Hans Christian Andersen. Biography

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is a very illustrative example of how even from the poorest family, having the talent and desire to write poetry, fairy tales and other literary works, one can become a famous person all over the world. If even at the age of 30, almost no one knew anything about him as a writer, and if they did, they criticized every next attempt to join the clan of writers with a new story, then later the name of G. H. Andersen will be learned not only from him at home, but also in many other countries of the world, for which his works have been specially translated into about 100 languages. Mourning in Denmark on the day of the writer's death, several monuments dedicated to both himself and the characters of his fairy tales, only confirm that everything written by Hans Christian Andersen was loved and continues to be loved by both the smallest and adult readers of fairy tales around the world.

Andersen Hans Christian

There are several stages in the life of Hans Christian Andersen:

The childhood that the future writer spent up to 14 years in his homeland in the Danish city of Odense. From an early age, Hans Christian Andersen was no stranger to theatrical scenes, which he organized himself using his set of puppets.

His youth, which begins with a relocation to Copenhagen, where, thanks to perseverance, he finds himself on the stage of the Royal Theater, and then being fired from it, HH Andersen spends several years at the school bench.

The work of Hans Christian Andersen begins in 1829 and continues until the end of his life, during which he managed to write many interesting and readable works to this day.

He was a Danish writer affiliated with the romantic school. Born in 1805 in the family of a shoemaker, in the old Danish city of Odense, which has preserved many medieval customs. He studied at a school for the poor, where he received the beginnings of knowledge in arithmetic and spelling. From the age of ten he began to write. At the age of fourteen, he left his home and went to Copenhagen. In 1819, for the first time, his literary works attracted the attention of the theater management. Several poems were published in 1826-1827.

G.Kh. Andersen photo

Life of G. H. Andersen

Andersen wrote many poems, plays and novels, but for all mankind, he is, of course, a great storyteller. He wrote 156 fairy tales that have been translated into over 100 languages.

In his youth, Andersen worked in a factory, where he was often embarrassed by the dirty jokes and greasy jokes of the workers in the shop. He naturally had a great soprano, and he often loved to sing right in the factory until the day when the workers pulled off his pants to make sure he was a boy or a girl. When he was 14 years old, Hans went to Copenhagen in search of a better life.

Andersen was a tall, thin man with small blue eyes and a pointed nose that stood out on his face. His arms and legs were disproportionately long, and as he walked down the street, passersby called him "stork" or "lamppost". Andersen often suffered from depression, was very vulnerable and touchy. He was so afraid of dying from the fire that when he traveled, he always took a rope with him, hoping to escape with it in the event of a fire. He was also very afraid that he would be buried alive, and asked his friends to cut one of the arteries anyway before he was put in the coffin. When he was ill, he often left a note on the table and bed. It read: "It only seems that I am dead." Andersen has become one of the most famous writers in the world and a guest of honor at the royal courts of Europe. He spent the last years of his life all alone in Copenhagen. He died of liver cancer.

Andersen never had sexual relations with either women or men, although he had, of course, ordinary physical desires. In 1834 in Naples, he wrote in his diary: “All-consuming sensual desires and inner struggle ... I still remain innocent, but I am all on fire ... I am half sick. Happy is he who is married, and happy is he who is even engaged. "

Despite all the suffering, Andersen never managed to make the right impression on those women whom he chose as a partner.

Andersen had three significant meetings with women in his life, but he never managed to evoke a reciprocal feeling in any of them. The first of these women was Riborg Voigt, the 24-year-old sister of his school friend. On Andersen, who was a year younger than Riborg, her pretty face and spontaneity made an indelible impression. If Andersen had been more persistent and decisive, he could have mastered her, but, alas, he was not. When Andersen died many years later, they found a small leather bag containing a letter he had received from Riborg. It was never read by anyone, since, according to Andersen's instructions, the letter was immediately burned.

Next up was 18-year-old Louise Collin. At first, Andersen needed only sympathy from her in order to recover after breaking up with Riborg. Gradually he got used to her and saw that she was extraordinarily beautiful. He was in love again, but she was indifferent to him. To stem the flow of Andersen's fiery love letters, Louise told him that all his correspondence, before reaching her, was viewed by her older married sister (such a practice actually existed in those days). After a while, Louise married a young lawyer.

Jenny Lind entered Andersen's life in 1843. This tall, slender blonde with a magnificent figure and huge gray eyes was called the "Swedish nightingale" in Europe. She came to Copenhagen with concerts. Andersen flooded her with poems and gifts. In 1846 he came to Berlin, hoping to meet her at Christmas. However, there was no invitation from her, and Andersen met the holiday in a hotel room all alone. Called Jenny Andersen only "brother" or "friend." He was in complete despair when Jenny got married in 1852.

Andersen developed close friendships with three men: Edward Collin (brother of Louise Collin), the Crown Duke of Weimar (whom he met during a trip to Germany in 1844) and Danish ballet dancer Harald Schraff. His "love letters" especially to Collin, who was completely heterosexual, might even suggest that Andersen was a hidden homosexual. In reality, Andersen was simply an eccentric hopelessly unlucky in love affairs, longing for deep feelings, affection and words of approval and admiration. During his trips to Paris after 1860, Andersen sometimes visited brothels. There he enjoyed polite pleasant conversations with naked prostitutes. He was shocked and unusually indignant when one of his acquaintances in a conversation only slightly hinted to him that he probably went to a brothel not only to talk.

It is completely impossible to believe that Andersen was actually

Yes, Ole Lukkoye could have composed all these fairy tales, but just a man - no. It's just that a person does not know what the darning needle is thinking, does not hear what the rosebush and the family of gray sparrows are talking about, he cannot see what color the dress of the elf princess, who has been called Thumbelina for some time now ...

Okay, so be it, even if it was really written by some extraordinary person named Andersen, but then, then, it was awfully long ago, God knows when, and in some special place that is difficult even to imagine, and Andersen himself is blond, like elf ... no! like a prince ...
And suddenly - a photograph.

Well, even if only a portrait in watercolor or a thin sketch with a feather! But no: photography. One, two, three. And everywhere there is such a face ... a little ... a little funny, the nose is so long, long ... True, the hair still curls, but is this a man? ..

Yes, this one. And please stop staring so shamelessly. Hans Christian already suffered all his life because he seemed ugly to himself. And if you think that Andersen's tales were born on velvet pillows, between lace cuffs and golden candlesticks, then you are deeply mistaken ...

... In a small country in Denmark there is a small island of Funen, and on it the city of Odense, which may seem small or large, depending on how you count. Now six thousand people can live in one skyscraper, and in 1805 six thousand lived in the entire city of Odense, and at the same time it was the capital of the island of Funen.

