| Title | : | Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0679743332 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780679743330 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1958 |
Hauntingly evoked and sensuously realized, the five stories and novella collected here have the hold of "fairy stories read in childhood . . . of dreams . . . and of our life as dreams" (The New York Times).
Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard Reviews
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Somewhere between the short,jewel like clarity of Winter's Tales and the dark pathways of Seven Gothic Tales this is possibly Dineson's most entertaining collection. Babette's feast is a justified comic classic(undercut with her trademark melancholy),Immortal Story is close to the best thing she has every written(up there with the Dreamers and Sorrow Acre),a mix of gothic terror and farce. Dineson can be best described as someone who has swallowed a library but still wants to tell you campfire tales.
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An amusing though wildly varying in quality collection of deliberately old-fashioned stories that sometimes have tinges of magical realism.
Glancing over the other reviews, I have no doubt that some well-intentioned teacher forced many students to review one story from this version of this book, as about 90% of the reviews begin with some variation of, 'I was deeply saddened to only have the opportunity to read The Immortal Story in this book, but it was alright I guess.' Well, I suppose I applaud the teacher for trying something new to engage students and certainly everyone's opinions and reviews are valid, but when the majority of a book's reviews seem to come from people being forced to write a review based on less than a quarter of the book, it somehow seems counterproductive and I'm glad I haven't seen this in any other books here yet.
Anyway, there are two gems here. Babette's Feast is the obvious one, and the reason I read the book. It was wonderful. In it, two elderly, pious and austere Scandinavian sisters take in a refugee French cook who eventually wants to cook a feast for them and their acquaintances.
The second is the tale the aforementioned teacher assigned, The Immortal Story. A wealthy and crotchety dying businessman living in China decides to get his Jewish employee/assistant to help him recreate and make real the only story he's ever heard, which involves finding both a stud of a sailor and a beautiful woman to participate.
The Diver is also a great little story (being shorter than the above two), though the ending left a bit to be desired. It concerns a young Islamic scholar who with great enthusiasm decides he wants to fly and sets to building wings to allow him to do so, though some of the older scholars are not so keen on his plans. I didn't care for [spoiler]the talking sea creature at the end, though since that part is told as a story by the character I suppose it's possible that he could have only made it up.[end spoiler]
Both Tempests and The Ring were lacklustre. Tempests involves a travelling drama troupe in Scandinavia doing Shakespeare's The Tempest, including a girl who has a missing sailor from Scotland for a father. When an actual raging tempest intervenes their ship one night, it sets off a series of events that especially dramatically changes the girl's life. The Ring is a very short story about the dangers of a newly-married girl walking home alone one day.
Ehrengard, the novella that was tacked on to the end of the collection Anecdotes of Destiny to form this book, was good. It began slowly and I thought I wouldn't like it. It defines itself in three parts and by the middle of the second part was when I really began enjoying it. It is set in a small Germanic area that was at the time its own kingdom. The ruling family are desperate for their only son to marry and have an heir to prevent their less savoury relatives from taking over after him. They enlist the help of a trusted older artist at their royal court, and he succeeds in making a match for the boy, though everything doesn't go quite as planned. Eventually, Ehrengard enters the picture, the only daughter in a military family that includes five brothers. She is wholly trustworthy and without blemish and so is enlisted in a secondary role to help with the royal family's problems and preserve their good name. I particularly liked this quote- 'For there is a strange quality about a secret: it smells of secrecy. You may be far from getting the true nature of the secret itself, you might even, had it been told you, be highly skeptical and incredulous of it—yet you will feel certain that a secret there be.'
In book order:
The Diver- 4 stars
Babette's Feast- 5 stars
Tempests- 2 stars
The Immortal Story- 5 stars
The Ring- 2 stars
Ehrengard- 3 stars -
some stories are excellent and some are so-so. that's what made me decide to rate four stars for this collection. gothic tales and out of Africa are the best representation of dinesen's writerly talents.
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Isak Dinesen writes beautifully, but I don't think I like her view of the world. Somehow it is enchanting and disenchanting at the same time.
