In what city was Hans Christian Andersen born? Hans Christian Andersen

Life without fairy tales is boring, empty and unpretentious. Hans Christian Andersen understood this perfectly. Even though his character was not easy, but when he opened the door to another magical story, people did not pay attention to it, but happily immersed themselves in a new, previously unheard of story.

Family

Hans Christian Andersen is a world famous Danish poet and prose writer. He has more than 400 fairy tales, which even today do not lose their popularity. The famous storyteller was born in Odnes (Danish-Norwegian Union, Funen island) on April 2, 1805. He comes from a poor family. His father was a simple shoemaker, and his mother was a laundress. Throughout her childhood she was poor and begged on the street, and when she died, she was buried in a cemetery for the poor.

Hans's grandfather was a woodcarver, but in the town where he lived he was considered a little crazy. Being a creative person by nature, he carved wooden figures of half-humans, half-animals with wings, and to many such art was completely incomprehensible. Christian Andersen did poorly at school and wrote with errors until the end of his life, but from childhood he was attracted to writing.

Fantasy world

There is a legend in Denmark that Andersen came from a royal family. These rumors are due to the fact that the storyteller himself wrote in an early autobiography that he played as a child with Prince Frits, who years later became King Frederick VII. And he had no friends among the yard boys. But since Christian Andersen loved to compose, it is likely that this friendship was a figment of his imagination. Based on the storyteller's fantasies, his friendship with the prince continued even when they became adults. Apart from relatives, Hans was the only person from the outside who was allowed to visit the coffin of the late monarch.

The source of these fantasies was the stories of Andersen's father that he was a distant relative of the royal family. From early childhood, the future writer was a great dreamer, and his imagination was truly wild. More than once or twice he staged impromptu performances at home, acted out various skits and made adults laugh. His peers openly disliked him and often mocked him.

Difficulties

When Christian Andersen was 11 years old, his father died (1816). The boy had to earn his own living. He began working as an apprentice to a weaver, and later worked as a tailor's assistant. Then his work continued at a cigarette factory.

The boy had amazing big blue eyes and a reserved character. He liked to sit alone somewhere in a corner and play puppet theater - his favorite game. He did not lose this love for puppet shows even as an adult, carrying it in his soul until the end of his days.

Christian Andersen was different from his peers. Sometimes it seemed as if a hot-tempered “uncle” lived in the body of a little boy, and if you didn’t put your finger in his mouth, he would bite him off up to the elbow. He was too emotional and took everything too personally, which is why he was often subjected to physical punishment in schools. For these reasons, the mother had to send her son to a Jewish school, where various executions against students were not practiced. Thanks to this act, the writer was well aware of the traditions of the Jewish people and forever maintained a connection with them. He even wrote several stories on Jewish themes; unfortunately, they were never translated into Russian.

Years of youth

When Christian Andersen turned 14 years old, he headed to Copenhagen. The mother assumed that her son would return soon. In fact, he was still a child, and in such a big city he had little chance of “getting hooked.” But, leaving his father’s house, the future writer confidently declared that he would become famous. First of all, he wanted to find a job that he liked. For example, in the theater, which he loved so much. He received money for the trip from a man in whose house he often staged impromptu performances.

The first year of life in the capital did not bring the storyteller one step closer to fulfilling his dream. One day he came to the house of a famous singer and began to beg her to help him work in the theater. To get rid of the strange teenager, the lady made a promise that she would help him, but she never kept her word. Only many years later does she admit to him that, when she first saw him, she thought he was devoid of reason.

At that time, the writer was a lanky, thin and stooped teenager, with an anxious and bad character. He was afraid of everything: possible robbery, dogs, fire, loss of his passport. All his life he suffered from toothache and for some reason believed that the number of teeth affected his writing. He was also deathly afraid of getting poisoned. When Scandinavian children sent their favorite storyteller sweets, he was horrified to send the gift to his nieces.

It can be said that as a teenager, Hans Christian Andersen himself was an analogue of the Ugly Duckling. But he had a surprisingly pleasant voice, and either thanks to him, or out of pity, he still got a place at the Royal Theater. True, he never achieved success. He was constantly given supporting roles, and when age-related breakdown of his voice began, he was completely kicked out of the troupe.

First works

But to put it briefly, Hans Christian Andersen was not very upset by the dismissal. At that time, he was already writing a five-act play and sent a letter to the king asking for financial assistance in publishing his work. In addition to the play, Hans Christian Andersen's book includes poems. The writer did everything to ensure that his work was sold. But neither announcements nor advertising campaigns in newspapers led to the expected level of sales. The storyteller did not give up. He took the book to the theater in the hope that a play would be staged based on his play. But here, too, disappointment awaited him.

Studies

The theater said that the writer lacked professional experience and offered him to study. People who sympathized with the unfortunate teenager sent a request to the King of Denmark himself to allow him to fill in the gaps in knowledge. His Majesty listened to the requests and provided the storyteller with the opportunity to receive an education at the expense of the state treasury. As the biography of Hans Christian Andersen says, his life took a sharp turn: he received a place as a student at a school in the city of Slagels, and later in Elsinore. Now the talented teenager did not need to think about how to earn a living. True, school science was difficult for him. He was constantly criticized by the rector of the educational institution, and Hans also felt uncomfortable due to the fact that he was older than his classmates. His studies ended in 1827, but the writer was never able to master grammar, so he wrote with errors for the rest of his life.

Creation

Considering the short biography of Christian Andersen, it is worth paying attention to his work. The writer’s first ray of fame brought him the fantastic story “A Walking Journey from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager.” This work was published in 1833, and for it the writer received an award from the king himself. The monetary reward enabled Andersen to make the trip abroad that he had always dreamed of.

This became the start, the runway, the beginning of a new stage in life. Hans Christian realized that he could prove himself in another field, and not just in the theater. He began to write, and wrote a lot. Various literary works, including the famous “Fairy Tales” of Hans Christian Andersen, flew out from under his pen like hot cakes. In 1840, he once again tried to conquer the theater stage, but the second attempt, like the first, did not bring the desired result. But he was successful in the craft of writing.

Success and hate

The collection “Picture Book Without Pictures” was released into the world; 1838 was marked by the release of the second issue of “Fairy Tales”, and in 1845 the world saw the bestseller “Fairy Tales-3”. Step by step, Andersen became a famous writer, they talked about him not only in Denmark, but also in Europe. In the summer of 1847, he visited England, where he was greeted with honors and triumph.

The writer continues to write novels and plays. He wants to become famous as a novelist and playwright, but his true fame came from fairy tales, which he quietly begins to hate. Andersen no longer wants to write in this genre, but fairy tales appear from his pen again and again. In 1872, on Christmas Eve, Andersen wrote his last fairy tale. That same year, he carelessly fell out of bed and was seriously injured. He never managed to recover from his injuries, although he lived for another three years after the fall. The writer died on August 4, 1875 in Copenhagen.

The very first fairy tale

Not long ago in Denmark, researchers discovered a hitherto unknown fairy tale “The Tallow Candle” by Hans Christian Andersen. The summary of this discovery is simple: the tallow candle cannot find its place in this world and becomes despondent. But one day she meets a flint that ignites a fire in her, to the delight of those around her.

In terms of its literary merits, this work is significantly inferior to the tales of the later period of creativity. It was written when Andersen was still in school. He dedicated the work to the priest's widow, Mrs. Bunkeflod. Thus, the young man tried to appease her and thank her for paying for his worthless science. Researchers agree that this work is filled with too much moralizing; there is not that gentle humor here, but only morality and “spiritual experiences of a candle.”

Personal life

Hans Christian Andersen never married and had no children. In general, he was not successful with women, and did not strive for this. However, he still had love. In 1840, in Copenhagen, he met a girl named Jenny Lind. Three years later, he will write the cherished words in his diary: “I love!” He wrote fairy tales for her and dedicated poems to her. But Jenny, turning to him, said “brother” or “child”. Although he was almost 40 years old, and she was only 26. In 1852, Lind married a young and promising pianist.

In his declining years, Andersen became even more extravagant: he often visited brothels and stayed there for a long time, but never touched the girls who worked there, but only spoke to them.

As is known, in Soviet times, foreign writers were often published in a shortened or revised version. This did not bypass the works of the Danish storyteller: instead of thick collections, thin collections were published in the USSR. Soviet writers had to remove any mention of God or religion (if that doesn’t work, soften it). Andersen does not have non-religious works, it’s just that in some works this is immediately noticeable, while in others the theological subtext is hidden between the lines. For example, in one of his works there is a phrase:

Everything was in this house: wealth and arrogant gentlemen, but the owner was not in the house.

But the original says that in the house there is no owner, but the Lord.

Or take for comparison “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen: the Soviet reader does not even suspect that when Gerda is scared, she begins to pray. It’s a little annoying that the words of the great writer were altered, or even thrown out altogether. After all, the real value and depth of a work can be understood by studying it from the first word to the last point set by the author. And in the retelling one already feels something fake, unspiritual and unreal.

A few facts

Finally, I would like to mention several little-known facts from the author’s life. The storyteller had Pushkin's autograph. "Elegy", signed by the Russian poet, is now in the Royal Danish Library. Andersen did not part with this work until the end of his days.

Every year on April 2, Children's Book Day is celebrated all over the world. In 1956, the International Children's Book Council awarded the storyteller a Gold Medal, the highest international award that can be received in modern literature.

During his lifetime, Andersen was erected a monument, the design of which he personally approved. At first, the project depicted the writer sitting surrounded by children, but the storyteller was outraged by this: “I wouldn’t be able to say a word in such an environment.” Therefore, the children had to be removed. Now, in a square in Copenhagen, a storyteller sits with a book in his hand, all alone. Which, however, is not so far from the truth.

Andersen cannot be called the life of the party; he could be alone for a long time, was reluctant to get along with people and seemed to live in a world that existed only in his head. No matter how cynical it may sound, his soul was like a coffin - designed for only one person, him. Studying the biography of the storyteller, one can draw only one conclusion: writing is a lonely profession. If you open this world to someone else, then the fairy tale will turn into an ordinary, dry story that is stingy with emotions.

“The Ugly Duckling”, “The Little Mermaid”, “The Snow Queen”, “Thumbelina”, “The King’s New Dress”, “The Princess and the Pea” and more than a dozen fairy tales were given to the world by the author’s pen. But in each of them there is a lonely hero (main or secondary - it doesn’t matter) in whom you can recognize Andersen. And this is correct, because only a storyteller can open the door to that reality where the impossible becomes possible. If he had erased himself from the fairy tale, it would have become a simple story without the right to exist.

A brief biography of Andersen would be incomplete without a description of his early years. The boy was born on April 2 (April 15), 1805. He lived in a rather poor family. His father worked as a shoemaker, and his mother as a laundress.

Young Hans was a rather vulnerable child. In educational institutions of that time, physical punishment was often used, so the fear of studying did not leave Andersen. In this regard, his mother sent him to a charity school, where the teachers were more loyal. The head of this educational institution was Fedder Carstens.

Already in his teens, Hans moved to Copenhagen. The young man did not hide from his parents that he was going to the big city for fame. Some time later, he ended up at the Royal Theater. There he played supporting roles. Those around him, paying tribute to the guy’s zeal, allowed him to study at school for free. Subsequently, Andersen recalled this time as one of the most terrible in his biography. The reason for this was the strict rector of the school. Hans completed his studies only in 1827.

The beginning of a literary journey

Hans Christian Andersen's biography was greatly influenced by his work. His first work was published in 1829. This is an incredible story called “A Walking Journey from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager.” This story was a success and brought Hans considerable popularity.

Until the mid-1830s, Andersen practically did not write. It was during these years that he received an allowance that allowed him to travel for the first time. At this time, the writer seemed to have a second wind. In 1835, “Fairy Tales” appeared, which brought the author’s fame to a new level. Subsequently, it was works for children that became Andersen’s calling card.

Creativity flourishes

In the 1840s, Hans Christian was completely absorbed in writing The Picture Book Without Pictures. This work only confirms the writer's talent. At the same time, “Fairy Tales” are also gaining more and more popularity. He returns to them more than once. He began working on the second volume in 1838. He began the third in 1845. During this period of his life, Andersen had already become a popular author.

