An aristocracy may be defined by reference to its eschatological attitudes. So thoroughly did Isak Dinesen accept this belief that she often made discourse on the "final things"--on God, death, immortality, and related matters--central to her portrayals of aristocratic cultures. Herself a scion of Denmark's old nobility of the sword, she recognized certain African peoples as having kindred values. Thus, while other early settlers in British East Africa saw only primitive savages, Dinesen bore witness to native Africans' great spiritual depth and dignity.
Her descriptions of the Somalis are noteworthy. Discussing their courtship rituals, she explains the calculated prudery of Somali maidens: "The great sweetness of it lay in the play of opposite forces within it. Behind the eternal principle of refutation, there was much generosity; behind the pedantry what risibility, and contempt of death". Here Dinesen's association of an awareness of death with the most pressing concerns of life (in this case sexual tension and energy) is entirely typical. Characteristic, too, is her terse syntax, with its luminous qualities. Yet, the beauty of her words does not prevent her from perplexing our modern sense of emotional propriety. To be aware of death is one thing. But to scorn it, to concurrently experience risibility or an inclination to laugh, and finally, to situate these attitudes in the context of courtship strikes us as being tastelessly improper.
Our difficulty in appreciating Dinesen's view of the Somalis is just that--our own difficulty. The most perfect of all aristocrats, the ancient Roman patricians, would have had no such problem. To be ever aware of death, even to enjoy friendly terms with its approach, was part of what they meant by gravitas, or the virtue of treating honestly and seriously these matters that are inherently serious. Likewise, the Roman patricians would have understood Dinesen's point about risibility. Laughter expressed their virtue of comitas, or good humor. By tempering gravities with comitas, while scrupulously avoiding the despised vice of levitas, the patricians lived a noble life. Fully comparable to Dinesen's Somalis, they scorned death in the interests of life.
The first or, depending on one's perspective, last theme in eschatology is the nature of God. It is also a recurrent theme for Dinesen. Indeed, her own religious experience, as expressed in her writings, is a valuable resource for theological study.
Her God image, which has special significance for contemporary religious life, is impressive by virtue of the strange, compelling way it relates to the existence of evil. The God whom Dinesen encountered seems familiar to modern readers even though most lack her courage to acknowledge what we may call, following Carl Gustav Jung's lead, "diving darkness". Somewhat surprisingly, professional theologians have not taken notice of Dinesen. A few words are in order as to why this should be the case.
The old prejudice of scholars against artists is partly responsible. It is a prejudice that, with respect to Dinesen, may appear justified. As a writer primarily of literary fiction, she crafted intricate stories, each of which is resistant to simple interpretation and opaque to any single meaning. She loaded her plots with inconsistencies, contradictions, and frustrating ambiguities. She may therefore seem to offer uncompromising material for serious scholarship. It
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