Born in April 1805, Hans Christian Andersen overcame a poor start in life and the era’s constraints on social mobility to become one of the most famous literary figures of all time. Regarded as groundbreaking when they were first published, the Danish author’s enchanting fairy tales have charmed many generations of children and adults alike. They have also proved an invaluable source of inspiration to a diverse range of cultural figures, from Igor Stravinsky to Walt Disney. Sadly, though, Andersen struggled to cope with fame and never really found the personal happiness which he craved.
The author was born and raised in the Danish city of Odense. In his autobiography (The Fairy Tale of My Life), Andersen paints an impossibly idyllic picture of his early childhood. He describes his parents, a shoemaker named Hans and a washerwoman named Anne Marie, “as a young married couple, who were extremely attached to each other” and recalls that despite being poor, he felt “extremely spoiled”. He attributes his early love of books and the theater to his father, who had himself once harboured hopes of becoming a writer.
The truth was probably rather different. Andersen and his parents appear to have lived in extreme poverty in a cramped one-room apartment, which also served as his father’s workshop. Because of his background, the young Hans only had access to a very basic education, despite showing early signs of promise. The author would later put the experience of living in such unfortunate early circumstances to good use in stories like The Little Match Girl and The Snow Queen.
In another of Andersen’s best-loved tales, the ugly duckling is an unhappy misfit who endures a difficult existence until finding redemption in the discovery that he was really a swan all along. Many critics have drawn parallels between the experiences of the title character and those of the author himself, in that the once poor uneducated boy from the slums of Odense went on to become one of Denmark’s most celebrated figures.
A few Danish historians, though, have taken the parallel a step further. As a child, Andersen is reported to have talked of being “of high birth” and he himself even refers to one such incident in his autobiography. A theory exists that the author was, in fact, the illegitimate son of Denmark’s then Crown Prince, who later ruled as Christian VIII from 1839 to 1848, and a teenage Danish aristocrat named Elise Ahlefeldt Laurvig. To avoid a scandal, the baby was supposedly given away to Anne Marie, a local washerwoman, who then brought the child up as her own.
At the age of just 14, Andersen left his home city for Copenhagen, intent on securing a job in the theater. In his autobiography, he writes of arriving in the Danish capital with hardly any money in his pocket. He spent the following three years trying to pursue his theatrical ambitions, with only very limited success, before achieving his first lucky break.
Having tried his hand at writing a couple of plays, Andersen was introduced to the influential Jonas Collin, who ran the Fonden ad Usus Publicos. Sponsored by the Swedish royal family, this charitable foundation aimed to provide financial support to struggling writers and artists. Recognizing Andersen’s nascent literary ability, Collin arranged for the budding author to receive financial assistance from the foundation so that he could complete his education at the Slagelse Grammar School, followed by the University of Copenhagen.
Supporters of the theory that Andersen was the illegitimate son of Christian VIII point to this development as evidence of the author’s royal connections, arguing that in 19th-century Denmark it was highly unusual for a young man living in poverty to climb the social ladder in this way. Yet, several other future stars of the Danish cultural scene received similar financial support from the same source, including portrait painter David Monies and linguist Rasmus Rask.
Over the course of the next few years, Andersen published poetry and several short stories followed by a semi-autobiographical novel, The Improvisatore. This fictionalized account of the Danish author’s lengthy 1833 cultural tour of Italy, for which he again received financial backing, is now regarded as his first major literary success.
The Brothers Grimm had enjoyed considerable success with their collections of traditional folk tales for children in the early years of the 19th century. Andersen now looked to enter this potentially lucrative market by publishing his own collection of fairy stories, which he did in three instalments from 1835 onwards. Unlike the Brothers Grimm, whose inspiration largely came from the folk tales of their native Germany, the Danish author tapped into colorful myths and legends from a variety of different cultures. He also differed from his German counterparts in his ability to create his own original fantastical stories, often inspired by his difficult childhood.
