Hans Christian Andersen is a Danish writer. World fame brought him fairy tales, which combine romance and realism, fantasy and humor, a satirical beginning with irony. based on folklore<Огниво>), imbued with humanism, lyricism and humor (<Стойкий оловянный солдатик>, <Гадкий утенок>, <Русалочка>, <Снежная королева>), fairy tales condemn social inequality, selfishness, self-interest, complacency of the powerful (<Новое платье короля>).

Andersen's contemporaries were outraged by the fairy tales "The King's New Clothes" and "The Flint". Critics saw in them a lack of morality and respect for high persons. This, above all, was observed in the scene when the dog brings the princess at night to the soldier's closet at night. Contemporaries believed that fairy tales were intended exclusively for children and did not feel the originality of the creative manner of the Danish writer.

However, contemporaries knew, unlike many of us, not only Andersen the storyteller. Andersen's creative heritage is much more extensive: 5 novels and the story "Lucky Per", more than 20 plays, countless poems, 5 books of travel essays, memoirs "The Tale of My Life", extensive correspondence, diaries. And all these works of different genres in their own way contributed to the creation of Andersen's original literary fairy tale, about which the Norwegian writer Bjornstjerne Martinus Bjornson rightly noted that it “has both drama, and romance, and philosophy.

Biography of Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in Denmark, in the small town of Odense on the island of Funen. Andersen's father, Hans Andersen (1782-1816), was a poor shoemaker, his mother, Anna Marie Andersdatter (1775-1833), also came from a poor family: as a child, she even had to beg, worked as a laundress, and after her death was buried in a cemetery for the poor.

In Denmark, there is a legend about Andersen's royal origin, because in an early biography Andersen wrote that in childhood he played with Prince Frits, later King Frederick VII, who, according to Andersen, was his only friend. Andersen's friendship with Prince Frits, according to Andersen's fantasy, continued until the latter's death. The credibility of this legend is given by the fact that, apart from relatives, only Hans Christian Andersen was admitted to the royal coffin. However, do not forget that by that time, Andersen had turned from the son of a shoemaker into a symbol and pride of Denmark.

And the reason for this fantasy was the stories of the boy's father that he is a relative of the king. From childhood, the future writer showed a penchant for dreaming and writing, often staging impromptu home performances. Hans grew up refined and nervous, emotional and receptive. An ordinary school, where in those days physical punishment was practiced, caused him only fear and hostility. For this reason, his parents sent him to a Jewish school, where there were no such punishments. Hence Andersen's forever preserved connection with the Jewish people and knowledge of its traditions and culture; he wrote several fairy tales and stories on Jewish topics - they were not translated into Russian.

In 1816, Andersen's father died, and the boy had to work for food. He was an apprentice first to a weaver, then to a tailor. Andersen then worked in a cigarette factory.

At the age of 14, Andersen left for Copenhagen: he dreamed of getting into the theater. Whether he saw himself as a famous artist or director, what he dreamed of in his dreams, only that lanky boy, clumsy as the Ugly Duckling from the fairy tale he wrote later, knew. In life, he was ready for the smallest roles. But even that was a lot of work. There was everything: fruitless trips to famous artists, requests and even nervous tears. Finally, thanks to his perseverance and pleasant voice, despite his awkward figure, Hans was admitted to the Royal Theater, where he played minor roles. It did not last long: the age-related breakdown of his voice deprived him of the opportunity to perform on stage.

Andersen, meanwhile, composed a play in 5 acts and wrote a letter to the king, convincing him to give money for its publication. This book also included poetry. The experience was unsuccessful - they did not want to buy the book. In the same way, they did not want to stage the play in the theater, where young Andersen went, still not losing hope.

But on the other hand, people who sympathized with the poor and sensitive young man petitioned the King of Denmark, Frederick VI, who allowed him to study at a school in the town of Slagels, and then at another school in Elsinore at the expense of the treasury. The students at the school were 6 years younger than Andersen, so relations with them did not work out. Strict rules did not cause love either, and the rector's critical attitude left such an unpleasant aftertaste for life that Andersen once wrote that he had seen him in nightmares for many years.

In 1827, Andersen completed his studies, but he did not really have a literacy: until the end of his life, he made many grammatical errors.

