Out of Africa

Locations
Call Number: Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / Literary / Dinesen, Isak
On Shelf At: Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / Literary / Dinesen, Isak	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / Literary / Dinesen, Isak	4-week checkout	Due 05-23-2024

Series statement from jacket.
Originally published: London : Putnam, 1937. With new biographical note.
In this book, the author of Seven Gothic Tales gives a true account of her life on her plantation in Kenya. She tells with classic simplicity of the ways of the country and the natives: of the beauty of the Ngong Hills and coffee trees in blossom: of her guests, from the Prince of Wales to Knudsen, the old charcoal burner, who visited her: of primitive festivals: of big game that were her near neighbors--lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, buffaloes--and of Lulu, the little gazelle who came to live with her, unbelievably ladylike and beautiful. The Random House colophon made its debut in February 1927 on the cover of a little pamphlet called "Announcement Number One." Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, the company's founders, had acquired the Modern Library from publishers Boni and Liveright two years earlier. One day, their friend the illustrator Rockwell Kent stopped by their office. Cerf later recalled, "Rockwell was sitting at my desk facing Donald, and we were talking about doing a few books on the side, when suddenly I got an inspiration and said, 'I've got the name for our publishing house. We just said we were go-ing to publish a few books on the side at random. Let's call it Random House.' Donald liked the idea, and Rockwell Kent said, 'That's a great name. I'll draw your trademark.' So, sitting at my desk, he took a piece of paper and in five minutes drew Random House, which has been our colophon ever since." Throughout the years, the mission of Random House has remained consistent: to publish books of the highest quality, at random. We are proud to continue this tradition today. This edition is set from the first American edition of 1937 and commemorates the seventy-fifth anniversary of Random House.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Out of Africa submitted by leighsprauer on July 24, 2019, 10:46am This is a difficult book to review: it's the author's memoirs/essays of her life near Nairobi, Kenya between 1910-1930, where she was the (white, Danish) owner of a coffee plantation. As such, it's pretty racist, in the way you would expect for the era. On one hand, she is nothing but kind-hearted, generous, and respectful to the many 'Natives' (i.e, mainly the Kikuyu, but also other indigenous Kenyans), and *for her time and position* she is basically a good and open-minded person. But overall she doesn't see the Kikuyu as fully human, and quite often compares them to animals, in less than favorable ways. (She does distinguish between the 'Natives' and other non-white people, such as the Masai, Indians and Somalis, but it's more or less just a different flavor of racism.) I would say that in short, she views non-whites as we might view beloved pets: we might take good care of them, and even consider them part of our family, but they are pets nonetheless.

So. All of that aside, I did like the book. For one thing, it's well-written: her writing is clear and enjoyable. Her descriptions of the African countryside are romantic and compelling and her stories are interesting. And I would go so far as to say that even as an ethnography it is a worthwhile book. As long as the reader keeps a critical eye, her thoughts on the culture, lifestyle, and habits of the various ethnic groups is enlightening. The history of Africa, and especially the European colonization, can be better understood by reading how this Danish landowner viewed the people with whom she lived.

I like the movie better, but yes, this is colonialism, however beautifully written submitted by AndAReaderToo on August 17, 2022, 10:33pm So this is one of two books that informed the movie Out of Africa. I had high expectations, but honestly it was as much a disappointment as it was beautiful. It is part memoir, and part little literary sketches that allow one to imagine the world as viewed by this a bit down-on-her-luck but still wildly privileged white colonist who arrives in Kenya to escape the confines of European gentry, but when faced with it, is still very much a product of her time and upbringing. It shows. She can’t quite see how racist she is, while thinking of herself as the opposite. And yet, she was seen as so progressively-minded. So if you read this, read some modern African women writers to follow up.