Towards the end of the 1840s and beyond, he sought self-development and tried himself as a novelist. A summary of his works arouses curiosity among readers. However, for the general public, Hans Christian Andersen will forever remain a storyteller. To this day, his works inspire a considerable number of people. And individual works are studied in 5th grade. Nowadays, one cannot fail to note the accessibility of Andersen’s works. Now his works can be simply downloaded.

Last years

In 1871, the writer attended the premiere of a ballet based on his works. Despite the failure, Andersen helped ensure that his friend, choreographer Augustin Bournonville, was awarded the prize. He wrote his last story on Christmas Day 1872.

That same year, the writer fell out of bed at night and was injured. This injury became decisive in his fate. Hans held out for another 3 years, but was never able to recover from this incident. August 4 (August 17), 1875, became the last day of the life of the famous storyteller. Andersen was buried in Copenhagen.

Other biography options

• The writer did not like being classified as a children's author. He assured that his stories were dedicated to both young and adult readers. Hans Christian even abandoned the original layout of his monument, where children were present.
• Even in his later years the author made many spelling mistakes.
• The writer had a personal autograph

Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in the city of Odense on the island of Funen (in some sources the island of Fionia is called), in the family of a shoemaker and a washerwoman. Andersen heard his first fairy tales from his father, who read him stories from One Thousand and One Nights; Along with fairy tales, my father loved to sing songs and make toys. From his mother, who dreamed that Hans Christian would become a tailor, he learned to cut and sew. As a child, the future storyteller often had to communicate with patients in the hospital for the mentally ill, where his maternal grandmother worked. The boy listened to their stories with enthusiasm and later wrote that he “was made the writer of his father’s songs and the speeches of the mad.” Since childhood, the future writer showed a penchant for dreaming and writing, and often staged impromptu home performances.

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

In 1819, having earned some money and bought his first boots, Hans Christian Andersen went to Copenhagen. For the first three years in Copenhagen, Andersen connected his life with the theater: he attempted to become an actor, wrote tragedies and dramas. In 1822, the play “The Sun of the Elves” was published. The drama turned out to be an immature, weak work, but it attracted the attention of the theater management, with whom the aspiring author was collaborating at that time. The board of directors secured a scholarship for Andersen and the right to study freely at the gymnasium. A seventeen-year-old boy ends up in the second grade of a Latin school and, despite the ridicule of his comrades, finishes it.

In 1826-1827, Andersen’s first poems (“Evening”, “The Dying Child”) were published, receiving positive reviews from critics. In 1829, his story in a fantastic style, “A Journey on Foot from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager,” was published. In 1835, Andersen's "Fairy Tales" brought fame. In 1839 and 1845, the second and third books of fairy tales were written, respectively.

In the second half of the 1840s and the following years, Andersen continued to publish novels and plays, trying in vain to become famous as a playwright and novelist. At the same time, he despised his fairy tales, which brought him well-deserved fame. Nevertheless, he continued to write more and more new ones. The last fairy tale was written by Andersen on Christmas Day 1872.

In 1872, the writer received serious injuries as a result of a fall, for which he was treated for three years. In 1875, on August 4, Hans Christian Andersen died. He was buried in Copenhagen at the Assistance Cemetery.

• Andersen got angry when he was called a children's storyteller and said that he writes fairy tales for both children and adults. For the same reason, he ordered that all children's figures be removed from his monument, where originally the storyteller was supposed to be surrounded by children.
• Andersen had the autograph of A. S. Pushkin.
• G. H. Andersen's fairy tale “The King's New Clothes” was placed in the first primer by L. N. Tolstoy.
• Andersen has a fairy tale about Isaac Newton.
• In the fairy tale “Two Brothers” H.H. Andersen wrote about the famous brothers Hans Christian and Anders Oersted.
• The title of the fairy tale “Ole-Lukoje” is translated as “Ole-Close Your Eyes.”
• Andersen paid very little attention to his appearance. He constantly walked the streets of Copenhagen in an old hat and a worn raincoat. One day a dandy stopped him on the street and asked:
  “Tell me, is this pathetic thing on your head called a hat?”
  To which came an immediate response:
  “Is that pathetic thing under your fancy hat called a head?”

Be like children

Hans Christian Andersen is an outstanding Danish writer and poet, as well as the author of world-famous fairy tales for children and adults.

