Out of Africa

Out of Africa is a memoir by Karen Blixen that was published in 1937 under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen. Utilizing a nonlinear approach, Blixen explores the fading years of the British colonial empire in Africa in a somber and nostalgic tone.

The memoir begins with Blixen describing the African coffee plantation she lived on, located in what is today Kenya. The plantation is very high in altitude, and only a small portion of the land is used to grow coffee; the rest is left in its natural state or used by the Kikuyu tribe as living space. In exchange for the right to live on the land, the tribespeople labor in the fields. Many other tribes live nearby. The narrator, who never expressly names herself, informs the reader that she is Danish.

The narrator teaches at a school for the natives that she established, and every morning she acts as a nurse, offering basic medical services to the tribespeople. A young boy named Kamante comes to her with sores on his legs, and she sends him to a local charity hospital. When he returns he is healthy and has been converted to Christianity. He also demonstrates a surprising talent for cookery and becomes the farm’s chef.



A drought afflicts the farm, ruining the crops. The narrator begins telling stories to pass the time, then typing the stories up; the typewriter fascinates the natives. The narrator notes that this experience results in her always appreciating the rain. There is a shooting accident in which one native boy is killed and another injured. The narrator helps to care for the injured boy, and the tribe debates on how to handle the matter. They finally decide that the family of the shooter must pay damages, and eventually a quantity of livestock is given to the injured family as compensation.

The narrator entertains visitors to the farm, mainly other Europeans but also natives who gather there for large dances and celebrations. Other visitors include a fellow Dane named Knudsen, and the narrator’s personal friends Berkeley Cole and Denys Finch-Hatton. Berkeley owns a nearby farm and always brings the narrator gifts of food, wine, and music. Denys has no permanent home and spends most of his time hunting. The narrator and Denys hunt together frequently and enjoy an intimate and affectionate relationship.

The narrator describes her daily life on the farm in idyllic terms. She and the natives live together in harmony, and she adopts a young antelope she names Lulu, which lives in the house with her as a pet. The narrator believes that life in Africa is superior to life in Europe because it is closer to nature and more pure and primitive—closer, in other words, to the original paradise that God created, without the corrupting influence of so-called civilization.



Financial troubles come to the farm, however. Growing coffee at such high altitudes is very difficult, and the crops are poor. The narrator falls behind on her bills, and the farm slowly fails. She finally makes the painful decision to sell the farm, which saddens her. She sells the land to a large business that intends to subdivide the land in order to build homes. This will displace the natives who live there as well, which disturbs the narrator.

Shortly after the sale of the farm, the narrator learns that Denys has died in a plane crash. She is devastated by this news and has his body buried in the hills overlooking the beautiful landscape he loved so dearly. Denys’s brother comes and has a large stone erected over his grave, and the narrator describes a beautiful moment when two lions come to the grave and sit on either side of it for some time as if paying tribute to the man, which she finds beautiful and fitting.

The narrator then sets about the difficult task of making arrangements for the natives who lived on the farm, who now must leave. She becomes their advocate, working tirelessly to convince the local government to make an arrangement for them. After much effort, she is able to convince the government to allow them to settle on a large reserve nearby.



The narrator then sets about selling everything she owns and saying her goodbyes to her friends. She gives away her animals to those she believes will care for them properly. The natives organize a large ceremonial Ngoma dance in her honor, but the local government shuts it down as forbidden, and the narrator feels an irrational anger toward the small-minded officials.

The narrator books passage out of Africa, aware that not only has time moved on from colonial powers, but that a special period in her own life has passed by. Kamante writes to her regularly after she leaves, and the narrator finds his letters difficult to read because he is depressed and unemployed and continually begs her to return, believing her mere presence will improve his situation.