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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I love re-reading this book every 5 years. If you have never read it...I highly recommend if you read it when you were younger it is worth picking it up again.
Isak Dinesen is such a gifted writer. Her [b:Seven Gothic Tales|669305|Seven Gothic Tales|Isak Dinesen|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348531032s/669305.jpg|655345] enraptured me and already, less than a year later, feels due for a re-read, which is a rare honour I bestow on books. When I mentioned this title to my sister she said, "Isn't that the most colonialist?" which is something I can't really come to the defense on. Because of course Karen Blixen is a white woman who owns land in what was then "British East Africa," and it's her take on what that part of Africa was like.
But go in knowing that and that you can't change it, and this is a picture of a strange period of great transition. There's Blixen's mobility: she can leave Denmark, she can go back to Denmark when everything goes to ruin, she can go on safari with men and shoot a gun, she can drive carts for the war effort, she can provide medical care to the people on and around her farm. The knowledge and abilities she has have a lot to do with her station and the money she once had, but it also has to do with the time of great change in which she lived.
Reading her accounts you definitely develop an understanding of how metropolitan Nairobi was at this time, too. Unlike some other writers of the time, this isn't "darkest Africa." It doesn't seem to fit within those stereotypes that are played out again and again by white authors. The circumstances that produced this book are all part of the Imperialist package, but Blixen's writing stands out to me as a contrapuntal to that dominant narrative.
But go in knowing that and that you can't change it, and this is a picture of a strange period of great transition. There's Blixen's mobility: she can leave Denmark, she can go back to Denmark when everything goes to ruin, she can go on safari with men and shoot a gun, she can drive carts for the war effort, she can provide medical care to the people on and around her farm. The knowledge and abilities she has have a lot to do with her station and the money she once had, but it also has to do with the time of great change in which she lived.
Reading her accounts you definitely develop an understanding of how metropolitan Nairobi was at this time, too. Unlike some other writers of the time, this isn't "darkest Africa." It doesn't seem to fit within those stereotypes that are played out again and again by white authors. The circumstances that produced this book are all part of the Imperialist package, but Blixen's writing stands out to me as a contrapuntal to that dominant narrative.
The descriptions of Africa were beautiful but that was the only thing I liked about this story. I was hesitant going in as I knew it was a story told by a white woman running a farm in Kenya which sounded very colonial and it was. I know this was written at a different time but that didn’t stop me feeling uncomfortable at the way she discussed the ‘natives’. I also didn’t like the descriptions of hunting as i’m very against it. The final nail in the coffin of this book was when she discussed shooting her dogs because she was moving back to England even though friends had offered to take them off her, why would she still be considering shooting them? It maddened and saddened me
One of these books I kind of had to read - between the Danish Literary history and my Africa reading I figured I ought to. I quickly gave up on the Danish version, as the language is very arcaic.
It is interesting mostly in it's naive colonial description of the world, the land and the people. There is a sense of being at one with Africa, or wanting to be:
“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?"
...but at the same time describing 'the natives' as odd creatures - part of the alien landscape. Blixen is super naive and very much a product of her time, when she doesn't question her power (or ability) in assuming a role of judge in 'native' conflicts, or jokes that she will fire all her 'native' squatters / employees (?), and send them out in all kinds of weather without a thought to their well-being.
At other times she does assume some responsibility - like getting her 'squatters' a piece of land together, when she loses the farm - though on a reservation, not the land they've lived on for generations.
Then there is the friendship (affair?) with Dennis Finch-Hutton and their lion hunting (again no thought to the justification of killing lions etc?!) and the spoiled sorrow over selling off everything and having to leave Africa. [No mention of the husband, who must have left earlier after giving her syphilis, which she ended up over-treating with mercury, essentially killing her later on].
It is interesting mostly in it's naive colonial description of the world, the land and the people. There is a sense of being at one with Africa, or wanting to be:
“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?"
...but at the same time describing 'the natives' as odd creatures - part of the alien landscape. Blixen is super naive and very much a product of her time, when she doesn't question her power (or ability) in assuming a role of judge in 'native' conflicts, or jokes that she will fire all her 'native' squatters / employees (?), and send them out in all kinds of weather without a thought to their well-being.
At other times she does assume some responsibility - like getting her 'squatters' a piece of land together, when she loses the farm - though on a reservation, not the land they've lived on for generations.
Then there is the friendship (affair?) with Dennis Finch-Hutton and their lion hunting (again no thought to the justification of killing lions etc?!) and the spoiled sorrow over selling off everything and having to leave Africa. [No mention of the husband, who must have left earlier after giving her syphilis, which she ended up over-treating with mercury, essentially killing her later on].
