Hans Christian Andersen: a short biography of the Danish writer

😉 Greetings, dear readers! Thank you for choosing the article “What Hans Christian Andersen Was Afraid of: A Brief Biography” on this site!

Hans Christian Andersen

Long ago, in a poor family of a shoemaker and a laundress, a son, Hans (Hans), was born. It happened in the spring of 1805 in Odense, a city on the island of Funen in Denmark. When Hans was eleven years old, his father died.

The guy was prone to writing and fantasy, considering himself the son of the king. He studied poorly at school and did not learn to write correctly until the end of his life. Hans had a clear voice, and his peers called him a girl. He took off his pants in the middle of the class to show what kind he was.

For the children of the neighborhood, he arranged home performances. After graduating from a charity school, the fourteen-year-old boy went to Copenhagen “for glory.”

He was an “ugly duckling”: an awkward teenager with elongated limbs, a neck and a long nose. After many vain attempts to find creative work, he was accepted into the Royal Theater in secondary roles.

Soon, Hans composed a play and turned to the King of Denmark with a request to finance it. The play had no success, but Andersen did not despair. Seeing his desire to study and write, Frederick VI allowed the young writer to study at the expense of the treasury.

Creativity and the best tales of Andersen

In 1829, the first story of the writer was published – “Walking journey from the Holmen Canal to the eastern end of Almager”. It was this work that brought fame to Andersen.

Four years later, the king allocated money for the travel of the writer. The traveler met V. Hugo, A. Dumas, G. Heine and C. Dickens, who became his friend. Soon, many works appeared, including the famous “Fairy Tales”.

In 1835, Andersen’s first novel, The Improviser, was published, which was approved by critics. Andersen’s last tale was published in 1872 on Christmas Eve. He wrote about 160 fairy tales. The most famous of them:

• “The Snow Queen”;
• “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”;
• “Thumbelina”;
• “Ognivo”;
• Ole Lukkoye;
• “Ugly duck”;
• “Wild swan”;
• “The new dress of the king”;
• “Princess on the Pea”;
• “Nightingale” and others.

Personal life

In life, he loved three women, but none responded to his feelings. He was in love with the Swedish singer Annie Lind, gave her gifts and flowers. She accepted them, but married another. It was she who became the prototype of the Snow Queen.

The writer no longer paid attention to the ladies. He was a bachelor, often went to a brothel and talked to prostitutes. And yet Andersen had a high opinion of himself. During his lifetime he discussed the project of his monument.

Phobias

Nevertheless, I feel sorry for this big awkward man with many phobias. He was afraid of dogs, robberies – they fancied him at every step. He was afraid of fires and always kept a rope with him in order to jump out of the window.

He was an extremely suspicious man, suffered from neurasthenia. He always tried on other people’s illnesses. This character trait sometimes made his life unbearable. Think for yourself: what is it like to feel hopelessly sick several times during the day?

However, even more trouble was brought to the writer by such an unacceptable quality for any man as vulnerability. Even harmless jokes were offended by the unfortunate Hans. And if someone refused to listen to his works, then this drove the writer into a severe depression: he sobbed for days on end.

The great storyteller turned out to be just as great a miser: Andersen, for example, ate at a party. But thanks to this, he left a good legacy to his friends.

Andersen was afraid to be buried alive, every evening he left a note by the bed: “I am alive!” At the age of seventy, the great storyteller died of liver cancer. His monument stands in Copenhagen. There is also a monument in Moscow in the Muzeon art park.

😉 Was the article “What Hans Christian Andersen Was Afraid of: A Brief Biography” helpful to you? Leave a comment or share this information on social media. networks.