In 1829, Andersen's published fantasy story "Hiking from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager" brought fame to the writer. Little was written before 1833, when Andersen received a cash allowance from the king, which allowed him to make his first trip abroad. Since that time, Andersen has been writing a large number of literary works, including in 1835 the Fairy Tales that made him famous.

In the 1840s, Andersen tried to return to the stage, but without much success. At the same time, he confirmed his talent by publishing the collection "A Picture Book without Pictures". The fame of his Tales grew; The 2nd issue of "Tales" was started in 1838, and the 3rd - in 1845.

By this time he was already a famous writer, widely known in Europe. In June 1847, Andersen first came to England and was awarded a triumphant meeting. In the second half of the 1840s and in the following years, Andersen continued to publish novels and plays, trying in vain to become famous as a playwright and novelist.

Andersen was angry when he was called a children's storyteller and said that he wrote fairy tales for both children and adults. For the same reason, he ordered that there should not be a single child on his monument, where the storyteller was originally supposed to be surrounded by children.

The last tale was written by Andersen on Christmas Day 1872. In 1872, Andersen fell out of bed, badly hurt himself and never recovered from his injuries, although he lived for another three years. He died on August 4, 1875 and is buried in the Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Biography of Hans Christian Andersen (for children)

Among the writers of Denmark of the XIX century. Hans Christian Andersen became the most famous outside the country. He was born in the provincial Danish town of Odense, on the island of Funen. The father of the writer-storyteller was a shoemaker, his mother was a laundress. In Andersen's story "The Lost", the washerwoman's son in light patched clothes, shod in heavy wooden shoes, runs to the river, where his mother, knee-deep in ice-cold water, rinses someone else's linen. This is how Andersen remembered his childhood.

But even then he had joyful, precious moments when his father read to his son amazing tales from the Thousand and One Nights, wise fables, funny comedies, and mother, grandmother or old neighbors told amazing folk tales in the evenings, which many years later Andersen - told his children. Hans Christian studied at a school for the poor, participated in an amateur puppet theater, where he improvised funny scenes, intertwining life observations with childish fiction.

His father died early, and the little boy had to work in a garment factory. At the age of fourteen, Andersen, with a bundle in his hand and ten coins in his pocket, came on foot to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. He brought with him a notebook in which, with monstrous spelling errors, he wrote down his first compositions in large letters. Only at the age of seventeen did he again manage to sit at a desk next to little boys in order to continue his education. Five years later, Andersen became a student at the University of Copenhagen.

Poverty, hunger, humiliation did not prevent him from writing poetry, comedies, dramas. In 1831, Andersen created the first fairy tale, and starting from 1835, almost every year he gave children collections of amazing fairy tales for the New Year.

Andersen traveled a lot. He lived in Germany for a long time, visited Italy more than once, visited England, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, even Africa. He was friends with many poets, writers, composers.

We often meet with Hans Christian Andersen in his fairy tales. We also recognize him in that student from the fairy tale “Flowers of Little Ida”, who knew how to tell the most wonderful stories and cut magnificent palaces and intricate figures out of paper; and in the magician Ole-Lukoe; and in the cheerful man from the fairy tale "Spruce", who, sitting under the tree, told the children about the lucky Klumpe-Dumpe; and in the lonely old man from the fairy tale "Elder Mother", about whom they said that, whatever he touches, whatever he looks at, a fairy tale comes out of everything. So Andersen knew how to turn any little thing into a fairy tale, and for this he did not need a magic wand.

Andersen passionately loved simple, hardworking people, sympathized with the poor and unfairly offended: Little Klaus, who plowed his field only on Sundays, because six days a week he worked in the field of Big Klaus; a poor woman who lived in the attic and went out every morning to heat stoves in other people's houses, leaving her sick daughter at home; gardener Larsen, who grew amazing fruits and flowers for his arrogant masters. Andersen hated all those who believe that money can buy everything, that nothing in the world is more valuable than wealth, and dreamed of happiness for all people with a kind heart and skillful hands.

In Andersen's fairy tales, as if in a magic miniaturizing mirror, pictures of the real life of bourgeois Denmark of the last century were reflected. Therefore, even in his fantastic tales there is so much deep life truth.

Andersen's favorite heroes are the Nightingale, who sang loudly and sweetly, who lived in a green forest by the sea; this is the Ugly Duckling, whom everyone offends; A tin soldier who always held firm, even in the dark belly of a big fish.

