Sunday, January 07, 2001

I found a great Web site about Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen: karenblixen.com. It has a Beryl Markham link with lots of information about her as well. The site appears to be hosted by the (small) publisher of a biography of Dinesen--not the biography I'm reading, which is the Judith Thurman. Karenblixen.com has a page of "corrections," which purports to rectify what its writer says are frequently repeated pieces of misinformation about Dinesen. I haven't checked yet, but it's obvious that some of them are directed at Thurman's work. That doesn't bother me--it makes the whole thing more interesting, in fact. And even though I've only read a little bit of Thurman, the writing is outstanding, and you immediately get the feeling that you're in the hands of a very skillful biographer.


Another interesting debate goes on about whether Markham really wrote West with the Night. There are links to pieces about that from the site above, too. The book is a great piece of writing--whoever did it. I just wish they'd have given us more!