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This is my 3rd or 4th time reading these tales, and each time I am enchanted. Babette's Feast is not only a story as delicious as the meal she serves, it has also been made into one of the most perfect movies ever made. This is literature at its highest form, touching the intellect as well as, dare I say it, the soul--the deep well that is the elixir of life itself.
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The short story Babette's Feast has popped up in multiple book conversations lately, so I decided to give it a try. I didn't fall in love with that particular story (I think it might have been my least favorite of the entire collection), but I enjoyed several of the others. Dinesen's prose is really gorgeous and is worth reading, even when the stories themselves aren't the most enthralling.
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I only read the story "Babette's Feast" for book club. I really enjoyed the story & we had a great conversation about the characters during our meeting.
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My desire to read Babette’s Feast was the result of having seen and loved the movie of the same name. Because is it a short story, it is included in a compilation. I had high expectations and was not disappointed. Reading works of great authors from other cultures and countries can be an enriching experience. Karen Blixen’s short stories are poignant examples.
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I. Martine and Phillipa are two sisters, both in their late 40s, who live in a coastal town on a fjord in Norway called Berlevaag. The sisters have a maid-in-waiting named Babette, who is a refugee from France.
II. Martine's Lover - Martine, the oldest, first attracts an admirer at 18. The young officer Lorens Loewenhielm sees Martine in town and must see her again. Through his aunt, Lorens gets invited to the Dean's dinner table, but he has nothing to say to the lovely Martine. On the last day of his stay in Berlevaag, Lorens kisses Martine's hand and cries out in despair a farewell to her. The young officer forces himself to forget Martine, and soon marries a woman close to Queen Sophia.
III. Philippa's Lover - A year later, the singer Achille Papin of Paris visits Norway to sing at the Opera, and he happens to hear Phillipa sing. He convinces the Dean to let him give Phillippa singing lessons. Achille tells Phillippa that she will be a great singer in Paris. He teaches her the part of Zerlina, and sings Don Giovanni, in Mozart's famous seduction scene. The duet is sublime, but then Achille dares to kiss Phillippa at the end. Phillippa has her father end the singing lessons, and Achille leaves town in sorrow.
IV. A Letter from Paris— Fifteen years later, in 1871, a woman comes to the home of Martine and Phillippa, and gives them a letter from France. The letter is by Achille Papin, and it tells of the woman Babette's suffering in the recent war and revolution in Paris, France. Babette becomes the family servant.
V. Still Life— Babette adjusts to her new life as a servant to the sisters and the larger religious sect group. Soon she learns to prepare the simple fish and soup that Martine and Phillippa are used to. Babette's one connection to France is that she has a friend who renews her ticket every year in the lottery, in which the winner receives 10,000 francs.
VI. Babette's Good Luck— The sisters are nervous as the 100th birthday of their late father, the Dean, approaches on December 15th. It is still only summer, and Babette Hersant gets a notice that she has won the lottery. The sisters congratulate Babette, but they feel sad because they expect that Babette will now return to France. Many in the religious sect are also sad at the prospect of Babette leaving. Babette announces in September that she wants to prepare a real French dinner to celebrate the Dean's hundredth birthday. The sisters reluctantly agree. Even more reluctantly, they agree to allow Babette to pay for the dinner with her own money. Babette shows her happiness and desire to make the dinner, and is very satisfied to win this favor. The sisters are totally surprised because they had little intention of celebrating the Dean's birthday.
VII. The Turtle— Babette goes away and meets her nephew in the port of Christiana in order to arrange to get the supplies she needs for the dinner from France. The sisters are amazed at a tortoise and much wine arriving. A red-headed sailor boy helps Babette with the tortoise and her kitchen preparations. Martine is upset over the extravagant ingredients, and goes to an elderly lady in her religious sect to ask advice. The religious sect members decide to avoid making any complaints or praise of the meal in honor of the Dean.
