Ready Reference Treatise: Out of Africa

By Raja Sharma

“Out of Africa” by Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke was first published in 1937. Blixen had spent seventeen years in Kenya. In those days, Kenya was called ‘British East Africa.’

The book describes the events which took place during her seventeen years in Kenya. It presents a kind of lyrical meditation on the author’s life while she used to run her coffee plantation there. It also describes the influence of some of the people who she came across there.

There is highly descriptive presentation of the African colonial life during the last decades of the British Empire. The author first wrote the book in English and then rewrote it in Danish language.

Ready Reference Treatise: Out of Africa
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction to the Author and Book
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Writing Style & Structure
Chapter Five: Complete Summary
Book One
Book Two
Book Three
Book Four
Book Five
Chapter Six: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jul 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310171918

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Out of Africa

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Out of Africa

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction to the Author and Book

Out of Africa by Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke was first published in 1937. Blixen had spent seventeen years in Kenya. In those days, Kenya was called ‘British East Africa.’

The book describes the events which took place during her seventeen years in Kenya. It presents a kind of lyrical meditation on the author’s life while she used to run her coffee plantation there. It also describes the influence of some of the people who she came across there.

There is highly descriptive presentation of the African colonial life during the last decades of the British Empire. The author first wrote the book in English and then rewrote it in Danish language.

The author, Karen Blixen, had fist visited British East Africa when she was 28 years old, in the year 1913. She married her second cousin, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, a Swedish. She started her happily married life in Kenya.

The young couple bought some farmland in the Ngong Hills, situated at the distance of about ten miles southwest of Nairobi. In those days that place used to serve as a supply depot on the Uganda Railway.

They had initially thought of raising dairy cattle on their farmland, but they eventually decided to develop the land as a coffee plantation.

At the beginning, Karen’s bother, Thomas, managed the plantation. Most of the laborers working there were ‘squatters.’ The tribes people were called ‘squatters’ by the colonial rulers.

They worked for 180 days in a year and in return they got wages and the right to live and farm on the land that remained uncultivated.

That land was actually their own before the arrival of the British who forcibly claimed their lands for the colony.

During the First World War, the prices of coffee shot up, and consequently the Blixen family began to invest in this business.

By 1917, Karen and her husband had already expanded their land to about six thousand acres. They also attached a site for their house. They built their grand house in European style.

Initially, their married life was quite pleasant and comfortable. They went on hunting safaris. However, after some years, the marriage began to fail. Bror was a very good hunter and a very good companion, but he was unfaithful to Karen. He proved to be a poor businessman.

In 1921, Karen and Bror separated. In the year 1925, they were divorced. The management of the farm came into Karen’s hands. She proved to be fiercely independent and highly capable.

She was in love with her land, and she did like the African worker. However, it proved that the local climate was not so conducive for coffee plantation.

There were several unexpected dry years and very low production. Secondly, the prices of coffee continued to fall.

Karen tried her best but she could not prevent her farm from falling into huge debt. Eventually, in the year 1931 she was compelled to sell the plantation by the family corporation.

Remi Martin was the next buyer of her land. Remi planned to make residential plots. Blixen was also allowed to stay in her house. She refused the offer and went back to Denmark.

She went back to her family’s estate of Rungstedlund. She began to live with her mother. She started her writing career again. She had started writing before, but she abandoned it in her youth.

She eventually published a fiction collection titled Nine Tales in the