A Voyage of Discovery: With Karen Blixen ( Isek Dineson)
Exploring the World of Writers.
Recently, I have been mulling over the joys of reading ‘great’ literature; what makes it great? Whether it be fiction or non-fiction, what keeps us glued to the words like a moth to a flame or a flower to the sun?
The Flow of Words.
Is it the narrative, leading us on from page to page? You are there with the characters, fleeing to an isolated bay where a ship lies at anchor; you smell the sea as the spray wets your cheek; feeling the tension, you are galloping across the pages; you breathe again as you reach the ship and she sets sail, the land receding with every surge of the waves. You are relieved and continue reading.
The Choice of Words.
How does the flow of words compose a memorable sentence? As you read you are transported to the realm of wonder that someone can write like this. You pause, take up the book again, go over the passage, and pause once more; it is like hearing for the first time a piece of music that stops you in your tracks; you sit down and listen.
Isak Dineson Sets the Scene: Kamante.
In Out of Africa, the author describes an interaction with Kamante, a young Kikuyu boy who was taken into her home and employed after she found him with a septic wound on his leg, and realising it urgently needed attention, persuaded him to be hospitalized for treatment.
After successful healing of the wound, Kamante came to work in her home. One day, Isak Dineson writes how Kamante observes her as she works at her typewriter, and in the following quotes from the book, he asks two pertinent questions: “One night as I looked up I met these profound attentive eyes and after a moment he spoke. “Msabu,” he said, “do you believe yourself that you can write a book?”
Her answer was that she did not know. After a long pause, Kamante said, “I do not believe it.”
There followed a conversation between the two, after which Kamante asked the next question: “Msabu, what is there in books?”
Do you believe yourself that you can write a book? What is there in books?
Kamante, an illiterate Kikuyu, asked two profound questions. He touched on the qualities required to produce masterpieces in literature; I shall attempt, in the articles that follow, to find the answers to these and the question asked at the beginning, what makes it great?
Indeed, Karen Blixen produced the remarkable account of life on her coffee plantation. How much does a writer believe in himself or herself to write a masterpiece? Producing words flowing with eloquence is the realm of great writers; I am looking forward to reading their ideas, to exploring their worlds.
Lynette Clements, 2020. All rights reserved. No part of my story may be copied, reprinted, or published without the written consent of the writer.