Karen Blixen - Isak Dinesen home

Book sales figures from Ingram Book Company, the largest United States distributor:

Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass [ISBN 0679724753]  739 /2007   750 /2006    708 /2005     581 /2004 vs. 1018 /2003    (893 in 2002)                   
The Modern Library edition of Out of Africa [ISBN 0679600213]   455 /2007  525 /2006    408 /2005   336 /2004 vs. 421 /2003    (472 in 2002)

Seven Gothic Tales [ISBN 0679736417] by Isak Dinesen    176 /2007  206 /2006    130 /2005   169 /2004 vs. 135 /2003   (202 in 2002)
Winter’s Tales [ISBN 0679743340] by Isak Dinesen  206 /2007  182 /2006    159 /2005    125 /2004 vs. 134 /2003   (149 in 2002)

Letters from Africa [ISBN 0226153118] by Isak Dinesen    N/A /2007  62 /2006    84 /2005  57 /2004 vs. 89 /2003   (84 in 2002)
Judith Thurman’s Isak Dinesen: Life of a Storyteller [ISBN 0312135254]    166 /2007   105 /2006    136 /2005   84 /2004 vs. 156 /2003   (296 in 2002)

West with the Night [ISBN 0865471185] by Beryl Markham    1414 /2007  1362 /2006    1530 /2005   1672 /2004 vs. 2186 /2003   (3316 in 2002)
I Dreamed of Africa [ISBN 0140287442] by Kuki Gallmann    190 /2007  236 /2006    282 /2005       222 /2004 vs. 245 /2003   (435 in 2002) 
The Flame Trees of Thika [ISBN 0141183780] by Elspeth Huxley    461 /2007  501 /2006   453 /2005   392 /2004 vs. 514 /2003   (544 in 2002)


Tenth Anniversary

The Karen Blixen - Isak Dinesen Information Site enters its tenth year in 2008. Unique visitors average 4000-5000 per week and page requests more than 2000 per day. The site is described by the major search engines as "rich and comprehensive," with greater than 250 published pages, at the top of the subject rankings. All pages are written and maintained by Linda G. Donelson MD, a 30-year Blixen scholar and author of the award-winning biography Out of Isak Dinesen (Coulsong Press: 1995 and 1998 editions). The site strives for  objective and accurate information and does not cooperate with any groups with special intentions. The featured section, Your Questions, provides information that is difficult to find elsewhere, including translated excerpts from Danish, French, Latin, Spanish, Italian and Swahili. The Bibliography of Books about Karen Blixen - Isak Dinesen contains concise reviews of books on the subject. The Links page offers information about other relevant and accurate websites concerning Karen Blixen. The site welcomes suggestions and additions to its published pages.

Karen Blixen was Danish, not Dutch

Karen Blixen has been referred to as a "Dutch" author in at least one online encyclopedia, one large American newspaper, several online travel agencies, and a host of blogs. In an online interview in 2007 New York fashion designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullough say, "We were watching Out of Africa and it really inspired us. Like a belted vest and a jacket with peplum and full skirts. The whole Karen Blixen thing. The civilized culture of the Dutch settlers meets nature."

Notably, Karen Blixen was Danish, not Dutch.

Museum Destination Weddings

Online sources say that large destination weddings have taken place in 2007 at both the Karen Museum, Denmark, and the Karen Blixen Museum, Kenya. One blog reports: "The highlight was attending an extravagant wedding at the Karen Blixen Museum grounds complete with a sit down dinner for at least 400 guests and a live African band."

Our wish list

We wish that websites like the Karen Blixen Museum in Kenya would maintain the same addresses and continue the fine reporting of the past. It has been difficult to find the website for the Nairobi museum this past year, and the new page is brief, without the splendid history previously reported. The rule in website publishing: never change the address of a popular website.

We wish the newspapers in Denmark would follow Politiken's lead and set up their pages for research by the major search engines over an extended period of months. At present, it is difficult to find information published later than 24 hours in most Danish newspapers without logging in--a tedious and often expensive process for non-residents of Denmark. The secret to success on the Internet is accessibility. Openness attracts attention, wins converts and builds enthusiasm for a subject and a business.

We wish that Karen Blixen's interests were managed by a better judge of character. Charlatans--who have not read Karen Blixen's works--have been welcomed while some serious researchers are sent away. A Danish scholar says she abandoned her study of Karen Blixen's oeuvre, in favor of Hans Christian Andersen, when she was told she must promise to write "only good things" about Karen Blixen. The pursuit of integrity remains paramount for scholars. Yet books about Karen Blixen that are poorly written and researched continue to appear.

We wish that Karen Blixen's estate would lift the "stranglehold"--as one well-known scholar calls it--over Karen Blixen's private papers. A distinguished Danish publisher has offered to publish the papers in full, if they are ever opened to the public.

We wish that the annual Rungstedlund Prize had not been awarded to sixteen others before going this year to biographer Judith Thurman, whose highly significant 1982 book led to making the film Out of Africa. The 16-year delay seems related to the profound foolishness over the past 45 years that has opposed biographies, as well as all artistic depictions of the life of Karen Blixen. Continuing this policy forces Karen Blixen into greater and greater obscurity.

We wish media attention would be attracted to news about the annual Rungstedlund Prize through a well written press release.

We wish the American publishing industry would cease its decline. So few good books are published in America each year that the review journals have declined in tandem. Almost no books are reviewed any more by knowledgeable reviewers. Fictional "biographies" are written about Karen Blixen and her associates, although facts have little to do with their contents.

We wish all publishers would understand that nonfiction books are not worth publishing without an index. Karen Blixen's essays and some essays about Karen Blixen have been largely ignored by researchers because they lack an index.

We wish that academic journals would reject articles written in jargon. Writers who hide behind scholarly jargon generally have little significant to say. Poor writing brings shame on the writer and even greater shame on the publisher.--Ed