Andersen proved groundbreaking in his choice of linguistic style, opting to incorporate the idioms and colloquialisms of everyday language into his work. This provoked harsh criticism from some reviewers, who mistakenly attributed Andersen’s approach to a lack of proper education. In addition, he was condemned in some quarters for his decision to avoid the sentimental and moralizing tone typically adopted by children’s authors of the period.
Despite this initial negativity, Andersen’s fairy tales rapidly began to grow in popularity in his homeland. The stories were translated into German only around two years after publication, but the first English translations did not begin to appear until the 1840s. He also continued to produce a significant body of other work including novels and travelogues, which were well-received by Danish readers.
By the time that Andersen first travelled to England in June 1847, he had become a notable celebrity, feted by the Danish royal family at home and welcomed at all the best literary parties abroad. The Danish author was thrilled to meet his own literary hero, Charles Dickens, at one such event in London. The English translation of his diary records that “We shook hands, looked into each other’s eyes, spoke, understood each other, and on the veranda tears came to my eyes as we were talking”.
Following their meeting, Dickens sent Andersen several signed copies of his novels as a gift, which the latter took as an encouraging sign of friendship, and over the following decade the two literary giants regularly corresponded with each other.
Andersen did not return to England until the spring of 1857, primarily to visit Dickens, who had invited him to his family home of Gad’s Hill Place in Kent. Expected to stay around a fortnight, the Danish author’s visit extended to five weeks, by which point he had seriously outstayed his welcome. Dickens’ daughter, Katey, later recalled that when their house guest eventually returned home, the English novelist pinned a note to the bedroom wall declaring “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks – which seemed to the family AGES!”.
Photo Credit: WikipediaDickens was experiencing marital problems at the time and ended up separating from Catherine, his wife of over two decades, the following year. He was also busy professionally, as he was about to take the lead role in Wilkie Collins’ play, The Frozen Deep. He may well then not have been in the most receptive mood to tolerate a house guest for such an extended period. Andersen’s own behavior, however, also played a significant role in the sad breakdown of his relationship with the man whom he had idolized for so long.
For all his huge success, Andersen continued to view himself as an outsider, leading to mood swings and a deep-rooted social awkwardness which he never really overcame. Perhaps sensing that his presence was not altogether welcome, he displayed aspects of this challenging behavior on several occasions during his stay at Gad’s Hill Place.
Dickens family members later claimed that Andersen took an unfavorable review of his recently published novel, To Be, or Not To Be?, so badly that he flung himself on the lawn and wept uncontrollably. There were said to be more tears and sulking at the royal premiere of The Frozen Deep when the Danish author was not personally introduced to Queen Victoria. Recollections may vary, of course. Andersen alludes to both these incidents in his diary without mentioning the excesses of behavior recalled by his hosts.
It is interesting, though, to note the extent to which he focuses on the one bad review of his novel. Rather than taking pleasure in the fact that it was generally well received, his diary entry reads: “Slept restlessly, dreaming. The review in The Athenaeum lay upon my heart like a vampire. I’m still sitting this morning heavy at heart.” This hints at the imposter syndrome from which Andersen suffered throughout his long career, despite enjoying such great success.
As displayed in his relationship with Dickens, Andersen was accustomed to forming deep personal attachments to individuals whom he admired greatly, but his feelings were often not reciprocated. Despite a long infatuation with the famous Swedish opera singer, Jenny Lind, Andersen never married. In his later years, he travelled extensively around Europe, Africa and Asia Minor but appeared an increasingly lonely figure.
Hans Christian Andersen died of liver cancer, aged 70, in August 1875. He at least spent his final days with friends. When he fell seriously ill, he was invited to stay with the wealthy Melchior family, with whom he had formed a close relationship during the last decade of his life, and he died at their country home near Copenhagen.
The Danish author continued to write his unique fairy tales until shortly before his death, publishing over 160 in total. Despite often feeling like an outsider in comparison to the other giants of 19th-century literature, Andersen has left a legacy equal to the greatest of them and his work remains as relevant as ever in the modern world.
Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, The Guardian
