Hans Christian Andersen

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Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen.jpg
Pseudonym(s): HC Andersen
Born: April 2, 1805
Odense, Denmark
Died: August 4, 1875
Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupation(s): novelist, short story writer, poet
Nationality: Dane
Literary genre: Children's literature, travelogue
Magnum opus: The Little Mermaid
Influences: Ludvig Holberg, William Shakespeare

Hans Christian Andersen [ˈhanˀs ˈkʰʁæʂd̥jan ˈɑnɐsn̩] or simply H.C. Andersen [hɔse ˈɑnɐsn̩], (April 2 1805 – August 4 1875) was a Danish author and poet. Although he was a proflic author who wrote plays, travel books, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his fairy tales, immortalized through their contribution to children's literature. Andersen was, however, not just a children's author; his fairy tales, called eventyrs in the Danish language translates more accurately to mean "fabulous story". His stories, often dark tales of hard won redemption, hold universal lessons for all ages. He is Denmark's most famous son whose works were celebrated in 2005, the year of Hans Christian Andersen's bicentenary. [1]

Childhood

Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, on Tuesday, April 2 1805.

He made himself a small toy-theatre and sat at home making clothes for his puppets, and reading all the plays that he could lay his hands upon; among them were those of Ludvig Holberg and William Shakespeare. Throughout his childhood, he had a passionate love for literature. He was known to memorize entire plays by Shakespeare and to recite them using his wooden dolls as actors. .

In 1816, his father died and the young boy had to start earning a living. He worked as an apprentice for both a weaver and a tailor. At the age of fourteen, Andersen moved to Copenhagen seeking employment as an actor in the theatre.

Hans Christian Andersen in 1869

Copenhagen

Following an accidental meeting, King Frederick VI of Denmark started taking an interest in the odd boy and sent Andersen to the grammar school [2] in Slagelse, paying all his expenses. He later stated that these years had been the darkest and most bitter parts of his life. He had experienced living in his schoolmaster's own home, being abused in order to "build his character", and he had been the odd man out among his fellow students, being much older than most of them, homely and unattractive. Furthermore, he was dyslexic, a very likely reason for his learning difficulties and he later said that the school faculty forbade or discouraged him to write [3].

Life as an author

In 1829, Andersen enjoyed a considerable success with a fantastic story entitled "A Journey on Foot from Holmen's Canal to the East Point of Amager", and during the same season, he published both a farce and a collection of poems. He had little further progress, however, until 1833, when he received a small travelling grant from the King, making the first of his long European journeys. At Le Locle, in the Jura, he wrote "Agnete and the Merman"; and in October 1834 he arrived in Rome.

In June 1847, he paid his first visit to England he met Charles Dickens for the first time. [1]

First Novel and other works

Andersen's first novel, The Improvisatore, was published in the beginning of 1835, and became an immediate success. During the same year, Andersen published the first installment of his immortal Fairy Tales. More stories, completing the first volume, were published in 1836 and 1837. The quality of these stories was not immediately recognised, and they sold poorly. At the same time, Andersen enjoyed more success with two novels: O.T. (1836) and Only a Fiddler (1837).

In 1851, he published to wide acclaim In Sweden, a volume of travel sketches. A keen traveller, Andersen published several other long travelogues: Shadow Pictures of a Journey to the Harz, Swiss Saxony, etc. etc. in the Summer of 1831 (1831), A Poet's Bazaar (1842), In Spain (1863), and A Visit to Portugal in 1866 (1868). The latter describes his visit with his Portuguese friends. Describe travelogues here...?

Picture-Book without Pictures (1840). The fame of his Fairy Tales had grown steadily; a second series began in 1838 and a third in 1845. Andersen was now celebrated throughout Europe, although his native Denmark still showed some resistance to his work.

Fame and Fairytales

Andersen continued to publish many works, although still hoping to excel as both novelist and dramatist, his true genius was expressed through his writing of Fairy Tales - two more collections appeared in 1847 and 1848. After a long silence, Andersen published a new novel To Be Or Not to Be in 1857. He continued publishing his Fairy Tales in installments, until 1872. He published his last stories at Christmas

Andersen himself was highly inspired by the Arabian Nights. A few of his stories such as http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/cgi/aesop1.cgi?hca&a126 "The Wild Swans"] and The Rose-Elf are adaptations of older folktales (for example, "The Wild Swans" might be a retelling of The Six Swans as recorded by the Brothers Grimm.)

