Hans Christian Andersen

Danish writer

• Born: April 2, 1805
• Birthplace: Odense, Denmark
• Died: August 4, 1875
• Place of death: Rolighed, near Copenhagen, Denmark

Andersen is the best-known Danish writer. His greatest achievement was as the author of universally beloved fairy tales, such as “The Princess and the Pea,” “Thumbelina,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Early Life

Hans Christian Andersen was the first notable Danish writer of proletarian origins. He grew up with little education and in extreme poverty, and his great personal charm and exceptional talent earned him the affection and regard of both the common people and the artistic and social aristocracies of his time. Andersen’s father was a shoemaker but was well read; he took his son to the theater, introduced him to books, and even built a little puppet theater for him. Andersen’s mother, who eventually became a washerwoman, came from a world of hardship and penury. Illiterate and superstitious, she was one of three illegitimate daughters raised in an atmosphere of poverty and promiscuity; she turned to drink in her old age.

Although he received little formal education, Andersen developed performing skills that brought him to the attention of Prince Christian at Odense Castle. In spite of this distinction, he received little encouragement and was pressured to enter a conventional trade. Reluctant to give up his dream of becoming an actor and living a life of adventure, Andersen left for Copenhagen in 1819 with the blessings of his mother, who had been told by a fortune-teller that the entire town would one day be illuminated to celebrate her son’s great achievements.

In Copenhagen, Andersen found little success in the theater but made friends among the most prominent members of society as well as among poets and scientists. Particularly important was his friendship with Jonas Collin, a senior civil servant and principal adviser to the king who supervised Andersen’s return to school to acquire a passable education and who acted as a second father. Andersen demonstrated that in spite of his strange appearance—a lanky body, loosely swinging arms, enormous feet, and a face with a long nose and broad cheekbones—he possessed a charismatic personality that led many important people to help him succeed as an artist. By the early 1830’s, he had won favor with the public, critics, and fellow poets with his poetry and, despite his unpromising origins, had been welcomed into the upper echelons of Danish society. It was in 1830 that he also fell in love for the first time, with Riborg Voigt, the sister of an old school friend. His despondency over her rejection of him, combined with his restless nature, led him to begin a lifetime of almost incessant travel.

Life’s Work

By 1831, Andersen had realized his dream of world fame, having made a name for himself as a lyric poet, dramatist, and travel writer. His greatest achievements came, however, in 1835 with the publication of his first fairy tales and his first novel, Improvisatoren (1835; The Improvisatore , 1845), the somewhat autobiographical story of a Danish boy who goes from rags to riches. Succeeding novels, O. T. (1836; English translation, 1845) and Kun en Spillemand (1837; Only a Fiddler , 1845), were also based on his own life, depicting the bleak conditions of the poor and warning that Danish society was failing to recognize underprivileged artists. Favorably compared with the works of Sir Walter Scott and Victor Hugo, Andersen’s novels were at the forefront of contemporary European fiction.

Although his novels were important and successful, Andersen’s literary reputation has come to rest largely on his fairy tales, a short and unassuming form of fiction in which Andersen demonstrated his true genius. His first collection, Eventyr (1835; wonder tales), included stories of his own invention along with stories from his childhood and from the folklore of other countries. Unlike the scholarly collections of the folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, however, Andersen’s fairy tales were essentially creative and of high literary quality.

Like the tales of the Brothers Grimm, however, Andersen’s tales were the product of the romantic movement, which inspired a new interest in the world of the common people and the child. In this regard, Andersen had the advantage of being from the common people himself. Never disguising the fact that he was the son of a poor shoemaker and a washerwoman, Andersen was perfectly capable of calling attention to the shortcomings of the upper classes. Andersen also retained a childlike quality that made it easy for him to speak to children on their level. At the same time, however, his stylistically sophisticated and even philosophical approach to his stories also drew an adult readership.

Andersen’s stories include such well-known favorites as “The Princess and the Pea,” “Thumbelina,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Tinder-Box,” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” These stories are notable for their strong romantic feeling and open sentimentality, for which Andersen is sometimes brought to task. His stories are also witty and playful, with a refreshing absence of obvious moralizing. Andersen continued to publish collections of fairy tales over the years, and the 1840’s were an especially productive decade during which he perfected a style that discarded conventional literary diction in favor of everyday, colloquial speech.

Of special note is “The Ugly Duckling,” in which a gawky and peculiar duckling turns into a beautiful swan, a tale that is very much the story of Andersen’s own life. Another important story from this period, “The Nightingale,” is a tribute to the celebrated singer Jenny Lind, known as the Swedish Nightingale, with whom Andersen fell in love in 1840; he unsuccessfully courted her in the years to come. Other notable stories of this period include “The Fir Tree,” “The Snow Queen,” “The Red Shoes,” and “The Little Match Girl.” In 1850 Andersen rounded off this rich decade with stories such as “The Shadow,” “The Ice Maiden,” “Auntie Toothache,” and “Clod-Hans.”

