Undoubtedly, Hans Christian Andersen is one of the most famous authors of children’s fairy tales of recent centuries. His fairy tales, translated into more than a hundred languages, have raised many generations of children. The heroes of his stories are usually poor and wronged persons, who, however, have special gifts, such as magnanimity or some undiscovered talent. Andersen does not fail to teach through his stories the value of hard work and perseverance, honesty and authenticity, compassion, mutual help and resilience in the face of the adversities of everyday life. It is no coincidence that many believe that his stories were so popular because they were also intended for adults.
Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in Odense, Denmark. His parents were very poor and raised little Hans Christian with many privations. His father, Hans, was also a shoemaker and patcher. He considered himself to be of aristocratic descent, while several have claimed that Hans the Elder was an illegitimate son of the Danish king Christian VIII. Although he worked hard to meet his family’s daily financial needs, he found time for little Hans Christian. Although a primary school graduate, the poor cobbler read to his son various fairy tales, among which were the very popular A thousand and one nights. He passed away young. However, he managed to pass on his love for fairy tales to his son.
Hans Christian went to the school attended by the poor children of his town, as his family, even before his father’s death, was struggling financially. His laundress mother, Anne Marie Andersdatter, struggled to get by on her meager income. She remarried in 1818, two years after her widowhood.
At the age of fourteen, Hans Christian left Odense and moved to Copenhagen. His dream was to become an opera singer, since he had been distinguished for his talent in classical singing since he was a small child. Being a teenager, however, his voice changed, became heavy and he did not continue to pursue his dream. A colleague from the Royal Danish Theater pointed out to him that he had an extraordinary talent for poetry. Young Andersen, considering this conversation, decided to turn to writing.
In 1837 his series of stories titled Fairy tales told for children. First Collectionwhich included well-known fairy tales, such as The little Mermaid and The Emperor’s New Clothes. In the following years he engaged in writing travel texts and plays. He did, however, return to writing fairy tales in the 1840s. His new story collections broke new ground in the writing of children’s tales, both in style and content. Many of Andersen’s stories were inspired by his personal experiences, while others were based on old myths.
They stand out from the works of this period The snow Queen, The ugly Duckling, The little girl with the matches and The lead soldier. Andersen had the opportunity to meet the other great storyteller of the period, Charles Dickens, who hosted him at his home in England for a few weeks in 1857. The period of their cohabitation was, of course, not one that they would have liked to have they reminisce with pleasure in the future. Andersen’s visit to Dickens rather left a bittersweet aftertaste, failing to fulfill the expectations of those who expected the two great storytellers of the 19th century to coexist harmoniously in the same space.
Andersen passed away in August 1875 at his home in Copenhagen. His works enjoyed enormous success while he was still alive, which is not so common. To this day, his fairy tales are favorite readings of young and old, while phrases and ideas from his works are used in everyday speech.
Column Editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigone-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis