Andersen, Hans Christian
(1805-75)
A Danish shoemaker's son who as a child had heard traditional storytelling 'in the spinning-room or during the hop harvest'. He began writing fairytales in 1835, and continued all his life; the first English translations appeared in 1846. Some, for instance 'The Travelling Companions' and 'Big Claus and Little Claus', follow traditional plots quite closely; others are variations on old motifs, such as 'The Little Mermaid', elaborating the belief that water-spirits may love humans, and may desire to obtain salvation. Many, including the well-known 'Ugly Duckling', are entirely his own creations; almost all are full of pathos and emotionalism. Andersen's influence on the later literary fairytale in England was profound; it pervades the fairytales of Oscar Wilde, and can be felt as early as 1857 in several passages of Dickens's Little Dorrit. About a dozen are now among the stock of fairytales which most English children know, and are no longer felt as foreign.
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