Karen Blixen’s “The Poet” and Søren Kierkegaard’s Gjentagelsen
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Mads Bunch
Abstract
It is commonly acknowledged within Karen Blixen scholarship that some of Blixen’s tales are literary responses to other works from world literature. In this paper I will argue that the tale “The Poet” from Seven Gothic Tales (1934) should be included in this line-up of responses as a literary response to Søren Kierkegaard’s Gjentagelsen (Repetition) from 1843. Through juxtapositions of quotes and analysis of plot development and character constellations, I will show how Blixen redevelops the plot and reverses the characters from Kierkegaard’s Gjentagelsen. I will pay particular attention to a reoccurring character in Kierkegaard’s production: the elderly bachelor esthete (Constantin Constantius), whom Blixen in “The Poet” exposes as a demonic, yet comical character. I will conclude by pointing out that repetition should be acknowledged as an integral part of Blixen’s poetics, since she consistently repeats archetypal plots and characters from world literature in her works that at the same time are completely new and original, following the dialectics of repetition.
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Karen Blixen’s “The Poet” and Søren Kierkegaard’s Gjentagelsen
- Ibsen Exposed: Atle Næss’s Sensommer and Niels Fredrik Dahl’s Henrik og Emilie
- Nur über seine Leiche: Knut Faldbakkens Maude danser als phantastische Groteske und Märchentravestie
- Spiegelbilder des Krieges. Grenzverletzungen als literarische Katalysatoren der nationalen und existentiellen Selbstreflexion
- Gute Europäer um 1800. Beiträge anlässlich des 250. Geburtstags von Jens Baggesen
- Baggesen in Frankreich
- Senklassicistisk omgang med tekster. Om åbenbare og skjulte citater i Jens Baggesens Labyrinten
- Der Wiedergänger. Jens Baggesens Nachleben in der deutschen Literatur
- ”I känslofulla sköna!” Bengt Lidner, Göttingen och den kvinnliga läsaren
- Reviews
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Karen Blixen’s “The Poet” and Søren Kierkegaard’s Gjentagelsen
- Ibsen Exposed: Atle Næss’s Sensommer and Niels Fredrik Dahl’s Henrik og Emilie
- Nur über seine Leiche: Knut Faldbakkens Maude danser als phantastische Groteske und Märchentravestie
- Spiegelbilder des Krieges. Grenzverletzungen als literarische Katalysatoren der nationalen und existentiellen Selbstreflexion
- Gute Europäer um 1800. Beiträge anlässlich des 250. Geburtstags von Jens Baggesen
- Baggesen in Frankreich
- Senklassicistisk omgang med tekster. Om åbenbare og skjulte citater i Jens Baggesens Labyrinten
- Der Wiedergänger. Jens Baggesens Nachleben in der deutschen Literatur
- ”I känslofulla sköna!” Bengt Lidner, Göttingen och den kvinnliga läsaren
- Reviews