I. The two women's father, the Dean is the founder of a pious religious sect. Somehow the Dean marries and has two children, although it seems as if few of the other sect members have children, and that the sect is slowly dying out. II. When they are young, both girls are very pretty. Now, they radiate a simple purity, but their hair is turning gray. Martine rejects her fairly obvious suitor Lorens, who comes to her father's dinner table, without giving him a chance.
III. Achille Papin visits the coastal town of Berlevaag, and at church hears the beautiful voice of Phillipa. Achille is a determined man of 40, and explains to the Dean, Philippa's father, that he must give singing lessons to Phillippa. The Dean, though surprised and afraid of Catholics, has some affection for the French and agrees. In this case too, the man's love is useless. Phillipa refuses to see him again after he has kissed her. An ongoing theme of the story is the interacting of the pious Dean and his daughters, and the French Catholics who are known for their extravagant lifestyle.
IV. Babette is thought to be some sort of revolutionary, and yet there is a strong ambivalence about this. She quickly settles down into a positive role at the sisters' house. Later, it comes out that she had been a cook at a cafe that catered to the very wealthy. Babette brings a letter from Achille Papin that also refers to the world losing the operatic voice of Phillippa. Babette is smuggled by her nephew to Norway, and is told by Achille to come to the home of the two ladies. Babette becomes a servant in the ladies' house for the next 12 years. It may be thought that Babette would become resentful under this condition, but the opposite is the case.
V. Free food is prepared for members of the sect, many of whom are likely in dire poverty because of their emphasis on piety. There is some tension because Babette is French Catholic, but the sisters try to show their Lutheran faith through their pious life, rather than forcing Babette to convert.
VI. The sect members are getting old and remember old fights and guilt over old crimes. Indeed, they are so overwhelmed by bitterness that only the outsider, Babette, can make a true celebration occur of the hundredth birthday of the Dean.
VII. Babette simultaneously is the most ardent follower of the Dean and the bringer of the dreaded French luxury goods and decadence. The goods arrive and include a set of bottles of wine with fancy names and finally a large tortoise. Nevertheless, the sisters Martine and Phillippa do not want to cause a scene in their reaction to the strange coming banquet. In this restraint, they show the positive side of their religious faith.
VIII. The Hymn— It is a snowy morning in December and the sisters receive a note that old Mrs. Loewenhielm will attend the dinner along with her nephew the General. The sisters make sure the house smells nice. The day of the dinner, the old religious brethren arrive and sing hymns. Martine and Phillippa are reassured by the singing, including Phillippa's still fine voice.
IX. General Loewenhielm— General Loewenhielm is returning to Berlevaag for the first time in 30 years. He wants to reassure himself that he made the right choice long ago in abandoning his desire to win Martine. He recalls when he decided to marry his wife one day in Paris at a fine restaurant.
X. Babette's Dinner— Grace is said by the oldest of the group. Then the General realizes that the first course is Blinis Demidoff, a rich course that he knows from Paris. A woman remembers a miracle when the ice froze overnight and let the Dean come to town to give a sermon for Christmas. Champagne is then served, with the General drinking his fill. The General is drunk on the expensive wine and decides to give a speech.
XI. General Loewenhielm's Speech— The General makes a speech on the theme of the necessity of receiving grace from God. For the rest of the meal, the old sect members become friendly and forgive each other of their old grudges. The old pair of lovers has a long kiss in the corner, despite how life had made them bitter against each other. The congregation feels heavenly grace. When the General leaves Martine he assures her that he will think of her for the rest of his life. The snow stops in time for all to leave safely, but then an hour later it snows very heavily.
XII. The Great Artist— After the dinner, Babette is exhausted. She had served the 12 people a dinner like that at the Café, which cost her 10,000 francs. The sisters are stunned. Martine thinks of a missionary to Africa who unbeknownst to him eats a cannibal feast. Phillippa, the singer, understands better when Babette proclaims that she is a true artist. Babette can never cook for the royal guests she once served at the Café Anglais. In Paris, Babette rebelled against the ruling class and was forced to flee. Phillippa hugs Babette and assures her that she also will be an artist in paradise.
