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Record: 1 Title: Andersen’s Fairy Tales Alternate Title: The Complete Andersen; Eventyr; Fairy Tales; The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories Source: Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Literature Series, Supplement © 1997 by Salem Press, Inc. Document Type: Work Analysis Authors Information: Andersen, Hans Christian Gender: Male National Identity: Denmark Language: Danish Publication Information: Salem Press, Inc.; First Published: Eventyr, 1835-1872 (as The Complete Andersen, 1949; as Fairy Tales, 1950-1958; as The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories, 1974) Abstract: Andersen wrote 157 tales, many based upon folklore, that deal with the complexities of life and that often have wrongly been considered innocent stories for children only. Literary Fairy tale; Folklore; Short fiction Genres/Subgenres: Subject Terms: Alienation Children Clothing or dress Dancing or dancers Ducks Europe or Europeans Fables Fairy tales Fantasy Flower shows Folkloric or magical people Kings, queens, or royalty Legends Mermaids or mermen Mythology or myths Netherlands or Dutch people Shepherds Shoes or shoemakers Supernatural Swans Witches or witchcraft Document Information: Essay by Niels Ingwersen; Includes bibliography ISBN: 0-89356-916-X Page 2 of 4

Accession Number: MOL9720000003 Persistent link to this http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? record (Permalink): direct=true&db=lfh&AN=MOL9720000003&site=lrc-live Cut and Paste: Andersen’s Fairy Tales Database: Literary Reference Center

Andersen’s Fairy Tales Author: Hans Christian Andersen Born: April 2, 1805; Odense, Denmark Died: August 4, 1875; Rolighed, near Copenhagen, Denmark

Type of Work: Short fiction Subject(s): Arts, coming-of-age, gender roles, religion, and social issues Age Level: 10-18

Form and Content Hans Christian Andersen’s tales appeared nearly yearly in small collections from 1835 to 1872; the first complete edition was gathered during Andersen’s lifetime as Eventyr og Historier (1863-1874; fairy tales and stories); the English translation used here is The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories (1974), by Erik Haugaard.

Andersen often imitated the magic tale—ancient, oral stories that begin with the tantalizing “once upon a time” and, after many tribulations for hero or heroine, end with the deeply satisfying “and then they lived happily ever after,” as shown in “The Traveling Companion” (1835), “The Tinderbox” (1835), and “The Wild Swans” (1838). The same structure is used, if more freely, in “The Ugly Duckling” (1837), “The Snow Queen” (1845), and in “The Little Mermaid” (1837). The protagonists are striving for a goal, meet opposition, must pass tests, and finally are rewarded with their dreams being realized: In “The Snow Queen,” the powers of cold reason are defeated, and heroine and hero are reunited; “The Little Mermaid” seems to fail the tests that will grant her the prince’s love, but she is nevertheless rewarded by being the recipient of that which she desired most of all, not mortal love but an immortal soul. These tales tend to be optimistic, but, more explicitly than the folktales, they confront existential issues—such as growing up, dreaming oneself away from this world, and even death. Andersen, however, always added touches of humor and could even poke fun of these quest stories, as in “The Princess on the Pea” (1835) and “The Talisman” (1857).

In other tales, among them those in which Andersen allows inanimate objects (for example, a collar, a candle, a broken bottle, or a tin soldier) or animals (a butterfly, a mole, a snail, or a sparrow) to have human voices, the effect is, as a rule, humorous, but Andersen frequently views society satirically. “The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep” (1845) reveals that women can be so brainwashed by patriarchal opinions that they have no real chance of breaking away from the gender roles assigned to them. In “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (1837) and “Little Claus and Big Claus” (1835), the plots of which stem from traditional trickster stories, humanity is depicted as mediocre, foolish, if not immoral. Although the humor of these comedies is rollicking, they are, on the whole, dark and subversive.

