HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: BIOGRAPHY, WORKS, AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS - ARTE - 2025

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a writer, storyteller and poet born in Denmark in 1805. His work, which includes titles such as The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes or The Little Mermaid, is considered one of the most important in the history of world literature.

His humble origins prevented Andersen from having a formal education until his teens, when he left for Copenhagen to try to fulfill his dreams. His first vocation was to become an opera singer and stage actor, but without success. Given this, he began to publish novels and plays.

Hans Christian Andersen, 1869

However, his greatest success came when he began to write children's and fairy tales. Andersen published 164 of these stories, collected in anthologies. In them, the author drew on characters and stories from European legends, as well as real experiences. Almost all his stories hide moral and philosophical teachings.

Andersen was also a great traveler and traveled a large number of countries in Europe during his life. The author published many stories based on these trips in newspapers.

Although already in life he was a renowned writer and received various awards in his country, it has been over time that his work has become universal. This has made him one of the most translated authors and many of his stories have been made into a movie.

Biography

Hans Christian Andersen came into the world in Ostend (Denmark), on April 2, 1805. His family was very poor, so much so that they were sometimes forced to beg.

The father of the future writer was a shoemaker. His influence on the life of Hans Christian was decisive, since he was a cultured man with a great interest in literature. When he could afford it, he took his son to the theater, as well as telling him fantastic stories. Likewise, he helped the boy to build his own puppet theater, in his own home.

On the other hand, Andersen's mother worked as a laundress. Despite not having the culture of her father, she was the one who introduced her son to Danish folklore.

Andersen's family history was very sad. His mother became an alcoholic and died in 1833 in a nursing home. According to biographers, the writer's half-sister, Karen Marie, came to practice as a prostitute.

Death of his father

The death of his father, in 1816, forced Andersen to have to start work and drop out of school. This did not prevent him from continuing to be an inveterate reader.

During his childhood, Andersen suffered from all kinds of fears and was frequently humiliated for his stature and interests, which some called effeminate. In that period it was suspected that he could suffer from epilepsy, although later it was learned that they were only attacks of cramps.

Despite his circumstances, Andersen spent part of his time writing stories that he later performed in the puppet theater his father had built for him.

The type of life he led, street and forced to work very early, made him soak up the popular life of his rural town. Thus, contrary to what happened with other romantic authors of the time, Andersen did not have to learn the popular traditions, since he lived it directly.

Copenhagen

At age 14, Andersen took a decisive step in his life. Thus, in September 1819 he moved to the Danish capital, Copenhagen with the intention of becoming a singer, actor or dancer. The young man wanted to use his beautiful voice to make a career.

However, Andersen did not get any work, which caused him to be left without the means to survive. The only positive were the contacts and friendships that he forged, such as the musicians Giuseppe Siboni, founder of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, or the poet Frederik Høegh-Guldberg.

After a while he managed to be admitted to train at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, although he soon lost interest in those studies.

One of his friends, Siboni, was delighted with his voice and decided to pay for his studies. Bad luck took its toll on Andersen, who lost his voice due to the poor condition of his room during the harsh Danish winter.

Besides trying to carve out a singing career, Andersen had also written a tragedy, Alfsol. It attracted the attention of Jonas Collin, director of the Teatro Real and State Councilor, who decided to become its patron.

Studies

Collin offered Andersen a scholarship in 1822 so that he could study at Slagelse Elementary School. His age, his limited formal training and the antipathy of the director of the center caused the author to affirm years later that this stage was the most bitter of his life.

Despite the difficulties, Andersen obtained good grades and continued his studies at the Elsinor school. In 1827, Collin arranged for him to obtain a private scholarship to the University of Copenhagen.

First works

As early as 1822, Andersen began to publish some plays and poetry. In 1827, the prestigious literary magazine Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post published his poem The Dying Child.

His first success with the public was obtained in 1828, with a short story entitled A walk from the Holmen canal to the eastern tip of the island of Amager.

"To travel is to live"

One of Andersen's vital mottos was "To travel is to live." The author made 29 trips abroad and lived outside Denmark for more than 9 years. The result of these trips were a series of articles in which he recounted his impressions and published in the newspapers.

It was during one of those trips, in 1830, that Andersen had his first love. Like the rest of those who followed, the experience was a failure.

During this period, Andersen did not stop publishing, especially poetry. In 1831, after his collection of poems Fantasías y Esposos appeared, the author traveled to Berlin and took the opportunity to write a chronicle about the city called Silhouettes.

Two years later, in 1833, the King of Denmark offered him a small scholarship to continue his travels. Andersen took advantage of it to continue touring the continent.

His stay in Rome inspired him to write his first novel: The Improviser. This work was published in 1835, the same year in which it also offered the public the first two editions of Adventure Stories for Children, as well as some short stories.

The libretto for an opera titled The Bride of Lammermoor and a collection of poems called The twelve months of the year were his next works.

By 1838, Andersen already enjoyed a well-deserved prestige, especially thanks to his stories. The writer began to write a second volume that same year and, already in 1843, he published the third of his short story books: New stories.