He is the author of such brilliant works as “The Ugly Duckling”, “The King’s New Clothes”, “Thumbelina”, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “Ole Lukoye”, “The Snow Queen” and many others.

Many animated and feature films have been made based on Andersen's works.

So, in front of you short biography of Hans Andersen.

Biography of Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in the Danish city of Odense. Hans was named after his father, who was a shoemaker.

His mother, Anna Marie Andersdatter, was a poorly educated girl and worked as a laundress all her life. The family lived very poorly and barely made ends meet.

An interesting fact is that Andersen’s father sincerely believed that he belonged to a noble family, since his mother told him about it. In fact, everything was quite the opposite.

To date, biographers have clearly established that the Andersen family came from the lower class.

However, this social position did not prevent Hans Andersen from becoming a great writer. His father instilled a love for the boy, who often read him fairy tales from different authors.

In addition, he periodically went to the theater with his son, accustoming him to high art.

Childhood and youth

When the young man was 11 years old, a disaster happened in his biography: his father died. Andersen took his loss very hard and was depressed for a long time.

Studying at school also became a real challenge for him. He, like other students, was often beaten by teachers with rods for the slightest infractions. For this reason, he became a very nervous and vulnerable child.

Soon Hans persuaded his mother to quit her studies. After that, he began attending a charity school where children from poor families studied.

Having received basic knowledge, the young man got a job as an apprentice to a weaver. After that, Hans Andersen sewed clothes, and later worked in a factory that produced tobacco products.

An interesting fact is that while working at the factory he had practically no friends. His colleagues mocked him in every possible way, making sarcastic jokes in his direction.

One day, Andersen’s pants were pulled down in front of everyone, supposedly to find out what gender he was. And all because he had a high and ringing voice, similar to a woman’s.

After this incident, difficult days came in Andersen’s biography: he completely withdrew into himself and stopped communicating with anyone. At that point in time, Hans’s only friends were the wooden dolls that his father had made for him long ago.

At the age of 14, the young man went to Copenhagen because he dreamed of fame and recognition. It is worth noting that he did not have an attractive appearance.

Hans Andersen was a thin teenager with long limbs and an equally long nose. However, despite this, he was accepted into the Royal Theater, in which he played supporting roles. It is interesting that during this period he began to write his first works.

When financier Jonas Collin saw him play on stage, he fell in love with Andersen.

As a result, Collin convinced King Frederick VI to pay for the training of a promising actor and writer at the expense of the state treasury. After this, Hans was able to study at the elite schools of Slagelse and Elsinore.

It is curious that Andersen’s classmates were students 6 years younger than him. The most difficult subject for the future writer turned out to be grammar.

Andersen made a lot of spelling mistakes, for which he constantly received reproaches from teachers.

Creative biography of Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen gained fame primarily as a children's writer. More than 150 fairy tales came from his pen, many of which became world classics. In addition to fairy tales, Andersen wrote poems, plays, short stories and even novels.

He didn't like being called a children's writer. Andersen has repeatedly stated that he writes not only for children, but also for adults. He even ordered that there should not be a single child on his monument, although initially it should have been surrounded by children.

It is worth noting that serious works, like novels and plays, were quite difficult for Andersen, but fairy tales were written surprisingly easily and simply. At the same time, he was inspired by any objects that were around him.

Andersen's works

Over the years of his biography, Andersen wrote many fairy tales in which one can trace. Among such tales one can highlight “Flint”, “The Swineherd”, “Wild Swans” and others.

In 1837 (the year he was assassinated), Andersen published a collection of Fairy Tales Told to Children. The collection immediately gained great popularity in society.

It is interesting that, despite the simplicity of Andersen’s fairy tales, each of them has a deep meaning with philosophical overtones. After reading them, the child can independently understand morality and draw the right conclusions.

Soon Andersen wrote the fairy tales “Thumbelina”, “The Little Mermaid” and “The Ugly Duckling”, which are still loved by children all over the world.

Hans later wrote the novels “The Two Baronesses” and “To Be or Not to Be,” intended for an adult audience. However, these works went unnoticed, since Andersen was perceived primarily as a children's writer.

Andersen's most popular fairy tales are “The King's New Clothes”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “Thumbelina”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “Ole Lukoye” and “The Snow Queen”.

