The painter Karen Blixen English version
I moved my blog from the Japanese website, as AI there is not as smart as Japan wants others to believe....
ameblo.jp/lindaeri/entry-12966650409. html
In English:
I continue to write about Karen Blixen through the book:
En Lille Bog Om Blixen by Linhardt og Ringhof.
I planned to read 25 pages every day, but I am at the 41st page now , and not as I planned at the 57th page on the second day.
So I am back with 16 pages compiled to my plan.
Am I panicking?
Nope.
Why?
My team leader had aroun 3000 POs backlog in the first month, when I work at Infosys.
This book is not even 300 pages.... So I will be never in that struggle, if I read a bit every day.
Plus I have two kids, and I continuously study.
I do not hire any hosekeeper, as Szabo Magada, my other family member did. Szabo Magda was a famous writer and saved tousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Karen Blixen also had a houskeeper.
Title: Szabo Magda
Source: "https://hlo.hu/portrait/the-grande-dame-magda-szabo-a-portrait.html"
I do my housekeeping for myself.
Why?
I have two main raisons:
- keep myself in balance
- keep myself a type of humble...
Nah, let's see the book:
I read the book in Danish, I make bulletpoints in English
Pages 27-41:
- As you know fromt he previous post, Karen Blixen did not go to primary school, like others. She was homeschooled.
Extra note from me:
Nah she was born in 1885, and the first female person, who graduated from university or medical university or became a female politican also happened around this time, like end of the 19th century or beginning of the 20th century. It was not the Women emancipation, but also freedom for the Jews areound this time in Europe.
One of my great grandmother was born in the beginning of the 20th century, and she had the best grades.
When I saw her book, where the marks were, I was surprised, as I thaught, she had teh worse grades. But in the beginning of the 20th century, in Hungary, they gave like NR 1 to the best best grade and NR 5 was the worse. In the end of the 20th century, everything was the opposit. I had work very hard to get NR 5 marks, as it was the best in my time.
- Karen Blixen was 17 years old, when she was enrolled in painting, she was sure, that she will be a famous painter.
- She started in a højskole in Hillerød.
Extra note from me:
Hillerød and Rungsted are quite close to each others.
In the 21st century, Højskole is pretty common in Denmark. You would not guess, how much! Some institute managed to acredidte even PhD programs... like CBS and Niels Brock. But the price can be huge between the two institutes, like 3 times bigger to get a PhD.
- So KB started the painting eduction.
- The next step was for her to apply to the Kunstakademiet's preschooling for women. Yes that time, they offered an extra preparation class only for women at the Art Academy.
- Her application for this special program, involved three big art works or paintings, these are nowadays in the Karen Blixen museum.
- Being in the Kunstakademi, it was the first real education for Karen Blixen.
Extra note from me:
It is not always a track for a writer, but a lot of times, it is important part of the personal skill development to spend time without controll. Just like Margaret Atwood, she also spent a lot of years as a child in the nature, and she was involved official education much later, then other girls in her time.
Title: Margaret Atwood
Source: "https://www.caa.com/entertainmenttalent/books/author/margaret-atwood/"
Yes, Karen Blixen created sarcastic cartoons under the pseudonym Peter Lawless for the Danish satirical magazine Klods-Hans.
Long before she gained worldwide fame for masterpieces like Out of Africa, a 23-year-old Karen Blixen published sharp, witty societal critiques as a caricaturist. In 1908, she used the distinctly masculine, rebellious pen name Peter Lawless to submit her drawings to Klods-Hans, a popular politically sarcastic weekly paper named after the classic HC Andersen fairy tale.
The Satirical Style of "Peter Lawless"
Blixen's cartoons for Klods-Hans primarily targeted the upper-class Danish bourgeoisie, mocking their rigid social codes, vanity, and shallow norms.
- The Affected Greeting: One of her most famous drawings depicts two high-society women greeting each other in an absurdly exaggerated, stiff, and affected manner.
- The Sarcastic Commentary: The text accompanying her artwork explicitly mocked the empty daily routines and lack of meaningful societal roles afforded to wealthy women at the time.
- Physical Caricature: Rather than targeting specific real-life figures, Blixen used highly exaggerated body language and "krukket" (pretentious) postures to poke fun at the overarching expectations of early 20th-century society.
The Legacy of Caricature in Her Work
This early stint as a sarcastic cartoonist deeply influenced her later literary career. In books like Winter's Tales (Vinter-Eventyr), Blixen openly reflected on the nature of art and satire, famously writing that "all works of art are accompanied by the shadow of caricature".
Would you like to learn more about Karen Blixen's other early pseudonyms (like Isak Dinesen or Pierre Andrézel), or are you interested in exploring more artwork from the historic Klods-Hans magazine?
