Karen Blixen - Isak Dinesen home

Question 33: "The Blue Jar?"

Q. Where can I find Isak Dinesen's tale "The Blue Jar?"

A. The inset tale "The Blue Jar" appears in Isak Dinesen's story "The Young Man with a Carnation" in Winter's Tales, page 20.

Among the Romantic writers of the nineteenth century, blue represented infinity, as in ocean blue or sky blue, or infinite yearning.

Illustrations of blue ceramics designed for the Romantic period:
 

• Limoges Cobalt Boxes
• Blue Flower by Royal Copenhagen


NOTE: The Spring 2001 issue of Scandinavian Studies (Volume 73 Number 1) features an article by Mark Mussari about Isak Dinesen's uses of the color blue in Winter's Tales: "Recognizing blue's power to express longing, the emotional state that pervades the collection, Dinesen deftly merges the sensual and the spiritual in her chromatic and often oneiric imagery."

From an essay, "The Journey to Transformation," by Sheera Venkatraman:
 

One example of a short story focusing on this aspect of the quest is "The Blue Jar," by Isak Dinesen. Though a very short-lived story, it well captures this aspect of the quest by showing how the hero, Lady Helena, searches for a jar of exactly the right shade of blue. She collects jar after jar, traveling to many places during the journey, and each time, she decides shortly after that it isn't the right shade. Then finally, she cries out, "I found it! This is the true blue... Now I can die." At this point she has secured the treasure and takes it home. She then wishes that her heart be placed in it after she dies, a symbol that represents her, connected to this jar. At this point, she, the hero, has succeeded in finding her goal. This is the last step that the hero usually makes on his/her part required to complete the quest. The hero had located the treasure and secured it. But is this the true end of the quest?

     After obtaining the treasure, the character must still prove him/herself to be the hero of the journey, by returning with the treasure. This leads to a transformation of the character, which can be physical, mental, or emotional. For example, in the previous story, The Blue Jar, Lady Helena returns to the dead, the treasure being a part of her, and she is both physically and mentally transformed (she bears her wanted possession, and is now happy and content with it). But although her death may make the quest seem failed, it actually is a part of her success; she did not want to die; she merely wanted to be with the treasure till she died, and even after. Thus, death plays a key role in this part of the quest. The character may then belong there, in her eternal home, after completing the journey, and finding the destination. Death, though not always present, usually signifies that the end of the quest is near."
 

Copyright © 2002 by Linda Donelson. All rights reserved