The Witch and the Angel of History

a comparative reading of Karen Blixen and Walter Benjamin

Abstract

This article presents a comparative reading of the short story “The Old Chevalier” by Karen Blixen, also known as Isak Dinesen, and the essay “On the Concept of History” by Walter Benjamin. Written around the same time, both deal with how to think about the history of oppressed figures, whose thoughts, ideas and lives have no records. Blixen’s short story takes place in the present time of the work, the 1930s, and its plot consists of a conversation between the narrator and an old gentleman, who tells a story from his youth, the 1870s. In telling his personal tory, he also talks about that time, thinking historically about those times and comparing them with the present. From this male voice, Blixen investigates the thinking of the women of that time, whose stories have been erased or forgotten. In particular, the gentleman tells of his encounter with a young prostitute and, in a poetic and symbolic way, tries to understand her without disrespecting her desire for mystery. Despite the many similarities between Blixen and Benjamin’s ideas, each leads us to a different conclusion. When thinking about the possibilities of redemption for the oppressed, Benjamin, a Marxist, talks about revolution and materialism. Blixen, on the other hand, sees art as a possibility for historical redemption.