Professor Suzanne Keyworth

LIT 2020

Short Story

Isak Dinesen Paper

NO LESS THAN FOUR OUTSIDE SOURCES

For this assignment, you will need to read Isak Dinesen’s Anedotes of Destiny and Ehrengard. You will be listening to and viewing her short story “Babette’s Feast.” You will also view the film Out of Africa (based on her life). There will be two books on reserve in the library for you to peruse: Isak Dinesen: Letters From Africa (translated by Anne Born) and Babette’s Feast and other Anecdotes of Destiny. You will also need to research Isak Dinesen’s life..

Once you have done your reading and your research, select one story and write a 5-6 page research paper discussing the story in relation to Isak Dinesen’s life.. See what kind of connections you can find between the woman and her work. This should be an interesting exercise since we have spent time trying to decide whether an author’s life should be considered when finding meaning in a piece of his/her work.

Be sure your paper is coherent and fully documented (works cited page included). For this exercise you are allowed to discuss any aspect of short fiction that pleases you. For example: Exposition, setting, plot, character, conflict, point of view, person of narration, theme, description, representation, symbol, irony, etc.

Remember. You may or may not agree that an author’s work should be considered when applying meaning to the work. Either way, you should be able to write an interesting paper.