Bror von Blixen-Finecke
Baron Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke (25 July 1886 – 4 March 1946) was a Swedish nobleman, writer, and African professional hunter and guide on big-game hunts. He was married to Karen Blixen (née Dinesen) from 1914 to 1925.
Bror von Blixen-Finecke
4 March 1946 (aged 59)
Swedish
Writer, hunter
Hovjägmästare, Baron Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke
Countess Clara Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs
Hans von Blixen-Finecke (brother)
Big-game hunter in Africa[edit]
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 Prince of Wales in his quest to "bag a lion". Bror and his "old friend" Denys Finch Hatton proceeded to help the prince do so followed by a hunt for buffalo. They had a repetition expedition with the prince, but for elephant, in February 1930.[2]: 178–204 [1]: 124–129, 137–139
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[edit]
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[edit]
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.