In Andersen's fairy tales, happy is not the one who lived his life for himself, but the one who brought joy and hope to people. Happy is the rose bush, which every day gave the world new roses, and not the snail, clogged in its shell (“The Snail and the Rose Bush”). And of the five peas that grew in one pod (“Five from one pod”), the most remarkable was not the one that grew fertile in the musty water of the gutter and was proud that it would soon burst, but the one that sprouted in the crack of the wooden window sill under the attic window. The sprout released green leaves, the stalk twisted around the twine, and one spring morning a light pink flower blossomed ... The life of this pea was not in vain - every day the green plant brought new joy to the sick girl.

Many years have passed since the death of the great storyteller, and we still hear his living wise voice.

Materials used:
Wikipedia, Encyclopedia for children

Biography and episodes of life Hans Christian Andersen. When born and died Hans Christian Andersen, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. writer quotes, Photo and video.

The years of the life of Hans Christian Andersen:

born April 2, 1805, died August 8, 1875

Epitaph

To whom were you dear in life,
To whom he gave his love
Those for your rest
They will pray again and again.

Biography

The world's greatest storyteller, Hans Christian Andersen, has always been a little offended by being considered a children's writer. After all, he wrote his fairy tales for adults. Andersen's biography is the story of a boy from a poor family who, thanks to his talent, was able to become famous all over the world, but he was lonely all his life.

He was born in the town of Odense. From childhood, Andersen was in love with the theater and often played puppet shows at home. As if twisted in his own, fairy-tale worlds, he grew up as a sensitive, vulnerable boy, he had a hard time studying, and not the most spectacular appearance left almost no chance for theatrical success. But Andersen did not give up - at the age of 14 he moved to Copenhagen to become famous, and he succeeded. At first he was accepted to the Royal Theater - however, more out of sympathy: the boy played secondary roles there, but was soon fired. There, in Copenhagen, he continued to study thanks to the intercession of kind people who sympathize with Andersen. In 1829 he began to write, and for the rest of his life Andersen wrote numerous fairy tales, short stories and stories. He became famous almost immediately. And when the writer gave King Frederick a collection of his poems about Denmark, he was able to travel around Europe with the money he received. Andersen liked traveling - he drew his inspiration from travels.

During his lifetime, Andersen was awarded many awards - the title of honorary citizen of Odense, the knightly order of Danebrog, the Order of the White Falcon of the First Class in Germany, the rank of State Councilor, etc. Andersen wrote his last fairy tale in 1872, and then a misfortune happened to the writer: he fell out of bed and received severe injuries, which he treated for another three years of his life, until his death. Andersen's death occurred on August 4, 1875, Andersen's cause of death was liver cancer. The day of Andersen's funeral was declared a day of mourning in Denmark - they were attended by the royal family. Andersen's grave is in the Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.

life line

April 2, 1805 Hans Christian Andersen's date of birth.
1827 Graduation at Elsinore.
1828 Admission to the university.
1829 Publication by Andersen of the story "Hiking from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager".
1835 Writing "Tales" by Andersen, which glorified the writer.
1840s-1860s Andersen's creation of dozens of literary works for children and adults.
1867 Obtaining the rank of State Councilor.
1872 Falling out of bed, severe injury.
August 4, 1875 Date of Andersen's death.
August 8, 1875 Andersen's funeral.

Memorable places

1. The city of Odense, where Andersen was born.
2. Andersen's house in Odense, where he was born.
3. Andersen's house in Copenhagen, where he lived.
4. The Royal Theater of Denmark, where Andersen played.

6. Andersen Museum in Odense.
7. Museum "The World of Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen". Denmark, Copenhagen.
8. Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen, where Andersen is buried.

Episodes of life

Even during the life of Andersen, the king decided that the writer needed to erect a monument. Andersen was offered to consider several layouts, of which he rejected those in which he was surrounded by children - in his opinion, he was not a children's writer, although he wrote 156 fairy tales in his life.

Andersen had a beautiful voice, soprano. When he was still working in a factory in his hometown, he often sang. One day, workers in the shop pulled off Andersen's pants to make sure that he was really a young man with such a high voice, and not a girl. Such greasy jokes Andersen had a hard time enduring since childhood.

It is known that Andersen never had love relationships with either men or women. Of course, he fell in love and was tormented by the pangs of passion, but, alas, the objects of his feelings did not reciprocate. When Andersen was in Paris, he often visited brothels, but only to enjoy pleasant conversations with girls.

