Bror von Blixen-Finecke
Bror von Blixen-Finecke | |
|---|---|
Edward, Prince of Wales and Denys Finch Hatton (right), 1928. | |
| Born | Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke 25 July 1886 , Sweden |
| Died | 4 March 1946 (aged 59) Börringe, Sweden |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, hunter |
| Spouses | Jacqueline Harriet Alexander
(m. 1928; div. 1935) |
| Parent(s) | Hovjägmästare, Baron Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke Countess Clara Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs |
| Relatives | Hans von Blixen-Finecke (brother) |
Baron Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke (25 July 1886 – 4 March 1946) was a
Personal life
Bror Fredrik "Blix" von Blixen-Finecke and his twin brother,
Blixen-Finecke attended agricultural college at Alnarp, and then managed the Stjetneholm farm, within the Nasbyholm estate. Blix and Hans had known "Tanne", Karen Dinesen, since childhood, since Blix's mother and Tanne's father were cousins. Hans had actually turned down Tanne, before she became attached to Blix. A visit from Blix's maternal uncle, Count Mogens Frijs, and his tales of life in Naivasha, inspired Blix to seek his future in Africa.[1]: 12, 17–18 [2]: 4–5
Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke became engaged to
Aage Westenholz, Tanne's maternal uncle and family trustee after her father died, turned the farm into a company in 1918 with Aage as the chairman. Blaming the farm's losses on Blix, Aage banned Blix from the farm in the spring of 1920, and by 1921 Tanne and Blixen were separated.
On 1 August 1928, he married the British aristocrat Jacqueline Harriet "Cockie" Alexander.[3] They managed Singu, a 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) property at Babati, owned by Blixen's first hunting client Dick Cooper. In 1929, Blixen concentrated on his safari business and became Cooper's East Africa agent. The safari work enabled the Blixens to purchase their own farm at Ndasagu.[1]: 123, 129, 132, 135 When he was visited in Kenya by the Swedish adventurer and aviator Eva Dickson in 1932, while "Cockie" was visiting her mother in England, the marriage quickly ended, as he and Eva became lovers.[4] In 1935, he and "Cockie" divorced,[3] and the following year he married Eva in New York, and they spent their honeymoon together with Ernest Hemingway and his wife Pauline Pfeiffer sailing around Cuba and the Bahamas.[4] Cockie was quoted by Ulf Aschan as saying, "I have never regretted anything — except leaving Blix. He was the love of my life."[1]: 119, 192
In March 1938, Eva Dickson von Blixen-Finecke died in a car crash outside
Blix left Africa for good in 1938, eventually returning to his native Sweden. He died in a 1946 car accident, in which he was a passenger. Von Blixen-Finecke's identical twin, Hans, had died in a plane crash in 1917.[1]: 11, 215, 228–230
Big-game hunter in Africa
Blixen formed Tanganyika Guides Ltd, for professional hunting, in partnership with Philip Percival and Jeff Manley. Blixen and Percival became East Africa's leading hunters. According to Ulf Aschan, "Safaris lasted from one month to three. A meticulous organizer, Blix never left anything to chance. Fly camps, fuel depots, airstrips, provisions, and staff were always laid out well in advance. He would also take time to reconnoiter an area thoroughly beforehand to check on waterholes and general game movements."[1]: 131–132, 140
On 16 Nov. 1928, according to Bror, he was approached by the
Other notable personages Blixen guided on a hunt included Ernst Udet, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr., George Washington Vanderbilt III, Ernest Hemingway, Freddie Guest, Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, and Lord Marmaduke Furness.[1]: 135–136, 140, 148–149, 168, 187–188, 207
According to Beryl Markham in her memoir West with the Night, "He is six feet of amiable Swede and, to my knowledge, the toughest, most durable White Hunter ever to snicker at the fanfare of safari or to shoot a charging buffalo between the eyes while debating whether his sundown drink would be gin or whiskey."[5]
"Hunting with Blix was a magnificent experience," said Ebba Hamilton, "With his quiet, almost lyrical narrative of what happened around us, he got nature to live like I have never experienced since.[1]
Rose Cartwright stated that Blixen was, "An excellent shot, a meticulous organizer, and very good teacher. He was on a par with the best African trackers, and they admired him greatly for his skills and stamina."[1]: 186–187
Blixen has been identified by literary critics as an influence for the Robert Wilson character in Hemingway's short story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber",[6] especially in terms of the character's "cynicism and womanizing".[7]
Writing
Bror von Blixen-Finecke was a talented writer; his best-known book was his autobiography African Hunter (1938), long regarded as fine Africana since its translation from Swedish in 1938 by F. H. Lyon.[8] In 1988, St. Martin's Press published a collection of von Blixen-Finecke's letters to family and friends in a book titled Bror Blixen: The Africa Letters.[9]
In popular culture
In the film Out of Africa (1985), which is based on Karen Blixen's memoirs of the same name, the role of Bror von Blixen-Finecke is played by Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, who also plays his brother Hans. Blix is a central character in the best selling war/thriller/spy novel The Bullet Garden by Stephen Hunter.
See also
- List of famous big game hunters
- Fairmont The Norfolk Hotel
References
- ^ ISBN 9780312022495.
- ^ ISBN 0312009593.
- ^ a b The Peerage: Jacqueline Harriet Alexander Linked 2014-04-06
- ^ a b c d Populär Historia, 23 januari, 2009: Äventyraren Eva Dickson Archived 2014-02-20 at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish) Linked 2014-04-06
- OCLC 9642470.
- ^ Herne, Brian (1999). White Hunters: The Golden Age of African Safaris. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 122.
- ^ Mellow, James R. (1992). Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences. De Capo. p. 446.
- ISBN 0-312-00959-3
- )
- Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon I, vol. 53, Limburg (Lahn) 1972, pp. 432–433.
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