"Pożegnanie z Afryką" ma formę pamiętnikową, przepełnioną subiektywnymi prawdami i odczuciami narratorki. Książka nigdy nie została w pełni zweryfikowana jako prawdziwy dziennik autorki, ale nie można zaprzeczyć, że życiorys Karen Blixen jest bardzo podobny do zawartej treści. Z tej przyczyny ciężko mi ocenić tę pozycję. Przedawniła się pod wieloma względami, więc nie można oceniać jej z punktu widzenia dzisiejszej moralności i poprawności. Jest jednak coś bardzo swojskiego i ujmującego w opisie życia w Afryce (mimo wszystko egzotycznym z perspektywy Europejczyka kontynencie) tak, jakby mowa była o życiu na najzwyklejszej farmie - chociaż właśnie przecież jest to tak samo zwyczajna sytuacja. Miła lektura, nie zmieniła wiele w moim życiu, ale przyjemnie było się zapoznać.
¡Menuda sorpresa!
Esperaba encontrarme una gran historia de amor con África como telón de fondo y me he topado con mucha información sobre África, las diferentes tribus y poblaciones que habitan el continente, sus costumbres, su fauna y flora, etc.
Ha sido simplemente magistral. Ya conocía un poco la vida de la autora porque leí una pequeña biografía de ella en Reinas de África, pero estas memorias han supuesto una gran ampliación a lo que yo ya sabía.
Lo que menos me ha gustado ha sido la tercera parte en la que se cuentan muchos relatos muy cortos: algunos son muy curiosos, otros no me han interesado tanto. Y, por otra parte, lo que me ha fascinado son las descripciones tan especiales que hace tanto del paisaje, de los animales y de su personal y amigos.
Ha sido una experiencia preciosa, estoy muy contenta de haberme decidido a leerlo.
Esperaba encontrarme una gran historia de amor con África como telón de fondo y me he topado con mucha información sobre África, las diferentes tribus y poblaciones que habitan el continente, sus costumbres, su fauna y flora, etc.
Ha sido simplemente magistral. Ya conocía un poco la vida de la autora porque leí una pequeña biografía de ella en Reinas de África, pero estas memorias han supuesto una gran ampliación a lo que yo ya sabía.
Lo que menos me ha gustado ha sido la tercera parte en la que se cuentan muchos relatos muy cortos: algunos son muy curiosos, otros no me han interesado tanto. Y, por otra parte, lo que me ha fascinado son las descripciones tan especiales que hace tanto del paisaje, de los animales y de su personal y amigos.
Ha sido una experiencia preciosa, estoy muy contenta de haberme decidido a leerlo.
This memoir is well worth the read. Her writing really does have the ability to transport the reader and conjure up images. I gained a sense for the author’s character and her emotions without it being a memoir about self-change. I can see why this has become a classic.
But it was also written by a European beneficiary of the colonial system in East Africa and published in 1937, just a few years after she left her farm in the Nairobi area. Don’t go into the book expecting a colonial memoir to be heavily critical of colonialism, or to have a post colonial mentality or awareness. However if you are interested in the bewildering mental-gymnastics colonial settlers often made as they both cold express love and appreciation for places and peoples that they were also participating in oppressing, this is an excellent example. In some moments, Dinesen comes so close to understanding and expressing the numerous issues with the religious missions and colonial government - but she never comes close to understanding or expressing her own role in the system.
I would also recommend this memoir to anyone looking to see an “on the ground” view of colonialism in Kenya - including the various immigrant populations, the social relationships, etc. although Dinesen’s commentary on this world often does not fit our current views on this world, her writing does allow us to enter this world. Although we are in one perspective, Dinesen attempts to show a variety of views and the reader, having access to these descriptions, can form opinions and understandings. If nothing else, the text ignited my curiosity and I have many new directions to begin researching
I’ve left off the rating since this seems too complicated a work (especially reading it in 2020-2021) to give an overall rating.
But it was also written by a European beneficiary of the colonial system in East Africa and published in 1937, just a few years after she left her farm in the Nairobi area. Don’t go into the book expecting a colonial memoir to be heavily critical of colonialism, or to have a post colonial mentality or awareness. However if you are interested in the bewildering mental-gymnastics colonial settlers often made as they both cold express love and appreciation for places and peoples that they were also participating in oppressing, this is an excellent example. In some moments, Dinesen comes so close to understanding and expressing the numerous issues with the religious missions and colonial government - but she never comes close to understanding or expressing her own role in the system.
I would also recommend this memoir to anyone looking to see an “on the ground” view of colonialism in Kenya - including the various immigrant populations, the social relationships, etc. although Dinesen’s commentary on this world often does not fit our current views on this world, her writing does allow us to enter this world. Although we are in one perspective, Dinesen attempts to show a variety of views and the reader, having access to these descriptions, can form opinions and understandings. If nothing else, the text ignited my curiosity and I have many new directions to begin researching
I’ve left off the rating since this seems too complicated a work (especially reading it in 2020-2021) to give an overall rating.
I theoretically understand the concept of not judging past works based on modern morals but it was really hard to not be appalled by the casual racism that filled this otherwise fascinating memoir.