What happens in the stories is wildly improbable, and Karen Blixen never lets the reader forget that she is the narrator, she chooses the style, and she alone decides what is to be included or not. She even goes as far as to say that the heroine's story should really have been written in verse instead of in prose.
Playing with words
So it doesn't take much of a leap of imagination when Karen Blixen insists that in a way her stories are also plays. They may be tragedies or comedies, but what they have in common is an invented reality, an illusion created by actors, curtains and backdrops, a sloping stage floor, setpieces, props, sound and light machines.
Karen Blixen continues her reflections by saying that the scenes in a play can also be regarded as a row of pictures. She clearly plays on this when describing characters, events, landscapes and interiors as if they were symbols in a coat-of-arms, paintings in a museum or illustrations in a book. Whatever her emphasis, Karen Blixen's point seems to be that like a sorceress she can transform letters, words and writing into something that could have happened.
Farmer and big-game hunter
Fortunately, it is a matter of taste whether you are fascinated by baroness Blixen's literary riddles or prefer the tough woman whose writings about Africa made the lions roar and lovers fall out of the sky. One thing, however, is certain: she is a master storyteller. That is a view shared by many across the globe...
Dorthe Sondrup Andersen is a Master of Arts of Comparative Literature and an author and writer on cultural affairs. Her books include "The Golden Age without the Gilt" ("Guldalder uden forgyldning") (People's Press, 2004).
The actress Kirsten Olesen in the movie "Winter's Tales", 1987. Photo: Jan Richter-Friis.