Winter's Tales

Rating:
Summary: Winter's Tales is refined prose and wisdom of a lost age.
Review: Isak Diensen's book of ornate, Baroque prose is on an unreachable echelon separate from any writer writing literature today or even from her era. Her stories transport readers to a period where thinking and intelligence were elegant and refined, smooth and intermixed with tints of religiosity. Stories such as "The Invincible Slave-Owner" and "The Sailor-Boy's Tale" show Diensen's strong knowledge of Danish folklore and Baroque description. Mind you, this is not easy reading! The messages are simple, but yet they are dense, and it is very easy to overlook these simple truths as a result of that flamboyance and extravagant complexity for which she has become internationally recognized. Her themes are like those of any writer: strength, courage during adversity, love, etc... But it is how these themes are conveyed that make these tales remarkable. Isak Diensen a.k.a. Baroness Karen Blixen's childhood was not one of the best, and these tales seem to indicate that. They transport the reader, take him or her away to places that seem unreachable, but her life does not mitigate the beautiful intelligence and language that she is able to convey. Diensen was twice nominated for the Noble Prize in Literature, losing to Ernest Hemmingway and Albert Camus. For more on her life and stories, read Judith Thurman's Life of a Storyteller: The Biography of Isak Diensen.

Rating:
Summary: Her "other" great book of short stories
Review: Karen Blixen wrote a number of fine books, but only 4 could be called short story collections. Her first book, _Seven Gothic Tales_ is usually the book of stories that people remember first-- deservedly, because any book that contains "The Deluge at Norderney," "The Monkey," and "The Poet" gets high marks. The other stories in the book aren't exactly chopped liver, either.

However, I will submit that _Winter's Tales_ deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as _Seven Gothic Tales_. Indeed, in some ways, it surpasses the earlier book as a work of art. The level of writing is uniformly high; the style is still ornate and surprising, but better controlled. There is some excellent work here, such as the story "Alkmene." But what puts this book over the top is that it contains "Sorrow Acre," probably the best of Blixen's fiction. In fact, one could argue that "Sorrow Acre" is on of the finest stories written in the 20th century by *anyone*. It's a marvel of subtle irony. By itself, it was worth the price of admission.

Her two later collections, _Anecdotes of Destiny_ and _Last Tales_ have their moments, but to my mind, she hit her high water mark in _Seven Gothic Tales_ and _Winter's Tales_.

Rating:
Summary: One of her very best books
Review: This is a terrifc book by a unique writer.

That's no surprise, because Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) wrote a
number of fine books. Her ledger contains a couple of books of
reminiscence about her life in Africa, a pseudonymous novel
(_The Angelic Avengers_), and posthumously published books of
stories (_Carnival_) and essays (_Daguerrotypes_). Despite the
interest and occasional excellence of these books -- especially
in the case of _Out of Africa_ -- it's as a writer of long
stories that she exhibited her greatest artistry and
achievement.

She published 4 collections of short stories in her lifetime:
_Seven Gothic Tales_, _Winter's Tales_, _Anecdotes of Destiny_,
and _Last Tales_. She also published a slim novel (really a
novella), _Ehrengard_. As a devoted reader, I've enjoyed every
one of these books. Still, it does her no disservice to point
out that some are better than others. Her first book, _Seven
Gothic Tales_ is usually the book of stories that people

remember first-- deservedly, because any book that contains
"The Deluge at Norderney," "The Monkey," and "The Poet" gets
high marks. The other stories in the book aren't exactly
chopped liver, either.

However, I will submit that _Winter's Tales_ deserves to be
mentioned in the same breath as _Seven Gothic Tales_. Indeed,
in some ways, it surpasses the earlier book as a work of art.
The level of writing is uniformly high; the style is still
ornate and surprising, but better controlled. There is some
excellent work here. Two stories that I particularly liked were
"Alkmene" and "The Fish." But what puts this book over the top
is that it contains "Sorrow Acre," arguably the best example of
Blixen's fiction. In fact, one could argue that "Sorrow Acre"
is one of the finest stories written in the 20th century by
*anyone*. It's a marvel of subtle irony. By itself, it was
worth the price of admission.

Her two later collections, _Anecdotes of Destiny_ and _Last
Tales_ have their moments. In particular, several stories from
_Anecdotes..._ have grown on me over the years, such as
"Babette's Feast" and "Tempests." Still, to my mind, she hit
her high water mark in _Seven Gothic Tales_ and _Winter's
Tales_.