Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a writer, storyteller and poet born in Denmark in 1805. His work, including titles such as The ugly Duckling, The emperor's new suit or the The little Mermaid, It is considered one of the most important in the history of world literature.
His humble origins prevented Andersen from having a formal education until his teens, when he left for Copenhagen to try to fulfill his dreams. His first vocation was to become an opera singer and stage actor, but without success. Given this, he began to publish novels and plays.
However, his greatest success came when he began to write children's and fairy tales. Andersen published 164 of these stories, collected in anthologies. In them, the author drew on characters and stories from European legends, as well as real experiences. Almost all his stories hide moral and philosophical teachings.
Andersen was also a great traveler and traveled a large number of countries in Europe during his life. The author published many stories based on these trips in newspapers.
Although in life he was a renowned writer and received several recognitions in his country, it has been over time that his work has become universal. This has made him one of the most translated authors and many of his stories have been taken to the cinema..
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Hans Christian Andersen came into the world in Ostend (Denmark), on April 2, 1805. His family was very poor, so much so that they were sometimes forced to beg.
The father of the future writer was a shoemaker. His influence on the life of Hans Christian was decisive, since he was a cultured man with a great interest in literature. When he could afford it, he took his son to the theater, as well as telling him fantastic stories. Likewise, he helped the boy to build his own puppet theater, in his own home..
On the other hand, Andersen's mother worked as a laundress. Despite not having his father's culture, he was the one who introduced his son to Danish folklore.
Andersen's family history was very sad. His mother became an alcoholic and died in 1833 in a nursing home. According to the biographers, the half-sister of the writer, Karen Marie, came to practice as a prostitute.
The death of his father, in 1816, forced Andersen to have to start work and drop out of school. This did not prevent him from continuing to be an inveterate reader..
During his childhood, Andersen suffered from all kinds of fears and was frequently humiliated for his stature and interests, which some called effeminate. In that period it was suspected that he could suffer from epilepsy, although later it was learned that they were only attacks of cramps.
Despite his circumstances, Andersen devoted part of his time to writing stories that he later performed in a puppet theater that his father had built for him..
The type of life that he led, street and forced to work very early, made him soak up the popular life of his rural town. Thus, contrary to what happened with other romantic authors of the time, Andersen did not have to learn the popular traditions, since he lived it directly.
At age 14, Andersen took a decisive step in his life. Thus, in September 1819 he moved to the Danish capital, Copenhagen with the intention of becoming a singer, actor or dancer. The young man wanted to take advantage of his beautiful voice to make a career.
However, Andersen did not get any work, which caused him to be left without the means to survive. The only positive things were the contacts and friendships that he forged, such as the musicians Giuseppe Siboni, founder of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, or the poet Frederik Høegh-Guldberg..
After a while he managed to be admitted to study at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, although he soon lost interest in those studies..
One of his friends, Siboni, was delighted with his voice and decided to pay for his studies. Bad luck took its toll on Andersen, who lost his voice due to poor room conditions during the harsh Danish winter.
In addition to trying to carve out a singing career, Andersen had also written a tragedy, Alfsol. This attracted the attention of Jonas Collin, director of the Teatro Real and State Councilor, who decided to become its patron..
Collin offered Andersen a scholarship in 1822 so that he could study at Slagelse Elementary School. His age, his limited formal education and the antipathy of the director of the center caused the author to affirm years later that this stage was the most bitter of his life.
Despite the difficulties, Andersen obtained good grades and continued his studies at the Elsinor school. In 1827, Collin arranged for him to obtain a private scholarship to the University of Copenhagen.
As early as 1822, Andersen began to publish some plays and poetry. In 1827, the prestigious literary magazine Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post published his poem The dying child.
His first public success was obtained in 1828, with a story entitled A walk from the Holmen channel to the eastern tip of the island of Amager.
One of Andersen's vital mottos was "To travel is to live." The author made 29 trips abroad and lived outside Denmark for more than 9 years. The result of these trips were a series of articles in which he recounted his impressions and published in the newspapers.
It was during one of those trips, in 1830, that Andersen had his first love. Like the rest of those who followed, the experience was a failure.
During this period, Andersen did not stop publishing, especially poetry. In 1831, after his collection of poems appeared Fantasies and Spouses, the author traveled to Berlin and took the opportunity to write a chronicle about the city called Silhouettes.
Two years later, in 1833, the King of Denmark offered him a small scholarship to continue his travels. Andersen took advantage of it to continue touring the continent.
His stay in Rome inspired him to write his first novel: The improviser. This work was published in 1835, the same year in which the first two editions of Adventure stories for kids, plus some short stories.