Hans Christian Andersen's father was called Hans Christian Andersen, and he was a shoemaker. Shoemakers are different - rich and poor. Andersen was poor. In fact, he did not want to be a shoemaker at all, he dreamed of only two joys - to study and travel. And since neither one nor the other succeeded, he endlessly read and re-read fairy tales to his son called "A Thousand and One Nights" and took him for a walk in the vicinity of the quiet city of Odense, which, probably, was still small, if after for a few minutes you could go out into the fields.

The elder Hans Christian Andersen died very early, but still managed to do another great thing - to go with his son to the theater, which, imagine, was in a very small town of Odense.

This is where it all started!

Do you think the great storyteller Andersen was going to become a storyteller or even a writer? Nothing like this. He wanted to become an actor and only an actor, he wanted to sing on stage, dance and recite poetry. Moreover, he did all this well, and the local nobility of the city of Odense looked with curiosity at the thin, thin, terribly long and completely ugly boy who sang so loudly, and could read poetry for hours on end.

Now tell me, please, at what age a person should show character, and when, finally, is it time to take the first decisive act?

Andersen left home when he was fourteen years old. Oh, how his mother cried! She was a laundress, she knew that the water in the Odense River is very cold and it is difficult to make a living. She knew how bad it was to be poor and how good it would be if her son learned to be a tailor and finally began to earn money ... He also cried, but he held tightly in his hand a bundle with several coins and a festive dress. She said: "Why ?!" He answered her: "To become famous!" And he also explained to his mother that for this you need to go through a lot, a lot.

If only he knew how right he was then, at the age of fourteen! .. Don't you think that all this is very similar to a fairy tale? Now a few adventures will happen, then the hero will win all, marry the princess ...

When Hans Christian Andersen wrote his autobiography, he called it “The Tale of My Life”. But to be honest, this long story didn't sound like a fairy tale adventure with a funny ending.

... When the actor did not work out of him, Andersen began to write. First poems, plays and vaudeville, then novels. He wrote a lot, suffered terribly, because no one liked his compositions for a long time. Only in 1835, Hans Christian, already thirty years old, still poor and almost unknown, finally wrote on a piece of paper: “A soldier was walking along the road: one or two! one or two! A knapsack on his back, a saber on his side, he was walking home from the war ... "
It was a fairy tale "Flint". And it was the beginning of a new life, not only for a lanky strange Dane named Andersen, but for all people who can read.

It turned out that there was no need to compose fairy tales. You just need to wake them up. “I have a lot of material,” Andersen wrote, “sometimes it seems to me that every fence, every little flower says:“ Look at me, and you will discover the story of my whole life! ” And as soon as I do so, I have a story about any of them ready. "

The first collection, published in 1835, was called Fairy Tales Told to Children. Then there appeared "New Tales", "Stories" (in fact, they are also fairy tales), and finally - "New Tales and Stories."

They scattered around the world almost instantly, they were translated into different languages ​​and into Russian too. Andersen knew about this. He even received his own volume in Russian as a gift and answered the first translators with a very kind letter.

You see: this man has achieved his goal! He became world famous. In all European capitals they were ready to endlessly receive and honor the "great storyteller", and the hometown of Odense declared the washerwoman's son its honorary citizen, and on the day this celebration took place, fireworks thundered in the city, all children were freed from school. and the crowd of enthusiastic residents shouted "hurray" in the square! The most famous people of that time, writers and poets, became friends or at least acquaintances of Andersen. He traveled all over the world and saw what his father once dreamed of ... So what's the matter ?!

One researcher wrote: "It was probably very strange for Andersen to live among ordinary people ..."

This is true. It's strange, a little scary, a little more offensive and, in the end, lonely.

He died in the house of friends ... Of course, it is good that friends, but after all, not at home. He was admired, they were polite with him, but one of his closest friends refused to tell Hans Christian "you", because the friend was an aristocrat, and Andersen's last name ended in "sen" - like the names of all commoners in Denmark. As for the princess ... He fell in love more than once, but all the "princesses" admired his works, offered friendly participation - and that was all. Mom died when he was on a long journey. And on the day of the death of Andersen himself, national mourning was declared in Denmark.

But there is no need to be sad. Remember how the fairy tale about flax ends? Now it has already become paper, and the paper was thrown into a burning furnace, and the paper turned into dead ash, carefree children jump around and sing a song, and above the ash, above the heads of children, "invisible tiny creatures" rise up, and they rise with these words: “The song never ends, that's the most wonderful thing! I know this, and that's why I'm happier than everyone! "

Of the works of Andersen, published in the second half of his life, it should be noted, in addition to fairy tales, the poem "Ahasuerus", novels - "Two Baroness" and "To Be or Not to Be"; in 1846 he began to write his fictional autobiography, The Tale of My Life, which he completed in 1875, the last year of his life.

Andersen's life is clearly reflected in his works, whose heroes are almost always representatives of the poor, noble in heart, talented, but suffering from the contempt of the mighty of this world ("The Improviser", "This is only a violinist", "Petka the lucky man").

Of all that Andersen wrote, by far the weakest are his dramas, the most significant are the fairy tales. Andersen took plots for fairy tales from folk sagas, ancient poetic works, stories heard in childhood, most importantly - from everyday reality. The abundance of descriptions of nature distinguishes Andersen's tales from folk, and in these descriptions high artistry is combined with geographical accuracy. Often Andersen's tales are completely devoid of magic, outwardly realistic, their "fabulousness" only in the inner qualities of the heroes. Most of the tales are imbued with soft humor, heartfelt kindness. Truly childish in form, Andersen's tales are so serious in content that they are quite accessible only to adults.

An unusually lively language of fairy tales, the language of Andersen the improviser, a storyteller who was equally heard among children and among adults, is based on: 1.the syntactic features for which the inert Danish criticism hounded Andersen for so long, 2.the abundance of onomatopoeia and extraordinary dynamism of descriptions. The latter features make his fairy tales so beloved in the children's environment. Andersen's aesthetic admiration for antiquity and purely human pity for everything that is moribund, characteristic of Andersen, never combines with him, like some German romantics, with ideological admiration for the past. The son of a shoemaker, a poet from the people, who has tried on himself all the thorns of class society, he never misses an opportunity to emphasize his sympathy for the oppressed, his faith in the future. But Andersen did not rise to understand the social problems of his time. His ideology is Christian philanthropic. His worldview is imbued with naive moralism. Good feelings, the power of moral improvement of a person - for Andersen the guarantee of a better life.