Many of Andersen’s tales rely on folk beliefs found in legends. These tales tend to voice Andersen’s darkest insights into existence. In “The Shadow” (1847), the evil character marries the princess, and she proposes that they do away with the hero; the magic tale has been turned topsy-turvy. In “The Evil Prince” (1868), a ghastly dictator conquers the world in ghoulish ways, and, in “The Story of a Mother” (1848), a woman whose child has been abducted by Death refuses to give up on her baby and chases Death to his home, but in vain.

Andersen also wrote a number of realistic short stories: In “She Was No Good” (1855) and “The Little Match Girl” (1848), the reader encounters a class hierarchy that persecutes the poor. In some less realistic tales, however, Andersen gives an idyllic view of poverty, as in “The Nightingale” (1844) and “The Candles” (1872). Page 3 of 4

One essential aspect of Andersen’s technique was his sense of detail, which gave his texts a rich texture. For example, the Snow Queen promises the young boy she abducts “the whole world and a new pair of skates,” and when Andersen, in the same tale, wants the child to grasp the concept of the devil, he makes that evil entity concrete by calling him “the most evil troll of them all.”

While the standard plots of the folktale genre are quite predictable, Andersen plays with those plots. He may imitate them fairly closely, but he may also add so much of his own or subvert the folkloric plot that the reader hardly knows what to expect.

Analysis For readers who take Andersen seriously, as an author who probes into social, psychological, and religious issues, the impossibility of designating a single worldview as Andersen’s may seem baffling. His views of life seem to fluctuate, and one text may easily contradict the next—for example, the harmonious tale “The Snow Queen” is placed next to “The Pine Tree” (1845), which ends with the unfulfilled protagonist dwindling into nothingness. A contrast can be detected by juxtaposing “The Ugly Duckling” with “In the Duck Yard” (1861). In the former, the ugly duckling goes through many hardships, but in the end all turns out well, for he is in reality a swan and has now found his true home. In the latter, a little songbird finds himself among philistines and eventually is destroyed. Both stories are strongly autobiographical: In one, a perfect future life is envisioned, and in the other a destiny that could have been Andersen’s is imagined. Andersen wrote often about artists and art, but, once again, one should not expect consistency: In “The Nightingale,” the artist is the vehicle for truth and beauty, and art is seen as a life-giving force; but in “The Flying Trunk” (1839), the artist is not only a parasite but also a subversive prophet of social change. In “The Professor and the Flea” (1868), the artist is a self-serving con man, and, in the late “Auntie Toothache” (1872), the artist belittles and rejects his own talent. Both the agony and the ecstacy of Romanticism speak through Andersen’s tales: “The Nightingale” is a textbook example of harmonious Romanticism, in which the natural and the artificial in life are juxtaposed, and the natural emerges victorious; but in “The Shadow,” the person inspired by romantic ideas is proven to be a fool and is destroyed.

One reason for the inconsistencies in the body of the tales may be found in Andersen’s position as an artist. He had risen from poverty to the high bourgeoisie of Denmark, but to be accepted by such a culture meant to adapt to that society’s values: His works had to please his audience. Consequently, some lesser stories are sentimental, overly pious, superficial, and filled with artistic compromises, but many others are exactly the opposite and in many of them one encounters a scathing view of Andersen’s audience. For example, in “In the Duck Yard,” the audience is, for all practical purposes, homicidal. In “The Professor and the Flea,” the audience is compared to cannibals, and even in the optimistic tale “The Nightingale,” the audience lacks any comprehension of the beauty of the bird’s song. Darkness can be found in many supposedly happy tales.

This is especially the case whenever Andersen deals with sexuality. Even if many stories have happy endings, others show that sexuality can become a destructive obsession, as in “Under the Willow Tree” (1853) and “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” (1838), and that sexual attraction can be demonic in nature, as in “The Snow Queen” and “The Ice Maiden” (1862). Once again, Andersen sends an ambivalent message: In some texts, he seems to advocate spiritual love, as in “The Little Mermaid” and “The Bog King’s Daughter” (1858), whereas in others the physical aspects of sexuality are deemed to be an essential part of humanity, as in “The Garden of Eden” (1839) and “The Butterfly” (1862).

