HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN’S ROMANTIC IMAGINATION: Exploring eighteenth and nineteenth century romantic conceptualisations of the imagination in selected fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. ANNETTE GREYVENSTEYN submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject English Studies at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: Dr Eileen Donaldson July 2018 Abstract There are certain influences from the eighteenth and nineteenth century English and German romantic Zeitgeist that can be discerned in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. The role of the imagination stands out as a particularly dominant notion of the romantic period as opposed to the emphasis on reason during the Enlightenment. It is this romantic influence that Andersen’s tales especially exemplify. For him the imagination is transcendent – one can overcome the mystery and hardship of an earthly existence by recasting situations imaginatively and one can even be elevated to a higher, spiritual realm by its power. The transcendent power of the imagination is best understood by viewing it through the lens of negative capability, a concept put forward by romantic poet, John Keats. The concept implies an “imaginative openness” to what is, which allows one to tolerate life’s uncertainties and the inexplicable suffering that forms part of one’s earthly existence by using the imagination to open up new potential within trying circumstances. In selected fairy tales, Andersen’s child protagonists transcend their circumstances by the power of their imagination. In other tales, nature is instrumental in this imaginative transcendence. The natural world conveys spiritual truths and has a moralising influence on the characters, bringing them closer to the Ultimate Creator. This follows the philosophy of German Naturphilosophie, as well as that of English romantics like Coleridge and Wordsworth, for whom nature functions as a portal to the spiritual world. The concept of the “sublime” underpins this philosophy. If nature is viewed through an imaginative, instead of an empirical lens, it becomes the means by which the temporal world can be transcended. It is a message of hope and as such is in keeping with Andersen’s self- professed calling as visionary who uses his art to uplift mankind. In this he is the ultimate romantic hero or outsider who, while standing on the periphery of society, observes its shortcomings and feels called upon to show the way to a better world. Key Terms: Hans Christian Andersen; fairy tales; imagination; English Romanticism; German Transcendentalism; negative capability; universal Soul; spiritualisation of nature; romantic outsider; social criticism. Samevatting Sekere invloede van agtiende- en negentiende eeuse Engelse en Duitse romantisisme kan in Hans Christian Andersen se feëverhale bespeur word. Veral die rol van die verbeelding staan uit as ‘n dominante invloed van romantisisme, in teenstelling met die laat sewentien- en vroeë agtiende eeuse fokus op rasionaliteit. Dit is hierdie romantiese invloed wat Andersen se verhale veral versinnebeeld. Vir hom is die verbeelding transendentaal – ‘n mens kan die misterie en swaarkry van jou aardse bestaan oorkom deur situasies deur die oog van die verbeelding te bejeën en kan selfs deur die mag van die verbeelding opgehef word na ‘n hoër, meer spirituele vlak. Die transendentale mag van die verbeelding kan beter begryp word wanneer dit deur die lens van “negative capability” gesien word. Hierdie konsep is deur die romantiese digter, John Keats, voorgestel. Die konsep impliseer ‘n verbeeldingryke openheid in die aangesig van aardse onsekerheid en swaarkry, wat die mens uiteindelik in staat stel om nuwe potensiaal in moeilike omstandighede raak te sien. In uitgekose feëverhale, oorkom Andersen se kinderprotagoniste hul moeilike omstandighede deur die mag van die verbeelding. In ander verhale is die natuur deurslaggewend in dié transendentale verbeeldingsreis. Nie net dra die natuur geestelike waarhede oor nie, maar dit het ook ‘n moraliserende invloed op die karakters, wat hulle nader aan ‘n Opperwese bring. Dit herinner aan die Duitse Naturphilosophie, asook die sienswyse van Engelse romantikusse soos Coleridge en Wordsworth, vir wie die natuur ‘n deurgangsroete na die geestelike wêreld is. Die idee van die “sublime” is onderliggend aan hierdie filosofie. As die natuur deur middel van die verbeeldingslens, in plaas van deur ‘n empiriese lens bejeën word, kan dit ‘n manier word om die aardse te oorkom. Dit is dus ‘n boodskap van hoop wat in lyn is met Andersen se selfopgelegde taak as profeet wat sy kuns gebruik om die mensdom op te hef. In hierdie opsig is hy die absolute romantiese held of buitestaander, wat, ofskoon hy aan die buitewyke van die samelewing staan, tóg tekortkominge