Biography of Hans Christian Andersen in dates

• 1819 - deciding to become an actor, Andersen leaves his home and leaves for Copenhagen, where he is determined as a student dancer in the royal ballet. He fails to become an actor, but his literary experiences attract the attention of the theater management. He receives a scholarship and the right to study free of charge in a Latin school.
• 1826 - Andersen publishes several poems ("The Dying Child", etc.).
• 1828 - enters the university and publishes his first book "Traveling on foot from the Galmen Canal to the Amager Island" and the play "Love on the Nikolaeva Tower". Andersen's name soon becomes famous, however, both Danish society and Danish critics tirelessly and long after he received general recognition abroad, bully him for his origin, for his appearance, for the poet's eccentricities, which are attributed to vanity, for spelling mistakes and innovation. in a style that qualifies as illiteracy.
• 1829 - Andersen begins to live exclusively on literary earnings, which is why he suffers severe poverty.
• 1833 - Andersen receives a Royal Fellowship, allowing him to make his first great trip to Europe, followed by several more. At the beginning of the journey, he writes the poem Agneta and the Sailor, based on a Danish folk song; in Switzerland - a fairy tale-novella "Ledyanitsa"; in Rome, which he especially loved, where his friendship with the famous sculptor Thorvaldsen was born, he begins his first novel, The Improviser, which brought him European fame. The Improvisator depicts the nature of Italy and the life of the Roman poor.
• 1834 - Andersen returns to his homeland.
• 1835-1837 - Andersen publishes three collections - "Fairy Tales Told for Children" (Eventyr, fortalte for born), which includes the fairy tales "Flint", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Little Mermaid", "The King's New Dress" and others. cause contradictory responses in Danish criticism, which could not understand the innovations of Andersen, who transformed the genre of literary fairy tales, which was very popular in the era of romanticism. The author was pointed out that his works are too lightweight for adults and not instructive enough to serve the upbringing of children.
• 1837 - The novel "Only the violinist" (Kun en spillemand) is published.
• Gradually, fairy tales begin to occupy the main place in Andersen's work. Second half of the 30s and 40s - the period of Andersen's creative heyday. The famous fairy tales "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" (1838), "The Nightingale" (1843), "The Ugly Duckling" (1843), "The Snow Queen" (1844), "Girl with Matches" (1845), "Shadow" (1847), "Mother" (1848), etc., as well as "The Book of Pictures without Pictures" (1840), where Andersen acts as a master of the miniature novel. The writer calls his collections "New Tales" and emphasizes that they are addressed not only to children, but also to adults.
• In collections of the 40s. under the general name "Fairy Tales" works of different genres are united. Actually, a fairy tale built on the action of magical forces is absent here, but the organic connection with folklore is obvious, although it is expressed not in the direct use of the plot, but in the presence of moral criteria inherent in a folk tale, individual motives and images woven into a modern plot ("The Swineherd" , 1841, "Hill of the Elves", 1845). Fairy tales close to fables ("Darning needle", "Bride and groom", "Collar", etc.) occupy a significant place here. Some fairy tales are essentially short stories ("The Old House", "The Little Match Girl").
• 1846 - Andersen begins to write his fictional autobiography "The Tale of My Life" (Mit livs eventyr), which he brings to an end in 1875, the last year of his life.
• 1848 - the poem "Egasfer" is published.
• 1849 - The Two Baronesses are published.
• 1853 - The novel To Be or Not to Be is published.
• August 1, 1875 - Andersen died in Copenhagen. The homeland honored Andersen's memory by installing a statue of the heroine of his fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" on the Copenhagen embankment, which has become a symbol of the city.

Andersen owns novels, plays, books of travel notes, poems, but he remained in literature, first of all, as the author of fairy tales and stories, which compiled 24 collections, published in 1835-1872.

Konstantin Paustovsky once noticed that it is very difficult to find the moment in Andersen's complex biography when he began to write fairy tales. One thing is certain: it was already in adulthood. Andersen gained fame as a poet, who was known among the people: children fell asleep under his lullabies, and as a traveler - several books were published about his travels in Sweden (1855) and Italy (1842).

He especially loved Italy. His book "Traveling Shadows" (1831) - more than one generation of Europeans generally read about impressions in wandering around the white world! On the theatrical stage, his plays were successfully performed: "Mulatto", "Firstborn", "Dreams of the King", "More expensive than pearls and gold". True, he watched them from the seats in the theater hall, which were intended for the common people and separated from the luxurious armchairs of the aristocratic public with an iron strip! That's it!

Already the first tales of Andersen brought him the glory of the Greatest Poet. Small editions - brochures of fairy tales were read out to the holes, editions with pictures were sold out in five minutes, poems and songs from these fairy tales were memorized by children. And the critics were laughing!

Andersen bitterly wrote about this to his English friend Charles Dickens, saying that "Denmark is as rotten as the rotten islands on which it grew!"

But the moments of despair quickly passed, especially in the company of children, who were very fond of a thin, tall, sharp-nosed gentleman in a black frock coat with an invariable flower in his buttonhole and a large handkerchief in his hands. He was, perhaps, not very handsome, but what a living fire his huge blue eyes lit up when he began to tell his extraordinary stories to children!

He knew how to tell about the most serious things in a fairy tale in a simple and clear language. A. Hansen, Andersen's unsurpassed translator from Danish into Russian, wrote: “His imagination is quite childish. That is why his paintings are so easy and accessible. This is the magic lantern of poetry. Everything he touches comes alive before his eyes. Children love to play with different pieces of wood, scraps of cloth, shards, pieces of stones ... Andersen has the same thing: a fence stake, two dirty rags, a rusty darning needle ... Andersen's paintings are so charming that they often give the impression of magical dreams. Not only the surrounding objects - for example, flowers, grass, but even the elements of nature, feelings and abstract concepts take living images, turn into people ... "(Quoted from: Brockhaus and Efron. Biographies. Vol. 1. Andersen.)

Andersen's imagination was so strong and unusual that sometimes he was bewilderedly called a sorcerer and a clairvoyant: having looked at a person twice, he could tell a lot about him, being completely unfamiliar with him. Many have read an episode from the short biography of the storyteller (arranged by K.G. Paustovsky) about his night journey with three girls, each of whom he predicted the fate of. The strangest thing is that all his predictions had a real basis and came true! He had never seen these girls before. And they were shocked by the meeting with Andersen and kept the most reverent memories of him for the rest of their lives!

For such a divine gift of creation and imagination, Andersen paid a considerable price. He died all alone at his Villa Rolighead on August 4, 1875, after a long illness that began back in 1872. Literary sources dimly mention his unhappy love for the famous Danish singer and actress "dazzling" Jeni Lind. When this beautiful and poetic novel began is unknown. It ended in a rupture. Andersen considered that his calling is more important and stronger than family ties. Or maybe Jeni thought so ... no one will know now ...

