Hans
Christian Andersen and his Fairy Tales
By
Elizabeth Kennedy
In his native Denmark, Hans
Christian Andersen is remembered as a poet, playwright, travel book author, and
novelist, as well as an author of fairy tales for children. However, Andersen
has become famous around the world for his fairy tales, which are said to have
been translated into more languages than almost any other author's stories.
Hans Christian Andersen was
born into poverty in Odense, Denmark in 1805. His father was a cobbler and his
mother a washerwoman. After his father's death when the boy was 11, Hans tried
a variety of jobs. Finally, at age 14, he moved to Copenhagen where he
attempted to make a living in the theatre.
While not successful in the
theatre, Hans' accomplishments resulted in his schooling being paid for, no
small thing since his education had been greatly neglected. In 1828, he was
admitted to Copenhagen University. As a result of a royal literary scholarship,
Andersen was able to travel widely throughout Europe.
His first booklet of fairy
tales, Fairy Tales, told for children was published in 1835 and
contained four stories: "The Tinderbox," "Little Claus and Big
Claus," "The Princess and the Pea," and "Little Ida's
Flowers." Among his many other publications, Andersen went on to publish
over 150 fairy tales and stories before he died in 1875.
Part of the charm of
Andersen's tales lies in his ability to appeal to, and portray, human emotions
in ordinary language. According to Andersen, "I wanted the style to be
such that the reader felt the presence of the storyteller; therefore the spoken
language had to be used. I wrote the stories for children, but older people
ought to find them worth listening to."
Good did not triumph in all of
his tales. Many of Andersen's tales reflected his pessimism and his feelings of
being an outsider. Despite his celebrity in other countries, Andersen faced his
sharpest critics in Denmark. His humble beginnings and difficult childhood seem
to have prevented him from feeling accepted in society.
If you are interested in
studying Andersen's fairy tales, you will find Hans Christian Andersen: The
Complete Fairy Tales and Stories, translated from the Danish by Erik
Christian Haugaard, to be an excellent resource. Haugaard is a bilingual Danish
author. His education took place in both Denmark and the United States. In
order to ensure accuracy, Haugaard chose to follow the text and order of the
stories as they were in the 1874 Danish edition, which Hans Christian Andersen
edited. A thoughtful foreword by Virginia Haviland of the Library of Congress
and Andersen's own "Notes for My Fairy Tales and Stories" provide
insights as to the inspiration for some of the tales.
There are a number of
Andersen's fairy tales available in picture book format. I particularly
recommend The Ugly Duckling and The Little Match Girl versions
adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. The watercolor illustrations are
wonderful. Both were published in 1999, and The Ugly Duckling was
designated a Caldecott Honor Book for the quality of its illustrations.
Pinkney's The Little Match Girl is set in a prosperous city in the early
twentieth century. A more traditional setting can be found in the version
nicely illustrated by Rachel Isadora. These are only a few of the Hans
Christian Andersen fairy tales available as picture books.
Elizabeth Kennedy
http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/authorsillustrato/a/hcandersen.htm
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