WINTER'S TALES

Anyone who was caught unaware by the magic of Seven Gothic Tales will welcome this new volume of short stories from the pen of this gifted Danish writer. Fourteen tales in all, for the most part quite different from her first group — or is it perhaps that there is no longer quite the zest of discovery? These are more realistic; the symbolism, where it occurs, is clearer cut; the period — a world that is no more — Europe of the 19th century for the most part. There is a recurrent theme of the relation of foster or adopted child to parents; there are psychological stories of love, of marriage; there is a definite class consciousness, an awareness of the survival of a feudal system; and now and again, there is a fairy tale pattern of kings and princesses, of magic and unearthly powers. Isak Dinesen is one of today's greatest spinners of tales. She keys her style to her period, which at times gives one a feeling of almost too deliberate a patterning, too lush a metier. But on the whole, it is a delight to sense the delicacy and beauty of perfect craftsmanship. Definitely for an intellectual market, "caviare to the general".