P.S. During his lifetime, Andersen had a chance to see his own monument and illumination in Odense, predicted by a fortune teller back in 1819 by his mother. He smiled at himself, sculpted. The little tin soldier presented by the poor boy and the petals of that rose that the blue-eyed girl held out when he walked along the street were dearer to him than all the awards and monuments. Both the soldier and the petals were carefully kept in the box. He often fingered them with his fingers, inhaled a faded, delicate aroma and recalled the words of the poet Ingeman, said to him in his youth: “You have the precious ability to find and see pearls in any gutter! See, do not lose this ability. This is perhaps your mission. "

In the drawer of his desk, friends found sheets of paper with the text of a new fairy tale, begun a few days before his death and almost finished. His pen was as flying and fast as fantasy!

Hans Christian Andersen was a very talented writer, few can demonstrate such a number of high-quality and interestingly written fairy tales. Andersen managed to open the door to a fairy-tale world for us, but to open it until the end, we need imagination and fantasy. This works well with young children. But in the older generation there are also those who, at 50 years old, enthusiastically re-read his tales. There is only one conclusion, I must say thank you to this wonderful writer and never forget who he was, how he grew up and what difficulties he went through to give us pleasure in reading his stories.

Is there a connection between the content of fairy tales and events in Andersen's life?

Probably, this question was asked by readers of Andersen's fairy tales and those familiar with his biography, at least briefly. Not finding recognition in theatrical art, reciprocity on the part of the opposite sex, Hans Christian Andersen with great difficulty sought his place in the surrounding society in much the same way as the characters of his fairy tales such as “Thumbelina” or “The Ugly Duckling” do. Is there a connection between the events in these works and the life of GH Andersen himself, it was possible to ask only the author himself, but apparently, the right to answer this question in his own way, he left for each of us.

Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875), Danish storyteller, author of more than 400 fairy tales, poet, writer, playwright, essayist, author of memoirs The Tale of My Life (Mit livs eventir). Born April 2, 1805 in the city of Odense on the island of Funen. Mother was a laundress. She dreamed that her son would become a successful tailor, and taught him to sew, cut and darn. The father was considered an unlucky shoemaker and carpenter. Most of all he liked to make children's toys "from what will come up", enthusiastically sing songs, read fairy tales from "A Thousand and One Nights" to his son and act out scenes from the comedies of the Danish playwright Golberg with him. Andersen was forever struck by his crazy, benevolent grandfather, a great craftsman in carving figurines of unknown winged animals and people with bird heads from wood. His maternal grandmother worked in a hospital for the mentally ill, where little Andersen spent long hours and listened with enthusiasm to the stories of the hospital inhabitants. Towards the end of his life, he wrote: "I was made a writer of my father's songs and the speech of the mad." Not having time to enroll their son in a city school, his parents sent him to study with the glover's widow, but after the first flogging, he took his primer and proudly left.

Thanks to the play "Abellino - a Terrible Bandit", which was shown in Odense by the Copenhagen troupe, Andersen fell in love with the theater. For three months, with the help of his father, who put together a special box for a performance for him, he came up with his first play, cutting out puppet artists from logs, sewing costumes from scraps, learning to drive his characters on strings. He never finished elementary school, and only learned to read and write by the age of ten. At the age of eleven he received a gift - a volume of Shakespeare's plays and began to act out scenes from Macbeth. After the death of his father, the family barely made ends meet, and twelve-year-old Andersen was sent to an apprentice, first to a cloth factory, then to a tobacco factory. Soon a troupe arrived in Odense from Copenhagen, which urgently needed an extra for the performance, and Andersen got the wordless role of a coachman, convinced that the theater was his vocation. In 1819, fourteen-year-old Andersen, having earned some money and bought his first boots in his life, went to conquer Copenhagen. Thanks to the help of patrons, he attended a ballet school, received free lessons in Latin, German and Danish, and began to seriously study world drama and poetry.

And he constantly composed, living in corners and starving. Dreams of a theatrical career came to an end after the verdict of the actor Lindgren: "You have a lot of feelings, but you will never succeed as an actor." Overcoming despair, he set about the tragedy of the Robbers in Wissenberg. The first act was published by the newspaper "Arfa", and for the first time he received a literary fee. Inspired by luck, he took up the tragedy "Alfsol". By this time, Copenhagen celebrities began to welcome him, including the physicist Oersted, the theater director J. Collin, the poet Raabek, and the famous playwright Elenschläger. Thanks to the efforts of J. Collin, he received a royal scholarship and in 1822 went to Slagelse, where he was enrolled in the second grade of the Latin gymnasium, where he did not have a good relationship with its rector. He writes a lot, and his poems Evening and the Dying Child are highly appreciated by critics. In 1828 he entered Copenhagen University, where he was unanimously recognized as the first among the novice university poets, upon graduation he passed two exams for the title of candidate of philosophy. In 1829, Andersen's first romantic prose was published - The Walking Journey from the Holmen Canal to the eastern promontory of Amager Island, where the author parodied himself in the form of "a skinny cat in a raincoat over a nightgown." The founder of Danish vaudeville, the essayist Heiberg later called the book a musical fantasy.

The acting beginning, helping Andersen to mentally transform into his characters, has borne long-awaited results. His vaudeville Love on the Nicholas Tower (1829) was a resounding success. In 1831 he went on his first trip to Germany, the result of which was an essay-reflection "Shadow Pictures" (1831) and a collection of poems "Fantasies and Sketches". For two years 4 collections of poems were published. In 1833 he presented King Frederick with a cycle of poems about Denmark and received a small allowance for a trip to Europe. His "era of wanderings" began. In Paris he met Heinrich Heine, in Rome - with the famous sculptor Thorvaldsen, here he began to write his first novel "The Improviser." After Rome he went to Florence, Naples, Venice, wrote an essay about Michelangelo and Raphael. Friendship is struck in England with Charles Dickens.

In France, he became close to Victor Hugo, met with O. de Balzac and Alexander Dumas. Schumann and Mendelssohn wrote romances on Andersen's poems. Andersen nurtured each plan for a long time, but wrote relatively quickly, but copied and corrected many times, tormented by cruel doubts. And Danish critics accused him of negligence and imitation, literary slovenliness and wretchedness of plots. At the same time, he lived very poorly, since only small literary earnings brought him income. In addition to poetry, travel notes and philosophical essays, he creates the novels The Improviser (1835), which brought him European fame, Just a Violinist (1837), To Be or Not to Be (1857). Recognition was received by his comedy "The Firstborn" and the acutely social melodrama "Mulatto" (1840). A long and happy fate fell to the lot of fairy-tale plays More expensive than pearls and gold, Mother of Elder, Ole-Lukoye. Andersen's fairy tales brought worldwide fame and love of readers. The first two editions of Fairy Tales Told for Children appeared in May and December 1835. The third collection of fairy tales was published in April 1837.

