- 14.04.2025
- Kategorie Literaturwissenschaft
Playing With Witches. Karen Blixen’s Generous Tales. In Conversation with Ieva Steponavičiūtė-Aleksiejūnienė
von Nordlitt. Skandinavistische Literaturforschung im Gespräch
Ieva Steponavičiūtė-Aleksiejūnienė, Vilnius University, invites nordlitt to workshop around the concept of play in two stories by Danish author Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen. Ieva muses with Blixen on why art cannot make us happy, and we uncover creative connections between artistic processes, superficiality, and cannibalism. Blixen also guides us toward a new, gender-crossing take on theories of creative misreading. Moreover, we encounter a family history entangled with the history of Scandinavian Studies in the Soviet Union and Lithuania, and we learn about the significance of Denmark for post-communist Lithuanian scholars. Finally, Ieva encourages us to listen to the text and emphasizes the importance of intellectual exchange beyond national and political borders.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Introducing Ieva Steponavičiūtė Aleksiejūnienė
(00:01:56) Life Patterns and Scandinavian Studies in Lithuania
(00:13:40) Georg Brandes Skolen
(00:20:52) Introducing Karen Blixen
(00:31:38) Looking at Blixen through Play
(00:41:43) Workshop: Recurring Images and Characters in “Echoes”
(00:48:06) Metafiction, Art and Life
(00:51:34) Resurrection and Cannibalism
(00:58:54) Is Blixen difficult?
(01:03:48) The Playful Vampire-Artist
(01:11:29) Theories of Influence
(01:16:08) Navigating through “Tempests”
(01:23:27) Art Cannot Make People Happy
(01:34:23) The Tension between Symbol and Allegory
(01:39:54) Art and Transcendence
(01:42:57) The Shipwreck Versus the Floating Ship
(01:46:00) Other Research Interests: Scandinavia, Lithuania and Beyond
(01:54:00) Advice to Student-Self
Literature:
dn: Blixen, Karen: “Ekko”. In: Sidste Fortællinger. København: Gyldendal 1957, pp. 138–170.
en: Dinesen, Isak: ”Echoes”. In: Last Tales. New York: Vintage Books 1957, pp. 153–190.
dn: Blixen, Karen: “Storme”. In: Skæbne Anekdoter. København: Gyldendal 1958, pp. 77–145.
en: Dinesen, Isak: ”Tempests”. In: Anecdotes of Destiny. New York: Random House 1958, pp. 71–154.
Steponavičiūtė Aleksiejūnienė; Ieva, Jacob Bøggild & Ieva Toleikytė: ”Guard Always Your Honor: ‘Ehrengard,’ Karen Blixen’s Last Tale”. In: Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 93 (No. 3), 2021, pp. 303–328.
Further Reading:
Auden, Wystan Hugh: “In Memory of W. B. Yeats”. In: New Republic, Vol. 98 (No. 1266), 1939, p. 123.
Bloom, Harold: The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press 1997 [1975].
Bloom, Harold: A Map of Misreading. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1980.
Bloom, Harold: The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. New York: Riverhead Books 1995.
– See also Bloom’s “The Chaotic Age: A Canonical Prophecy” where Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen is mentioned, p. 526.
Brantly, Susan: Understanding Isak Dinesen. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press 2002.
Brooks, Peter: Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press 1992 [1984].
Burns, Robert: ”O Mally’s meek, Mally’s sweet”. In: The Oxford Edition of the Works of Robert Burns, Volume II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 697.
Eco, Umberto: The Limits of Interpretation. Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press 1990.
Eco, Umberto: The Open Work. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press 1989.
Engberg, Charlotte: Billedets ekko: Om Karen Blixens fortællinger. Kopenhagen: Gyldendal 2000.
Engberg, Charlotte: ”Fortællingen til døden”. In: Ny Poetik, Vol. 4, 1999, pp. 40–49.
Engberg, Charlotte: Latter og lettere beruset. Om at læse Karen Blixen. Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag 2019.
Dinesen, Isak: On Modern Marriage and Other Observations. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1986. (First published as ”Moderne Ægteskab og andre Betragtninger” after Blixen’s death, in Blixeniana 1977).
Heede, Dag: Det umenneskelige: analyser af seksualitet, køn og identitet hos Karen Blixen. Odense: Universitetsforlaget 2001.
Kierkegaard, Søren: ”Forførerens Dagbog”. In: Enten-Eller, Bind 1. København: Søren Kierkegaard Forskningscenteret 1997 [1843], pp. 291–431.
Körber, Lill-Ann, Steponavičiūtė Aleksiejūnienė, Ieva: ”‘If Sweden is a province, what are we?’ Map-making and man-making in Marius Ivaškevičius´s essay series My Scandinavia”. In: Folia Scandinavica Posnanensia, Vol. 34, 2023, pp. 88–107.
Langbaum, Robert: The Gayety of Vision: A Study of Isak Dinesen’s Art. London: Chatto & Windus 1964.
Rossel, Sven Hakon: “Hun har faktisk også skrevet bøger. Betragtninger over nekrofili som litterært fænomen: Karen Blixen 1885–1962”. In: Nordica, Vol. 3, 1986, pp. 9–21.
Selboe, Tone: Kunst og erfaring: en studie i Karen Blixens forfatterskap. Odense: Odense universitetsforlag 1996.
Shakespeare, William: The Tempest. The Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d.
Sontag, Susan: Against Interpretation and Other Essays. London/New York: Penguin Books 2009 [1966].
Sørensen, Ivan Ž.: Blixens humor. Sorø: U Press 2021.
Sørensen, Ivan Ž.; Togeby, Ole: Omvejene til Pisa: en fortolkning af Karen Blixen “Vejene omkring Pisa”. Kopenhagen: Gyldendal 2001.
Texts by Karen Blixen:
Seven Gothic Tales (1934) – Syv fantastiske fortællinger (1935)
Out of Africa (1937) – Den afrikanske farm (1937)
Winter’s Tales (1942) – Vinter-eventyr (1942)
– Including “The Young Man with the Carnation”/”Den unge mand med nelliken” and “Dreamers”/ “Drømmerne”
Angelic Avengers (1946) – Gengældelsens Veje (1944)
Last Tales (1957) – Sidste fortællinger (1957)
– Including “Echoes”/”Ekko”
Anecdotes of Destiny (1958) – Skæbne-Anekdoter (1958)
– Including “Tempests”/”Storme”
– Including “Babette’s Feast”/”Babettes Gæstebud”
Shadows on the Grass (1960) – Skygger på græsset (1960)
Ehrengard (1963, posthumous) – Ehrengard (1963, posthumous)
For a complete list, see “Karen Blixen’s Body of Work”, Karen Blixen Museum