It does not matter for the stones or the sky above, whether it is an ancient time, or the dynamic XXI century: the Ngong farm is the place where “everything that you saw made for greatness and freedom, and unequalled nobility”, says Dinesen (4).Īfter reading this fascinating description about a wild place far from civilization, Edward Hoagland’s Thoughts on Returning to the City (Hoagland 11) seems to be a certain extension of Dinesen’s idea about the contemplative spirit which is still present in some remote oases of calmness.Īt the same time, while Dinesen focuses on nature and provides modest, but picturesque description, Hoagland depicts the country spirit by means of his philosophical observation of life in the countryside. Even the depiction of a continuous coffee planting process strengthens the essay’s contemplative spirit: you wait for four or five years until the tree is bearing, and during this time you enjoy observing this process which brings many “times of great beauty” (8). The difference between the Ngong farm and the city felt by the author consists not in the look of the soil and the plants itself the deserted place in Africa seems to have kept the ancient wise spirit, which inspires not to hurry, live a measured life and enjoy its every moment. The beauty of the landscape seems modest, calm, and a bit tires of the exhausting African heat. The author pays much attention to describing the landscapes palette: she talks about “dry and burnt” colors (3), comparing them to the colors in pottery, and a sky, which is “rarely more than pale blue or violet” (4). By means of a few big strokes she describes the endless lands around her: the Equator runs through the place on the height of six thousand feet, and “the views are immensely wide” (4). The author depicts the place where the time has stopped, the space is boundless, and one can feel dissolved in the air. The first phrase of the chapter, “I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hill” (Dinesen 3), has become famous and is often cited these words are simple and pure, and they create the atmosphere of genuineness and slight nostalgia. By means of words, Isak Dinesen manages to draw an eloquent depiction of the wonderful landscape she enjoyed in Africa. The first chapter of her Out of Africa, called The Ngong Farm, has become a certain etalon in travel writing and in describing space.

Out of africa isak dinesen