(Everi, fortalte for born, books 1-3, 1835-1837). The collections included the fairy tales Ognivo, The Princess and the Pea, The Little Mermaid, and others well known to the Russian reader. Since that time, collections have been regularly published, which were simply called Fairy Tales. The flowering of creativity falls on Tue. floor. 1830-1840s, when the famous fairy tales The Snow Queen, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Ugly Duckling, The Girl with Matches, Shadow, Mother, Nightingale, etc. were written. They were not immediately perceived and appreciated, the author was criticized for spelling errors and innovation in style, for the fact that his tales are supposedly lightweight for adults and not instructive enough for a children's audience. But physicist Oersted immediately after the release of the first edition of fairy tales prophetically remarked: "You will see," The Improviser "will glorify you, and fairy tales will make your name immortal." Leo Tolstoy, having read the tale Five from one pod, said about it: “What a mischievous and wise tale. One of these is enough to stay in the history of literature. " One of the paradoxes of Andersen's tales is that even the most sad and tragic of them have an amazing ability to give hope and heal the soul.

Andersen's Little Mermaid, a symbol of Copenhagen, where a monument is erected to her, has become the personification of selfless love for millions of people. Relevant again and again is the fairy tale The King's New Dress, ridiculing the servile-slave psychology of loyalty, giving rise to the cult of insignificant, "naked" kings. Or the magical irony of Galoshes of happiness and mocking associativity, subtle humor and imagery of the Swineherd and the Princess and the Pea and the Merry disposition. In the best fairy tales, high poetics are organically intertwined with reckless mockery, and romantic irony with mysticism. These are the tales Shadow, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Flint, The Tempest moves the signs. Andersen's uniqueness is that he endowed not only the Little Mermaid with a wondrous gift. He discerned and convincingly sang the strength of the spirit of earthly fragile girls. Such as Gerda of the Snow Queen or Elsa of the Wild Swans, whose selfless heroism and sacrifice overshadow the deeds of even mighty heroes. For they are ruled by inconspicuous weak babies, whose souls are permeated and moved by a great selfless love that carries away millions of children's hearts. Andersen credibly endowed inanimate objects with human properties. And most importantly - with the soul, thereby opening for its reader a previously unknown, immeasurable world, awakening "good feelings" for flowers and trees, a worn out coin and gnawed chips, for a sloven troll or a loser at home. The parable-multidimensional fairy tale Len tells about the immortality of the creative principle and the reality of miracles.

This is the story of a blue flower that came from Ancient Egypt, whose weightless petals are like the wings of a moth. Many transformations take place with a wonderful flower. Here are its dried stems crucified and stretched into threads. Clothes emerge from the threads, warming in the cold, giving coolness in the heat. But clothes wear out. However, a rag is also suitable for cleaning floors and wiping off dust. And when it turns into dust, then paper is made from it. Paper turns into books - containers of wisdom and light. And even if the books are caught in the fire, the ash and ash that fertilize the fields again give rise to myriads of blue flowers. Everything is repeated from the beginning, glorifying the invincibility of a jubilant life. An example of a fairy tale equal to a high, bright tragedy, a fairy tale-parable Mother. Death stole the child from the mother. In order to find out the way to the kidnapper, the mother gives her eyes to the lake. Clutching to his chest, he warms the frozen blackthorn, so that it begins to turn green and blossom.

She gives up her beautiful black hair in exchange for the gray hair of the old doorkeeper in order to enter the magic garden of death and save her child. Andersen was also interested in the problem of the true and the false in art, as the tale of the Nightingale tells about. The originality of Andersen's tales lies in the fact that, contrary to literary traditions, he used elements of the spoken language in his stories, combined the imaginary with the universal, taken from folk legends, as well as in the peculiarities of describing landscapes - spiritualized, dynamic and at the same time accurate. In the tales of the "Dane with sunken cheeks" we meet biblical heroes and characters from the myths of Ancient Egypt, Tristan with Isolde and those about whom the Koran narrates. Here the West and the East have organically merged and there is a sacrament that is difficult to explain, but is given to comprehend only by the soul. Children's fairy tales are some of the best in world literature - they are addressed equally to adults, which the author himself was aware of. Andersen's life cannot be imagined without love, most often unrequited. The last and deepest love came to him in the fall of 1843, when the famous opera singer Jenny Lind came to Copenhagen. It seemed that this is it, such a long-awaited "harmony of souls." But this meeting turned into a heartache for Andersen, and he lived his whole life as a bachelor. Two months before his death, I learned from an English newspaper that his fairy tales are among the most read in the whole world. He died on 4 August 1875 in Copenhagen. Swedish writer and playwright August Strindberg put it this way: “In Sweden, we just say Andersen. No initials. For we know only one Andersen. He belongs to us and our parents, he is our childhood and our maturity. As well as our old age. " In connection with the 200th anniversary of the birth of 2005, UNESCO declared the year of Andersen.

One of the most famous fairy tale writers is Andersen. A short biography for schoolchildren of this author should include the main stages of his life, the main milestones of creativity, and most importantly, the features of literary activity. In this regard, it is also necessary to mention his main works, and also to show that he wrote not only fairy tales, but tried himself in different genres, while studying in the theater and creating travel notes. This man was a very multifaceted and versatile person, while the general public knows him, as a rule, only as the author of fairy tales. However, Andersen's short biography should include mention of other areas of his interests and occupations.

Childhood

He was born in 1805 on the island of Funen. He came from a poor family: his father was a carpenter and shoemaker, and his mother was a laundress. The future writer already then had problems with getting an education: he was afraid of corporal punishment, and therefore his mother sent him to a Jewish school, where they were prohibited. Nevertheless, he learned to read only at the age of ten and until the end of his life he wrote with errors.

In school lessons, it is very important to emphasize how difficult labor school of life Andersen went through. A biography for children should be briefly set out taking into account several facts of this kind, namely that he was an apprentice in two factories, and these harsh ones left a strong imprint on his worldview.

