Each of us knows at least one Andersen fairy tale. Some probably do not know that he is their author. Together with the Grimm brothers, they form the most famous group of fairy-tale writers for many years.
The writer was born on April 2, 1805 in Odense, Denmark. His father, Hans Andersen, was a poor shoemaker, and his mother, Anna Maria Andersdatter, worked as a laundress. Young Andersen’s dream was to be rich and famous. It took him several years, traveling through Europe, Asia Minor and Africa, and turned his experiences into fantastic stories. In 1835, the first collection of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen was published, which was severely judged by critics. The Princess on the Pea and many other fairy tales were considered not very educational and written with a simple language style. Andersen wrote fairy tales between 1835 and 1872, he wrote a total of 156 of them. The most famous are:The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, The Pea Princess, Thumbelina, The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Little Match Girl. Who among us has not been moved by the fate of the ugly duckling or shed a tear of sympathy for the girl with the matches? Contrary to the opinions of old critics, the writer’s works carry morals and deep messages that can also be understood by the youngest.
This remarkable writer was friends with all the famous people of his time: Charles Dickens, Henryk Ibsen, the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, Honorius Balzac and other authors of fairy tales – the Grimm brothers. Although Andersen fell in love many times, he never got married. He directed his unrequited feelings towards both men and women, including the famous singer Jenny Lind and the Danish dancer Harald Scharff. Andersen’s personal life was a source of academic analysis of possible homoerotic threads in his work.
Andersen suffered a serious injury in 1872 after falling from bed at his home in Copenhagen. In the same year, his last publication, a collection of short stories, appeared. It was around this time that he began to show signs of liver cancer that took his life. Andersen died on August 4, 1875 in the capital of his motherland.
It is on Andersen’s birthday that we celebrate the International Children’s Book Day. We received beautiful stories from this writer, thanks to which we created wonderful animations and films that have been popular for almost 2 centuries.