I picked up Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dineson when we were in Ithaca. There is a big, wonderful used bookstore downtown, just like every college town should have. I have always thought that Isak Dineson is a pretty fascinating woman. I loved Out of Africa (I know Megan probably thinks it's just another dumb memoir of a white person in Africa), and Isak Dineson/Karen Blixon seemed to have such a fascinating and tragic life. This book was completely different than Out of Africa, but it did not disappoint. The seven short stories in the collection are haunting, the language and images are beautiful... it's really a masterpiece. I guess in Blixon's native Denmark, this is a pretty famous work of literature, but I'd never heard of it before. Now I think it is a shame that it's not better known here. I don't think I can really do justice to the writing, so I won't say too much. However, I will warn that the first story is probably the hardest to get into, so I would just encourage any curious reader to keep going. It's worth it! I know that I'll be thinking about these stories for a while.
One of the stories reminded me of another eerie, gothic tale I heard recently on Radiolab (one of my favorite podcasts). It's definitely worth a listen, and it's not long at all.
-Kristin
2 comments:
Yup. Hated out of Africa!!
Sounds good.
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