Hans Christian Andersen (April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875), Danish writer, poet.
He is known all over the world for his original fairy tales based on traditional tales. According to UNESCO’s world translation bibliography, he is the eighth most translated author in the world. He traveled to many countries and wrote about twenty travel books, nearly fifty theater plays and six novels in addition to fairy tales.
Born on April 2, 1805 in Odense, his father was Hans Andersen, a cobbler, and his mother was Anne Marie Andersdatter, a laundress. He became acquainted with theater at a young age by reading the comedies of Lodvig Holberg, who is considered the founder of Danish and Norwegian literature. With the help of his father, he founded a puppet theater with dolls. He had the opportunity to watch the traveling plays of the Royal Copenhagen Theater at the theater in Odense.
When she was 11 years old, her father died and she took a break from school and worked as a cleaner and laundress with her mother. In 1818, his mother married for the second time to a shoemaker like her first husband. Hans Andersen, who was sent to a school for poor children, worked as an apprentice weaver and tailor and as a worker in a tobacco factory.
In 1819, he went to Copenhagen with the hope of becoming a theater actor. He tried acting and dancing; when he failed, he turned to playwriting. He sang in the choir until his voice became thicker; he was dismissed from the choir in 1822. He was sent to a school in Slagelse and Elsinore under the patronage of the theater director Joans Collins; he lived in the house of the school director. He returned to Copenhagen in 1827 due to problems with the school principal and entered the University of Copenhagen the following year.
In 1829 he published his first important work, “A Walk from the Holmen Canal to the East End of Amager Island”. Immediately afterwards, he published the vaudeville “Love in the Tower of St. Nicholas Church” and some poems.
After the publication of these works, he received a small travel allowance and traveled abroad for the first time. After this first experience, he traveled frequently between his country and European countries; from his travels he extracted a lot of material for travel books. Until 1832, he produced his first works in the genres of poetry, plays, travel writing, and in 1832 he wrote his first librettos
Andersen was a good storyteller who told children the fairy tales he remembered or found in accordance with the fairy tale telling tradition of his time. Andersen started to write fairy tales by writing down the tales he created using his unique storytelling method and many sources. The manuscript of the first fairy tale he wrote down was found in an archive in 2012. It was “Tællelyset” (The Tallow Candle), written in 1820 when he was a student. It was “the story of a venerable candle, neglected and soiled until its inner beauty was recognized and ignited” and was attributed to “Mrs. Bunkeflod”. Mrs. Bunkeflod is thought to be a widow whom Andersen visited as a child and borrowed books from.
During his great trip to Germany, France and Italy in 1833-1834, he met Heinrich Heine and Victor Hugo in Paris and Bertel Thorvaldsen in Rome. After this trip, he published his first novel Imprivisatoren (The Improviser, 1835) and the fairy tales Eventyr, fortalte for Born (Fairy Tales for Children, 1835). From the mid-1830s his novels enjoyed a large circulation in Germany, and from 1839 his fairy tales became famous. His play Mulatten (Mulatto, 1840) about the evils of slavery was a success at the Royal Theater.
After a trip to Turkey in 1840-1841, he published his first travel book, En Digters Bazar (A Poet’s Bazaar, 1842). Realizing that his fairy tales also appealed to adults, in 1843 he published new fairy tales under the title Eventyr, removing the phrase “fortalte for Born” (for children).
Her novels began to be translated into English in 1845, and her fairy tales and novels enjoyed success both in England and the USA. Her fairy tales began to be translated into French in 1848. His fame spread all over the world in the following years.
Andersen published his autobiography Mit Livs Eventyr (The Story of My Life) in 1855. In 1857, he traveled to England and stayed at the home of the famous writer Charles Dickens. He continued his travels to Spain (1862) and Portugal (1866).
In 1867 he was named Honorary Citizen of Odense. After writing the story Dryaden (1868) and his sixth and last novel Lykee-Peer, he went on a trip to Norway in 1871. He then traveled to Germany, Austria, Italy and finally Switzerland. He wrote his last fairy tales in 1872.
She died of liver cancer on August 4, 1875 at the home of the family in Copenhagen who took care of her during the last years of her life. Her grave is in Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen.
Works
Andersen’s fairy tales include:
“The Angel” (1843)
“The Bell” (1845)
“Blockhead Hans” (1855)
“The Elf Mound” (1845)
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” (1837)
“The Fir-Tree” (1844)
“The Flying Trunk” (1839)
“The Galoshes of Fortune” (1838)
“The Garden of Paradise” (1839)
“The Goblin and the Grocer” (1852)
“Golden Treasure” (1865)
“The Happy Family” (1847)
“The Ice-Maiden” (1861)
“It’s Quite True” (1852)
“The Jumpers” (1845)
“Little Claus and Big Claus” (1835)
“Little Ida’s Flowers” (1835)
“The Little Match Girl” (1845)
“The Little Mermaid” (1837)
“Little Tuk” (1847)
“The Most Incredible Thing” (1870)
“The Naughty Boy” (1835)
“The Nightingale” (1843)
“The Old House” (1847)
“Ole Lukoie” (1841)
“The Philosopher’s Stone” (1858)
“The Princess and the Pea” (1835)
“The Red Shoes” (1845)
“The Rose Elf” (1839)
“The Shadow” (1847)
“The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep” (1845)
“The Snow Queen” (1844)
“The Snowman” (1861)
“The Steadfast Tin Soldier” (1838)
“The Storks” (1839)
“The Story of a Mother” (1847)
“The Sweethearts; or, The Top and the Ball” (1843)
“The Swineherd” (1841)
“The Tallow Candle” (1820s)
“The Teapot” (1863)
“Thumbelina” (1835)
“The Tinderbox” (1835)
“The Traveling Companion” (1835)
“The Ugly Duckling” (1843)
“What the Old Man Does is Always Right” (1861)
“The Wild Swans” (1838)