Andersen was tall, awkward, thin, he was even called behind his back "lamppost" and "stork". All his life he remained a sensitive person, often suffered from depression, was touchy, vulnerable, suffered from many phobias - for example, he was afraid of fire and that he would be buried alive. When he felt unwell, he wrote a note "it only seems that I died" and left it on his bed.

Covenant

“Only while you are not bound by anything, the whole world is open before you.”

Autobiography of Hans Christian Andersen

condolences

“It must have been very strange for Andersen to live among ordinary people and yet be so different from them. An explosive temperament demanded space that bourgeois Copenhagen could not give him, and the demand for warm and direct relations with other people was rarely satisfied. He did not fit into the environment. He was a big and strange duckling among beautiful little ducklings and cheeky ducks and chickens.
Bo Grönbeck, literary critic

There are few people in the world who do not know the name of the great writer Hans Christian Andersen. More than one generation has grown up on the works of this master of the pen, whose works have been translated into 150 languages ​​of the world. In almost every home, parents read bedtime stories to their children about the Princess and the Pea, Spruce, and little Thumbelina, whom a field mouse tried to marry off to a greedy mole neighbor. Or children watch films and cartoons about the Little Mermaid or about the girl Gerda, who dreamed of rescuing Kai from the cold hands of the callous Snow Queen.

The world described by Andersen is amazing and beautiful. But along with the magic and the flight of fantasy, there is a philosophical thought in his fairy tales, because the writer devoted his work to both children and adults. Many critics agree that under the shell of Andersen's naivete and simple style of narration lies a deep meaning, the task of which is to give the reader the necessary food for thought.

Childhood and youth

Hans Christian Andersen (generally accepted Russian spelling, Hans Christian would be more correct) was born on April 2, 1805 in the third largest city in Denmark, Odense. Some biographers assured that Andersen was the illegitimate son of the Danish king Christian VIII, but in fact the future writer grew up and was brought up in a poor family. His father, also named Hans, worked as a shoemaker and barely made ends meet, and his mother Anna Marie Andersdatter worked as a laundress and was an illiterate woman.

The head of the family believed that his ancestry began from a noble dynasty: the paternal grandmother told her grandson that their family belonged to a privileged social class, but these speculations were not confirmed and were challenged over time. There are many rumors about Andersen's relatives, which to this day excite the minds of readers. For example, they say that the grandfather of the writer - a carver by profession - was considered crazy in the town, because he made incomprehensible figures of people with wings, similar to angels, out of wood.

Hans Sr. introduced the child to literature. He read to his offspring "1001 nights" - traditional Arabic tales. Therefore, every evening, little Hans plunged into the magical stories of Scheherazade. Also, the father and son loved to take walks in the park in Odense and even visited the theater, which made an indelible impression on the boy. In 1816 the writer's father died.

The real world was a severe test for Hans, he grew up as an emotional, nervous and sensitive child. Andersen’s state of mind is to blame for the local bully, who simply distributes cuffs, and teachers, because in those troubled times, punishment with rods was commonplace, so the future writer considered school an unbearable torture.

When Andersen flatly refused to attend classes, the parents assigned the young man to a charity school for poor children. After receiving his primary education, Hans became an apprentice weaver, then retrained as a tailor, and later worked in a cigarette factory.

Andersen's relations with colleagues in the workshop, to put it mildly, did not work out. He was constantly embarrassed by vulgar anecdotes and narrow-minded jokes of workers, and one day, under the general laughter, Hans pulled down his pants to make sure he was a boy or a girl. And all because in childhood the writer had a thin voice and often sang during the shift. This event forced the future writer to completely withdraw into himself. The only friends of the young man were wooden dolls, once made by his father.

When Hans was 14 years old, in search of a better life, he moved to Copenhagen, which at that time was considered the "Scandinavian Paris". Anna Marie thought that Andersen would leave for the capital of Denmark for a short time, so she let her beloved son go with a light heart. Hans left his father's house because he dreamed of becoming famous, he wanted to learn acting and play on the stage of the theater in classical productions. It is worth saying that Hans was a lanky young man with a long nose and limbs, for which he received the offensive nicknames "stork" and "lamppost".

