Longing for Darkness: Kamante’s Tales from Out of Africa

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Kamante

Karen Blixen

Photography and Design by Peter Beard

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1975, English

Nonfiction, General

ISBN: 9780151530809

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Warren Lehrer

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In this 1975 book about the friendship between Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) and her cook Kamante, photographer/collagist Peter Beard creates a mashup of his own astonishing photographs, Blixen’s photographs and writings, and Kamante’s side of the story told through his lyrical watercolors and writings (translated from Swahili). The three perspectives come together in a groundbreaking work that transgresses the (nearly) sacred traditions of photography books and memoirs—into something uniquely sacred and fresh. The original 1975 edition is the one to behold, if you can find it.

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