All in all, Andersen published 156 tales, which were eventually collected under the title Eventyr og Historier (1874; The Complete Andersen , 1949; also, Fairy Tales, 1950-1958; also, The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories, 1974). These stories were translated into more languages than almost any book except the Bible. Although humorous and entertaining, Andersen’s stories have become classics because they also treat serious issues such as the struggle for love and recognition as well as the realities of loss, deprivation, and death. In addition, his stories affirmed the liberal and social humanism of the European Enlightenment and had a strong spiritual component, reflective of Andersen’s belief that he was always under the protection of higher powers.

Andersen’s gift for writing for children was the product of his own character, which remained childlike. Andersen was also emotionally fragile, with a thin skin and a nervous, irritable temperament. At times he could be a trying companion. Of particular note in this regard was his friendship with English novelist Charles Dickens, which began amid mutual admiration and affection but ended abruptly in 1856 when the eccentric Andersen overstayed his welcome as Dickens’s houseguest. On the whole, however, Andersen had a remarkable gift for friendship. Poets and men of letters flocked around him wherever he went, and among his friends were an impressive number of outstanding European writers such as Heinrich Heine, Honoré de Balzac, and Victor Hugo; composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt; and numerous painters and performers. In addition, one of his closest friends was the Grand Duke Carl Alexander of Weimar. In fact, his universal fame led Andersen to be favored by the ruling classes all over Europe, a prerogative Andersen sought and felt he not only deserved but also desperately needed.

Although given accolades and surrounded by friends, Andersen was often a sad and lonely man. He never married, even though he fell in love at least twice, once with Riborg Voigt and later with Jenny Lind. In each case, his love was ultimately unrequited. To some extent, however, Andersen seems to have made a calculated renunciation of women in order to devote himself tirelessly to his creative life and to protect his sensitive temperament from the pressures of love and marriage. In spite of his gift for friendship, Andersen was always something of an outsider, and his travels were in part an escape from a lonely life.

Andersen’s nomadic wanderings served also as voyages of self-discovery that fed his artistic temperament. As Andersen said in his autobiography Mit Livs Eventyr (1855; The Story of My Life , 1871), to travel was to live. In spite of his notorious phobias and general hypochondria, Andersen’s strong sense of curiosity and need to explore led him on many intrepid journeys. By the end of his life, Andersen had gone abroad thirty times in all, traveling all over Europe, especially to Italy, France, and Germany, and by all means available, including carriage, horseback, stagecoach, steamship, and railroad. He even ventured into North Africa and Asia Minor and wrote many books about his travels, the best of which is En digters bazar (1842; The Poet’s Bazaar , 1846). By the end of his life, Andersen had become Denmark’s greatest storyteller and greatest travel writer.

Significance

In his later years, Hans Christian Andersen continued to write novels, plays, stories, and travelogues. It was the great achievement of his fairy tales, however, that gave Andersen literary immortality. As the product of both Andersen’s genius and the romantic movement that welcomed the fairy tale as a source of wisdom and aesthetic merit, his tales have spread throughout the world. It is important to note that by 1843, Andersen had removed the phrase “told for children” from his tales even though various poor and spurious English translations of his tales in the nineteenth century consigned him to the nursery. In fact, it is likely that only adults may really understand his tales, especially his later ones.

With his impoverished origins and his strange personality, it seemed highly unlikely that Andersen would one day be found dining at the table of Danish king Christian VIII or receiving a knighthood from the king of Prussia. There were those who felt that his guiding motive as a writer was to be admired and loved by the upper crust of society. Be that as it may, his literary merit is unquestionable. He spent his old age not merely as a celebrated bohemian but also as a national institution. In 1867, he was made an honorary citizen of Odense, and, taking its cue from the fortune-teller’s prediction that Andersen had recorded in his autobiography, the entire town was illuminated in his honor. After he died in August, 1875, his funeral service in the cathedral in Copenhagen was crowded with mourners, including members of the Danish royal family.