Andersen was also teased in childhood as a "playwriter", because the boy's house had a toy theater with rag "actors". A diligent young man with a funny appearance gave the impression of an ugly duckling, who was accepted into the Royal Theater out of pity, and not because he was an excellent soprano. On the stage of the theater, Hans played minor roles. But soon his voice began to break, so classmates, who considered Andersen primarily a poet, advised the young man to concentrate on literature.

Jonas Collin, a Danish statesman who was in charge of finance during the reign of Frederick VI, was very fond of a young man unlike everyone else and convinced the king to pay for the education of a young writer.

Andersen studied at the prestigious Slagels and Elsinore schools (where he sat at the same desk with students 6 years younger than himself) at the expense of the treasury, although he was not a diligent student: Hans never mastered the letter and made multiple spelling and punctuation errors all his life in a letter. Later, the storyteller recalled that he had nightmares about his student years, because the rector constantly criticized the young man to the nines, and, as you know, Andersen did not like this.

Literature

During his lifetime, Hans Christian Andersen wrote poetry, short stories, novels and ballads. But for all readers, his name is primarily associated with fairy tales - there are 156 works in the track record of the master of the pen. However, Hans disliked being called a children's writer and claimed to write for boys and girls as well as adults. It got to the point that Andersen ordered that there should not be a single child on his monument, although initially the monument was supposed to be surrounded by children.

Illustration for Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling"

Hans gained recognition and fame in 1829, when he published the adventure story "Hiking from the Holmen canal to the eastern tip of Amager". Since then, the young writer did not leave his pen and inkwell and wrote literary works one after another, including fairy tales that glorified him, into which he introduced a system of high genres. True, novels, short stories and vaudevilles were given to the author hard - at the moments of writing, he seemed to suffer a creative crisis in spite.

Illustration for Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "Wild Swans"

Andersen drew inspiration from everyday life. In his opinion, everything in this world is beautiful: a flower petal, a small bug, and a spool of thread. Indeed, if we recall the works of the creator, then even every galosh or pea from a pod has an amazing biography. Hans relied both on his own fantasy and on the motifs of the folk epic, thanks to which he wrote The Flint, The Wild Swans, The Swineherd and other stories published in the collection Tales Told to Children (1837).

Illustration for the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen "The Little Mermaid"

Andersen loved to make protagonists of characters who are looking for a place in society. This includes Thumbelina, the Little Mermaid, and the Ugly Duckling. Such characters make the author sympathetic. All Andersen's stories from cover to cover are saturated with philosophical meaning. It is worth recalling the fairy tale "The King's New Dress", where the emperor asks two rogues to sew him an expensive robe. However, the outfit turned out to be difficult and consisted entirely of "invisible threads". The crooks assured the customer that only fools would not see the extremely thin fabric. Thus, the king flaunts around the palace in an indecent form.

Illustration for the fairy tale "Thumbelina" by Hans Christian Andersen

He and his courtiers do not notice the intricate dress, but are afraid to make themselves look like fools if they admit that the ruler is walking around in what his mother gave birth to. This tale began to be interpreted as a parable, and the phrase "And the king is naked!" included in the list of winged expressions. It is noteworthy that not all Andersen's fairy tales are saturated with luck, not all of the writer's manuscripts contain the “deusexmachina” technique, when a random coincidence that saves the protagonist (for example, the prince kisses the poisoned Snow White) seems to appear from nowhere by God's will.

Illustration for the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans is loved by adult readers for not drawing a utopian world where everyone lives happily ever after, but, for example, without a twinge of conscience sends a steadfast tin soldier into a burning fireplace, dooming a lonely little man to death. In 1840, the master of the pen tried his hand at the genre of short stories and miniatures and published the collection "A Book with Pictures without Pictures", in 1849 he wrote the novel "Two Baronesses". Four years later, the book To Be or Not to Be was published, but all Andersen's attempts to establish himself as a novelist were in vain.

Personal life

The personal life of the failed actor, but the eminent writer Andersen is a mystery shrouded in darkness. Rumor has it that throughout the existence of the great writer remained in the dark about intimacy with women or men. There is an assumption that the great storyteller was a latent homosexual (as evidenced by the epistolary heritage), he had close friendly relations with friends Edward Collin, the crown duke of Weimar and with the dancer Harald Schraff. Although there were three women in the life of Hans, the matter did not go beyond fleeting sympathy, not to mention marriage.