Personal life

Some biographers of Andersen suggest that the great storyteller was partial to the male sex. Such conclusions are drawn on the basis of surviving romantic letters that he wrote to men.

It is worth noting that he was never officially married and had no children. In his diaries, he later admitted that he decided to give up intimate relationships with women because they did not reciprocate his feelings.

In the biography of Hans Andersen there were at least 3 girls for whom he felt sympathy. At a young age, he fell in love with Riborg Voigt, but never dared to confess his feelings to her.

The writer's next lover was Louise Collin. She rejected Andersen's proposal and married a wealthy lawyer.

In 1846, Andersen’s biography included another passion: he fell in love with the opera singer Jenny Lind, who charmed him with her voice.

After her performances, Hans gave her flowers and read poetry, trying to achieve reciprocity. However, this time he failed to win a woman’s heart.

Soon the singer married a British composer, as a result of which the unfortunate Andersen fell into depression. An interesting fact is that later Jenny Lind would become the prototype of the famous Snow Queen.

Death

At the age of 67, Andersen fell out of bed and suffered many serious bruises. Over the next 3 years, he suffered from his injuries, but was never able to recover from them.

Hans Christian Andersen died on August 4, 1875 at the age of 70. The great storyteller was buried in Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Photo by Andersen

At the end you can see Andersen's most famous ones. It must be said that Hans Christian was not distinguished by his attractive appearance. However, underneath his clumsy and even funny exterior was an incredibly sophisticated, deep, wise and loving person.

Christmas card with G.-H. Andersen. Illustrator Klaus Becker - Olsen

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is the story of a boy from a poor family who, thanks to his talent, became famous throughout the world, was friends with princesses and kings, but remained lonely, scared and touchy all his life.

One of humanity's greatest storytellers was offended even by being called a “children's writer.” He argued that his works were addressed to everyone and considered himself a respectable, “adult” writer and playwright.

On April 2, 1805, the only son, Hans Christian Andersen, was born into the family of shoemaker Hans Andersen and washerwoman Anna Marie Andersdatter in the city of Odense, located on one of the Danish islands of Funen.

Andersen's grandfather, Anders Hansen, a woodcarver, was considered crazy in the city. He carved strange figures of half-humans, half-animals with wings.

Andersen Sr.’s grandmother told him about their ancestors’ belonging to “high society.” Researchers have not found evidence of this story in the storyteller's genealogy.

Perhaps Hans Christian fell in love with fairy tales thanks to his father. Unlike his wife, he knew how to read and write, and read various magical stories aloud to his son, including “A Thousand and One Nights.”

There is also a legend about the royal origin of Hans Christian Andersen. He was allegedly the illegitimate son of King Christian VIII.

In his early autobiography, the storyteller himself wrote about how, as a child, he played with Prince Frits, the future King Frederick VII, the son of Christian VIII. Hans Christian, according to his version, had no friends among the street boys - only the prince.

Andersen's friendship with Frits, the storyteller claimed, continued into adulthood, until the king's death. The writer said that he was the only person, with the exception of relatives, who was allowed to visit the coffin of the deceased.

Hans Christian's father died when he was 11 years old. The boy was sent to study at a school for poor children, which he attended from time to time. He worked as an apprentice for a weaver, then for a tailor.

Since childhood, Andersen was in love with the theater and often performed puppet shows at home.

Twisted in his own fairy-tale worlds, he grew up as a sensitive, vulnerable boy, his studies were difficult for him, and his less spectacular appearance left almost no chance for theatrical success.

At the age of 14, Andersen went to Copenhagen to become famous, and over time he succeeded!

However, success was preceded by years of failure and even greater poverty than the one in which he lived in Odense.

Young Hans Christian had a wonderful soprano voice. Thanks to him, he was accepted into the boys' choir. Soon his voice began to change and he was fired.

He tried to become a ballet dancer, but also did not succeed. Lanky, awkward and poorly coordinated, Hans Christian turned out to be a useless dancer.

He tried manual labor - again without much success.

In 1822, seventeen-year-old Andersen finally got lucky: he met Jonas Collin, director of the Royal Danish Theater (De Kongelige Teater). Hans Christian at that time had already tried his hand at writing; he wrote, however, mostly poetry.

