1. Sara M. Schmitt Schmitt 1
Craig L. Hooper Hooper 1
Mr. Hasse
English 12
1/7/10
Biographical
Isak Dinesen , pseud. of Baroness Karen Blixen, 1885-1962, Danish author, who
wrote primarily in English. In 1914 she married Baron Blixen and went to live in British
East Africa, on a coffee plantation. She was divorced in 1921 and took over the
management of the plantation where she lived until 1931, when falling coffee prices
forced her to return to Denmark. From her experiences she wrote her autobiographical
Out of Africa (1937), which became a successful film. Dinesen is best known for her
tales, many of which have eerie, supernatural elements. Her works include Seven Gothic
Tales (1934), Winter's Tales (1943), Last Tales (1957), and Anecdotes of Destiny (1958).
Writing despite severe illness, Dinesen finished the African sketches Shadows on the
Grass in 1960.
Danish writer, who mixed in her work supernatural elements, aestheticism, and
erotic undertones with an aristocratic view of life. Blixen always emphasized that she was
a storyteller (fortaellerske) in the traditional, oral sense of the word. She drew her
inspiration from the Bible, the Arabian Nights, the works of Homer, the Icelandic sagas,
and the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, her great countryman. Blixen's stories
have inspired such film makers as Orson Welles and Sydney Pollack. She wrote in
English and in Danish.

2. Sara M. Schmitt Schmitt 1
Craig L. Hooper Hooper 1
Mr. Hasse
English 12
1/7/10