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HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)
, Danish author and poet, wrote many poems, plays, stories and travel essays, but is best known for his fairy tales of which there areover one hundred and fifty, published in numerous collections during his life andmany still in print today.His first collection of 
 Fairy Tales, Told for Children
was published in 1835. He brokenew ground for Danish literature with his style and use of idiom, irony and humour,memorable characters and un-didactic moral teaching inspired by the primitive folk tales he had learned as a child. Though they do not all end happily his
 Fairy Tales
resound with an authenticity that only unabashed sincerity can produce from a manwho could still see through a child’s eyes;
“Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and gaily-coloured  pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down upon her. The littlemaiden stretched out her hands towards them when--the match went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one fell down and formed a long trail of fire.”
 —from “The Little Match Girl”Andersen’s fairy tales of fantasy with moral lessons are popular with children andadults all over the world, and they also contain autobiographical details of the manhimself. Born on 2 April, 1805 in Odense, on the Danish island of Funen, Denmark,he was the only son of washerwoman Anna Maria Andersdatter (d.1833) andshoemaker Hans Andersen (d.1816). They were very poor, but Hans took his son tothe local playhouse and nurtured his creative side by making him his own toys. YoungHans grew to be tall and lanky, awkward and effeminate, but he loved to sing anddance, and he had a vivid imagination that would soon find its voice.After the death of his father, Andersen travelled to Copenhagen to pursue an actingcareer at the Royal Theatre. Under the patronage of the Theatre’s Jonas Collins, heattended the Copenhagen University which were formative but difficult years for him.Coming from a humble provincial background he had to adjust to bourgeois life in thecapital city and competitive realm of the theatre. Collins’ daughter Louise and sonEdvard were soon the objects of his affection. Andersen turned his pen to writing poems, plays and stories, his first poem “The Dying Child” published in the
Copenhagen Post 
in 1827.
The Improvisatore
(1835) received international acclaim for Andersen, published bythe University, and with this encouragement he set off on his literary career. Based inItaly, it is the story of young boy’s coming of age, not unlike Andersen’s ownintroduction into society. Many of Andersen’s plays including
 Love at St. Nicholas’ Tower 
and
The Mulatto
were performed at the Royal Theatre. He had a keen interestin other cultures and travelled extensively throughout Europe during his life and wrotea number of travel books including;
 A Walking Tour from the Holmen Canal to the
1
 
 Eastern Point of the Amager 
(1829);
Shadow Pictures
(1831), the result of his travelsin Germany;
O.T.: Life in Denmark 
(1836), and
 Pictures of Sweden
(1851). Now that Andersen had achieved success by his pen he was not without his criticsincluding philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, but fellow Dane Georg Brandis wrote his praises in many essays. He had met many other illustrious figures in his day includingBjørnstjerne Bjørnson,Honore de Balzac,Robert Browing and his wife and fellow poet andElizabeth Barrett Browning,Alexandre Dumas,Victor Hugo,Heinrich Heine,Henrik Ibsen, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and BertelThorvaldsen. He stayed with friendCharles Dickensin London for a time, and wasfriends with the hereditary Grand Duke Carl Alexander of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach.He received the Knighthood of the Red Eagle from King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia in 1846, and the Maximilian Order of Art and Science from King MaximilianII of Bavaria in 1859. He was made an Honorary Citizen of Odense in 1867.
“He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him toenjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him; for the great swans swam round the newcomer, and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.”
— from “The Ugly Duckling”After suffering from liver cancer and in the care of his friends the Melchiors, HansChristian Andersen died at their home on 4 August, 1875 in Copenhagen, Denmark.He lies buried in the Assistens Cemetery in the same city.
“First, you undergo such aterrible amount of suffering, and then you become famous.”
 —from
The Fairy Tale of My Life
(1855).Other Andersen titles include;
Only a Fiddler 
(1837),
 A Poet’s Bazaar 
(1842),
 A Christmas Greeting to my English Friends
(1847),
The Two Baronesses
(1848),
To Be or Not To Be
(1857), and
 New Tales and Stories
(1858-59).2
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