 Hans Christian Andersen, born 2 April 1805 A Danish author and poet who wrote a lot of stories, fairy tales, poems, plays, several novels and even travel essays. We know him best for his fairy tales, a couple of hundreds of stories which are translated into many languages all over the world.
Some of them are even being made into movies, which is a bit funny considering that HCA originally wanted to be an actor and write plays. But we are already ahead of ourselves. Let us begin together with Hans Christian in the provincial town of Odense in the early years of the nineteenth century. 1805 - Hans Christian, son of a shoemaker HCA's parents were shoemaker Hans Andersen and washerwoman Anna Maria Andersdatter. He was born in Odense, which is on the island of Funen in the very heart of Denmark. The family was quite poor, but nevertheless Hans Christian's father made toys for him and got him access to some of the local theatre's plays. Perhaps an actor-to-be? Hans Christian's father enlisted to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, and came home, but only to die two years later, never fully recovered. HCA was only 11 years old, but began to earn some money for the household with jobs in the town. Hans Christian was still fascinated by the theatre, and had a lively imagination. He made himself a toy theatre and read many books. He escaped from the sometimes quite harsh world of the poor quarters of Odense into the worlds of Holberg's comedies, Shakespeare's plays and The Arabian Nights. He felt an urge to use this to leave the poverty of the family. Besides the money he earned through his jobs with local tradesmen, he began entertaining in the more wealthy families' homes with song, dance and sketches during the evenings. The intentions were several: He had to earn some money, he had to practise as a singer and an actor or comedian, and he had to gain some contacts for his career. Going to the King's Copenhagen! A few months after his confirmation at the age of 14, HCA left Odense and travelled to Copenhagen. Here he tried to enter the Royal Theatre, but was turned down quite forcefully. The first couple of years in Copenhagen became tough. Hans Christian fought desperately to gain a foothold in the theatre as a ballet-dancer, actor or singer. Finally, when none of these attempts succeeded, he took to writing plays. This was no direct success either, but it made some people recognise his potential and send him to grammar school. In Copenhagen he gained access to two families - the Collins and the Wulffs - who both became like family to HCA. Here he got to know the upper class of the capital city, but he also learned a bitter lesson of being dependent on the goodwill of others. HCA had chosen his life with art and had only one way to go: to get up and get on. It was hard work to leave one level of the world and gain foothold and acceptance on another, higher one. Back in school, will I ever get away? Hans Christian was sent to school in Slagelse and Elsinore, but made a point of staying in touch with his new friends in Copenhagen. He emphasised, probably for himself as well as the surrounding world, that this was a temporary exercise, he intended to come back! At the same time, this contact gave HCA with his poor background a good opportunity to learn the culture and education associated with upper class circles in the Golden Age Copenhagen. Hans Christian, who was basically quite sensitive and sentimental, learned to use the light and ironic Copenhagen wit. These school years were not happy ones. HCA lived with his headmaster, Meisling, and the two of them did not get on very well. Hans Christian had been told that if he wanted to get much further, he had to get this education, so he put much effort into it and earned himself quite good grades. I'm back, and I'm a writer now! Andersen came back to Copenhagen and published his first book Fodrejse (A Walking Tour from Holmen's Canal to The Eastern Point of Amager in the years 1828 and 1829) on his own, as the editor Reitzel would not pay the demanded price. The edition of 500 volumes was very soon sold out, and now Reitzel was willing to pay the price to publish a second edition. HCA went to the university and continued to write. A couple of plays and poems were published with some success, and Andersen had gained a position for himself in Copenhagen. During a trip to the countryside he fell in love with the girl Riborg Voigt, but she was engaged, and did not share his feelings. Andersen later fell in love again a couple of times, but with the same unfortunate result. He never had the joy of getting further than friendships. In 1835 the first fairy tales were published in Denmark. They were not recognised as something special until a number of years later, when especially the Germans were already quite fond of the fairy tales with their character and wit. Andersen was the first writer to be serious about writing for children, and to write in everyday colloquial language with the intention to entertain children instead of writing in adult language in order to educate the young. He was criticised for this, but it was probably an important aspect behind the popularity of the fairy tales. Going abroad and getting famous Andersen was still aware of the importance of networking. For artists at that time, the tours around the world more or less had the same relevance as the rock band tours today: they are needed to get fans and to maintain them. HCA became a regular guest at Danish and foreign manor houses and at the residences of kings and princes in Denmark and abroad. Andersen soon went travelling abroad, first to Germany and Italy, and later to the rest of Europe at large. Germany became his second home, with many friends. He often made his way through Germany on his 29 trips abroad, covering about 9 years of his lifetime. The trip to Italy brought inspiration to the novel The Improvisatore, which was quite a success in Denmark as well as internationally. HCA’s fame grew rapidly from about 1835 when his novels became quite well known in Germany. About ten years later, the fairy tales took over as the spearhead leading to Andersen’s quite exceptional reputation in Germany. The great breakthrough in both England and America was about this time too, and here the tales and novels were both equally popular in the beginning. Andersen was very fond of new technology and wrote with enthusiasm about his first trip on a train. He thought highly of the industry and its achievements and was very fond of the new means of communication. HCA was among the first to see the telegraph in function, and he thought this would turn the world into “a single spiritual state”, just like many think the Internet is about to be doing today. Truly celebrated Andersen was given the Knighthood of the Red Eagle by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in 1846. In 1851 he is appointed titular professor in Copenhagen, and in 1859 King Maximilian II of Bavaria gives Andersen the Maximilian Order of Art and Science. Andersen had only been back to his native town of Odense a few times since his youth. However, in 1867, he was made a titular Councillor of State in Denmark, and Odense wished to contribute to the celebration of a famous son and granted him the freedom of the town in December that year. In 1869 he was appointed Knight of The Order of Dannebrog, and in 1875 he was further appointed Commander of The Order of Dannebrog. Hans Christian Andersen died in August 1875, and was buried at the Assistens Churchyard in Copenhagen. |