VIII. Martine and Phillippa are happy that their old friend, now General Loewenhielm is coming over. Babette and her helper set the table with elegant tableware. It is a relief to the sisters that the day of the dinner has finally arrived, and they are willing to use their faith in order to bear whatever trials it may contain. IX. General Lowenhielm, the old admirer of Martine, has aged along with everyone else. Now he is a friend of the royal court and married to a fine woman. The General wonders if he has achieved the dreams of his young adulthood. This is why the General is at the dinner with his old aunt. His thoughts of a Parisian restaurant are a strange foreshadowing of the coming event.
X. The General realizes that the wine poured is a very distinguished Amontillado, a type of sherry. People seem relaxed and there is chatting. The religious sect members eat the food without comment, while the General notes another spectacular dish that he remembers from Paris. Only the General is conscious of the magnificent expense involved in the dinner, with the sect members pretending that they are eating ordinary food.
XI. The General gives a speech in which he lavishly praises the Dean, the founder of the religious sect. The speech is somewhat odd, in that it disagrees with the General's worldly point of view. He is enjoying the best of both worlds, the piety of the sect, and the remarkable food and wine of the evening.
XII. The sisters assure Babette that she had prepared a nice dinner. Babette tells them that she once was the cook at the Café Anglais. Only when Babette tells them that the 10,000 francs was spent on the dinner, do they realize Babette's devotion to them. -
As I have only read the Immortal Story I can only comment on how I feel about that one. The story was okay and was a lot better than most stories I have to read in school. I did like how the story flowed and how it did not focus solely on one character the whole time. The characters themselves were pretty good as well. The only reason I do not really like the story is that it is not my usual cup of tea. I do not usually read stories like this unless it is for school and even then I do not like it as much as I would reading a different book outside of class. Overall the story was decent and seemed complete. I think it is a good story to read If having a more realistic setting is more your thing.
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Babette's Feast, one of the short stories in this book, is an exceptional commendation of love, compassion, and excellence in aesthetic creativity, and by far my favorite of this collection. "Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost!" (I also highly recommend the masterfully film directed by Gabriel Axel drawn from this story.) The Diver and Tempests (other stories in this book) are also worth a read for the drama of their pensively thoughtful and vivid storytelling.
Came back later and finished off The Immortal Story, The Ring, and Ehrengard. I didn't think they were quite as good, particularly the Ring. -
I was sadly only able to read the Immortal Story, but then again it was kind of a boring book. If someone had just laid this book in front of me and told me i could read it if i wanted to, i most likely would have read the first chapter then i would have thrown it across the room because the first couple chapters were that boring. I will however say that towards the end of the story it picked up a little speed and did get more interesting.
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More like a ".5" All the stories were written in the same dry fashion, underdeveloped characters and hardly any creativity.
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4.5
Dinesen is yet another writer I’ve long neglected, her colonial past, most (in)famously Out of Africa, made me wary of her. These stories have surprised & delighted me greatly with their wit, insight and vivid imagination. They are imbued with profound irony, haunting in their spiritual resonance and reminiscent of old allegories and fables.
Some of the characters think they can play like the gods, trying to rearrange the lives of humans like dolls in a dollhouse. They forget that they are part of the play as well and in every move they make to create someone else’s destiny they are also shaping their own. Others, so sure of their fates, are blind to how they shape their own futures and that of others.
Tragedy as comedy. Comedy as tragedy. Don’t dismiss “the value of what is named a comedy, in which a man may at last speak the truth.” (Though sometimes comedy is just pure comedy, as when a character, feeling awesome in his own sense of power, tries to make a dramatic exit from a room, gets his fancy robe caught in the door & has to open and close the door twice to free himself.)
The presences of Dinesen’s fellow countrymen Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard are throughout. The former an inspiration for imagination, tales both beautiful and brutal. The latter inspiration for subversion, responses to Kierkegaard’s own views on aestheticism and faith, romance & seduction, spirituality, the intermingling of it all.
