Masine Steinou Bruhn came from a forest ranger’s family in the forest Gribskov, became a champion of women’s rights, and a writer in Copenhagen. She was unmarried, independent, and linked to the Social Democratic wing of Dansk Kvindesamfund (Danish Women’s Society) and Kvindelig Fremskridtsforening (association for the advancement of women) and edited the paper Hvad vi vil. Organ for Kvindesagen, Fredssagen og Arbejdersagen, 1888-1889, in which she published her first serial Et Lægemiddel, 1888.
In her first novel, Et Ægteskab, 1889, motherhood and erotic love clash, while her main work Alt for Fædrelandet (N), 1891, is a cruel description of militarism and the violent power of patriarchy. Her writing combines the period’s enthusiasm for progress with Romantic echoes in a lyrical approach to modernity.
