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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
As was true the first time I read this book, 30 some-odd years ago, I initially found it hard to get into the flow of the story, but eventually Dineson's prose, her lyrical way with words, and her charming observations and descriptions won me over. The high point of this particular reading occurred one morning when I found myself sitting out on the edge of the deck watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee as I was reading Dineson's description of coming across a lion and and killing it in the dark, only to return at sunrise and find another lion. When I write it here, it all sounds brutal and cold, but it is not so in the book, and as I read that passage I was linked through sunrise in the Hudson Valley with a sunrise in Africa in a time long ago, all through the magic of words and imagination.
It is really a touching and beautiful book.
It is really a touching and beautiful book.
http://www.hyperebaaktiivne.ee/2022/03/xiii-ehk-armastuskiri-aafrikale.html
Aitäh, Postimees kirjastus, raamatu eest!
Lumiste ilmadega on muidugi ideaalne lugeda elust lõõskava päikese all. Karen Blixen ja tema autobiograafiline teos "Aafrika äärel" on mu huviorbiidis olnud ajast, kui lugesin naisest Kankimäki raamatust "Naised, kellest ma öösiti mõtlen" ja peategelane Aafrika on mind paelunud juba kaua-kaua.
Karen Blixen pidas 20. sajandi alguses Nairobi lähedal kohviistandust. Taanist pärit naine hoolis väga Aafrikast, selle põliselanikest ja puutumatust loodusest. Farmi pidamine polnud lihtne, aga ta leidis alati aega ka kohalikke aidata või külalisi vastu võtta. 17 aasta jooksul, mil Karen Keenias elas, toimus üht ja teist. Tema mälestustes on olulisel kohal inimesed, keda ta seal kohtas, nii aafriklased kui ka eurooplased. Kesise saagi ja kohvi hinna languse tõttu langes farm võlgadesse ja Karen pidi sellest lõpuks loobuma.
"Aafrika äärel" jutustab maailmast, mida enam ei eksisteeri, koloniaalaja Aafrikast. Blixeni mälestused on kaunilt kirja pandud ja mõjuvad armastuskirjana maale ja selle inimestele. Jutustus ei kulge lineaarselt, vaid vahelduvad erinevad sündmused, mis autorile jälje on jätnud. Istanduse argipäev seguneb tähelepanekute ja mõtisklustega. Teos on äärmiselt kirjeldusterohke ja kulgeb seega aeglaselt, nagu päevad, mil saab lihtsalt päikesepaistes uneleda, sest kuhugi pole kiiret. Igast leheküljest õhkus kirjaniku armastust Aafrika vastu, igatsust möödunud aegade järele. Nautisin seda raamatut väga, eriti looduskirjeldusi.
Teos on jagatud viieks kergelt temaatiliseks osaks. Kahes esimeses on peategelaseks põlismaalased, kikujud ja masaid, kellega Karen lähemalt kokku puutub ja suhtleb. See on pilguheit hääbuvasse maailma, kohalike hõimude kultuuri. Kolmas osa pajatab erinevatest külalistest, kes istandusest läbi käivad. Mu lemmik osa oli neljas, mis erineb teistest, koosnedes lühematest lugudest, mis hoolimata oma pikkusest olid väga kõnekad. Viies ehk viimane osa on nukker. Sõbrad surevad, Karen peab Aafrikast lahkuma. Mulle läks eriti hinge see, et vanaättidel ei lubatud talle tantsida. See oli kuidagi lõplik, andis surmkindlalt mõista, et see on raamat ajast, mida enam ei ole ega tule.