Teenage years

His father and grandfather had a great influence on him. He himself wrote in his autobiography that his interest in theater and writing arose in childhood, when he listened to the stories of his grandfather and, together with his father, arranged impromptu home performances. In addition, the boy remembered the grandfather for carving funny toys out of wood, and the future storyteller himself made clothes and costumes, arranging real scenes at home. He was greatly influenced by a visit to the Copenhagen troupe, where he once even played one small role. So he realized that he wanted to be a writer and an artist. Andersen's short biography is also interesting because he himself, at a very young age, made the decision that he wanted to be famous and, having saved some money, went to Copenhagen.

Study and theater experience

In the capital, he tried to become an actor, but he never managed to master this art. But here he received a good education. At the request of influential acquaintances, he studied in two cities of the country, learned several languages ​​and passed the examinations for the candidate's degree. Seeing in the young man a great desire to become an actor, the theater director gave him small roles, but very soon he was told that he would never be able to play professionally on stage. However, by that time, his talent as a writer, playwright and writer had already manifested itself.

First works

Andersen's very short biography should include his most famous works (in addition to his fairy tales, which everyone probably knows about, even those who have not read them). It is indicative that his first literary experience was not fairy tales, but plays written in the genre of tragedies. Here success awaited him: they were published, and the writer received his first fee. Inspired by his success, he continued to write in the genres of major prose, miniature novellas, plays, and notes. Andersen's short biography, the most important content of which, perhaps, is, of course, the stage associated with writing fairy tales, should take into account other aspects of this author's activities.

Travel and dating

Despite the lack of funds, the writer still had the opportunity to travel around Europe. Having received small monetary rewards for his literary works, he traveled to various European countries, where he made many interesting acquaintances. So, he met the famous French writers V. Hugo and A. Dumas. In Germany he was introduced to the German poet Heine. Interesting facts of his life include the fact that he had Pushkin's autograph. These travels were of great importance for the further development of his work, since thanks to them he mastered a new genre of travel notes for himself.

The flowering of creativity

Andersen's short biography, which is studied by schoolchildren, should include, first of all, the life stage of the writer, which is associated with writing fairy tales, which have gained popularity not only in his homeland, but throughout the world. The beginning of their creation dates back to the second half of the 1830s, when the author began to publish his first collections. They immediately gained fame, although many criticized the author for being illiterate, too free in this genre. Nevertheless, it was this genre that made the writer famous. A feature of his fairy tales is the combination of reality and fantasy, humor, satire and elements of drama. Indicative is the fact that the writer himself did not consider that he was writing for children, and even insisted that there should not be a single figure of a child around his sculptural image. The secret of the success of the popularity of the author's fairy tales lies in the fact that he created a new type of essay, where inanimate objects, as well as plants, birds and animals, have become full-fledged characters.

Mature stage of creativity

Andersen's short biography should indicate his other achievements in the field of fiction. So, he wrote in the genre of large-scale prose (the novel "The Improviser" brought him European fame). He wrote miniature short stories. The completion of his long and fruitful career was the writing of his autobiography entitled "The Tale of My Life." It is interesting because it reveals the character of this difficult person. The fact is that the writer was an introverted and very receptive person. He was not married and had no children. The impressions of youth, a difficult childhood left an indelible imprint on him: he remained an extremely sensitive person throughout his life. The author died in Copenhagen in 1875.

The significance of his work can hardly be overestimated. It's hard to find another popular writer for schoolchildren like Andersen. A biography for children is briefly one of the important topics in school classes: after all, he became perhaps the most famous storyteller in the whole world. Interest in his work continues to this day. So, in 2012, on the island of Funen, a manuscript of a previously unknown fairy tale by the writer "Wax Candle" was found.

There are few people in the world who are not familiar with the name of the great writer Hans Christian Andersen. More than one generation has grown up on the works of this master of the pen, whose works have been translated into 150 languages ​​of the world. In almost every home, parents read to their children before bedtime fairy tales about the Princess and the Pea, Eli and little Thumbelina, whom the field mouse tried to marry off to a greedy mole neighbor. Or the children watch films and cartoons about the Little Mermaid or the girl Gerda, who dreamed of freeing Kai from the cold hands of the callous Snow Queen.

The world described by Andersen is amazing and beautiful. But along with magic and flight of fantasies, there is a philosophical thought in his fairy tales, because the writer devoted his work to both children and adults. Many critics agree that under the cover of Andersen's naivety and simple style of storytelling lies a deep meaning, the task of which is to give the reader the necessary food for thought.

Childhood and youth

Hans Christian Andersen (generally accepted Russian spelling, Hans Christian would be more correct) was born on April 2, 1805 in the third largest city in Denmark - Odense. Some biographers claimed that Andersen was the illegitimate son of the Danish king Christian VIII, but in fact the future writer grew up and was raised in a poor family. His father, who was also called Hans, worked as a shoemaker and barely made ends meet, and his mother, Anna Marie Andersdatter, worked as a laundress and was an illiterate woman.

The head of the family believed that his ancestry began from a noble dynasty: the paternal grandmother told her grandson that their family belonged to a privileged social class, but these speculations were not confirmed and were challenged over time. There are many rumors about Andersen's relatives, which to this day excite the minds of readers. For example, they say that the grandfather of the writer - a carver by profession - was considered insane in the town, because he made obscure figures of people with wings, similar to angels, out of wood.

Hans Sr. introduced the child to literature. He read to his offspring "1001 Nights" - traditional Arabian fairy tales. Therefore, every evening little Hans plunged into the magical stories of Scheherazade. Also, father and son loved to take walks in the park in Odense and even visited the theater, which made an indelible impression on the boy. In 1816, the writer's father died.

The real world was an ordeal for Hans, he grew up an emotional, nervous and sensitive child. In such a state of mind of Andersen, the local bully, who simply handed out cuffs, and the teachers are to blame, because in those troubled times, punishment with rods was a common thing, so the future writer considered school an unbearable torture.

When Andersen flatly refused to attend classes, the parents assigned the young man to a charity school for poor children. After receiving his primary education, Hans became an apprentice weaver, then retrained as a tailor, and later worked in a cigarette factory.

Andersen's relations with colleagues in the workshop, to put it mildly, did not work out. He was constantly embarrassed by vulgar jokes and narrow-minded jokes of the workers, and once, under a general cackle, Hans pulled his pants down to make sure he was a boy or a girl. And all because in childhood the writer had a thin voice and often sang during his shift. This event made the future writer finally withdraw into himself. The young man's only friends were wooden dolls once made by his father.

When Hans was 14 years old, in search of a better life, he moved to Copenhagen, which at that time was considered "Scandinavian Paris". Anna Marie thought that Andersen would leave for the capital of Denmark for a short time, so she let her beloved son go with a light heart. Hans left his father's house because he dreamed of becoming famous, wanted to learn the craft of acting and play on the stage of the theater in classical productions. It is worth saying that Hans was a lanky young man with a long nose and limbs, for which he received the offensive nicknames "stork" and "lamppost".

