. It is beautifully written with those descriptive passages we either get lost in or abandon. I got lost in them, as I often do with pages in a book, and now want to read about all about Babette’s Feast through Blixen’s words.
In my quest to find out more about the book, I spent some time traveling the information highway, all while sitting in my robe, sipping on hot tea, occasionally looking out the windows at the latest snow and welcome sun, and was soon immersed in the life of Karen Blixen.
Karen Blixen was a strong, independent woman, a pioneer of sorts in her lifestyle, as well as a traditionalist in her storytelling. Would it not have been quite lovely to sit in her parlor sipping on tea near Copenhagen, or coffee from her Kenyan plantation, and listening to her tell a story or two?
Karen Blixen wrote in this room, Ewald’s Room, as she called it, surrounded by her many artifacts from Africa and her books. She wrote first in English, then translated her work to her native Danish. I wonder why as I wish I could sit with Karen, in Ewald’s Room, and ask her myself.
Karen Blixen is buried, on her estate, in Denmark. A few clicks of my mouse and it appeared, her serene gravesite under a stately beech tree, the national tree of Denmark, and, seemingly, a favorite of hers as it is written that she planted many of them in her time. I think that this must be a very lovely spot to be. Someday, I will get to Copenhagen and I will take the train out to her home, now a museum, and I will wander the grounds and see her flowers and find her grave.
Someday, too, I will find her farm in Africa, and Denys Finch Hatton’s burial spot. I know the area will all now be built up and out and all around – the area fittingly named Karen.
For now, I think I will put my computer screen to sleep and go upstairs to wash my hair.
Babette’s Feast is one of those movies I hold close to my heart. For me, it so clearly illustrates the amazing power of art and beauty – to transform, to illuminate, to enrich. I adore it.
I love Dinensen’s writings, as well as that beautiful movie. I must admit, however, I was incredibly distracted by the magnificent house in the film. More gorgeous than Redford!
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Yes, oh yes, the house in Africa was so wonderful and a star in its own right. I always want to be around the table in the candlelight enjoying the stories.
I really do need to read the story Babette’s Feast is based on.
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Penny like me, you are rarely satisfied just to READ a good book – the book just opens the door to a whole new world, the author, their world – and isn’t google a great tool for it?!
Your passion about this writer and her books made me want to read a Karen Blixen book, something I’ve never done.
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Google is a phenomenal search tool and just leads you from one room to another and before you know it you are reading up on all sorts of things you never would have otherwise found. You might enjoy Out of Africa. Karen Blixen was really a storyteller in much the same way your favored Irish writers are. By the way, I am really enjoying Donkey Man and have had a few out-and-out guffaws over his humor.
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Oh I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I am usually hesitant to recommend a book that has an Irish theme because I know it is my personal interest and I can’t be sure if the book would appeal to others as well. If you have a chance, leave a comment on my “Donkey Pilgrim” post. That way if anyone reads the comments they might check the book out and also, I sent the link to my blog to Kevin O’Hara telling him I wrote about his book. He said he would check it out so if he does he could see your review of the book!
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