Talk:Karen Blixen

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[edit] Pseudonym

Isak Dinesen (a mans name) was the pseudonym for Karen Blixen.

Shouldn't the current redirect (Karen Blixen -> Isak Dinesen) be inverted? Alfio 11:14, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Yep. Agree. I made the switch now. Shanes 21:32, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Nobel Prize

The mention of Nobel Prize nominations seems odd. I seem to recall that the Nobel Prize organization does not mention who they have or haven't considered.

I concur. Strictly speaking, there are no official nominations for the prize. --SydSid (talk) 21:46, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree and have removed the reference to the nobel prize. --Peter Andersen (talk) 18:44, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Article placement: Karen Blixen or Isak Dinesen?

I don't get the article placement. Almost all authors with pen names are placed at the pen name, not the real name. Most people have heard of Isak Dinesen, not Karen Blixen, so that's where the article should be. See Mark Twain, Voltaire, George Eliot, Stendhal, Molière, George Orwell, Saki, Lewis Carroll, C. S. Forester, Anatole France, H.D., O. Henry, James Herriot, George Sand, James Tiptree, Jr. I am moving to Isak Dinesen. john k (talk) 16:13, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

While I admit to having limited knowledge of how she is known in the English-speaking part of the world, in Denmark I don't recall hearing her referred to as Isak Dinesen at all and the name Karen Blixen is certainly much better known. While that probably shouldn't be the determining factor on English wikipedia, it does make me wonder: Do you happen to know if the pen name is best known across all of the English-speaking part of the world or just in the United States where it was first introduced? (I tried using google-searching to get some sort of usage ratio, but didn't manage to get a clear result either way.) Hemmingsen 18:01, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

I think the article renaming should have been discussed here first.

Like Hemmingsen says, in her native Denmark she is very famous by her own name, and totally unknown under her pseudonym. This is probably true for most of the world.

If you use Google searches as a guide, searching the English-only sites gives a 56%-44% split (215000 - 168000) in favor of Isak Dinesen, not a very significant difference. (Nothing like the Mark Twain example.)

Searching with Google for all language sites gives a 65%-35% split (423000 - 228000) in favor of Karen Blixen, a pretty massive difference. I.e., world-wide she is twice as well-known as Karen Blixen as she is known as Isak Dinesen. Taking into account that the English Wikipedia is used by many non-English speakers because it is the most well-developed, I think it makes much more sense to call the article Karen Blixen.

If there are no objections I'll rename the article back tomorrow. --RenniePet (talk) 22:16, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree. This is different from the examples given above in that she is very well known under her real name. Myself, a Norwegian, hadn't even heard about the name Isak Dinesen until a few years back. But everyone in Norway, at least, know Karen Blixen. And when I hover the interwiki-links, I notice that all the other wikipedia-languages with an article on her have their article on her under the name Karen Blixen. So should we. Shanes (talk) 22:57, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree as well. A further argument is that the two museums dedicated to her both bear the name Karen Blixen. IbLeo (talk) 12:18, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

And her Asteroid as well. Named after her real name. As opposed to (from the examples above) Marc Twain's, Voltaire's, Molière's, George Orwell's, James Herriot's and Lewis Carroll's which all have their asteroid named after their much more well known pen names. Shanes (talk) 14:10, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

OK, I've now moved the article (and talk page) back to Karen Blixen. --RenniePet (talk) 17:29, 29 May 2008 (UTC)