Jonas Collin was familiar with Andersen's work. In his opinion, the young man had the makings of a great writer. He was able to convince King Frederick VI of this. He agreed to partially pay for Hans Christian's education.

For the next five years, the young man studied at schools in Slagelse and Helsingør. Both are located near Copenhagen. Helsingør Castle is world famous as a place

Hans Christian Andersen was not an outstanding student. In addition, he was older than his classmates, they teased him, and the teachers laughed at the son of an illiterate washerwoman from Odense, who was going to become a writer.

In addition, modern researchers suggest that Hans Christian most likely had dyslexia. It was probably because of her that he studied poorly and wrote Danish with errors for the rest of his life.

Andersen called his years of study the most bitter time of his life. What it was like for him is perfectly described in the fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling.”

In 1827, due to constant bullying, Jonas Collin removed Hans Christian from school in Helsingør and transferred him to home schooling in Copenhagen.

In 1828, Andersen passed an exam indicating his completion of secondary education and allowing him to continue his studies at the University of Copenhagen.

A year later, the young writer received his first success after publishing a story, a comedy and several poems.

In 1833, Hans Christian Andersen received a royal grant that allowed him to travel. He spent the next 16 months traveling through Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France.

The Danish writer especially loved Italy. The first journey was followed by others. In total, throughout his life he went on long trips abroad about 30 times.

In total, he spent about 15 years traveling.

Many have heard the phrase “to travel is to live.” Not everyone knows that this is a quote from Andersen.

In 1835, Andersen's first novel, The Improviser, was published, which became popular immediately after publication. In the same year, a collection of fairy tales was published, which also earned praise from the reading public.

The four fairy tales included in the book were written for a little girl named Ide Thiele, the daughter of the secretary of the Academy of Arts. In total, Hans Christian Andersen published about 160 fairy tales - despite the fact that he himself was not married, did not have, and did not particularly like children.

In the early 1840s, the writer began to gain fame outside Denmark. When he came to Germany in 1846, and the following year to England, he was received there as a foreign celebrity.

In Great Britain, the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman was invited to high society receptions. At one of them he met Charles Dickens.

Shortly before Hans Christian Andersen's death, he was recognized in England as the greatest living writer.

Meanwhile, in the Victorian era, his works were published in Great Britain not in translations, but in “retellings”. The Danish writer's original tales contain a lot of sadness, violence, cruelty and even death.

They did not correspond to the British ideas about children's literature in the second half of the 19th century. Therefore, before publication in English, the most “unchildish” fragments were removed from the works of Hans Christian Andersen.

To this day, in the UK, the Danish writer’s books are published in two very different versions - in classic “retellings” of the Victorian era and in more modern translations that correspond to the source texts.

Andersen was tall, thin and stooped. He loved to visit and never refused a treat (perhaps this was due to his hungry childhood).

However, he himself was generous, treated friends and acquaintances, came to their rescue and tried not to refuse help even to strangers.

The storyteller’s character was very bad and alarming: he was afraid of robberies, dogs, losing his passport; I was afraid of dying in a fire, so I always carried a rope with me so that during a fire I could get out through the window.

Hans Christian Andersen suffered from toothache all his life, and seriously believed that his fertility as an author depended on the number of teeth in his mouth.

The storyteller was afraid of poisoning - when Scandinavian children chipped in for a gift for their favorite writer and sent him the world's largest box of chocolates, he refused the gift in horror and sent it to his nieces (we have already mentioned that he did not particularly like children).

In the mid-1860s, Hans Christian Andersen became the owner of the autograph of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

Traveling around Switzerland, in August 1862 he met the daughters of the Russian general Karl Manderstern. In his diary, he described frequent meetings with young women, during which they talked a lot about literature and art.

In a letter dated August 28, 1868, Andersen wrote: “I am glad to know that my works are read in the great, mighty Russia, whose flourishing literature I partially know, from Karamzin to Pushkin and right up to modern times.”

The eldest of the Manderstern sisters, Elizaveta Karlovna, promised the Danish writer to get Pushkin’s autograph for his collection of manuscripts.

She was able to fulfill her promise three years later.

