Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen, (April 2 1805 - August 4 1875) was a Danish author and poet most famous for his fairy tales.

Personal life

Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, on April 2 1805. He was the son of a sickly 22-year-old shoemaker http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/hcandersen/foedsel-daab/hans.jpg and his wife, a laundress, several years older than her husband. The entire family lived and slept in a single tiny room.

Related Topics:
Odense - Denmark - April 2 - 1805

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Andersen's father apparently believed that he might be related to nobility, and according to scholars at the Hans Christian Andersen Center, his paternal grandmother told him that the family had once been in a higher social class. However, investigation has proven these stories to be unfounded. The family apparently did have some connections to Danish royalty, but these were work-related. Nevertheless, the theory that Andersen was the illegitimate son of royalty persists in Denmark. The writer Rolf Dorset insists that not all options have been explored in determining Andersen's heritage, as described in this essay.

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Andersen displayed imagination even as a young boy, a trait fostered by the indulgence of his parents and by the superstition of his mother. He made himself a small toy-theatre and sat at home making clothes for his puppets, and reading all the plays that he could lay his hands upon; among them were those of Ludvig Holberg and William Shakespeare. Andersen, throughout his childhood, had a passionate love for literature. He was known to memorize entire plays by Shakespeare and to recite them using his wooden dolls as actors.

Related Topics:
Ludvig Holberg - William Shakespeare

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In 1816, his father died and the young boy had to start earning a living. He worked as an apprentice boy for both a weaver and a tailor, and later worked in a cigarette factory where his fellow workers humilated him by betting on whether he was in fact a girl, pulling down his trousers to check. At the age of 14, Andersen moved to Copenhagen seeking employment on the stage. He had a pleasant soprano voice and succeeded in being admitted to the Royal Danish Theatre. This career stopped short when his voice broke. A colleague at the theatre had referred to him as a poet, and Andersen took this very seriously and began to focusing on writing.

Related Topics:
1816 - Copenhagen - Stage - Royal Danish Theatre

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Following an accidental meeting, King Frederick VI of Denmark started taking an interest in the odd boy and sent Andersen to the grammar-school http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/skolegang_slagelse.htm in Slagelse. The education was paid for by the King. Before even being admitted to grammar-school, Andersen had already succeeded in published his first story, The Ghost at Palnatoke's Grave in (1822). Andersen, though a backward and unwilling pupil, studied both in Slagelse and at a school http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/skolegang_helsingoer.htm in Elsinore until 1827. He later stated that these years had been the darkest and most bitter parts of his life. He had experienced living in his schoolmaster's own home, being abused in order to "build his character", and he had been the odd man out among his fellow students, being much older than most of them.

Related Topics:
Frederick VI - School - Slagelse - The Ghost at Palnatoke's Grave - 1822 - Elsinore - 1827

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Some people claim the feeling of "being different", usually resulting in pain, is a key feature of his works. One of the most telling stories in that respect is the tale of The Little Mermaid, who takes her own life since she can not be loved by a beautiful prince. It is thought to exemplify his love for the young Edward Collin, to whom he wrote: I languish for you as for a pretty Calabrian wench ... my sentiments for you are those of a woman. The femininity of my nature and our friendship must remain a mystery. Collin, who was not erotically attracted to men, wrote in his own Memoirs: I found myself unable to respond to this love, and this caused the author much suffering. Likewise, the infatuations of the author for the Danish dancer Harald Scharff and the young duke of Weimar probably remained on a Platonic level. Andersen's private journal records his refusal to have sexual relations with either men or women and his release through masturbation.

Related Topics:
The Little Mermaid - Harald Scharff - Weimar - Platonic

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In the spring of 1872, Andersen fell out of bed and severely hurt himself. He never quite recovered, but he lived until the August 4 1875, dying http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/doeden-hca.htm very peacefully in a house called Rolighed (literally: quietness), near Copenhagen. His body was interred in the Assistens Kirkegård in the Nørrebro area of Copenhagen.

Related Topics:
1872 - August 4 - 1875 - Copenhagen - Assistens Kirkegård - Nørrebro

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2005 is the bicentenary of Andersen's birth and his life and work has been celebrated around the world. The interest in Andersen's person, legacy and writing has never been greater. In Denmark, particularly, the nation's most famous son has been feted like no other literary figure. The Hans Christian Andersen Bicentenary Website is an excellent resource.

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