Death

Fairy tales

Some of his most famous fairy tales include:

  • The Angel [4]
  • The Bell [5]
  • The Emperor's New Clothes [6]
  • The Fir Tree [7]
  • The Happy Family [8]
  • It's Quite True! [9]
  • The Little Match Girl [10]
  • The Little Mermaid [11]
  • Little Tuk [12]
  • The Nightingale [13]
  • The Old House [14]
  • Ole-Lukøie [15]
  • The Princess and the Pea (also known as The Real Princess) [16]
  • The Red Shoes [17]
  • The Shadow [18]
  • The Snow Queen [19]
  • The Steadfast Tin Soldier [20]
  • The Story of a Mother [21]
  • The Swineherd [22]
  • Thumbelina [23]
  • The Tinder Box [24]
  • The Ugly Duckling [25]
  • The Wild Swans [26]

Naming conventions

Most English (as well as German and French) sources use the name "Hans Christian Andersen", but in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia he is usually referred to as merely "H. C. Andersen". His name "Hans Christian" is a traditional Danish name (and is used as a single name; it is incorrect to use only one of the two parts). It is an accepted custom in Denmark to use only the initials in this and a few other names (examples include "H.P.", short for "Hans Peter" and "J.C." or "I.C" short for "Jens Christian" and "H.H" short for "Hans Henrik")

Miscellaneous trivia

  • April 2, Andersen's birthday, is celebrated as International Children's Book Day.
  • H.C. Andersen is also a Finnish band. Its name is a play on words as, the H.C. refers to hard core (punk) in this case, not Hans Christian: they play hardcore punk and "hardcore" is often abbreviated "HC".
  • A $12.5m theme park based on Andersen's tales and life will open in Shanghai by the end of 2006. Multi-media games as well as all kinds of cultural contests related to the fairytales will reportedly be available to visitors. He was chosen as the star of the park because he is a "nice, hardworking person who was not afraid of poverty", Shanghai Gujin Investment general manager Zhai Shiqiang was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying. (BBC Asia-Pacific 8/11/06)

D- I could not find info on this theme park. E

  • He is the first known person to write a novel about a Philosopher's Stone.

Contemporary literary works inspired by Andersen's stories

  • The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf by Kathryn Davis: a contemporary novel about fairy tales and opera
  • The Snow Queen by Joan Vinge: an award-winning novel that reworks the Snow Queen's themes into epic science fiction
  • The Nightingale by Kara Dalkey: a lyrical adult fantasy novel set in the courts of old Japan
  • The Wild Swans by Peg Kerr: a novel that brings Andersen's fairy tale to colonial and modern America
  • Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier: a romantic fantasy novel, set in early Ireland, thematically linked to "The Wild Swans"
  • The Snow Queen by Eileen Kernaghan: a gentle Young Adult fantasy novel that brings out the tale's subtle pagan and shamanic elements
  • "The Snow Queen," a short story by Patricia A. McKillip (published in Snow White, Blood Red)
  • "You, Little Match Girl," a short story by Joyce Carol Oates (published in Black Heart, Ivory Bones)
  • "Sparks," a short story by Gregory Frost (based on The Tinder Box, published in Black Swan, White Raven)
  • "Steadfast," a short story by Nancy Kress (based on The Steadfast Tin Soldier, published in Black Swan, White Raven)
  • "The Sea Hag," a short story by Melissa Lee Shaw (based on The Little Mermaid, published in Silver Birch, Blood Moon)
  • "The Real Princess," a short story by Susan Palwick (based on The Princess and the Pea, published in Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears)
  • "Match Girl," a short story by Anne Bishop (published in Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears)
  • "The Pangs of Love," a short story by Jane Gardam (based on The Little Mermaid, published in Close Company: Stories of Mothers and Daughters)
  • "The Chrysanthemum Robe," a short story by Kara Dalkey (based on The Emperor's New Clothes, published in The Armless Maiden)
  • "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," a short story by Joan Vinge (published in Women of Wonder)
  • "In the Witch's Garden," a short story by Naomi Kritzer (based on The Snow Queen, published in Realms of Fantasy magazine, October 2002 issue)
  • "The Last Poems About the Snow Queen," a poem cycle by Sandra Gilbert (published in Blood Pressure)

Bibliography

  • Wullschläger Jackie, Hans Christian Andersen. The Life of a Storyteller, Penguin, 2000, ISBN 0226917479
  • Dalager, Stig Journey in Blue, historical, biographical novel about H.C.Andersen, Peter Owen, London 2006, McArthur & Co., Toronto 2006. ISBN 0720612691

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/charles-dickens-1847.htm

Jens Andersen; Andersen, En Biografi; Gyldendal, Copenhagen, 2 volumes, 2003

External links

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