Meryl Streep played her on film; Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe courted her; she flew in planes and hunted lions with Denys Finch Hatton in 1930s Africa, and was a best selling author.
Her real name is Karen Blixen, but you’ll likely know her as Isak Dinesen. According to Isak Dinesen, The Life of a Storyteller by Judy Thurman, the author, and her friends liked to Experiment #Hashish Sensations.
Out of Africa
I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. This is how Karen Blixen begins her book, "Out of Africa" which she would publish under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen, and which, from the first to the last page, stands under the sign of that snake. Go on the road with optimism: "Out of Africa" is extremely sweet and charming, but to the end it will break your heart.
Her book "Out of Africa" not exactly a novel, but rather a collection of stories - does not show us Africa's poverty and civil wars, which it is so easy to imagine today.
So Who Was Isak Dinesen?
The Danish author Isak Dinesen Born on April 17, 1885 in Denmark to a well-off Unitarian family.
She lived in her farm in Kenya for 17 years between 1914 and 1931. And those 13 years have been, as you can easily tell from the book, probably the happiest of her life.
In 1935 Dinesen tried to get work as a war correspondent in Africa and traveled to Geneva to the League of Nations that was meeting to condemn Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia.
Coming to New York shortly before she died, Dinesen was feted by the likes of Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe and Carson McCullers and took amphetamines to energize herself.
Suffering From The Effects of Syphillis, she wore kohl under her eyes and belladonna in them to make them shine. Dinesen Died in September 7, 1962 but her stories live on.
Dinesen & Cannabis
"I suddenly understood everything" was a phrase Dinesen used "Almost liturgically" in her writing." It stands for the recognition of a great mystery about oneself, long buried and suddenly come upon again by surprise. It describes a moment whe it is possible to see the obscure but decisive moments of joy or loss that are the scaffolding of identity." This seems to be an insight she may have During Herb-Taking Experiences !
According to Isak Dinesen, The Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman, Dinesen and Finch Hatton were great fans of Baudelaire, and
"Friends remember that Denys and Tania liked to experiment with the sensations hashish, opium, or miraa could give them. Denys arranged the cushions on the floor before the fire and reclined there, playing his guitar. Tania sat 'cross-legged like Scheherazade herself' and told him stories."
"Miraa is kava, an indigenous African herb that has a mild hallucinogenic effect."
Dinesen Refers to it in her story "The Dreamers", an herb whose dried leaves.
"Keep you awake and in a pleasant mood."
The name Mira Jama in the story seems to be a play on the word Miraa.
Dinesen wrote to her mother from Africa in 1924
"The greater part of humanity needs excitement, some slight intoxication, pleasure, and danger too. I think that if it were in my power to do anything at all for humanity, I myself would like to amuse them. I think it is wonderful that such delightful peacable people as you exist; but there is need for more than this, and I shall allow myself to make use of Shakespeare's words: 'Dost thou think, because thou are virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? Yes, by St. Anne, and ginger shall be hot I' the mouth too."
Isak Dinesen Quotes
She Tells Us Warmly about everything she loved, and she does not judge those who have hurt her too hard, nor does she try to blame someone for losing the farm where she hoped to spend the rest of her life.
Reference & Photos / TokinWoman / Bookaholic /