Üht-teist jätab Karen raamatus rääkimata. Aafrika elu varjupooltest ta eriti ei kirjuta, armastus teeb ju pimedaks ja argimured sellesse nostalgilisse käsitlusse ei sobi. Veel ei puuduta naine oma tervisemuresid, abikaasat, lahutust ega seda, kuidas ta Aafrikasse sattus. Ilma selle taustainfota on võib-olla veider lugeda, kuidas valge taanlanna üksi Aafrikas farmi peab. Seega olin väga rahul, et mul "Naised, kellest ma öösiti mõtlen" varasemalt loetud oli. Soovitan seda järjekorda, kuna hea on olla Kareni elulooga enne tema kirjutiste lugemist juba tuttav.
Aitäh, Postimees kirjastus, raamatu eest!
Lumiste ilmadega on muidugi ideaalne lugeda elust lõõskava päikese all. Karen Blixen ja tema autobiograafiline teos "Aafrika äärel" on mu huviorbiidis olnud ajast, kui lugesin naisest Kankimäki raamatust "Naised, kellest ma öösiti mõtlen" ja peategelane Aafrika on mind paelunud juba kaua-kaua.
Karen Blixen pidas 20. sajandi alguses Nairobi lähedal kohviistandust. Taanist pärit naine hoolis väga Aafrikast, selle põliselanikest ja puutumatust loodusest. Farmi pidamine polnud lihtne, aga ta leidis alati aega ka kohalikke aidata või külalisi vastu võtta. 17 aasta jooksul, mil Karen Keenias elas, toimus üht ja teist. Tema mälestustes on olulisel kohal inimesed, keda ta seal kohtas, nii aafriklased kui ka eurooplased. Kesise saagi ja kohvi hinna languse tõttu langes farm võlgadesse ja Karen pidi sellest lõpuks loobuma.
"Aafrika äärel" jutustab maailmast, mida enam ei eksisteeri, koloniaalaja Aafrikast. Blixeni mälestused on kaunilt kirja pandud ja mõjuvad armastuskirjana maale ja selle inimestele. Jutustus ei kulge lineaarselt, vaid vahelduvad erinevad sündmused, mis autorile jälje on jätnud. Istanduse argipäev seguneb tähelepanekute ja mõtisklustega. Teos on äärmiselt kirjeldusterohke ja kulgeb seega aeglaselt, nagu päevad, mil saab lihtsalt päikesepaistes uneleda, sest kuhugi pole kiiret. Igast leheküljest õhkus kirjaniku armastust Aafrika vastu, igatsust möödunud aegade järele. Nautisin seda raamatut väga, eriti looduskirjeldusi.
Teos on jagatud viieks kergelt temaatiliseks osaks. Kahes esimeses on peategelaseks põlismaalased, kikujud ja masaid, kellega Karen lähemalt kokku puutub ja suhtleb. See on pilguheit hääbuvasse maailma, kohalike hõimude kultuuri. Kolmas osa pajatab erinevatest külalistest, kes istandusest läbi käivad. Mu lemmik osa oli neljas, mis erineb teistest, koosnedes lühematest lugudest, mis hoolimata oma pikkusest olid väga kõnekad. Viies ehk viimane osa on nukker. Sõbrad surevad, Karen peab Aafrikast lahkuma. Mulle läks eriti hinge see, et vanaättidel ei lubatud talle tantsida. See oli kuidagi lõplik, andis surmkindlalt mõista, et see on raamat ajast, mida enam ei ole ega tule.
Üht-teist jätab Karen raamatus rääkimata. Aafrika elu varjupooltest ta eriti ei kirjuta, armastus teeb ju pimedaks ja argimured sellesse nostalgilisse käsitlusse ei sobi. Veel ei puuduta naine oma tervisemuresid, abikaasat, lahutust ega seda, kuidas ta Aafrikasse sattus. Ilma selle taustainfota on võib-olla veider lugeda, kuidas valge taanlanna üksi Aafrikas farmi peab. Seega olin väga rahul, et mul "Naised, kellest ma öösiti mõtlen" varasemalt loetud oli. Soovitan seda järjekorda, kuna hea on olla Kareni elulooga enne tema kirjutiste lugemist juba tuttav.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
slow-paced
Really never thought that someone who loved Africa so much would shoot animals. Not what I expected.
so I wanna say I’m not an expert or even educated in any of the historical contexts of the book. I read a bit about it and this is what I came to terms with.