Thanks to her, the Danish writer became the owner of a page from a notebook, into which in 1825, while preparing his first collection of poems for publication, Alexander Pushkin rewrote several works he had selected.

Pushkin's autograph, now in the collection of Andersen's manuscripts in the Copenhagen Royal Library, is all that has survived from the 1825 notebook.

Among Hans Christian Andersen's friends were royalty. It is known for sure that he was patronized by the Danish princess Dagmar, the future Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

The princess was very kind to the elderly writer. They talked for a long time while walking along the embankment.

Hans Christian Andersen was among those Danes who accompanied her to Russia. After parting with the young princess, he wrote in his diary: “Poor child! Almighty, be merciful and merciful to her. Her fate is terrible."

The storyteller's prediction came true. Maria Feodorovna was destined to outlive her husband, children and grandchildren who died a terrible death.

In 1919, she managed to leave Russia, which was engulfed in civil war. She died in Denmark in 1928.

Researchers in the biography of Hans Christian Andersen do not have a clear answer to the question of his sexual orientation. He undoubtedly wanted to please women. However, it is known that he fell in love with girls with whom he could not have a relationship.

In addition, he was very shy and awkward, especially in the presence of women. The writer knew about this, which only increased his awkwardness when communicating with the opposite sex.

In 1840, in Copenhagen, he met a girl named Jenny Lind. On September 20, 1843, he wrote in his diary “I love!” He dedicated poems to her and wrote fairy tales for her. She addressed him exclusively as “brother” or “child,” although he was nearly 40 and she was only 26 years old. In 1852 Jenny Lind married the young pianist Otto Goldschmidt.

In 2014, Denmark announced that previously unknown letters from Hans Christian Andersen had been found.

In them, the writer admitted to his longtime friend Christian Voight that several poems he wrote after Riborg’s marriage were inspired by his feelings for the girl whom he called the love of his life.

Judging by the fact that he carried a letter from Riborg in a pouch around his neck until his death, Andersen really loved the girl throughout his life.

Other famous personal letters from the storyteller suggest that he may have had an affair with the Danish ballet dancer Harald Scharff. There are also known comments from contemporaries about their alleged relationship.

However, there is no evidence that Hans Christian Andersen was bisexual - and it is unlikely that there will ever be any.

The writer to this day remains a mystery, a unique personality, whose thoughts and feelings were and remain shrouded in mystery.

Andersen did not want to have his own home, he was especially afraid of furniture, and of furniture, most of all, beds. The writer feared that the bed would become the place of his death. His fears were partly justified. At the age of 67, he fell out of bed and received severe injuries, which he treated for another three years, until his death.

It is believed that in old age Andersen became even more extravagant: spending a lot of time in brothels, he did not touch the girls who worked there, but simply talked to them.

Although almost a century and a half has passed since the death of the storyteller, previously unknown documents telling about his life, letters from Hans Christian Andersen are still found from time to time in his homeland

In 2012, a previously unknown fairy tale called “The Tallow Candle” was discovered in Denmark.

“This is a sensational discovery. On the one hand, because this is most likely Andersen’s very first fairy tale, on the other hand, it shows that he was interested in fairy tales at a young age, before he became a writer,” Einar, a specialist in Andersen’s work, said about the find Stig Askgaard from the Odense City Museum.

He also suggested that the discovered manuscript “Tallow Candle” was created by the storyteller while still at school - around 1822.

The project for the first monument to Hans Christian Andersen began to be discussed during his lifetime.

In December 1874, in connection with the approaching seventieth birthday of the storyteller, plans were announced to install a sculptural image of him in the Royal Garden of Rosenborg Castle, where he loved to walk.

A commission was assembled and a competition of projects was announced. 10 participants proposed a total of 16 works.

The winner was the project by August Sobue. The sculptor depicted the storyteller sitting in a chair surrounded by children. The project outraged Hans Christian.

“I couldn’t say a word in such an atmosphere,” said writer Augusto Sobue. The sculptor removed the children, and Hans Christian was left alone - with only one book in his hands.

Hans Christian Andersen died on August 4, 1875 from liver cancer. The day of Andersen's funeral was declared a day of mourning in Denmark.

Members of the royal family attended the farewell ceremony.

Located in the Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.