The first chosen one of Andersen was the sister of a school friend Riborg Voigt. But the indecisive young man did not dare to talk to the object of his desire. Louise Collin - the writer's next potential bride - stopped any attempts at courtship and ignored the fiery stream of love letters. The 18-year-old girl preferred Andersen to a wealthy lawyer.

In 1846, Hans fell in love with the opera singer Jenny Lind, who was nicknamed "The Swedish Nightingale" because of her sonorous soprano voice. Andersen guarded Jenny backstage and presented the beauty with poems and generous gifts. But the charming girl was in no hurry to reciprocate the storyteller's sympathy, but treated him like a brother. When Andersen learned that the singer had married the British composer Otto Goldschmidt, Hans plunged into depression. Cold-hearted Jenny Lind became the prototype of the Snow Queen from the writer's fairy tale of the same name.

Illustration for Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen"

Andersen was unlucky in love. Therefore, it is not surprising that the storyteller, upon arrival in Paris, visited the red light districts. True, instead of debauchery all night long with frivolous young ladies, Hans talked with them, sharing the details of his unhappy life. When an acquaintance of Andersen hinted to him that he was visiting brothels for other purposes, the writer was surprised and looked at his interlocutor with obvious disgust.

It is also known that Andersen was a devoted admirer, talented writers met at a literary meeting held by the Countess of Blessington in her salon. After this meeting, Hans wrote in his diary:

"We went out on the veranda, I was happy to talk to the living writer of England, whom I love most."

After 10 years, the storyteller again arrived in England and came as an uninvited guest to Dickens' house to the detriment of his family. As time passed, Charles ceased correspondence with Andersen, and the Dane sincerely did not understand why all his letters remained unanswered.

Death

In the spring of 1872, Andersen fell out of bed, hitting the floor hard, because of which he received multiple injuries from which he never managed to recover.

Later, the writer was diagnosed with liver cancer. On August 4, 1875 Hans died. The great writer is buried in the Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Bibliography

• 1829 - "Traveling on foot from the Holmen Canal to the eastern cape of the island of Amager"
• 1829 - "Love on the Nikolaev Tower"
• 1834 - "Agneta and Vodyanoy"
• 1835 - "Improviser" (Russian translation - in 1844)
• 1837 - "Only a violinist"
• 1835-1837 - "Tales told for children"
• 1838 - "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"
• 1840 - "A picture book without pictures"
• 1843 - The Nightingale
• 1843 - "The Ugly Duckling"
• 1844 - "The Snow Queen"
• 1845 - "Girl with matches"
• 1847 - "Shadow"
• 1849 - "Two Baronesses"
• 1857 - "To be or not to be"

Every child loves to listen to fairy tales. Among their favorites, many will name Thumbelina, Flint, Ugly Duckling and others. The author of these wonderful children's works is Hans Christian Andersen. Despite the fact that, in addition to fairy tales, he wrote poetry and prose, it was fairy tales that brought him fame. Let's get acquainted with a short biography of Hans Christian Andersen for children, which is no less interesting than his fairy tales.

The name of Hans Christian Andersen is known all over the world. His stories are read with pleasure both in our country and abroad. G.H. Andersen is a writer, prose writer and poet, but above all, he is the author of children's fairy tales, which combine fantasy, romance, humor and all of them are permeated with humanity and humanity.

Childhood and youth

Andersen begins in 1805, when a child is born in a poor family of a shoemaker and a laundress. It happened in Denmark in the small town of Odens. The family lived very modestly, because the parents did not have money for luxury, but they enveloped their child with love and care. As a child, his father told little Hans stories from the Thousand and One Nights and loved to sing good songs to his son. Andersen in childhood very often visited the hospital with mentally ill patients, because his grandmother worked there, to whom he liked to come. The boy liked to communicate with patients and listen to their stories. As the author of fairy tales later writes, he became a writer thanks to the songs of his father and the stories of the insane.

When the father died in the family, Hans had to look for work to earn food. The boy worked for a weaver, then for a tailor, he had to work at a cigarette factory. Thanks to the accumulated funds, in 1819 Andersen buys boots and goes to Copenhagen, where he works at the royal theater. Already at the age of fourteen, he tries to write the play Sun of the Elves, which turned out to be very crude. Although the work turned out to be weak, she managed to attract the attention of the management. At the board of directors, it was decided to give the boy a scholarship so that he could study at the gymnasium for free.