Karen Blixen (author of the book, Isak Dinesen is a pseudonym) was born in 1885 in Denmark. A baroness, her father was from a wealthy family of Landowners closely connected to the monarchy and established church; her mother of course also from a wealthy merchant family.
because one of her uncles had made a fortune by moving to Kenya she decided to do the same with her then-husband. so, they decided to purchase some land to turn it into a coffee plantation in the hopes of making a lot of money. this book is about those years of hers in Africa, from 1914 to 1931. yep, this is the memoir of a colonizer.
she cannot avoid presenting a very romanticized colonizer view of Africa. it made me very uncomfortable how people that were born and lived there, were often dehumanized in her narrative, and shockingly compared to animals (Blixen uses animal imageries to describe plant workers such as: “a civilized dog will place a bone on the floor before you as a present” or “living a seclusive existence like a sick animal”, even worse sometimes).
whenever she tells how she helped this or that person it’s like she puts herself on this pedestal and tells several stories of her “healing” physical or mental characteristics, and includes paragraphs where they are thanking her and begging her to come back…
she overall sees herself as a “good” colonizer and desperately wants everyone to know that too. she really thinks that she has this saint-like role to “civilize and rehabilitate them”, when she’s actually just invading a land for her own profit and enrichment and in the process wanting to abolish any difference in cultural heritage, traditions or religion because she thought the European standards were just plain simple superior.
examples that I caught were convincing one to enter a catholic church or to touch a dead body.
Karen: just because someone doesn’t hold the same religious or cultural beliefs as you doesn’t mean they must be changed or converted.
even though she doesn’t appear to physically harm the “natives”, it doesn’t seem to even cross her mind that her simple colonizer presence is oppressive and the problem in itself. yet she presents herself as if she’s the one providing freedom!!
from what I saw, what made this book so acclaimed were the descriptions of the African landscape, but why do we need descriptions from a colonizer that are so noticeably biased with this constant comparison and constant relation to Europe? constantly remarking how exotic and inferior one is compared to the other? readers who say we should cut some slack because it was the norm back then and it’s a nice piece of historical literature… I don’t care, it’s still terrible. also, I didn’t find anything about the narrative enticing at all.
ultimately, what made me DNF this book about halfway through was not being able to see the narrative past the colonial white gaze. there was nothing else to this book and I was dreading every phrase and every page of it and this is not what I read forrrr xD
Karen Blixen (author of the book, Isak Dinesen is a pseudonym) was born in 1885 in Denmark. A baroness, her father was from a wealthy family of Landowners closely connected to the monarchy and established church; her mother of course also from a wealthy merchant family.
because one of her uncles had made a fortune by moving to Kenya she decided to do the same with her then-husband. so, they decided to purchase some land to turn it into a coffee plantation in the hopes of making a lot of money. this book is about those years of hers in Africa, from 1914 to 1931. yep, this is the memoir of a colonizer.
she cannot avoid presenting a very romanticized colonizer view of Africa. it made me very uncomfortable how people that were born and lived there, were often dehumanized in her narrative, and shockingly compared to animals (Blixen uses animal imageries to describe plant workers such as: “a civilized dog will place a bone on the floor before you as a present” or “living a seclusive existence like a sick animal”, even worse sometimes).
whenever she tells how she helped this or that person it’s like she puts herself on this pedestal and tells several stories of her “healing” physical or mental characteristics, and includes paragraphs where they are thanking her and begging her to come back…
she overall sees herself as a “good” colonizer and desperately wants everyone to know that too. she really thinks that she has this saint-like role to “civilize and rehabilitate them”, when she’s actually just invading a land for her own profit and enrichment and in the process wanting to abolish any difference in cultural heritage, traditions or religion because she thought the European standards were just plain simple superior.
examples that I caught were convincing one to enter a catholic church or to touch a dead body.