Andersen’s Best-Known Fairy Tales

1835

• “The Tinder-Box”

1835

• “Little Claus and Big Claus”

1835

• “The Princess and the Pea”

1835

• “Little Ida’s Flowers”

1835

• “Thumbelina”

1836

• “The Talisman”

1836

• “The Little Mermaid”

1837

• “The Emperor’s New Clothes”

1838

• “The Goloshes of Fortune”

1838

• “The Daisy”

1838

• “The Brave Tin Soldier”

1838

• “The Wild Swans”

1838

• “The Garden of Paradise”

1838

• “The Flying Trunk”

1838

• “The Storks”

1839

• “The Elf of the Rose”

1840

• “What the Moon Saw”

1840

• “The Wicked Prince”

1842

• “The Metal Pig”

1842

• “The Swineherd”

1844

• “The Angel”

1844

• “The Nightingale”

1844

• “The Ugly Duckling”

1845

• “The Snow Queen”

1845

• “The Elfin Hill”

1845

• “The Red Shoes”

1845

• “The Jumper”

1845

• “The Bell”

1846

• “The Little Match Girl”

1847

• “The Sunbeam and the Captive”

1847

• “By the Almshouse Window”

1848

• “The Happy Family”

1850

• “The Phoenix Bird”

1851

• “The Pigs”

1851

• “The Dumb Book”

1852

• “In a Thousand Years”

1852

• “The Story of the Year”

1853

• “The Goblin and the Huckster”

1853

• “The Pea Blossom”

1854

• “Two Maidens”

1855

• “The Money-Box”

1855

• “A Leaf from Heaven”

1856

• “The Thorny Road of Honor”

1857

• “A String of Pearls”

1858

• “Something”

1858

• “The Marsh King’s Daughter”

1859

• “The Philosopher’s Stone”

1859

• “The Story of the Wind”

1859

• “Ole the Tower-Keeper”

1860

• “The Farm-Yard Cock and the Weather-Cock”

1861

• “The Butterfly”

1861

• “The Snow Man”

1861

• “The Portuguese Duck”

1861

• “The New Century’s Goddess”

1863

• “The Snowdrop”

1865

• “The Windmill”

1865

• “The Golden Treasure”

1866

• “Our Aunt”

1868

• “The Goblin and the Woman”

1868

• “Peiter, Peter, and Peer”

1868

• “Godfather’s Picture Book”

1869

• “The Court Cards”

1869

• “Luck May Lie in a Pin”

1869

• “Sunshine Stories”

1869

• “The Thistle’s Experiences”

1869

• “Poultry Meg’s Family”

1870

• “The Candles”

1870

• “Lucky Peer”

1871

• “Dance, Dance, Doll of Mine!”

1871

• “The Great Sea-Serpent”

1871

• “The Gardener and the Manor”

1872

• “What Old Johanne Told”

1872

• “Auntie Toothache”

1873

• “The Flea and the Professor”

Bibliography

Andersen, Hans Christian. The Fairy Tale of My Life. Translated by W. Glyn Jones. New York: British Book Centre, 1954. Andersen’s autobiography depicts his life as a beautiful fairy tale that affirmed the existence of a loving God who directed all things for the best. This translation features color illustrations.

Andersen, Jens. Hans Christian Andersen: A New Life. Translated from the Danish by Tina Nunnally. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 2005. Comprehensive biography. The author (no relation to his subject) concludes that Andersen “never grew up,” and describes how this quality was an asset in his tales, but a tragic detriment in his life.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Hans Christian Andersen. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Collection of essays by Bloom, Elias Bredsdorff, Jackie Wullschläger, and others about Andersen’s life and work. The fairy tale of Andersen’s life, his heroes and heroines, and his place within the European literary tradition are among the subjects discussed.

Bredsdorff, Elias. Hans Christian Andersen: The Story of His Life and Work, 1805-75. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975. This is an indispensable, highly readable, and well-researched biography by a major Andersen scholar. A special section examines the fairy tales as works of great artistic merit that contribute to the mainstream of European literature. Among the photographs and drawings are some of Andersen’s own illustrations.

Grobech, Bo. Hans Christian Andersen. Boston: Twayne, 1980. Grobech provides a solid introduction to Andersen’s life told in an entertaining narrative style. The book includes studies of Andersen’s fairy tales, his international influence, and his influence in the twentieth century. It can be read by the general reader as well as literary specialists.

Rossel, Sven Hakon, ed. Hans Christian Andersen: Danish Writer and Citizen of the World. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996. This scholarly collection of essays establishes Andersen as a major European writer of the nineteenth century. Special attention is given to his biography as well as his travel writing and fairy tales.

Spink, Reginald. Hans Christian Andersen and His World. London: Thames and Hudson, 1972. This basic introduction to Andersen’s life and times is written in a simple readable style and with considerable psychological acumen. The book contains many charming photographs and drawings, including some of Andersen’s own artwork.

Wullschläger, Jackie. Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller. New York: A. A. Knopf, 2001. In this English-language biography, Andersen emerges as a dissatisfied, lonely man, sexually confused, vain, anxious, and hypochondriacal. Wullschläger demonstrates how Andersen drew upon the complexity of his life to create his stories.