Letters from Africa, 1914-1931 [Paperback]

Isak Dinesen (Author), Frans Lasson (Editor), Anne Born (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1984

"Here is a rich new biographical perspective on the brilliant storyteller whose sophisticated romantic fiction . . . made her an international success and perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. . . . [These letters] contain the raw material that was later transformed into her classic memoir Out of Africa (1937). They also reveal her as a highly intelligent and sensitive analyst of a strange new world."--Bruce Allen, Christian Science Monitor

"Letters from Africa is literary gold, 24 karat."--Alden Whitman, Boston Globe

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Danish (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press; Reprint. edition (April 15, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226153118
• ISBN-13: 978-0226153117
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Scandinavian
  • #28 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Scandinavian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A woman of the future, April 3, 2000

By 

Heidi Klavzar (Ljubljana, Slovenia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from Africa, 1914-1931 (Paperback)

This is a very powerfull book, which gives good insight into the mind and soul of Karen Blixen. Compared to her own book "out of africa" you here have the "unprocessed" facts - she writes about her every day life on the farm, happy things as well as sad things in the form of letters to her loved ones. Very different from the intrepetation of the same facts in her book "Out of Africa". Read it!

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like reading a personal diary, October 22, 2000

By 

Kel'sGarden - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from Africa, 1914-1931 (Paperback)

There's no better way of getting to know the real Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen than by reading her Letters. Blixen shares her life with you a letter at a time, and in such rich detail that one feels a bit inclined to purchase a ticket to Kenya and appear on her veranda for tea!

Blixen's deep love for "her people" finally comes out in its truest sense in that she considered the African natives her soul mates.

The letters to Ingeborg, Aunt Bess, and brother Tommy, reveal (to me at least) that Blixen felt a greater kinship and sense of mutual acceptance with her "black skinned brother" than she did with her Danish relatives.

"Letters From Africa" is essential reading for any Dinesen fan.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Out of Africa, June 18, 2006

By 

Edivorp Rouylael "7thgradeteacher" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from Africa, 1914-1931 (Paperback)

Isak Dineson, or Karen Blixen, was a fascinating woman. Most people know her as the main character from the movie Out of Africa or as the auther of the book of the same name. While the movie and the book are both good, I feel that this collection of her letters gives the best picture of who she was and what was important to her. The struggles of trying to make a go of her farm are heartwrenching, but the joy she expresses in her surroundings is enchanting. She describes the people in her life, especially the Kenyans who worked on her farm, so well that you feel you know them almost as well as you know her. Her description of the Europeans who lived in Kenya for economic or political reasons has enough of compliment and criticism to seem much more fair than many books from the colonial era. By the end of the book, it is easy to think of Karen as a friend.