I was amply rewarded for my decision. Blixen is a magnificent writer, particularly gifted at spinning short stories and with a lyrical talent for description. Though Danish born and resident there for most of her life, she wrote in English first then translated Danish versions. Thus no interpretation or stylistic additions from translators. Her straightforward, informal style ... often imbued with beautifully poetic phrases ... is all her. I fell in love.
Babette's Feast is perhaps the best story ever written about the magical power of food and wine to transform and elevate people. The film is readily available online. Though the book is set in Sweden, the film moves to Northern Jutland. We watched the download while snuggled up at Ruths Hotel in Skagen. While the area is now a bastion of high-end tourism, the stretches of wind-whipped dunes and moorland made it easy to imagine tougher times here, and to put the extraordinary story of a gourmet chef surprising the austere residents into brilliant context. The original story is short enough to read easily on the flight from Heathrow to Copenhagen; highly recommended to anyone en route to Denmark.
Out of Africa is a bigger beast, though still pleasantly easy to get through. It's essentially a collection of short stories, and Blixen's personal, informal style feels very modern. And while all the key plot points are there (though you have to read between the lines for some), the book is very different from the film. The text is not the epic love story you might expect, nor does it proceed in a straight line. Rather, it's a series of insightful observations about life in Kenya in the first third of the 20th century, and devotes far more time to the stories of the native peoples than the Europeans.
This might present issues for politically correct types. Blixen was, after all, a privileged white woman living amongst "natives". But any sensitive reader will quickly pick up how unusual Blixen must have been, taking time to get to know the Kenyan tribes, Somalis and Indians as individuals, caring about them and becoming a part of their lives. Essentially an autobiography drawn from her letters home, you feel her growing and learning from the people and land around her. She starts, for example, as a hunter keen to shoot and stuff one of everything that roams. She ends as someone content to wander into the bush to sit quietly and watch the natural world. She's a tough, likeable woman who feels very much ahead of her time.
She's significantly different from the character Meryl Streep gave us in one big way: Blixen was only 28 when she went out to Africa. A sheltered, upper-middle class girl, thrown onto a coffee plantation with no experience and few close neighbours, whose marriage quickly collapsed and who never had enough money ... yet battled through and was a respected pillar of the local community for 18 years. Thus the book also gives us a touching coming of age story that the film doesn't have time to deliver.
Having only known the films until this trip, I didn't realise that Blixen lived a successful and very social life from the time she returned to Denmark in 1931. The end of the film version of Out of Africa has us imagining her descending into a depressing, rain-sodden, impoverished exile. Instead, she became established as a writer, travelling, entertaining and gaining a fair amount of fame until her death in 1962. A visit to her home and museum at Rungstedlund happily dispels this gloom.
Like most house museums dedicated to an individual, Rungstedlund would be pleasant but not particularly exciting without reading Blixen's work. Once you have, it's fascinating. There are a couple of museum rooms, where you can see original manuscripts and precious objects from the author's life. Perhaps most interesting are photos from her time in Africa, putting real faces to the characters you got to know in her book. The main living rooms of the house are much as she left them, with their dignified mix of late 19th century Danish furniture spiked with colourful memorabilia from Africa. There's ample space for entertaining.
In later life she was famed as a mentor to young writers, with her house becoming a much-loved literary salon. Any writer will peer into Ewald's Room (above right), where she did most of her work, and sigh with satisfaction. The walls bear a collection of reminders of Africa, the furniture is comfortable and the windows look out on a soothing scene of garden, sea and sky. Her home, like her books, paints a picture of Karen Blixen as a person you'd be keen to spend lots of time with.
Sadly, we can't accomplish that in person any more. And you might not be able to get to Denmark any time soon. A few seconds of download time, however, and you can start your acquaintance though her books. I recommend them highly.
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