raaksien en geroepe voel om die weg na ‘n beter wêreld te wys. Sleutelterme: Hans Christian Andersen; Feëverhale; Verbeelding; Engelse Romantisisme; Duitse Transendentalisme; “Negative Capability”, Universele siel; Spiritualisering van die natuur; Romantiese buitestaander; Sosiale kritiek. Acknowledgement I express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Eileen Donaldson, for her insight and painstaking guidance without which this dissertation would have been impossible. Praise be to God Almighty for the love and grace bestowed on me so abundantly and undeservedly. Contents Introduction: 1 Chapter 1: Theoretical framework 6 Chapter 2: Negative capability 28 Chapter 3: The romantic appreciation of nature 52 Chapter 4: The romantic hero/outsider 81 Chapter 5: Conclusion 115 Bibliography: 119 Introduction Harold Bloom contends that the romantic influences on Andersen’s work are pervasive; he writes that: Andersen and Kierkegaard are as High Romantic as Goethe and Novalis, Victor Hugo and Dickens, Manzoni and Walt Whitman, or as Hegel himself. Where Andersen differs [however] is that instead of dreaming universal nightmares, like Edgar Allan Poe, he entertained universal daydreams, the immemorial human mode of imaginary wish-fulfilment. (2005:407) For Bloom, Andersen’s Romanticism can be discerned especially in his privileging of the imagination and his choice to write fairy tales. Both echo the romantics for whom a renewed appreciation of the imagination encouraged a revived interest in and love of fairy tales. Fairy tale elements and narrative strategies are woven through much of the writing of the European and English romantics; Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads and John Keats’s La Belle Dame sans Merci are merely two examples of this. Fairy tales also constitute a singularly appropriate genre for the romantic writer, given that fairy tales themselves may be considered “acts of the imagination” (Warner, 2014: xix) in which magic abounds and “universal daydreams” might come true. The starting point of my study is, therefore, that Hans Christian Andersen is such a romantic writer. Briefly, one might define or describe “romantic writing” or “a romantic” as an artist who favours emotion and the individual imagination above reason (Potter, 1987:1999). Romanticism is characterized by an idealistic world view that rejects convention and seeks to liberate society from oppressive structures and limiting thoughts. I would argue, then, that even a cursory consideration of Andersen’s life, his beliefs, and his writing reflects a romantic mindset. In this thesis I demonstrate that this Romanticism is woven through a number of his fairy tales, in which he explores specifically romantic concepts. Andersen published four collections of fairy tales: Eventyr, fortalte for born (Fairy Tales, Told for Children, 1835-1842), Nye eventyr (New Fairy Tales, 1844-1848), Historier (Stories, 1852- 1855), and Nye eventyr og historier (New Fairy Tales and Stories, 1858-1872). Like Adam Oehlenschlager and Bernhard Ingemann, he collected mostly Danish folk tales. Andersen, 1 however, changed the original tales, making them more personal by addressing the listener directly and using colloquial language. Only the following tales were not original: “The Tinder Box”, “Little Claus and Big Claus”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The Travelling Companion”, “The Swineherd” and “The Wild Swans” (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com). Andersen himself was a lover of fairy tales and expresses his appreciation of them as follows: In the whole realm of poetry there is no domain as boundless as that of the fairy tale. It reaches from the blood-drenched graves of antiquity to the pious legends of a child’s picture book; it takes in the poetry of the people and the poetry of the artist. To me it represents all poetry, and he who masters it must be able to put it into tragedy, comedy, naive simplicity, and humour; at his service are the lyrical note, the childlike narrative and the language describing nature. (Andersen, 1979:9) His love of fairy tales thus stems from the fact that they speak to adults and children, that their poetry appeals to both the artist and the layman, and also that one may express any number of issues through them – whether humorous or tragic. Fairy tales thus gave Andersen a literary space in which to explore his experiences of the world and the redemption that he felt was possible only when the imagination was called into play. In this study I explore how Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales reflect the way the romantic thinkers of 1789 to 1832 conceived of and dealt with the imagination – specifically, the redemptive capabilities of the imagination as expressed in the ideas of negative capability, the spiritualisation