Hans Christian Andersen

A New Life

Jens Andersen

• Publisher: ABRAMS Press
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781468305470
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Biographies
• Index: Literature

"Andersen provides a fascinating backdrop for the life of the acclaimed fairy tale writer... a budding genius placed in the context of his time." — Publishers Weekly Hans Christian Andersen was a storyteller for children of all ages, but he was more than that. He was a critical journalist with great enthusiasm for science, an existential thinker, an observant travel book writer, a passionate novelist, a deft paper cut-out artist, a neurotic hypochondriac, and a man with intense but frustrated sexual desires. This startling and immensely readable, definitive biography by Danish scholar Jens Andersen is essential to a full understanding of the man whose writing has influenced the lives of readers young and old for centuries. Jens Andersen sheds brilliant new light on Hans Christian Andersen's writings and on the writer whose own life had many aspects of the fairytale. Like some of the memorable characters he created, Andersen grew up in miserable and impoverished circumstances. He later propagated myths about his life and family, but this new biography uncovers much about this man that has never been revealed before. "[An] enthralling, ground-breaking new biography... Jens Andersen has a novelist's insights which enhance his meticulous biographical skills, making us appreciate (among much else) that ambiguity is as intrinsic to the life as to the art that came out of it." — The Independent

Index

Note: Italicized page numbers beginning with “p” indicate the photo number within the photo sections.

A

Abor and Elvire, 34

accommodations. See lodgings

Ad usus publicos. See Royal Foundation

Adresseavisen newspaper, 36, 112

“Advice to my Female Readers,” 138–139

Æsop, 248

affectionate notes, 364

Agnete and the Merman (!834), 133, 178–179, 188–201, 250, 253–254

Agnete Lind’s Picture Book, p36, 504–507

“Agnete’s Lullaby,” 192

Ahasuerus (1847), 269, 362, 405–406, 461, 533–534

Ahlefeldt-Laurvig, Elise, 356

Aladdin, 75

Alamanach Comique, 506

Album, 291, 428

Alexander the Great, 83

Alfsol (play), 47–49, 53, 56, 61–62, 70

Alice in Wonderland (Carroll), 239

Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, 291

Allingham, William, 399

Almquist, C.J.L., 201

Amalienborg Palace, 75–76, 87

Anacreon, 245

Andersdatter, Anne Marie

background, 337–338, 374–379

baptism of Hans, 352

biological inheritance from, 375–376

death of, 194, 388–390

illiterate, 375, 381, 387

imagination of, 379–385

immorality and, 347–348

imploring letters, 386–388

marriage of, 358

on military, 370

public assistance, 371

sharing beds and, 157

“She Was No Good” and, 353–354

summoning wise woman, 373

superstition and, 369

Andersen, Hans

background, 337–338

baptism of son, 352

biological inheritance from, 375–376

death of, 375

as free thinker, 360–369

last days of, 372–373

military service, 370–372

paternity of son, 358–359

royal application of, 394

Andersen, Hans Christian

appearance of, 1...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Contents
• TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
• FOREWORD
• One: ARRIVAL (1819–1822)
• Two: IN THE HOUSE OF EDUCATION (1822–1827)
• Three: WILD LIKE A POET (1827–1832)
• Four: YOUR ONLY FAULT WAS LOVE (1832–1836)
• Five: IN FAIRY LAND (1835–1840)
• Six: DISTANT SHORES (1840–1846)
• Seven: THE WATER OF LIFE (1846–1850)
• Eight: THE PATH FROM NATURE TO GOD (1850–1860)
• Nine: AMONG BROTHERS (1860–1870)
• Ten: THE MAN IN THE MOON (1870–1875)
• NOTES
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX
• ILLUSTRATION CREDITS