Karen Blixen - Isak Dinesen home

Question 66: Karen Blixen and "possession"?

Q. Was Karen Blixen "possessive" of Denys Finch Hatton, as the movie Out of Africa depicts?

A. The concept of "possession" is an example of how a fictional idea becomes reality. There is no mention of "possession" in Karen Blixen's own work.

"Possession" is, however, mentioned prominently by Sydney Pollack in describing his fictional concept of her life:  


"The principles of good movie-making begin with 'What is the story?'...We finally settled on Possession. Freedom versus obligation. If I say I love you, what price am I expected to pay? To what extent am I obligated?"

Sydney Pollack is not speaking for Karen Blixen but for the male point of view. This is noted in "Hegemony and Hollywood: A Critique of Cinematic Distortions of Women of Color and Their Stories" by Brenda Cooper, Utah State University:
 
"Dinesen poignantly expressed her grief over the changes the European settlers had forced on Kenyans and their culture, and her compassion for their struggles to maintain their identity and dignity. In the film, however, Dinesen is recast as one of the "offending European settlers, forcing her will on the native people without any sensitivity to their wishes or culture" (Cooper & Descutner, p. 240). Further, the compassion Dinesen expressed for the country and its people in her autobiography are appropriated by the film's leading male character, Denys Finch Hatton."


If "possession" is not found in Karen Blixen's writing, where did the film-makers get this idea? Two biographers are listed among the producers for the movie:

(1) The writer Errol Trzebinski, who, in her biography of Denys Finch Hatton, speaks of "cannibilistic possessiveness," without giving a source for the idea.

(2) The writer Judith Thurman, who, in her biography of Karen Blixen, credits Trzebinski, also using the phrase "possessiveness." She also says that no one actually knows the "precise substance" of Karen Blixen's final interactions with Denys Finch Hatton.

Copyright © 2003 by Linda Donelson. All rights reserved.