A considerable proportion of the Karen Blixen archive at the Royal Danish Library consists of the unpublished poems, plays and short stories Karen Dinesen wrote before she married and left for Africa. In her teens and early 20s, she probably spent much of her spare time practising the art of writing. It was only when she was 22 that she decided to publish some of her short stories in literary journals, adopting the pen name Osceola.[103]
Some of these works were published posthumously, including tales previously removed from earlier collections and essays she wrote for various occasions.
- Eneboerne (The Hermits), August 1907, published in Danish in Tilskueren under the pen name Osceola)[104]
- Pløjeren (The Ploughman), October 1907, published in Danish in Gads danske Magasin, under the name Osceola)[105]
- Familien de Cats (The de Cats Family), January 1909, published in Danish in Tilskueren under the name Osceola)[105]
- Sandhedens hævn – En marionetkomedie, May 1926, published in Danish in Tilskueren, under the name of Karen Blixen-Finecke;[106] an English translation by Donald Hannah titled The Revenge of Truth: A Marionette Comedy was published in Performing Arts Journal in 1986[107]
- Seven Gothic Tales (1934 in the United States, 1935 in Denmark)[108]
- Out of Africa (1937 in Denmark and England, 1938 in the United States)
- Winter's Tales (1942)[109]
- The Angelic Avengers (1946)[110]
- Last Tales (1957)[111]
- Anecdotes of Destiny (1958) (including Babette's Feast)[112]
- Shadows on the Grass (1960 in England and Denmark, 1961 in the United States)[113]
- Ehrengard, a novella written in English and first published in abbreviated form in December 1962 in The Ladies’ Home Journal as The Secret of Rosenbad. Published in full 1963 in several languages as Ehrengard.[114]
- Carnival: Entertainments and Posthumous Tales (posthumous 1977, United States)[115]
- Daguerreotypes and Other Essays (posthumous 1979, England and United States)[116][117]
- On Modern Marriage and Other Observations (posthumous 1986, United States)[118]
- Letters from Africa, 1914–1931 (posthumous 1981, United States)[119]
- Karen Blixen in Danmark: Breve 1931–1962 (posthumous 1996, Denmark)
- Karen Blixen i Afrika. En brevsamling, 1914–31 i IV bind (posthumous 2013, Denmark)[120]