A preoccupation with the spiritual-physical dichotomy also marks those tales in which Andersen deals with religious matters; some texts seem to be filled with piety, for it is demanded that human beings admit to their sinfulness and humble themselves in the dust before they can gain salvation, as in “The Red Shoes” (1845) and “The Girl Who Stepped on Bread” (1859); others are pantheistic, as in “The Bell” (1850). In some tales, Andersen leaves absolutely no doubt as to the existence of an eternal life, as in “The Dead Child” (1860) and “On the Last Day” (1852), whereas in “The Story of a Mother” Andersen has Death call afterlife “the unknown land.” In “Auntie Toothache,” Andersen finally admits that human beings can know little about “God, death and immortality.” The tales, taken together, create a puzzling, fascinating, and unsettling ambiguity.

Critical Context Hans Christian Andersen’s tales made him world famous; his tales are translated into numerous languages, and the anthologies that continue to be published suggest that he is very much alive today. His other works—novels, plays, and poetry—have fared less well, but his lively travel chronicles—for example, En Digters Bazar (1842; A Poet’s Bazaar, 1988)—have kept their charm. He has also had an impact on other writers of tales, who have often tried to interpret his complex texts by rewriting them; a Page 4 of 4

notable example is the Dutch author Cees Nooteboom’s In Nederland (1984; In the Dutch Mountains, 1987), in which “The Snow Queen” is playfully redone. The film industry has, naturally, taken to Andersen’s fairy tales, for example with versions of The Red Shoes (1948) and The Little Mermaid (1989). These films tend to demonstrate how difficult it is to transfer the complexity of Andersen’s tales to the big screen.

By using the ancient form of the tale in experimental ways, Andersen incorporates the entire gamut of human emotions, from rollicking comedy to bleakest tragedy, and in that span of emotions—as in his truly innovative narrative technique—lies his greatness.

Essay by: Niels Ingwersen

Bibliography: Blegvad, Erik. Hans Christian Andersen: From an Artist’s Point of View. Washington, D.C.: Children’s Literature Center, Library of Congress, 1988. Critique of Andersen’s fairy tales from a noted Danish illustrator. Describes visual qualities of Andersen’s tales that are rarely noted. Originally a talk, is casual about references; the reader needs to have some familiarity with Andersen’s works.

Dahl, Svend. A Book on the Danish Writer, Hans Christian Andersen, His Life and Work. Copenhagen: Berlingske Bogtr., 1955. An introductory approach to Andersen’s life and work. Includes coverage of his story themes and relates them to events in his life.

Gronbech, Bo. Hans Christian Andersen. Boston: Twayne, 1980. Treats Andersen’s fairy tales in depth, primarily as literary compositions. Extensive bibliographical references.

Mortensen, Finn. A Tale of Tales: Hans Christian Andersen and Danish Children’s Literature. Minneapolis: Center for Nordic Studies, University of Minnesota, 1989. Considers the original quality of some of the writer’s best-known tales and their importance to the national literature.

Nojgaard, Morten, et al., eds. Telling of Stories, Approaches to a Traditional Craft: A Symposium. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 1990. Conference proceedings that include essays looking at Andersen’s fairy tales from the perspective of the storyteller. Selected tales are examined from the point of view of drama, audience, voice, and cultural notions of continuity and disruption.

Cross References Hans Christian Andersen (Cyclopedia of World Authors)

Hans Christian Andersen (Dictionary of World Biography)

Hans Christian Andersen (Short Fiction)

Andersen’s Fairy Tales (Masterplots Classics)

Copyright of this work is the property of Salem Press, Inc. and its content may not be copied without the copyright holder's express written permission except for the print or download capabilities of the retrieval software used for access. This content is intended solely for the use of the individual user. Source: Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Literature Series, Supplement Accession Number: MOL9720000003