The Pact: My Friendship With Isak Dinesen
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
At the heart of one of the most remarkable literary friendships of the twentieth century lies a pact — a strange, consuming bond forged between two artists of uncommon genius. The Pact: My Friendship with Isak Dinesen is the intimate memoir by Danish poet Thorkild Bjørnvig, chronicling his deeply personal and at times overwhelming relationship with the legendary Karen Blixen, who wrote under the pen name Isak Dinesen. Set against the backdrop of post-war Denmark, Bjørnvig recounts how Blixen — already a towering figure in world literature, celebrated for Out of Africa and Seven Gothic Tales — drew the young poet into her orbit at her estate, Rungstedlund, demanding a devotion that blurred the lines between mentorship, creative inspiration, and spiritual possession. Bjørnvig writes with disarming candour and poetic precision, illustrating how Blixen's magnetic, almost mythological personality shaped and tested his identity as both a man and a writer. The memoir stands as a vital document of literary history, presenting a rare, unguarded portrait of Blixen in her later years — mercurial, brilliant, and fiercely demanding. Rich with insights into the nature of artistic influence and the cost of discipleship, this account leaves the reader questioning: where does inspiration end and domination begin?
Author: Thorkild Bjørnvig
Format: Hardback
Published: 1983
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
At the heart of one of the most remarkable literary friendships of the twentieth century lies a pact — a strange, consuming bond forged between two artists of uncommon genius. The Pact: My Friendship with Isak Dinesen is the intimate memoir by Danish poet Thorkild Bjørnvig, chronicling his deeply personal and at times overwhelming relationship with the legendary Karen Blixen, who wrote under the pen name Isak Dinesen. Set against the backdrop of post-war Denmark, Bjørnvig recounts how Blixen — already a towering figure in world literature, celebrated for Out of Africa and Seven Gothic Tales — drew the young poet into her orbit at her estate, Rungstedlund, demanding a devotion that blurred the lines between mentorship, creative inspiration, and spiritual possession. Bjørnvig writes with disarming candour and poetic precision, illustrating how Blixen's magnetic, almost mythological personality shaped and tested his identity as both a man and a writer. The memoir stands as a vital document of literary history, presenting a rare, unguarded portrait of Blixen in her later years — mercurial, brilliant, and fiercely demanding. Rich with insights into the nature of artistic influence and the cost of discipleship, this account leaves the reader questioning: where does inspiration end and domination begin?