Karen Blixen fue una narradora en el sentido tradicional y oral de la palabra. Su obra combina hábilmente elementos sobrenaturales, esteticismo y matices eróticos con una visión aristocrática del mundo. Inspirándose en un rico tapiz de fuentes, incluida la Biblia, Las mil y una noches, Homero y las sagas islandesas, creó narrativas que exploran las profundidades de la experiencia humana. Su voz única y su arte literario continúan cautivando a los lectores, ofreciendo una perspectiva atemporal sobre la narración y la vida.
Este libro relata siete cuentos con historias fascinantes que componen uno de sus mejores libros. Es una joya de la literatura del siglo XX con relatos en ambientes aristocráticos, góticos, románticos. La narración es inmejorable y parece ausentarse de la realidad. Se muestra escapista, intrincada pero accesible. Posee una penetrante hondura psicológica y una maravillosa captación atmosférica.
Karen Dinesen, joven aristócrata danesa, viaja a Kenya para casarse con un primo suyo, el barón Bror von Blixen. Ambos compran un cafetal, pero el matrimonio fracasa al poco tiempo y, tras el divorcio, Karen se enfrenta sola a la responsabilidad de explorar la plantación. Su amor por un aventurero aristócrata inglés, Denys Finch-Hatton, el contacto diario —y cordial— con los nativos y su fascinación por el entorno salvaje que la rodea hacen de África su nuevo hogar. En este relato se basa la película del mismo nombre, que, dirigida por Sidney Pollack y protagonizada por Robert Redford y Meryl Streep, fué galardonada con ocho Oscars en 1985.
Ehrengard, cuento póstumo de la baronesa Karen Blixen, más conocida universalmente por su seudónimo Isak Dinesen, es el epítome de su obra de narradora, su cuento más acabado y también el más descarado, el más desconcertante, el más engañoso en cierto sentido. Cuando lo escribió es obvio que había llegado al último arabesco, al postrer estadio de la escritura de cuentos: aquel en que resulta imperceptible la frontera entre la literalidad y la ironía. En esta pastoral concebida a la sombra del Diario de un seductor de Kierkegaard, a la de Goethe, a la del Shakespeare de La tempestad, está el artificio llevado hasta su último extremo, está la estructura -tan querida para la baronesa- de cajas chinas y de relato epistolar, está la desfachatez del cuentista que sacrifica cualquier regla para la eficacia de la historia.
In this book, the author of *Seven Gothic Tales* recounts her life on a plantation in Kenya, sharing the beauty of the Ngong Hills and the coffee trees in bloom. She describes her diverse guests, from the Prince of Wales to Knudsen, the old charcoal burner, and the vibrant local festivals. The narrative includes encounters with majestic wildlife—lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, and buffaloes—as well as her bond with Lulu, a graceful little gazelle who became her companion. The Random House colophon first appeared in February 1927 on a pamphlet titled "Announcement Number One." Founders Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer had acquired the Modern Library two years prior. One day, while discussing publishing plans with illustrator Rockwell Kent, Cerf had the inspiration for the name "Random House," reflecting their approach to publishing. Kent quickly sketched the trademark, which has remained unchanged. Over the years, Random House has consistently aimed to publish high-quality books, embracing the spirit of randomness in their selections. This edition honors the seventy-fifth anniversary of Random House and is set from the first American edition of 1937.
In her memoir, Out of Africa, and in short stories, Danish-born writer Dinesen evoked a timeless Africa distilled from her 18 years on a Kenya coffee plantation. This lovely-looking but ultimately shallow picture book, a tie-in with the film based on Out of Africa, splices excerpts from Dinesen's autobiographical writings, stories and letters with color photographs of Africa's land, people and wildlife. For readers familiar with her works, the album is pleasant enough, though readers expecting visual signs of today's real, changing, troubled Africa will be disappointed. In an almost apologetic introduction, Judith Thurman, Dinesen's biographer, notes that the writer was not a conservationist, enjoyed big game hunting and had paternalistic, feudal relationships with Africans. Nevertheless, Dinesen upheld the dignity and value of African culture, and her rhythmic prose captured the complex poetry of Africa's landscape.
Last Tales is a collection of twelve of the last tales that Isak Dinesen wrote before her death in 1962. They include seven tales from Albondocani, a projected novel that was never completed; "The Caryatids," an unfinished Gothic tale of a couple bedeviled by an old letter and a gypsy's spell; and three tales of winter, including "Converse at Night in Copenhagen," a drunken, all-night conversation between a boy-king, a prostitute, and a poor young poet.
Isak Dinesen was the pen-name of Karen Blixen, who was born in Rungsted, Denmark in 1885. After studying art, she married her cousin, Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke. Together they went to Kenya to manage a coffee plantation. After their divorce, she continued to run the plantation until a collapse in the coffee market forced her back to Denmark.
In 1937, Karen Blixen published 'Out of Africa', her remarkable chronicle of life on an African Farm, from which this account is taken.
Karen Blixen, author of the acclaimed memoir Out of Africa, was also a master of the short story form- her tales offer luminous meditations on rebirth and redemption, on the mystery and unexpectedness of human behaviour. Alongside 'Babette's Feast', this selection also includes 'Sorrow-Acre', often thought to be one of her finest stories.
'As for me I have one ambition only: to invent stories, very beautiful stories.' So said Karen Blixen who, in creating her spellbinding tales of fantasy and romance, also invented for herself the persona of Isak Dinesen. These three tales of love and loss are taken from Winter's Tales.