"https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frida-Kahlo"
Karen Blixen contracted syphilis from her husband shortly after arriving in Kenya in 1914. While the disease was halted, she enduredgrueling treatments of arsenic and mercurythat severely poisoned her body and plagued her with chronic health issues for the rest of her life.
Diagnosis and the African Context
- The Infection: In late 1914, just months after marrying her second cousin, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, the author was diagnosed with second-stage syphilis, which she contracted from her husband's infidelities.
- Travel for Care: Because there was no cure at the time, she traveled back to Europe to seek medical care. Over the years, Blixen made multiple trips between the coffee plantation in Kenya and clinics in Denmark to address the illness.
Arsenic & Mercury Treatments
- The Medications: The standard medical protocol during this era involved a combination of mercury (often in pill form) and arsenic preparations, such as Salvarsan .
- Severe Side Effects: While these treatments likely halted the progression of the syphilis, they were highly toxic. Blixen suffered from the cumulative, devastating side effects of heavy metal poisoning for the rest of her life.
- Long-Term Damage: The years of taking these harsh chemicals destroyed her digestive system, caused chronic stomach ulcers, and damaged her nervous system, eventually leading to malnourishment in her older age.
The Enduring Legacy
- Many medical historians now believe that the neurological and abdominal issues she suffered later in life (which she often publicly attributed to syphilis) were heavily compounded by the severe heavy metal poisoning she received from these treatments.
- You can explore her life and medical history further on the Karen Blixen's Life platform.
"https://thegoldmansgermany.weebly.com/"
- t he time, when Karen Blixen was a student at the Kunstakademi or Art Academy, it was a very inspiring time for her. She attended for two years in this institute.
- Then she moved to Paris, where she became a student of Simon and Menard's painting school.
Extra note from Google AI:
Karen Blixen attended art classes taught by the French artists Lucien J. Simon and Marie August Émile René Ménard. Inspired by the Impressionists, she studied under them in Paris prior to her time in Africa, though she ultimately pursued a legendary literary career over professional painting.
For more details on her artistic pursuits and the Parisian schools she visited, check out the Karen Blixen Museum.
- After Paris, she moved to Rome, Italy, then Firenze, Italy.
Kapitel 3: Sorte og hvide i Afrika
- The 24 years old Karen Blixen had a Swedish relative, a beautiful or handsome Baron. His name was Hans von Blixen-Finecke.
- Hans participated in the olympics in 1912.
- That time, KB traveled a lot, like Denmark -Paris, then back to Denmark.
- Hans had a twin broter, to whoi always just referred to as "Bror".
- What should she do? As Karen Blixen was a Baronesse of Skåne. To live in Denmark or in Sweden?
Extra note from me:
Skåne was part of Denmark for centuries, this is South Sweden. When you go to Stockholm, and if you have an accent from South Sweden, they do not treat you as well, as if you would not have this accent. Still in 21st century, tha cultural conflict is there. Stockholm people still watch at Skåne people as they are more Dans, than Sweden...
- KB's mother's brother, Aage Westenholz recommended to Karen Blixen to move to the colonies, to Malaysia, where he had a gummi / rubber tree farm.
Google AI notes:
While your premise has the correct relative and the colony right, the destination was slightly different. Aage Westenholz did indeed suggest she move to a colony to start a farm. However, the location recommended was Kenya (British East Africa) , not Malaysia.
Key details of his recommendation and her farming venture:
- The Recommendation: Westenholz, who had himself made a fortune building infrastructure in Siam (Thailand), recommended that Karen Blixen and her then-husband, Bror Blixen, go to Kenya to start a coffee farm rather than a rubber farm.
- The Financial Backing: Westenholz (along with Blixen's mother, Ingeborg) financed the move by investing 150,000 Danish kroner into the venture.
- The Outcome: The Blixens purchased land at the foot of the Ngong Hills near Nairobi in 1914, which later famously served as the setting for Blixen's classic memoir, Out of Africa .
Although Blixen did not go to Malaysia, Aage Westenholz did successfully invest in the Malaysian rubber industry. In 1906, he founded United Plantations , a large Danish-founded plantation and agricultural firm that still operates in Malaysia today.
- Karen Blixen's other uncle, Mogens Frijs wanted her to move to Africa.
- Moving to Africa ment a name change for her. From Karen Dinesen, she became Karen Blixen.
- East-Africa that time was occupied by the British Empire.
- Karen Blixen's coffee farm was in Ngong Hills.
- KB's mother, Ingeborg and her mother, so the grandmother, Aage, they were part of the modern aristocracy in Denmark, this social circuit also had a lot of Engineers.
Extra note from me:
My first university education is Engineer. And my uncle is baron of Ge orgia...
- Karen Blixen got married with her husband, Bror on 14 January 1914. Next day karen moved to Mombasa.
- KB did not have a big romantic weddi ng party and honeymoon. It was a 10 mins ceremony. On the first night of her wedding, she was sitting on a train on the way to Ngong Hills.
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