31 Facts About Isak Dinesen

Isak Dinesen is known under her pen names Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countries, Tania Blixen, used in German-speaking countries, Osceola, and Pierre Andrezel.

Isak Dinesen is noted, particularly in Denmark, for her Seven Gothic Tales.

Karen Isak Dinesen was born in the manor house of Rungstedlund, north of Copenhagen.

Isak Dinesen's father, Wilhelm Dinesen, was a writer and army officer, including in the 1864 war by Denmark against Prussia and who joined the French army against Prussia and wrote about the Paris Commune.

Isak Dinesen was from a wealthy family of Jutland landowners closely connected to the monarchy, the established church and conservative politics.

Karen Isak Dinesen was the second oldest in a family of three sisters and two brothers.

Isak Dinesen wrote throughout his life and his memoir, Boganis Jagtbreve became a minor classic in Danish literature.

Isak Dinesen hanged himself on 28 March 1895 when Karen was nine years old.

Aunt Bess, as Westenholz was known to Isak Dinesen, had a significant impact on her niece.

Isak Dinesen first fell in love with the dashing equestrian baron Hans, but he did not reciprocate.

Isak Dinesen therefore decided to accept the favours of his twin brother, Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke, and they announced their engagement on 23 December 1912, to the family's surprise.

Isak Dinesen herself attributed her symptoms, in a letter to her brother Thomas, to syphilis acquired at 29 years old from her husband toward the end of their first year of marriage in 1915.

Isak Dinesen had been locally prescribed mercury and arsenic, a treatment for the disease in her time.

Isak Dinesen returned to Denmark in June 1915 for treatment which proved successful.

Isak Dinesen returned in 1922, investing in a land development company.

Isak Dinesen stood with one foot on the running-board of the car, and a finger in the book, reading out to me a poem we had been discussing.

Isak Dinesen remained in Rungstedlund for the rest of her life.

Isak Dinesen was awarded the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat in 1939.

Isak Dinesen worked on several collections at once, categorizing them according to their themes and whether she thought they were mostly to make money or literary.

Isak Dinesen jumped between writing the collections of stories for Albondocani to Anecdotes of Destiny to New Gothic Tales and New Winter's Tales.

Isak Dinesen's writing was not just a retelling of tales, however; it was a complex layering of clues and double entendres which force the reader to deduce Blixen's intent and draw conclusions.

Isak Dinesen wanted both books to appear simultaneously, but because of publication issues Anecdotes was delayed for another year.

Isak Dinesen was the feature of a Life Magazine article in the edition of 19 January 1959 and attended two Broadway openings.

Isak Dinesen was photographed by Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton; the guest of John Steinbeck, who hosted a cocktail party in her honor; and serenaded by Maria Callas.

Isak Dinesen took approximately 1 gram of mercury per day for almost a year according to some reports, while others show she did so for only a few months.

Isak Dinesen then spent time in Denmark for treatment and was given arsenic, which she continued to take in drop form as a treatment for the syphilis that she thought was the cause of her continued pain.

Isak Dinesen's writing prowess suggests that she did not suffer from the mental degeneration of late stages of syphilis.

Isak Dinesen did suffer a mild permanent loss of sensation in her legs that could be attributed to use of the arsenic-based anti-syphilis drug salvarsan.

Isak Dinesen was a heavy smoker, which when combined with her minimal food intake led to her developing a peptic ulcer.

Isak Dinesen's publisher indicated that Blixen's syphilis was a myth in private, but publicly, Blixen blamed syphilis for her chronic health issues.

Isak Dinesen featured on Danish postage stamps that were issued in 1980 and 1996.