Short stories
Babette's Feast
Karen Blixen · 1950
Synopsis
At the far end of a Norwegian fjord, in the small town of Berlevaag, two ageing sisters, Martine and Philippa, keep up the austere community founded by their father, a pastor: the people there eat dried cod and ale-and-bread soup, and distrust the pleasures of this world. Babette, a French refugee who arrived with nothing after the Commune, has been their cook for twelve years. A ticket in the French lottery finally brings her ten thousand francs: she then asks permission to give a real French dinner for the pastor's birthday.
Context
Written in English, the story appeared in 1950 in the Ladies' Home Journal: a friend had advised its author, who was looking for income from American magazines, to write about food. It was reprinted in 1958 in the collection Anecdotes of Destiny and, in the same year, in Danish in Skæbne-Anekdoter, translated by the author herself. Gabriel Axel, who adapted it in 1987, moves the action from Norway to the west coast of Jutland, judging the Norwegian landscapes too picturesque.
Who it is for
A short story of some twenty pages, in an ample, ironic prose. Note that the film moved the action to Jutland: the text is set in Norway.
Prizes and reception
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Gabriel Axel's adaptation; of all her stories, the one that has drawn the most attention since.
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