When Karen Blixen published her memoir Out of Africa, she used a pen name—Isak Dinesen. Throughout the novel, Blixen writes of her time in Africa with tenderness and love. Additionally, she paints a vivid picture of the African landscape through her almost lyrical prose.
The novel is remarkable not only because of its prose but also because of its candid and oftentimes unflattering exploration of the complexities of colonial life. While Blixen exhibits a clear affection for the continent and its people, her narrative is told from the perspective of a colonialist woman. Her memoir is no doubt a product of its time but is still helpful in picking out how colonialists thought about the people they were colonizing. However, despite Blixen's overall positive attitude towards the people she met in Kenya, embedded in every fiber of the memoir is a deep sense of loss and longing. For instance, her romantic relationship with Finch Hatton struggles to persevere through challenges, she struggles to leave behind her farm in Kenya, and she has difficulties integrating into African culture despite her best efforts. She is, in essence, isolated and lonely despite being surrounded by so many people.
Out of Africa is about the time that Blixen spent managing a coffee plantation in the Ngong Hills near Nairobi in Kenya from 1914 to 1931. Throughout the book, she offers intimate insights into the cultures and lives of the various native tribes living near her plantation, including the Kikuyu, Masai, and Somali. She speaks about many of them reverently and learns to appreciate their life and culture, which she learns a lot from.
Throughout the novel, Blixen often ruminates on the wild, untamed beauty and vastness of the African landscape. She relates the vastness of the landscape to both the hardships and the positive things associated with running a coffee plantation.
Towards the end of the book, Blixen encounters several challenges, including political, financial, and environmental hardships, which force her to sell her beloved farm. At the end of her memoir, Blixen reflects on the impermanence of her African experience, culminating in her departure from the continent back to her home in the Netherlands, showing that colonization efforts can never last.
