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A review by marionlebras
Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen, Karen Blixen
4.0
The Young Man with the Carnation
I particularly appreciated the complexity of the story — short stories imbricated one into the other, adding layers of depth to the atmosphere, not necessarily the characters.
To me, Charlie is a young man who set himself some clearly defined goals: getting out of poverty, marrying a beautiful girl, having his talent recognized. He has strived for it, but now that they have been realized — what else is there for him to look for? Are they all he was expecting from them?
He obviously isn't getting that much happiness from achieving them. Instead, he feels empty, and identifies with the hollow ships, resonating with his hollow mind. A life of privilege made him unable to talk about what is important, and he pressures himself to produce what others expect (another novel about the poor, but it is hard to do so when you are so enstranged from them). However, in the last pages, this "deus ex-machina" intervention from the Lord guarantees that he will have just enough hardship to continue writin — writing is a tortuous process, although feeling empty and inadequate doesn't seem to me like the hardships that get the most inspiration out of someone.
Him telling his stories to the sailors, creating a new narration, felt to me as if he was finding his voice again. For a moment, he was free of all expectations, of the image that is imposed on him by his now peers. It gave him a new freedom of expression.
It is quite ironic that the short story is not called after its protagonist, but after a man he meets for maybe two minutes. However, this young man with the carnation is the symbol of his lost ingenuity and sense of wonder at life, of a time when pleasures were simpler.
Both the main story and the one about Lady Helena are about finding the place you belong in in this world, although Lady Helena is a lot more relentless about it. Charlie does not have the courage to give up his newfound comfort and find his place, he is not strong enough to detach himself from this society based on appearances. On the contrary, the seamen represent this adventure, this detachment from the community, and the ability to make any place your home — as long as they have women and some whiskey.
I particularly appreciated the complexity of the story — short stories imbricated one into the other, adding layers of depth to the atmosphere, not necessarily the characters.
To me, Charlie is a young man who set himself some clearly defined goals: getting out of poverty, marrying a beautiful girl, having his talent recognized. He has strived for it, but now that they have been realized — what else is there for him to look for? Are they all he was expecting from them?
He obviously isn't getting that much happiness from achieving them. Instead, he feels empty, and identifies with the hollow ships, resonating with his hollow mind. A life of privilege made him unable to talk about what is important, and he pressures himself to produce what others expect (another novel about the poor, but it is hard to do so when you are so enstranged from them). However, in the last pages, this "deus ex-machina" intervention from the Lord guarantees that he will have just enough hardship to continue writin — writing is a tortuous process, although feeling empty and inadequate doesn't seem to me like the hardships that get the most inspiration out of someone.
Him telling his stories to the sailors, creating a new narration, felt to me as if he was finding his voice again. For a moment, he was free of all expectations, of the image that is imposed on him by his now peers. It gave him a new freedom of expression.
It is quite ironic that the short story is not called after its protagonist, but after a man he meets for maybe two minutes. However, this young man with the carnation is the symbol of his lost ingenuity and sense of wonder at life, of a time when pleasures were simpler.
Both the main story and the one about Lady Helena are about finding the place you belong in in this world, although Lady Helena is a lot more relentless about it. Charlie does not have the courage to give up his newfound comfort and find his place, he is not strong enough to detach himself from this society based on appearances. On the contrary, the seamen represent this adventure, this detachment from the community, and the ability to make any place your home — as long as they have women and some whiskey.