Your longest journey

Andersen undertook his longest journey in 1840. He first went to Germany, where he first traveled by train, then passed through Italy, Malta and Greece until he reached Constantinople. After leaving that city, he crossed the Black Sea and crossed the Danube. The result of this tour was captured in El bazar de un poeta, his best travel book.

At the time, Andersen was more widely recognized as a writer outside of Denmark than in his own country. His work had already been translated into English, French and German.

In 1847 he made his first trip to England. The Danish writer had a privileged company during his stay in that country: the also writer Charles Dickens.

Novelist and playwright

Other writers that Andersen met during his travels were Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas or Balzac

The success of Andersen with his stories did not quite satisfy the author. His great dream was to become a playwright and novelist, something he never achieved.

According to his biographers, the Danish author looked down on his fairy tales, as they were not considered "serious" literature. Nevertheless, he continued to write them and, between 1847 and 1848, published two new volumes.

After a long period without publishing anything, in 1857 he presented a new novel to the public: To be or not to be. In 1863, he published another travel book, this time with Spain as the protagonist.

Reader of his stories

Andersen was a pioneer in reading his own stories. The Danish began this activity in 1858 and maintained it for many years.

Thus, in 1860 he made a reading in the Association of Workers. Likewise, he was also invited to read his stories in the Student Association, the royal family, the seamstresses and members of the upper bourgeoisie. At times, it filled rooms with a capacity of between 500 and 1,000 people.

These activities explain that the Student Association and the Workers Association formed an honor guard during the writer's funeral.

Love life and sexuality

As noted above, Andersen's love life was full of failures. The women he fell in love with, like Collin's daughter or the soprano Jenny Lind, ignored him.

The personality of the author did not help him in these matters. He was a very shy man and had trouble communicating with women. To propose to Lind, for example, he wrote her a letter just before she caught a train to perform a concert. She, however, saw him more as a brother than a possible partner.

Another of his loves, also unrequited, was a young woman named Riborg Voigt. When Andersen passed away, a letter from Roborg was found next to the author's chest.

Andersen was, at least, bisexual, though he didn't get any success with men either. Among his unrequited male loves were the heir to the Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, Charles Alexander, and the dancer Harald Scharff.

Last days and death

Andersen continued to write his children's stories until Christmas 1872, when his last stories were published.

In the spring of that year, Andersen had fallen from his bed and suffered several serious injuries. The writer never fully recovered and died on August 4, 1875, in Rolighed, a house near Copenhagen.

Plays

Andersen's style is framed in the literary romanticism of his time. The author cultivated various genres, from theater to poetry, through the novel and travel books.

However, his worldwide recognition is due to the 168 stories for children that he published throughout his life.

Main titles

- The Emperor's New Clothes, also known as The Naked King (1837)

- Thumbelina, sometimes translated as Almendrita (1835)

- The Tin Soldier or The intrepid Tin Soldier (1838)

- The Little Mermaid (1837). Andersen wrote this story about impossible loves after one of his male loves rejected him.

Statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen - Source: Joaquín Montaño

- The Ugly Duckling (1843). The author took advantage of this story to relate his feelings when, as a child, he was harassed in his city.

- The match girl or The little match girl or The girl with the matches (1845). Dedicated to his mother.

- The Snow Queen (1844)

- The Little Shepherd and the Chimney Sweep (1845)

- The Red Shoes (1845)

- John the simple (1855)

- The Snowman or The Snowman (1861)

Awards and honours

Hans Christian Andersen was recognized while alive in his country. The king granted him in 1855 the title of titular State Councilor. The following year, he was named Honorary Citizen of Odense during a large celebration organized in his honor.

Other honorary titles he received were Knight of the Red Eagle, awarded by King Frederick William of Prussia in 1846) and the Maximilian Order of Arts and Sciences, by King Maximilian II of Bavaria, in 1859.

Tributes

In 1956 the Hans Christian Andersen prize for children's literature was created and, ten years too, for illustration. This award, which is awarded every two years, is sponsored by the Queen of Denmark.

His date of birth, April 2, has become International Children's Book Day. In addition, Andersen's tales have been made countless times, with classics such as Disney's adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

Furthermore, many statues have been erected in honor of the Danish writer. The most famous is, without a doubt, the one that represents one of its best known characters, the Little Mermaid. It is located in Copenhagen.

Other cities with statues of Andersen are Malaga, New York, Chicago or Bratislava. In addition, in 2006 a theme park based on their stories was opened in Shanghai.

References

1. Ruiza, M., Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. Biography of Hans Christian Andersen. Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
2. Millet, Eva. The immortality of Hans Christian Andersen. Obtained fromvanaguardia.com
3. EcuRed. Hans Christian Andersen. Obtained from ecured.cu
4. Biography.com Editors. Hans Christian Andersen Biography. Retrieved from biography.com
5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Hans Christian Andersen. Retrieved from britannica.com
6. Hans Christian Andersen's World. Hans Christians Andersens Biography. Retrieved from visitandersen.com
7. Lombardi, Esther. Hans Christian Andersen Biography. Retrieved from thoughtco.com