To any reader who met Baroness Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) first
through her memorable Out of Africa these new pieces carrying us
back to her African plantation will be heart warming news. Twenty
five years absence has deepended the memories, sharpened certain
features, and made possible these human reflections of the life and
the people that gave it meaning. Her Somali servant, Farah, emerges
life size, a towering presence - "my servant by the grace of God"-
who made her every action and decision momentous. After a quarter
of a century she can sub-title her pen sketch "Portrait of a
Gentleman". There's humor as well as philosophical content in her
choice of incidents to round out this sketch. And there is, too, a
growing understanding of his religion as a Muslim. There are others
of her staff and her neighborhood but this stands out. Then too she
writes of adventures - of hunting and the lion she shot, feeding on
a dead giraffe; of her role, confessedly one imposed by a
superstition-ridden people, as a healer, with a scrap of letter
written by her king as a magic piece; of Abdullah, Farah's small
brother, and the different place he held in her household, in her
life. Throughout one senses deeply the role she played as mistress
and friend - and the philosophy that grew within her in the ten
years she struggled to keep the plantation intact. The writing
needs no encomiums; every reader knows there is delight in store.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Isak Dinesen takes up the absorbing story of her life in Kenya begun in the unforgettable Out of Africa, which she published under the name of Karen Blixen. With warmth and humanity these four stories illuminate her love both for the African people, their dignity and traditions, and for the beauty and wildness of the landscape. The first three were written in the 1950s and the last, 'Echoes from the Hills', was written especially for this volume in the summer of 1960 when the author was in her seventies. In all they provide a moving final chapter to her African reminiscences.
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