I know we’ve beaten into you all how Hans Christian Andersen once went to Charles Dickens’ home for a visit and became the house guest that would never leave (though we can understand his obsession with Dickens, our inner Ms. Manners obviously cannot condone that sort of behavior), but there is much more to this author than a once-off lack of ideal behavior! More than meets the eye, that’s for sure. In honor of the 146th anniversary of his passing, here we offer a few fun facts about this fairy-telling Dane.
via Notable Quotes!
1. At Andersen’s baptism in Odense, Denmark, he had not one, not two, but six Godparents present at the event.
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2. Though his family were quite poor, and his mother was an illiterate washerwoman, Hans’ father passed on a love of literature to the young Hans by reading to him from Arabian Nights. No wonder tales of wonder and amazement resonated with the author!
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3. Hans’ first job was as an apprentice to a weaver, then a tailor. At fourteen, he left for the bustling capital of Copenhagen, to find work as an actor. He was accepted into the Royal Danish Theatre, but soon his voice changed due to puberty. His soprano voice no longer being what it once was he began to focus on writing, instead.
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4. At only 24 years old (in 1829), Andersen published a short story “A Journey on Foot from Holmen’s Canal to the East Point of Amager” and enjoyed considerable success with it – so much so that it allowed him to finally consider himself a writer!
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5. At age 30, Andersen published what would be the first of three installments of fairy tales. While some throughout the series are retelling of classic tales Andersen had heard as a child, for the most part they are brand new stories, all of his own creation. That makes Andersen unique when compared to other fairy-tale authors throughout the ages.
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6. At first, critics were quite severe about Andersen’s fairy tales. They disliked his style, and being rooted in a didactic time such as the mid 1800s they did not believe that literature for children ought to amuse, when it could instead instruct. While Andersen did not share in this belief, as he felt that the critics were biased based on preconceived notions about the purpose and necessity of fairy tales, their detestation for his work did give him pause and caused a slight delay in the publication of the third volume.
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7. The stories Andersen is most famous for writing are The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, and The Emperor’s New Clothes!
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8. As Andersen was one of the first authors to write original fairy tales and not only transcribe them from the oral tradition, one could argue that he (along with a few others, like George MacDonald) set the standard for modern day fairy tales and the entire fantasy genre.
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9. Andersen was also (like Dickens) a writer of travelogues and travel diaries! After finally achieving recognition for his fairy tales in 1845, in 1851 Andersen published his travelogues from his adventures in Scandinavia, calling it In Sweden. He followed it up with travelogues from Spain, Portugal and Swiss Saxony, among other notable places. As with his fairy tales, however, Andersen’s style was verifiably his own, and unlike other travel journals of the day. With his descriptions of the locales, he interspersed general philosophical questions and arguments, along with comments on life as an author and the fiction found in literary travel journals.
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10. Andersen passed away on August 4th, 1875 from complications of a fall and signs of liver cancer. At the time of his death he was so revered by the Danish government for his tales that they were paying him an annual stipend, as he was considered a “national treasure.”
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