Andersen was also teased as a "play writer" as a child, because in the boy's house there was a toy theater with rag "actors". A diligent young man with an amusing appearance gave the impression of an ugly duckling who was admitted to the Royal Theater out of pity, and not because he was a master of soprano. On the stage of the theater, Hans played secondary roles. But soon his voice began to break, so his classmates, who considered Andersen primarily a poet, advised the young man to concentrate on literature.

Jonas Kollin, a Danish statesman who was in charge of finances during the reign of Frederick VI, was very fond of the unlikely young man and convinced the king to pay for the education of the young writer.

Andersen studied at the prestigious schools of Slagelse and Elsinore (where he sat at the same desk with students who were 6 years younger than himself) at the expense of the treasury, although he was not a zealous student: Hans never mastered literacy and all his life made multiple spelling and punctuation mistakes in a letter. Later, the storyteller recalled that he dreamed of his student years in nightmares, because the rector constantly criticized the young man to smithereens, and, as you know, Andersen did not like this.

Literature

During his lifetime, Hans Christian Andersen wrote poems, stories, novels and ballads. But for all readers, his name is primarily associated with fairy tales - the master's record includes 156 works. However, Hans did not like being called a children's writer, and claimed that he wrote for both boys and girls and for adults. It got to the point that Andersen ordered that there should not be a single child on his monument, although initially the monument was supposed to be surrounded by children.

Illustration for the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans gained recognition and fame in 1829 when he published the adventure story Walking from Holmen Canal to the eastern end of Amager. Since then, the young writer did not leave his pen and inkwell and wrote literary works one after another, including fairy tales that glorified him, in which he introduced a system of high genres. True, the novels, short stories and vaudeville were given to the author hard - at the moments of writing, as if out of spite, a creative crisis befell him.

Illustration for the fairy tale "Wild Swans" by Hans Christian Andersen

Andersen drew inspiration from everyday life. In his opinion, everything in this world is beautiful: a flower petal, a small bug, and a spool of thread. Indeed, if we recall the works of the creator, then even every galosh or pea from a pod has an amazing biography. Hans based both on his own imagination and on the motives of the folk epic, thanks to which he wrote "Flame", "Wild Swans", "Swineherd" and other stories published in the collection "Tales Told to Children" (1837).

Illustration for the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen

Andersen loved to make protagonists of characters who are looking for a place in society. This includes Thumbelina, the Little Mermaid, and the Ugly Duckling. Such heroes evoke sympathy from the author. All of Andersen's stories from cover to cover are imbued with philosophical meaning. It is worth remembering the fairy tale "The New Dress of the King", where the emperor asks two crooks to sew him an expensive dress. However, the outfit turned out to be complicated and consisted entirely of "invisible threads". The crooks assured the customer that only fools would not see the extremely thin fabric. Thus, the king flaunts the palace in an obscene manner.

Illustration for the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen "Thumbelina"

He and his courtiers do not notice the intricate dress, but they are afraid to make themselves look fools if they confess that the ruler is pacing in what his mother gave birth to. This tale began to be interpreted as a parable, and the phrase "And the king is naked!" entered the list of catch phrases. It is noteworthy that not all Andersen's tales are saturated with luck, not all of the writer's manuscripts contain the “deusexmachina” technique, when a coincidence that saves the protagonist (for example, the prince kisses the poisoned Snow White) appears out of nowhere by God's will.

Illustration for the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans is loved by adult readers for not painting a utopian world where everyone lives happily ever after, but, for example, without a twinge of conscience, sends a staunch tin soldier into a burning fireplace, dooming a lonely man to death. In 1840, the master of the pen tried his hand at the genre of short stories-miniatures and published the collection "A Book with Pictures without Pictures", in 1849 he wrote the novel "Two Baroness". Four years later, the book "To Be or Not to Be" was published, but all Andersen's attempts to establish himself as a novelist were in vain.

Personal life

The personal life of the failed actor, but the eminent writer Andersen, is a mystery shrouded in darkness. Rumor has it that throughout his existence, the great writer remained in the dark about intimacy with women or with men. There is speculation that the great storyteller was a latent homosexual (as evidenced by his epistolary heritage), he had close friendships with friends Edward Collin, Crown Duke of Weimar and dancer Harald Schraff. Although there were three women in Hans's life, the matter did not go beyond a fleeting sympathy, not to mention marriage.

Andersen's first darling was the sister of schoolmate Riborg Voigt. But the indecisive young man did not dare to talk to the object of his lust. Louise Collin - the writer's next potential fiancée - thwarted any attempts at courtship and ignored the fiery stream of love letters. An 18-year-old girl preferred a wealthy lawyer to Andersen.

In 1846, Hans fell in love with the opera singer Jenny Lind, who was nicknamed the "Swedish nightingale" because of her sonorous soprano. Andersen watched Jenny backstage and presented the beauty with poetry and generous gifts. But the charming girl was in no hurry to reciprocate the sympathy of the storyteller, but treated him like a brother. When Andersen found out that the singer had married the British composer Otto Goldschmidt, Hans plunged into depression. Cold-hearted Jenny Lind became the prototype of the Snow Queen from the writer's fairy tale of the same name.

Illustration for the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen "The Snow Queen"

In love, Andersen was unlucky. Therefore, it is not surprising that the storyteller, upon his arrival in Paris, visited the red-light districts. True, instead of racking the night away with frivolous young ladies, Hans talked with them, sharing the details of his unhappy life. When one of Andersen's acquaintances hinted to him that he was visiting brothels not for his intended purpose, the writer was surprised and looked at the interlocutor with obvious disgust.

It is also known that Andersen was a devoted admirer, talented writers met at a literary meeting hosted by the Countess of Blessington in her salon. After this meeting, Hans wrote in his diary:

"We went out onto the veranda and I was happy to speak to the living writer of England whom I love the most."

Ten years later, the storyteller returned to England and came as an uninvited guest to Dickens's house to the detriment of his family. Over time, Charles stopped correspondence with Andersen, and the Dane sincerely did not understand why all his letters remained unanswered.

Death

In the spring of 1872, Andersen fell out of bed, hitting the floor hard, due to which he received multiple injuries from which he was never able to recover.

Later, the writer was diagnosed with liver cancer. Hans died on 4 August 1875. The great writer is buried in the Assistance cemetery in Copenhagen.