Karen: just because someone doesn’t hold the same religious or cultural beliefs as you doesn’t mean they must be changed or converted.
even though she doesn’t appear to physically harm the “natives”, it doesn’t seem to even cross her mind that her simple colonizer presence is oppressive and the problem in itself. yet she presents herself as if she’s the one providing freedom!!
from what I saw, what made this book so acclaimed were the descriptions of the African landscape, but why do we need descriptions from a colonizer that are so noticeably biased with this constant comparison and constant relation to Europe? constantly remarking how exotic and inferior one is compared to the other? readers who say we should cut some slack because it was the norm back then and it’s a nice piece of historical literature… I don’t care, it’s still terrible. also, I didn’t find anything about the narrative enticing at all.
ultimately, what made me DNF this book about halfway through was not being able to see the narrative past the colonial white gaze. there was nothing else to this book and I was dreading every phrase and every page of it and this is not what I read forrrr xD
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I was really excited to try this out , not only was it based in Africa but KENYA! So naturally I was curious as to what Blixen had to say , reading a book set in a land you know and love proved to be fun and I will be trying a few more
Brief description : From the moment Karen Blixen , a danish woman, arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation, her heart belonged to Africa. Drawn to the intense colours and ravishing landscapes, Blixen spent her happiest years on the farm, and her experiences and friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled in these memoirs.
Writting: Karen’s writing was actually pretty good. Her descriptions of the African landscape were on point and fairly vivid . I was impressed on that aspect and the image she imprints on your mind is a lasting one.
“Like the strong refined essence of a continent.the colors were dry and burnt
like the colors in pottery.The trees had a light delicate foliage….”
And
“was so undisciplined and rapacious” -Nairobi summed up in a few words
However,her commas WERE a bit overused and her poetry when she did include it , it was not good . Her use of untranslated danish phrases were a bit bothersome but otherwise not bad .For a book with no action ,it was interesting enough , it may drop a bit but somewhere it will pique your interest again. Blixen showed the land as it was . Africa is a sinkhole /trap ,whatever you wanna call it but it captivates hearts regardless .
Her characters: There were some pretty great ones. I found myself really liking Kamante and Farah in particular. They were both always composed ,dignified and amusing in any situation. Kamante Was hella clever and skilled , especially for a boy his age . He has sound judgement and was referred to as a boy like a warrior man. “Well yes,he said, it may be so . But I thought I had better wake you up in case it was god coming” .If Kamande was a warrior boy , I think Farah has a lions heart ♥️.He is proud and refined in a way that gives him class not a snobby disposition. He is dramatic and as Karen says “all natives have a strong sense for dramatic effect” which yes , true and second YEAH .It’s entertaining and fun at times but ofcourse I would appreciate it . “his face and countenance was assured and dignified but he would often start in a vague manner : ‘memsahib,he said , the kabero’ This was the program , then I waited for what was to follow” a man of my heart (shoutout to British lad /sir lover boy ).
Sooooo here’s where things go wrong :
The bad: Karen Blixen was a pretentious,self aggrandizing and condescending woman . She might be a product of her time but this REALLY brought the book down .
