Karen Blixen’s father, Wilhelm Dinesen (Boganis), as a reporter and writer

Karen Blixen’s father, Wilhelm Dinesen, was not only a Danish landowner and member of parliament, but also published several books and articles about his exploits in various wars, the Danish-German War (1864), the Paris Commune (1871 ), the Franco-German War (1870-71) where he sided with the French, and the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78) where he sided with the Turks, but may not have been accepted in the army. His son, Thomas Dinesen, seems to doubt his acceptance in the book she wrote about him, “Boganis” (1972). (As you will know “Boganis” was one of Wilhelm Dinesen’s pseudonyms). She for some years she lived in Wisconsin, USA, participating in the life of the Indians and even fathering a secret daughter, perhaps deaf, from an Indian mother.

He published “Paris Under Communen” (1872) about his experiences in the Paris Commune. His writing style is lively and fresh, very committed to the subject. It is obvious that he is extremely disappointed with the outcome of the Commune. He finds it difficult to accept the fact of the Assembly’s victory, but also the end of the adventure itself. He had enjoyed the battle and writes, “I wonder if I’ll ever be involved in something that big again.” Even though he had seen his friends and soldiers die, he was hooked on these kinds of feats.

After this doomed fight for freedom in France, he went to the USA and recounted this stay in an article in “Tilskueren” (1887). It’s interesting to follow his path in American society where, for example, he ends up fighting with the priest he scolds. As for the Indians, he seems to have seen them as a kind of happy-go-lucky people from the Children of Nature. However, he loves and respects them and makes it clear that he finds the white man just as cruel as the Indians have been humiliated. In 1876 he published an account of his stay in Wisconsin, “Miska, En Fortaelling fra Urskovene” (: “Miska, A Story from the Jungle”; not translated)

He also published “Fra Ottende Brigade” (1889) as well as “Jagtbreve” (1889) and “Nye Jagtbreve” (1892) and in all his works he makes it clear that what he likes is the active life, outdoors, full of adventures all types. A man should not be an inner creature or someone who avoids the struggles of life. No, on the contrary, but some of his fights may have earned him enemies in his own social sphere. Some may even have seen him as a “traitor to the class of him”.