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A. Our thanks to Douglas W. Reiss for his research on this topic:  The story was not written by Isak Dinesen.  (And the story contains no girl named Shirley.)  It can be found online as:
THE CHINK AND THE CHILD by Thomas Burke (1886-1945)
(1917, 1926 ed.)
from Limehouse nights
Robert M. McBride & Company: New York

Something about this story must have reminded the screenwriter, Kurt Luedtke, of Isak Dinesen's writing. Perhaps it is the gothic atmosphere. Perhaps it is the story's very faint resemblance to her story, "The Old Chevalier."

The life of Thomas Burke was contemporaneous with that of Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton, who probably read his popular stories--which unintentionally ignited racism toward Chinese living in London in their time. Luedtke must have been familiar with the 1919 Hollywood film, "Broken Blossoms" directed by D. W. Griffith, based on Cheng Huan's story.

Copyright © 2010 by Linda Donelson. All rights reserved. During the past quarter century, Linda Donelson has been the only author writing about Karen Blixen for an international audience. Her biography, Out of Isak Dinesen (1998), was the Number One Best-Selling Scandinavian / or related title at Amazon.com for five years.
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Supported misspellings: karen blixon, karin, isaac, isak dineson, isak denison, dinison, dinisen, denesen, dinnison, dennison, dinnisen, coolsong, donaldson