I can’t say that Blixen didn’t love Africa , she really did . She loved the land and nature but certainly not the natives .Truth is , she was racist and thought herself superior. This was repeatedly proven . When I mentioned this to my stepmom , she tried to justify it …..it didn’t work . Coz it’s unjustifiable. It was in the little things and this might have just been a hint of it to come :
I mean …..well… you guys get it. Here’s are a few uncomfortable situations:
1) “Nothing , I thought ,could be more mysterious than this natural instinct in a savage for our culinary art”starts off easy but savage? really? And Kamande fo all people too . It continues “ He had a great memory for recipes , he could not read and he knew no English , so that cookery books were no use to him , but he must have held all that he was ever taught stored up in his ungraceful head” First off , impressive .secondly , ungraceful? Matusi za nini ? It’s on the little things . It progresses
2)”and she (a bushbuck) was so pretty that you could not help , when you looked upon the two (she and Kamante) , seeing them as a new paradoxical illustration to the tale of beauty and the beast”. when I saw this I thought , she didn’t ! But I continued anyway , hoping I was over thinking it or that she didn’t mean it that way . But boy did she ! Ms Blixen repeatedly referred to or compared natives to beasts . It pissed me off
3) “It was a curious thing to see my old kikuyu women in bed , with white sheets to them ,like seeing an old worn out mule or other beasts of burden there” . From there on I knew I could not give this book a good rating .
No)100: “ and altogether much of the look of a small black native bull calf”
Ohhh but we’re still not done , Nooo. “The cold sensual Arabs came contemptuous of death , with their minds out of business times , on astronomy, algebra and their harems . With them came their young, illegitimate half brothers , the Somali-impetuous,quarrelsome ,abstinent and greedy . The Swahili went along with them , slaves themselves and slave hearted ,cruel , obscene ,thievish …” How many people can one hate ? She seems to insult and think poorly of everyone BUT Europeans . It’s like another Mein Kampf .she also constantly generalizes which shows how little she really knows . In a diverse area such as kenya , we’re glad to have her gone .
Self aggrandizing and colonialism :
1) There was an instance where the baroness made her native workers carry bath water a long way for her on their heads as they walked in the wild and perform a lot of unnecessary task for here . She then said “I was to the expedition ,I believe, a kind of guardian angel or mascot” 2) one time she threatened to sack some of her workers if they did not find a bushbuck she had seen on the road the other day and when they stayed out all night , she claimed it was due to their love for her . someone Obviously thinks highly of themselves. 3) another case is whereby a man killed his African ‘servant’ and was sentenced to prison for 2 years . She had this to say : “it seems to you as you read the case through , a strange humiliating fact that the Europeans should not , in Africa have power to throw the Africans out of existence” .-this was shriek worthy . Why on earth should they (also take that) and the man definitely got off easy .
Language/culture: I doubt the woman really knows fluent Swahili , only thinks she does . Mistakes like “masai nakuja” instead of masai wanakuja , “Marka mbaya” rather than Mwaka mbaya. And lastly “Ngumbe na penda chumbe , malaya mbaya , kamba na kula mamba” to mean : the oxen(/cows) like salt , whores are bad , the kamba(tribe) eat snakes . This was just made for the sake of the rhyme , however it should be : “ Ng’ombe wanapenda chunvi, Malaya ni wabaya. Wakamba wanakula nyoka” her swa is a bit broken . As for culture she did show soommme appreciation but this review is already long enough as it is so to wrap up:
Blixens life was set off away from the true proceedings and action . She tells of her sheltered and narrow experiences living a farm life . For those curious and looking to find out more about Africa and it’s culture , you define won’t find it here and leave satisfied. For those who want a lil more action , a book by a freedom fighter or detainee might be more suitable . It’s sorta like a book for Karen’s by Karen . A a racist argumentative woman who wants their so called peace and justice because they thin their in the ‘ right’ . It’s a shame coz she did have a painterly eye .
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Det er ikke en sammenhængende fortælling, men det føles som én. Blev lidt :( på de sidste sider tbh. Selvom der egentlig ikke sker så meget, så skriver Karen så godt at man gerne vil læse videre hele tiden.
Man skal lige huske på at bogen er gammel, og hendes syn på race-ting er outdated. Er det lidt eeh 😬 at læse? Yep. Men hey, what can you do.
Man skal lige huske på at bogen er gammel, og hendes syn på race-ting er outdated. Er det lidt eeh 😬 at læse? Yep. Men hey, what can you do.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racial slurs