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I don’t suppose anyone has read anything by this woman (apart from Out of Africa, which doesn’t appeal to me)?
I just seen a film adaptation of The Immortal Story, directed by Orson Welles. The film really struck me, and was very faithful to the original short story.
She does seem interesting – she said that silence was crucial to the short story. the story had to leave a silence in which the reader was left to his/her own thoughts aroused by what had just happened. The film was very faithful to that idea. If anyone gets the chance to see it, watch.
Never read any of her books ; just seen one of the films you mentioned (Out of Africa).
Thanks for the suggestion.
I don’t read very much, or at all to be honest.
What does she write about?
drac, I read a lot, but I’ve read enough to know that I haven’t read very much. I like that; it makes me want to read more, and I’ll be really annoyed if I go blind or when I die because of the unread books I want to read.
Isak Dinesen is the pen-name of Karen Blix. a danish aristo who contracted syphilis from her husband, I think when they were in Africa in the 1930s.
She wrote short stories in a strange, detached, dreamy style, a bit like 1001 Nights. Her main collections were Seven Gothic Tales, Winter’s Tales and Anecdotes of Destiny. The last collection contains The Immortal Story and Babette’s feast, both of which were made into films.
Short stories aren’t like novels. People who like novels find short stories, and especially poems, hard to follow because they’re looking for something only novels provide. Short stories tend to be about one particular episode or mood, and they show us an important aspect of characters, or the role of fate perhaps etc.
The best way to see if you like her is to go to British Amazon’s website, look her up and you’ll find books which are marked that they can be read. Have a look at the first couple of paragraphs and see if you like them. If you like Isak Dinesen, then once having read the first paragraph you’ll have to read to the end of the story.
The Immortal Story is about a rich and hard man living in Canton (in Macao in the film) who hears a story of a rich old man who pays a sailor to impregnate a beautiful young woman. So he does the same. Simple, but it’s the different characters which count. The young sailor never calls anyone by their name – just ‘Old Gentleman’ or ‘Rich Old Gentleman’ or ‘Beautiful Woman”. The style is very strange. Orson Welles, who was fascinated with Dinesen (and Shakespeare) succeeds perfectly in capturing the mood on the screen.
There – more than you wanted to know lol
drac, I read a lot, but I’ve read enough to know that I haven’t read very much. I like that; it makes me want to read more, and I’ll be really annoyed if I go blind or when I die because of the unread books I want to read.
I have pretty bad eyesight so trying to read books gives me a headache fairly quicky.
The best way to see if you like her is to go to British Amazon’s website, look her up and you’ll find books which are marked that they can be read. Have a look at the first couple of paragraphs and see if you like them. If you like Isak Dinesen, then once having read the first paragraph you’ll have to read to the end of the story.
I might check it out later, thanks.
There – more than you wanted to know lol
Information is always useful.
Sorry to hear about your poor eyesight.
how do you handle your computer work with that problem?
Sorry to hear about your poor eyesight. how do you handle your computer work with that problem?
Increasing font sizes and magnifcation tools mostly. I also use text to speech software sometimes so that the computer reads to me.
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