Hans Christian Andersen : The Life of a Storyteller

by WULLSCHLAGER, JACKIE

• ISBN13: 9780679455080
• ISBN10: 0679455086
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-04-24
• Publisher: Knopf

Summary

Others before him collected and retold folk stories and fairy tales, but Hans Christian Andersen was the first to create them himself. The universal familiarity of such stories as "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" shows how successful he was. By the time he reached middle age in the 1840s, in fact, he was probably the most famous writer in Europe, on familiar terms with kings and princes and eagerly read by a huge audience. Yet the image of Andersen that has come down to usthat of the amiable, childlike storytelleris bitterly at odds with the reality. In this groundbreaking biography, the first serious and comprehensive study of Andersen and his work to be undertaken in English, Jackie Wullschlager brings out the true nature of his life. Born the son of a dirt-poor cobbler and an illiterate washerwoman in a provincial Danish city, he indeed fought his way to fame in spite of his circumstances. But if his rise was astonishing, it was rarely happy. Lonely, sexually confused, vain, anxious and hypochondriacal, Andersen was driven by ambitions that, despite the power and brilliance of his work, prevented his ever being satisfied. A signal achievement of Wullschlager's account is to show with great clarity how Andersen's artdarker and more diverse than previously recognizedemerged directly from the complexities of his life. Jackie Wullschlager has returned to all the original sources in Danish and German, and has followed Andersen's footsteps across Europe. Her evocation of his worldGolden Age Copenhagen, the princely courts of Germany and the country villas of the Danish aristocracy, the languid warmth of southern Italy, which released his creativityis unforgettable. She has recovered censored passages from his letters and journals that make plain how his deepest personal relationships, though often frustrated, were with other men. In her words, Andersen emerges in all his fascinating, cross-grained charm and gawkishness, his desperation and his occasional joy, as a writerand a manquite unlike any other.

Author Biography

Jackie Wullschlager is a literary critic and European arts correspondent for the <i>Financial Times</i>. Her biography of Victorian and Edwardian children’s writers,<i> Inventing Wonderland</i>, was published to acclaim in 1996. She lives in London with her husband and three small children.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgements	xiii
Map of Andersen's Denmark, c. 1850	xv
Map of Andersen's Europe, c. 1850	xvi
Introduction: Life Stories	3	(4)
The Country, 1805--1812	7	(17)
Master Comedy-Player, 1812--1819	24	(11)
The City, 1819--1822	35	(24)
Aladdin at School, 1822--1827	59	(21)
Fantasies, 1827--1831	80	(23)
My Time Belongs to the Heart, 1831--1833	103	(19)
Italy, 1833--1835	122	(25)
First Fairy Tales, 1835	147	(20)
Walking on Knives, 1836--1837	167	(12)
Le Poete, C'est Moi! 1837--1840	179	(18)
I Belong to the World, 1840--1843	197	(22)
Jenny, 1843--1844	219	(23)
Winter's Tales, 1844--1845	242	(20)
The Princes' Poet, 1845--1846	262	(18)
The Shadow, 1846--1847	280	(15)
Lion of London, 1847	295	(28)
Between the Wars, 1848--1851	323	(14)
Weimar Revisited, 1851--1856	337	(14)
Dickens, 1856--1857	351	(10)
Experiments, 1858--1859	361	(12)
Kiss of the Muse, 1860--1865	373	(26)
Aladdin's Palace of the Present, 1865--1869	399	(19)
So Great a Love of Life, 1869--1875	418	(23)
Sources	441	(2)
Notes	443	(30)
Select Bibliography	473	(4)
Index	477