Out of Africa

368 Pages·1992·4.42 MB·English

by  Isak Dinesen aka Karen Blixen

OUT OF AFRICA
ISAK DINESEN
THE M ODE RN LIBRARY
NEW YORK

1992 Modem Ubr.uy Edition
Blographl""] note copyright 0 ]m by RalOdom House. I""'.
Copyrisht 1937, 1938 by Random H.,..,." Inc.
Copyright renewed 1\165 by RU"8lttdlundfonden
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Copyright Convmtio. ...... 1'ub!isMd in the United Stat. ... by
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Kenya. 3. Kenya- D 'iption and travel. 4. ou-...loak.
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IsAK D tNESEN
lsak Dinesen (her given name was Kan.:n) was born in
Oerunnrk on April 17, 188S, the offspring of a prosperous
line of merchants and landed gentry. Her father, a n:stlcss
traveler, writer, politician, and sometime military man,
commltted suldde when Karen was nine years old. She
wrote poems, plllYs, and stories from an early age, and
against her family's wishes began in 1900 to study art lit
the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. In her youth she led
a busy 5Ocia1 life and traveled in England, France, and.
Italy. After publishing §eVeral stories she temporarily
abandoned writing.
In 1912 she became engaged to her second. cousin,
Baron BlOt Blixen-F'lllccJu.., and the following year went
to Kenya with him to run a coffee plantation. TIley were
married on their arrival in Mombassa. Some months later
she leamed that she had contracted syphilis from her
hu!.band, and in 1915 she returned to Europe for medical
treatment. 5ke JOlter commented, "There are two things
you can do In such a situation: shoot the man or ae«>pt
it." She wenl back to Africa, where for several years she
and Bror continued to live together on a new and larger
(ann near Nairobi. During this time she began a love af
fair with the English soldier and planter Denys Finch
Hatton,; the two would continue to be fitfully involved
with each other until just before Fmch·Hatton's death in
a pl.a.ne crash in 1929. Bror, who had. pmven an incompe
tent manager of the farm, left Dinesen in 1921 and filed
£01' divorce. She wrote in a letter. "You must not think
that I am bitter . . . I believe thai if I can Slay and achieve
v
success with !he task I have taken upon my5clf here, I
will eventually regain my ,trength and in ,pite of every
thing feellhat my life has in some way been glorious and
ridl and happy. ~ Oinesen remained in Africa despite
drought and financial difficulties until 1931, whm., im·
poverished by the farm's economic collapse and devas·
tated by Finch·Hatton's death. she returned to Denmark
and the family home.
In her later years Dinesen suffered from the inroads of
syphili9that earlier treatment had arrested but not cured.
In 1934 she published Sewn Gothic TII/d, a collection of
stones that ihe had begun writing_in English some
eighl years earlier. She said of them: "Reality had met
me, such a short time ago, in such an ugly shape. that I
have no wish 10 come into contact with It .gam. Some
where in me a dark fear was sliD crouching and I look
refuge within the fantastic like a distressed child in his
bookoffairy tales.N In the United States the book wasse
leered by the Book-<lf-the-Month Club and enjoyed an
unexpectedly wide success. Ollt of Africtl, an account of
her Kenyan experiences. appeared in 1937. Her later
books included Willler's rliid (1942); The Angelic Avtngers
(1944), a novel written under the pseudonym Pierre An
drezel; ust relies (1957); Anuzfutd of Ddtiny (1958); an
otner volume of African memoirs, ShadflWS 011 Ihe GroS5
(1960); and Ehmrglml (1963), a poe;thumously published
novella. In 1959, although in extremely frail health. she
enjoyed a lengthy American visit. She died in 1962.
vi
Contents
J. KA"-1ANTE AND LULU
The Ngong Farm ..3
A Native Child 23
The Sal/age in the Immigrant', House
A GazeUe 67
D. A SHOOTING ACCIDENT ON THE FARM
The Shooting Accident 59
Riding in the Reserve IIl3
Wamai 115
Wanyangerri 131
A Kikuyu Chief 148
Ill. VIStTORS 10 THE FARM
Big Dances 165
A VISitor from Asia 178
The Somali Women 183
Old Knudsen 195
xii COm'ENfS
A Fugitive Rests on the Farm 204
Visit! of Friends 2J3
The Noble Pioneer 220
Wm. . 233
IV. FROM AN IMMIGRANT'S NOTEBOOK
~ Wild Came to the Aid of the Wild 257
The FireOics 258
The Roads of Ufe 259
&a', Story 261
The Iguana 265
Farah and the Merchant of Venice 266
The mite of Boumemouth 268
Of Pride 269
The Oxen 270
Of the Two Kaces 273
A War-TIme Safari 274
The Swaheli Numeral Systl"ffi 281
"I Will Not Let Thee Go Except Thou Bless Me" 283
The Eclipse of the Moon 285
Natives and Verse 285
Of the Millennium 286
Kitosch', Story 287
Some African Birds 292-
Pani.. 296
&a's Death 1!Tl
or
Natives and History 301
The Earthquake 304
CONTENTS xiii
George 305
Kcjiko 306
The Giraffes Go 10 Hamburg 306
In the Menagerie 310
Fellow-Travellers 314
The Naturalist and the Monkeys 315
Karomenya 31.
Pooran Singh 319
A Strange Happening 322
The Parrot 325
V. FAREWEll. TO TIlE FARM
Hard Times 329
The Death of Kinanjui 343
The Grave in the Hills l53
Farah and I Sell Out 372
Farewell 390