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Régis Boyer on Karen Blixen


In the French Europe Revue, Régis Boyer describes Scandinavian aspects of Karen Blixen's literary approach:

            "As paradoxical as it seems, this kind of genius is incapable of seeing merely what it sees, and of talking about merely what it hears. The phenomenon has been stretched to the limits by the Icelanders who are also completely incapable of straight realism, but I don't know of a single Scandinavian writer who isn't haunted by hidden meanings, double-entendre, and the occult. And that is certainly the key to Karen Blixen's predilection for the fantastic, and for all the dimensions of reality that are strange, unknown, even monstrous."

            [Quelque paradoxal que ce soit, ce génie est proprement incapable de ne voir que ce qu'il voit, de ne parler que de ce qu'il a entendu. Le phénomène a été poussé à son paroxysme par les Islandais qui sont tout bonnement incapables de réalisme plat, mais je ne vois pas de Scandinave qui échappe à cette hantise du sous-entendu, du double, de l'occulte. Et là certainement se trouve la clef de la prédilection de Karen Blixen pour le fantastique ou pour toutes les dimensions étranges, insolites, voire tératologiques de notre réalité.]  

Régis Boyer

Enjoy the biography Out of Isak Dinesen (Out of Africa's true story) by Linda Donelson.

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Supported misspellings: karen blixon, karin, isaac, isak dineson, isak denison, dinison, dinisen, denesen, dinnison, dennison, dinnisen, coolsong, donaldson