Anecdotes of Destiny
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Trade in Anecdotes of Destiny: "The Diver"; "Babette's Feast"; "Tempests"; "The Immortal Story"; "The Ring" (Penguin Modern Classics) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
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Product Description
These five rich, witty and magical stories from the author of Out of Africa include one of her most well known tales, ‘Babette’s Feast’, which was made into the classic film. It tells the story of a French cook working in a puritanical Norwegian community, who treats her employers to the decadent feast of a lifetime. There is also a real-life Prospero and his Ariel in ‘Tempests’, a mysterious pearl-fisher in ‘The Diver’ and a brief, tragic encounter in ‘The Ring’. All the stories have a mystic, fairy-tale quality, linked by themes of angels, the sea, dreams and fate. They were among the last to be written by Isak Dinesen, and show her as a master of short fiction.
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First Sentence
In Shiraz lived a young student of theology by the name of Saufe who was highly gifted and pure of heart. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
In Shiraz lived a young student of theology by the name of Saufe who was highly gifted and pure of heart. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In these brilliantly written short stories with at least one masterpiece (`The Immortal Story'), Isak Dinesen illustrates in powerful and colorful brushes the role of `Fate' in human life. Life is turned into a theatre (a comedy or a tragedy) and theatre into life (`Tempests'). There are victims of Fate, but also `Fate makers'. And, in any case, `let good fortune be even so sweet, it takes strength to bear even that.'
Man and Fate
(People) `tremble before making choices in life, and after having made them again tremble in fear of having chosen wrong'. For, `Ay, that which we rejected is poured upon us abundantly.'
Man is not a fish (`The Diver'): `Man is alarmed by the idea of time, and unbalanced by incessant wanderings between past and future. The inhabitants of a liquid world have brought past and future together in the maxim: après nous le déluge'.
Fate makers
In `The Diver', the powerful see inventions and great dreams as dangerous revolutions. `If indeed the flying boy meets and communicates with angels, what new and revolutionary things the angels may tell him?'
In `The Immortal Story', an old and rich trader tries to turn the immortal story of the sailor who was paid to make love, into reality. Because, `so are the poor jumping-jacks in the hands of the rich, the fools in the hands of the shrewd. They dance and drop as these hands pull the strings.'
Sudden revelations and decisions
In `The Ring', a wife suddenly comprehends that `she was turned away by an impatient husband to whom his sheep meant more than his wife.'
In `Tempests', a young girl decides to become an actress after a theatre performance.
In `Babette's Feast', a brief encounter becomes a missed opportunity which will be remembered all life long: `I have been with you every day of my life'.
Isak Dinesen understands admirably the essence of art (literature). She instills the reader with powerful emotions and burning questions, together with original, personal, crucial and unexpected insights in life's Fate, `poured abundantly upon us'.
This outstanding collection is a must read for all lovers of world literature.
Man and Fate
(People) `tremble before making choices in life, and after having made them again tremble in fear of having chosen wrong'. For, `Ay, that which we rejected is poured upon us abundantly.'
Man is not a fish (`The Diver'): `Man is alarmed by the idea of time, and unbalanced by incessant wanderings between past and future. The inhabitants of a liquid world have brought past and future together in the maxim: après nous le déluge'.
Fate makers
In `The Diver', the powerful see inventions and great dreams as dangerous revolutions. `If indeed the flying boy meets and communicates with angels, what new and revolutionary things the angels may tell him?'
In `The Immortal Story', an old and rich trader tries to turn the immortal story of the sailor who was paid to make love, into reality. Because, `so are the poor jumping-jacks in the hands of the rich, the fools in the hands of the shrewd. They dance and drop as these hands pull the strings.'
Sudden revelations and decisions
In `The Ring', a wife suddenly comprehends that `she was turned away by an impatient husband to whom his sheep meant more than his wife.'
In `Tempests', a young girl decides to become an actress after a theatre performance.
In `Babette's Feast', a brief encounter becomes a missed opportunity which will be remembered all life long: `I have been with you every day of my life'.
Isak Dinesen understands admirably the essence of art (literature). She instills the reader with powerful emotions and burning questions, together with original, personal, crucial and unexpected insights in life's Fate, `poured abundantly upon us'.
This outstanding collection is a must read for all lovers of world literature.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The stories in this book I found very fascinating and well crafted and surprisingly accessible also. The morals within them all I think most people can relate to and the diction is wonderful.
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