Quotes from book
Last Tales

Name: Last Tales
Author: Karen Blixen

Karen Blixen

Last Tales is a collection of short stories by the Danish author Karen Blixen , which was published in 1957. The collection contains a group of stories taken from several other collections Blixen had been simultaneously working on for several years.

“The entire being of a woman is a secret which should be kept.”

Karen Blixen book Last Tales

"The Cardinal's Third Tale"
Last Tales (1957)

“Are you sure,' she asked, 'that it is God whom you serve?'
The Cardinal looked up, met her eyes and smiled very gently.
'That,' he said, 'that, Madame, is a risk which the artists and the priests of this world have to run!”

Karen Blixen book Last Tales

"The Cardinal's First Tale"
Last Tales (1957)

“Where the storyteller is loyal, eternally and unswervingly loyal to the story, there, in the end, silence will speak. Where the story has been betrayed, silence is but emptiness. But we, the faithful, when we have spoken our last word, will hear the voice of silence.”

Karen Blixen book Last Tales

"The Blank Page"
Last Tales (1957)
Context: Why, you are to become a story teller, and I shall give you the reasons! Hear then: Where the storyteller is loyal, eternally and unswervingly loyal to the story, there, in the end, silence will speak. Where the story has been betrayed, silence is but emptiness. But we, the faithful, when we have spoken our last word, will hear the voice of silence. Whether a small snotty lass understands it or not.