The libretto for an opera entitled The bride of Lammermoor and a collection of poems called The twelve months of the year were his next works.
By 1838, Andersen already enjoyed a well-deserved prestige, especially thanks to his stories. The writer began to write a second volume that same year and, already in 1843, published the third of his short story books: New stories.
Andersen undertook his longest journey in 1840. He first went to Germany, where, for the first time, he traveled by train, then passed through Italy, Malta and Greece until he reached Constantinople. After leaving that city, he crossed the Black Sea and crossed the Danube. The result of this tour was reflected in A poet's bazaar, his best travel book.
At the time, Andersen was more recognized as a writer outside of Denmark than in his own country. His work had already been translated into English, French and German.
In 1847 he made his first trip to England. The Danish writer had a privileged company during his stay in that country: the also writer Charles Dickens.
Other writers that Andersen met during his travels were Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas or Balzac
The success of Andersen with his stories did not quite satisfy the author. His big dream was to become a playwright and novelist, something he never achieved..
According to his biographers, the Danish author looked down on his fairy tales, as they were not considered "serious" literature. However, he continued to write them and, between 1847 and 1848, published two new volumes.
After a long period without publishing anything, in 1857 he presented a new novel to the public: To be or not to be. In 1863, he published another travel book, this time with Spain as the protagonist.
Andersen was a pioneer in reading his own stories. The Danish began to carry out this activity in 1858 and maintained it for many years.
Thus, in 1860 he made a reading at the Workers' Association. Likewise, he was also invited to read his stories in the Student Association, the royal family, the seamstresses and members of the upper bourgeoisie. At times, it filled rooms with a capacity of between 500 and 1,000 people.
These activities explain that the Student Association and the Workers Association formed an honor guard during the writer's funeral..
As noted above, Andersen's love life was full of failures. The women he fell in love with, like Collin's daughter or soprano Jenny Lind, ignored him.
The author's personality did not help him in these matters. He was a very shy man and had trouble communicating with women. To propose to Lind, for example, he wrote her a letter just before she caught a train to perform a concert. She, however, saw him more as a brother than a possible partner..
Another of his loves, also unrequited, was a young woman named Riborg Voigt. When Andersen passed away, a letter from Roborg was found next to the author's chest..
Andersen was, at least, bisexual, though he also didn't get any success with men. Her unrequited male loves included the heir to the Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, Charles Alexander, and the dancer Harald Scharff..
Andersen continued to write his children's stories until Christmas 1872, when his last stories were published..
In the spring of that year, Andersen had fallen from his bed and suffered several serious injuries. The writer never fully recovered and passed away on August 4, 1875 in Rolighed, a house near Copenhagen..
Andersen's style is framed in the literary romanticism of his time. The author cultivated various genres, from theater to poetry, through novels and travel books.
However, his worldwide recognition is due to the 168 stories for children that he published throughout his life.
- The Emperor's New Clothes, also known as The Naked King (1837)
- Thumbelina, sometimes translated as Almendrita (1835)
- The Tin Soldier or The Fearless Tin Soldier (1838)
- The Little Mermaid (1837). Andersen wrote this story about impossible loves after one of his male loves rejected him.
- The Ugly Duckling (1843). The author took advantage of this story to relate his feelings when, as a child, he was harassed in his city.
- The Match Girl or The Little Match Girl or The Girl with the Matches (1845). Dedicated to his mother.
- The Snow Queen (1844)
- The Little Shepherd and the Chimney Sweep (1845)
- The Red Slippers (1845)
- Simple John (1855)
- The Snowman or The Snowman (1861)
Hans Christian Andersen was recognized while alive in his country. The king granted him the title of titular State Councilor in 1855. The following year, he was appointed Honorary Citizen of Odense during a large celebration organized in his honor..
Other honorary titles he received were Knight of the Red Eagle, awarded by King Frederick William of Prussia in 1846) and the Maximilian Order of Arts and Sciences, by King Maximilian II of Bavaria, in 1859.
In 1956 the Hans Christian Andersen prize for children's literature was created and, ten years too, also for illustration. This award, which is awarded every two years, is sponsored by the Queen of Denmark.
His date of birth, April 2, has become International Children's Book Day. In addition, Andersen's tales have been made into theaters countless times, with classics such as Disney's adaptation of The Little Mermaid..
On the other hand, many statues have been erected in honor of the Danish writer. The most famous is, without a doubt, the one that represents one of its best-known characters, the Little Mermaid. It is located in Copenhagen.
Other cities with statues of Andersen are Malaga, New York, Chicago or Bratislava. In addition, in 2006 a theme park based on their stories was opened in Shanghai..
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