Like the wine imbibed by elderly religious ascetics in Babette’s Feast who fear that attending a sumptuous French dinner party will be like some kind of witches’ sabbath, but who find out that a bit of delicious wine does wonders for their spiritual progress, these stories go to both the head & the heart. I enjoyed these greatly, especially Babette's Feast, The Immortal Story, and Ehrengard. -
During a recent conversation with an Episcopal priest, she mentioned Babette's Feast. Not the movie, which I love, but the short story by Isak Dinesen. "Oh man," I said. "I really should get around to reading that."
So I did, along with the rest of this collection. Karen Blixen's (the actual name of Dinesen) work makes for a fascinating read, as it's both fresh and steeped in her unique blend of cultures. The sensibility is Scandinavian, yet...not. Formal and personal, spiritual and earthy, it's full of odd dichotomies.
Babette's Feast is a wonderful read, and the telling is as rich as the film. The other tales in this collection were hit or miss for me, often within the same story. "The Diver," for example, is moving and delightful and mythic, and then just sort of wanders into a peculiar philosophical musing about the spirituality of fish. Is there a connection between the two sections? Sort of, but it feels a stretch.
Brilliant, but sometimes just the teensiest bit turgid. A three point seven five. -
Fascinating! Although Hogarth publishers in the 21st century have encouraged contemporary writers to retell Shakespeare's plays (I've previously reviewed "Hag-Seed," by Margaret Atwood), it's not a new theme. While "Babette's Feast" is the most famous of the short works in this collection, this review is solely of Dinesen's novella "Tempests." One of the few works she wrote in Danish, the reader is of course handicapped by the translation. I'll credit that for the slow start, but as the tale goes on, Dinesen's transpositions of the characters with their dramatic personae offer an incredibly nuanced analysis of life and art, especially viewed in light of her own biography and her struggles to reconcile the two. Worth reading and re-reading.
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My reaction to these stories was mixed. Many reviewers here speak of them as like fairy tales - yes, I agree. Or perhaps fables. They often had mystical aspects, and a lesson. On the other hand the lesson was not always clear to me - I could feel it slipping from my grasp. Dinesen has a cozy way of writing, with charming little details, and intriguing but slightly off-putting details. The tone could verge on ominous, but also have instances of delight. I think small doses are best. And not as you are dozing off...
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Like other reviewers, I too picked up the book because I had seen the movie, "Babette's Feast" and loved it, I wanted to read the story. The movie did such a fantastic job of story telling that I kept thinking of the scenes as I read the story. I do believe I liked the movie better than the "book", but I so enjoyed seeing how the producers followed the story, it was perfect. As for the rest of the stories in this book....not so great. I read "The Diver", ho-hum....and "The Tempest"....such a disappointing ending...."The Ring" because it was short...blah! I didn't bother with the other stories. Apparently Gothic lierature is not for me.
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Very much what A.D. Jansen said in their Goodreads review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
(Couldn't have put it better myself. Not recognized enough; Borges; little variation but genius at what she does.)
Weakest stories: "Tempests" and "The Ring". Most fun & light-hearted story: "Ehrengard". Best stories: "Babette's Feast" and "The Immortal Story" - the last almost a parody of an O. Henry story, or of the darker origins of an O. Henry story, maybe. -
My first experience reading Isak Dinensen (Karen Blixen) was one that will be impossible to liberate from my heart and mind for some time to come. The six stories contained in this volume are grandly poetic, adventurous explorations in love, faith, heartbreak, and the power of storytelling, written in the most evocative language. The stories "Babette's Feast", "Tempests", and "The Immortal Story" had me spellbound.
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The six tales in this volume vary greatly in style and in substance. Their great similarity is in the craftsmanship of their author. Babette’s Feast is well-known and well-deserved of praise. There are other short tales here of interest and skill. Enjoy.
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A beautiful book.
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This is an interesting collection of stories, especially when taken in context of Blixen's life. Can't say it was necessarily my cup of tea, but it definitely kept class interesting.
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Really wonderful short stories but, as I knew it would be, "Babette's Feast" was the best...the one I most wanted to read.
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(Hmm, I liked Ehrengard the best, except for Babette's Feast... Reviewed elsewhere.)
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Interesting stories but for me the language made reading more cumbersome.