Bibliography

• 1829 - Hiking from the Holmen Canal to the eastern promontory of Amager Island
• 1829 - "Love on the Nikolaeva Tower"
• 1834 - "Agneta and the Waterman"
• 1835 - "The Improviser" (Russian translation - in 1844)
• 1837 - "Only a violinist"
• 1835-1837 - "Tales Told for Children"
• 1838 - The Steadfast Tin Soldier
• 1840 - "Book with pictures without pictures"
• 1843 - "Nightingale"
• 1843 - The Ugly Duckling
• 1844 - The Snow Queen
• 1845 - "Girl with matches"
• 1847 - "The Shadow"
• 1849 - "Two Baroness"
• 1857 - "To be or not to be"

Hans Christian Andersen is an outstanding Danish writer and poet, as well as the author of world famous fairy tales for children and adults.

He wrote such brilliant works as The Ugly Duckling, The King's New Dress, Thumbelina, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Princess and the Pea, Ole Lukoye, The Snow Queen and many others.

Many cartoons and feature films have been shot based on Andersen's works.

In this we have collected the most interesting facts from the life of the great storyteller.

So before you short biography of Hans Andersen.

Andersen's biography

Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in the Danish city of Odense. Hans was named after his father, who was a shoemaker.

His mother, Anna Marie Andersdatter, was a poorly educated girl and worked as a laundress all her life. The family lived very poorly and barely made ends meet.

An interesting fact is that Andersen's father sincerely believed that he belonged to a noble family, since his mother told him about this. In fact, everything was quite the opposite.

To date, biographers have accurately established that the Andersen family came from the lower class.

However, this social position did not prevent Hans Andersen from becoming a great writer. Love for the boy was instilled in his father, who often read him stories of different authors.

In addition, he periodically went with his son to the theater, accustoming him to high art.

Childhood and youth

When the young man was 11 years old, a misfortune happened in his biography: his father died. Andersen took his loss very hard and was depressed for a long time.

Studying at school also became a real challenge for him. He, like, indeed, and other students, teachers often beat with rods for the slightest violations. For this reason, he became a very nervous and vulnerable child.

Soon, Hans persuaded his mother to quit school. After that, he began attending a charity school where children from poor families studied.

Having received the initial knowledge, the young man got a job as an apprentice with a weaver. After that, Hans Andersen sewed clothes, and later worked in a factory that produced tobacco products.

An interesting fact is that while working at the plant, he practically had no friends. His colleagues mocked him in every possible way, making sarcastic jokes in his direction.

One day, Andersen's pants were lowered in front of everyone to supposedly find out what gender he was. And all because he had a high and sonorous voice, similar to a woman's.

After this incident, difficult days came in Andersen's biography: he finally withdrew into himself and stopped communicating with anyone. At that point in time, Hans's only friends were wooden dolls that his father had once made for him.

At the age of 14, the young man went to Copenhagen, because he dreamed of fame and recognition. It is worth noting that he did not have an attractive appearance.

Hans Andersen was a thin teenager with long limbs and an equally long nose. However, despite this, he was accepted into the Royal Theater, in which he played supporting roles. It is interesting that during this period he began to write his first works.

When financier Jonas Colleen saw his play on stage, he fell in love with Andersen.

As a result, Colleen convinced King Frederick VI of Denmark to pay for the education of a promising actor and writer at the expense of the state treasury. After that, Hans was able to study at the elite schools of Slagelse and Elsinore.

It is curious that Andersen's fellow students were students who were 6 years younger than him. The most difficult subject for the future writer was grammar.

Andersen made a lot of spelling mistakes, for which he constantly heard reproaches from teachers.

Andersen's creative biography

Hans Christian Andersen gained fame primarily as a children's writer. More than 150 fairy tales came out from under his pen, many of which have become classics of world significance. In addition to fairy tales, Andersen wrote poetry, plays, short stories and even novels.

He didn't like being called a children's writer. Andersen has repeatedly stated that he writes not only for kids, but also for adults. He even ordered that not a single child be on his monument, although initially he was supposed to be surrounded by children.

Monument to Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen

It is worth noting that serious works, like novels and plays, were given to Andersen quite difficult, but fairy tales were written surprisingly easily and simply. At the same time, he was inspired by any objects that were around him.

Andersen's works

Over the years of his biography, Andersen wrote many fairy tales that can be traced. Among such fairy tales one can distinguish "Fire", "Swineherd", "Wild Swans" and others.

In 1837 (when he was killed), Andersen published a collection of "Tales Told to Children." The collection immediately became very popular in society.

It is interesting that, despite the simplicity of Andersen's tales, each of them has a deep meaning with philosophical overtones. After reading them, the child can independently understand morality and draw the right conclusions.

Soon, Andersen wrote the fairy tales "Thumbelina", "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling", which are still loved by children all over the world.

Later, Hans wrote the novels "The Two Baronesses" and "To Be or Not to Be", intended for an adult audience. However, these works remained unnoticed, since Andersen was perceived primarily as a children's writer.

Andersen's most popular fairy tales are "The King's New Dress", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Thumbelina", "The Princess and the Pea", "Ole Lukkoye" and "The Snow Queen".

Personal life

Some biographers of Andersen suggest that the great storyteller was partial to the male sex. Such conclusions are made on the basis of surviving romantic letters that he wrote to men.

It is worth noting that officially he was never married and had no children. In his diaries, he later admitted that he had decided to abandon intimate relationships with women, since they did not reciprocate.

Hans Christian Andersen reads a book to children

In the biography of Hans Andersen, there were at least 3 girls for whom he felt sympathy. At a young age, he fell in love with Riborg Voigt, but did not dare to confess his feelings to her.

The next beloved writer was Louise Collin. She turned down Andersen's offer and married a wealthy lawyer.

In 1846, Andersen had another passion in his biography: he fell in love with the opera singer Jenny Lind, who charmed him with her voice.

After her performances, Hans gave her flowers and recited poetry, trying to achieve reciprocity. However, this time he did not manage to win a woman's heart.

Soon, the singer married a British composer, as a result of which the unfortunate Andersen fell into depression. An interesting fact is that later Jenny Lind will become the prototype of the famous Snow Queen.

Death

At the age of 67, Andersen fell out of bed and suffered many serious bruises. Over the next 3 years, he suffered from his injuries, but he could not recover from them.

Hans Christian Andersen died on 4 August 1875 at the age of 70. The great storyteller was buried in the Assistance cemetery in Copenhagen.

Andersen Photos

At the end you can watch the most famous Andersen. I must say that Hans Christian was not distinguished by his attractive appearance. However, under his awkward and even ridiculous appearance, there was an incredibly sophisticated, deep, wise and loving person.