Customer Reviews

Isak Dinesen Herself

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This is a wonderful recording which I fear will soon be plunged into obscurity for a while due to the relative rarity of cassette tape players. Someone should immediately burn this into a CD or make it available for downloading. These stories were meant to be heard. The first thing you notice is the strange, deep voice, frail and powerful at the same time. Simply as a feat of memory for a person of advanced years (Dinesen worked from memory rather than notes), this is a remarkable performance. But it's much richer than that - it has all the power of her writing on the page, and more. If you're a fan of Dinesen and have read the biographies, you know how identified she was with the oral tradition. While her writing style isn't exactly "conversational", this recitation reminds us just how powerful the oral tradition is, and it needn't be ghettoized to talk shows and stand-up comedians. There's an interesting political incorrectness at work in some of her insights (probably not too controversial at the time) that are very thought-provoking. Dinesen never forgets that nature ultimately rules us. I listened to this tape in my car this morning while driving to work and I was transported. This treasure is well worth the few dollars it cost.

The author is known to most people for her famous book "Out of Africa". In that autiobiographical book Dinesen entertains guests in her home by weaving her own short stories. After listening to these two stories every hearer will understand why guests looked forward to the stories that would follow the evening meal. Isak Dinesen tells two powerful stories full of artistic detail and insights into human nature. These stories are as different as could be imagined. One takes place in the 20th century and the other takes place in the first. The first story, "The Kings' Letter" is entirely true and takes place in Kenya, the scene of Dinesen's famous novel Out of Africa. In this story the listener is treated to several interlocking sub-stories, each one entertaining in its right. The author goes to great pains to refrain from exaggeration and anything fanciful. The second story, "The Wine of the Tetrarch" is entirely a "fancy of her own imagination". Yet even the fiction speaks with such unexaggerated, measured and insightful descriptions that would seem to only come from an eyewitness. The second story is an imagined encounter of the Apostle Peter on the Wednesday following the Resurrection of Christ. Dinesen accomplishes this story with an obvious respect, if not reverence for the Christian account of the Resurrection. Even some of the words attributed to the Apostle Peter come directly from the epistle of 1 Peter. This lends to the story such a credibility that the listener will be tempted to add this account to the book of Acts. The live audience in the background give the listener the sense that others are experiencing the pathos, delight, and admiration for the author that will fill any listener with a sense of longing for more. These rare stories are like the last two bottles of the finest wine of a vintage that will never be again, and after they are consumed they warm the heart with the satisfaction of having enjoyed a rare luxury. These storie! s are the only known tapes of Isak Dinesen's voice telling her own stories.

Dinesen is an amazing storyteller and hearing these stories in her own voice, with her wonderful phrasing and accent is a real thrill. Even though her voice is getting old and crackly, it is still wonderful. This tape is a must-have for Dinesen fans. Too bad it is not yet available on CD...

I've been looking to get another copy of this tape since our copy was "borrowed" permanently. It is easy to see why borrowers will keep this one: it is a joy to listen to one of the greaat storytellers of the century telling her own stories