Studying was difficult for Andersen, but in spite of everything, he graduated from the gymnasium.

Literary creativity

Although the boy showed talent for writing fairy tales in early childhood, his real creative literary activity begins in 1829, when the world saw his first fantastic work. It immediately brought popularity to Hans Christian Andersen. Thus begins his writing career, and the book Tales, which is published in 1835, brings real fame to the writer. Despite the fact that G.Kh. Andersen is trying to develop as a poet and as a prose writer, with the help of his plays and novels he fails to become famous. He continues to write stories. This is how the second book and the third book of Fairy Tales appear.

In 1872 Andersen wrote his last fairy tale. It happened around Christmas. Just at this time, the writer fell unsuccessfully and received severe injuries. So, three years later, without regaining consciousness, the soul of the storyteller left this world. Died G.Kh. Andersen in 1875. The writer is buried in Copenhagen.

Biography of Hans Christian Andersen: where did the adult storyteller live? April 2 marks the 213th anniversary of the birth of the writer. What is hidden between the lines of a children's writer, read in today's article dedicated to the Danish prose writer.

Where did Hans Christian Andersen live?

“The life of every person is a fairy tale,

written by God"

G. H. Andersen

The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, reinterpreted more than once by animators and directors, accompanied adults from the cradle to becoming. Popular "Mermaid", lost in sea foam "Girl with matches", from the history of which the blood turns cold, "The girl who stepped on the bread" "Red Shoes" and others were dedicated not to children, but to adults who had not lost faith in fairy tales. Rereading the lines of familiar stories, you can find new and new answers to difficult life questions.

"Once upon a time there was a troll, angry-preslying ..."

Not a troll, of course, but its creator - Hans Christian Andersen born and lived in the city of Odense, the Danish-Norwegian Union from April 2, 1805 . His father was a shoemaker and his mother a laundress. As if descended from the literary stage, the parents gave the boy inexhaustible motives for fairy tales. Hans was a nervous child with poor physical performance, so he came from school in a beating. Author of The Benefits of Magic Alain Brook conducted research forTheNewYorkTimes about the writer's childhood. It turned out that beatings and physical harassment were normal not only for schoolchildren, but also for teachers who used force as one of the “teaching” methods.

"There are no fairy tales better than those created by life itself"

G. H. Andersen

Magic surrounded Hans from a young age. Despite his poor background, there were rumors in the town that Hans belonged to a noble family. In his autobiography, Christian repeatedly mentioned his friendship with King Federick VII, and then still Prince Frits. The author tried to revive the fruit of his fantasies by staging performances at home, from which he received mockery of his peers.

Hans Andersen: fears, women and fairy tales

Years of bullying and disembodied fantasies made a nervous young man out of Hans Christian Andersen. According to biographers and extracts from the author's autobiography, one can form a portrait of the storyteller: thin, tall, round-shouldered, with an anxious look. He was afraid, it seemed, of everything in the world: dogs, robberies, poisoning, burn in a fire, fall out of a window. The last two fears prompted the writer to carry a rope with him everywhere, being equipped in case of an unexpected passage. Once the children sent the author a box of chocolates as a gift, but Hans was so afraid of poisoning that he sent the gift to his nieces.

Hans Christian was in his 40s when he first fell in love. In 1840 he met Jenny Lind in Copenhagen. Although the inner world of Hans Andersen was occupied with fairy tales and there could be no talk of any novels, the girl stole the heart of a nervous writer and soon, in 1843 he will write in my diary, as if surprised and delighted at the same time, “I love!”.

Developing other aspects of the professional direction, he was fond of creating comedies and plays, wrote poetry, in particular for Jenny Lind, who soon married another, not sharing the writer's ardent love. He tried himself as a novelist, but was remembered by the people as the good old storyteller Hans.

"I was made the writer of father's songs and the speeches of the mad" - wrote G. Andersen. We don’t know if the speech is in the head or from the environment, but in the gloomy pictures of fairy tales with a bit of hope and boundless expanses of purity, the storyteller managed to convey a particle of himself.

Hans Christian Andersen quotes and aphorisms:

• “Life is like a beautiful melody, only the songs are mixed up”;
• “When you move away from the mountains, only then do you see them in their true form. It's the same with friends."
• "To live, you need the sun, freedom and a small flower."

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