HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
Danish author (1805-1875)
Biography:
Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 1805 in Odense, Denmark. After his father's death in 1816 and her mother's remarriage, he left all alone to Copenhage to try his luck. But that was a failure. In 1822, thanks to the interest of a theatre manager called Jonas Collin, he got a scholarship which allows him to study. He began to publish in 1830. He visited France and Italy. In 1835 he published Fairy Tales, Told for Children, a successful compilation of tales which included Little Match Seller, The Tinder Box, Little Tiny or thumbeling, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Suit, The Brave Tin Soldier, The Snow Queen , The Swineheard and The Ugly Duckling, among others.
Andersen also wrote travelogues (Shadow Pictures from a Journey to the Harz Mountains and Saxon Switzerland, 1831), plays (Love in Saint Nicholas Curch Tower, 1829)), poems (Fantasies and Sketches, 1831) and novels (The Improvisatore, 1835 and The Two Baronesses, 1848)
Andersen and his tales:
Andersen's basic work, which gave him worlwide recognition, are his tales. He found his sources of inspiration in popular tales, taking his characters and plots from legends, history or everyday life. He wrote 164 tales meant not only for children but also for adults, because of their poetic imagination and the morals hiden in every tale. The "official" Andersen illustrators were two Danish artists chosen by him to illustrate the collected Danish editions of his stories. They were Lieutenant Wilhelm Pedersen (1820-1859) and Lorenz Frolich (1820-1908).
Hans Christian Andersen, autor of illustrated works:
Fairy Tales, illustrated by Anne Anderson, Collins, 1924.
Fairy Tales and Stories, translated by H.P.Paull, illustrated by Wilhelm Petersen and Lorenz Frolich, 1872.
The Complete Hans Christian Andresen Fairy Tales, Avenel Books, 1981.
Hans Chritian Andersen on the Internet:
There are many pages devoted to the greatest danish writer where you can find his texts on-line, his biography and what critics say. We suggest visiting http://scandinavian.wisc.edu/hca/