Anecdotes Of Destiny [Audio Cassette]

Isak Dinesen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1984

As a young woman early in this century, Karen Blixen -- whom we know as Isak Dinesen -- managed a 6,000-acre hill farm in Kenya where she was doctor, judge and friend to native Kikuyu and Masai who lived on her land.

In middle age, back in her native Denmark, Blixen turned to weaving what may be described as adventures of the mind.

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8 1-hour cassettes

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Books on Tape, Inc. (January 1, 1984)
• ISBN-10: 0736609164
• ISBN-13: 978-0736609166
• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,756,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jests on the part of Fate, August 16, 2010

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anecdotes of destiny (Paperback)

In these brilliantly written short stories with at least one masterpiece (`The Immortal Story'), Isak Dinesen illustrates in powerful and colorful brushes the role of `Fate' in human life. Life is turned into a theatre (a comedy or a tragedy) and theatre into life (`Tempests'). There are victims of Fate, but also `Fate makers'. And, in any case, `let good fortune be even so sweet, it takes strength to bear even that.'

Man and Fate
(People) `tremble before making choices in life, and after having made them again tremble in fear of having chosen wrong'. For, `Ay, that which we rejected is poured upon us abundantly.'
Man is not a fish (`The Diver'): `Man is alarmed by the idea of time, and unbalanced by incessant wanderings between past and future. The inhabitants of a liquid world have brought past and future together in the maxim: après nous le déluge'.

Fate makers
In `The Diver', the powerful see inventions and great dreams as dangerous revolutions. `If indeed the flying boy meets and communicates with angels, what new and revolutionary things the angels may tell him?'
In `The Immortal Story', an old and rich trader tries to turn the immortal story of the sailor who was paid to make love, into reality. Because, `so are the poor jumping-jacks in the hands of the rich, the fools in the hands of the shrewd. They dance and drop as these hands pull the strings.'

Sudden revelations and decisions
In `The Ring', a wife suddenly comprehends that `she was turned away by an impatient husband to whom his sheep meant more than his wife.'
In `Tempests', a young girl decides to become an actress after a theatre performance.
In `Babette's Feast', a brief encounter becomes a missed opportunity which will be remembered all life long: `I have been with you every day of my life'.

Isak Dinesen understands admirably the essence of art (literature). She instills the reader with powerful emotions and burning questions, together with original, personal, crucial and unexpected insights in life's Fate, `poured abundantly upon us'.
This outstanding collection is a must read for all lovers of world literature.