Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny

A very mixed collection. I loved "The Immortal Story", a sinuous, self-reflexive exploration of the power of narrative, the role of stories in constructing identity, that Borges would have given his eye-teeth to concoct. Like Borges, Blixen writes in that detached, fabulistic, once-upon-a-time style where the characters are more or less just concepts, certainly not real people. So how much you enjoy it depends on how deeply the themes resonate with you. I can see why the title story is so popular: it's about all kinds of stuff, devotion rewarded, the power of art, the goodness of plain folk, and much more. But it's too sweet for my taste. I marginally preferred "Tempests", hated "The Diver", a glurgy religious allegory that ought to go show more down well with the Paulo Coelho crowd. And the last piece, "The Ring", is just an unobjectionable bagatelle. show less

After watching Out of Africa, I fancied reading something by Blixen, so when I spotted this collection in a charity shop, I bought it. And since I was spending Christmas in Denmark, I thought it appropriate to take it with me and read it there. Anecdotes of Destiny has apparently been republished under the title of the most famous story in it, as Babette’s Feast and Other Stories, which I’m glad I spotted now as it’d likely confuse me later if I stumbled across the latter book. As it is, the original title does the collection a disservice as its contents are far from “anecdotes”. True, the opening story story pastiches a tale from 1001 Nights, and my heart sank a little when I read it. But ‘Babette’s Feast’ is wholly show more different and a great deal better. Best in the collection, however, is ‘Tempests’, about a young woman in Norway who joins a travelling theatre and then saves a ship from foundering during a storm, and it quickly became a favourite novella – and would make an excellent film too. A very good collection, overall, and I plan to read more by Blixen. show less

I did not really care for this novella about two spinster sisters who live an austere life in memory of their father, and only after 14 years discover their cook and servant is an artist with food. Even so, our book group had a wonderful meeting. Our hostess replicated the feast, her husband played the role of the general, we all wore simple (somber) black dresses, and the darkened dining room was lit with only the line of candles down the center of the table.

Creates pictures in the mind and very good treatment of human foibles and redemption.

Quiet, old-fashioned writing but dramatic stories. Two are more like novellas, at least one is very short. I never saw the movie, nor did I enjoy reading Out of Africa, but this book fell into my hands and I'm glad I read it. I really don't have anything worthwhile to say, sorry. Read Chrissie's reviews and comments for more enlightenment.

C'è chi sa e chi non sa. Lei sapeva. Che cosa sapeva? come portarti NEL racconto.
Da assaporare. Una delle gioie della vita, come ben saprete se siete iscritti a questo sito, è essere assorbiti nella lettura.
LEI SA COME SI FA.

I'm currently in a production of a play adaptation of Babette's Feast so thought I would check out the short story. I enjoyed it, along with the other stories in this collection.