G x Andersen biography literature. Andersen, Hans Christian

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is the topic of this article. The years of life of this great writer are 1805-1875. Hans was born in Odense, a Danish city located on the island of Funen. Photo of Andersen Hans Christian is presented below.

His father was a shoemaker and a dreamer; most of all he loved to make various toys. He was in poor health and died when Hans was 9 years old. Maria, the boy's mother, worked as a laundress. The need that arose after the death of her husband forced this woman to send her son to a cloth factory as a worker, and then to a tobacco factory, but here he mainly entertained the workers by singing, and also acted out scenes from Golberg and Shakespeare.

First appearance on stage

As a teenager, Hans Christian read a lot, put up posters and was interested in the theater. In the summer of 1918, actors from the city of Copenhagen toured in Odense. Everyone was invited for crowd scenes. This is how Andersen got on stage. His diligence was noted, which gave the boy incredible dreams and great hopes.

The photo below shows the house in Odense where the future writer lived during his childhood.

Andersen sets off to conquer Copenhagen, patronage of Sibony

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen continued in Copenhagen. A 14-year-old theatergoer decided to go here and appear before the ballerina Schall, the prima of the local theater. He sang and danced in front of her. Prima thought he was a crazy tramp. A visit to the director also yielded nothing. He found Andersen too thin and lacking the appearance necessary for an actor (the fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling” he would write in the future was already outlined here). Then Hans went to the singer Sibony, whom he managed to conquer with his singing. A subscription was organized in favor of Andersen. Sibony began giving him singing and music lessons. However, Andersen lost his voice six months later, and the singer invited him to return home.

New patrons and first debut

Hans had incredible tenacity. He was able to find new patrons - the poet Guldberg, whose brother he knew from Odense, and the dancer Dalen. The latter taught the boy dancing, and the poet taught German and Danish. Hans Christian soon made his debut on the stage of the local royal theater, in the ballet "Armide", performing a minor role of the 7th troll, of which there were only 8. He also sometimes sang in the choir of warriors and shepherds.

Hans, having made friends with the librarian, began to spend most of his time among books, and also began to compose poems himself (decorating them without much embarrassment with stanzas from famous poets), after which - tragedies ("Alfsol", "Robbers in Wissenberg"). Its first editor and reader was the poet Guldberg.

Studying at the Latin school and at the university, first works

The theater directorate eventually managed to secure a royal scholarship for the aspiring playwright. He also received the right to study for free at a Latin school, where he spent 5 years. In 1828, Andersel passed the entrance exams to the University of Copenhagen. By this time he was the author of two poems that were published - “The Dying Child” and “Evening”.

A year later, from his pen, the work “Journey on Foot...” appears, full of humor and imagination. At the same time, Andersen's vaudeville "Love on the St. Nicholas Tower" was staged on the stage of the Copenhagen Theatre. The audience greeted this production favorably. In 1830, Andersen published a collection of poetry, which included the fairy tale “The Dead Man” as an appendix.

First love

At the same time, the writer Hans Christian Andersen falls in love. The sister of one of his university friends becomes the cause of Andersen's insomnia at night. This girl came from a burgher family with moderate ideals, in which wealth was valued above all else. The parents did not like the poor writer at all. In addition, his mother was in an almshouse. The fact is that Maria, after the death of her second husband, lost a lot. She started drinking, and the neighbors decided to place the woman in a nursing home.

Traveling through Germany and creative crisis

Andersen's beloved refused him, preferring the pharmacist's son. In order to cure Hans of love, Collin, his wealthy patron, sent him on a trip to Germany. Andersen brought from there the book “Shadow Pictures” (year of creation - 1831), which he wrote under the influence of Heine’s work “Travel Pictures”. In this work Hans is still timid, but fairy-tale motifs have already begun to sound.

Let us continue to describe the life and work of Hans Christian Andersen. Lack of money and a creative crisis forced him to begin compiling a libretto based on the works of W. Scott, which critics really did not like. They began to remind him more and more often that he was the son of a shoemaker and should not be arrogant. Andersen eventually managed to present the King of Denmark with his second book of poems, Fantasies and Sketches. He accompanied his gift with a request for assistance for a trip abroad. The request was granted, and the writer went to Italy and France in 1833. During this journey, his mother died in an almshouse. Strange hands covered her eyes.

Meeting with Heine

Andersen met with Heine, his idol, in Paris. The acquaintance, however, was limited to a few walks along the boulevards of Paris. Andersen admired this man as a poet, but was wary of him as an atheist and freethinker. In Paris, Hans began to write a drama in verse, Agnetha and the Vodyanoy, completed in Italy.

Novel "The Improviser"

Italy served as the setting for the 1935 novel The Improviser. It was translated in 1844 in Russia and received a review by V. Belinsky himself. True, only the Italian landscapes, brilliantly painted by Andersen, received praise. The Russian critic, one might say, saw through the main character, without suspecting how biographical he was. After all, it was not the “enthusiastic Italian,” but Hans Christian himself who was tormented by dependence on patrons of the arts, and it was he who broke up “due to a misunderstanding” with his first lover.

Second love

With the second girl who touched Andersen’s heart, the daughter of Collin, his patron, nothing but brotherly love also happened. Collin himself patronized him willingly, but did not at all want to get the poet as his son-in-law. After all, Hans Christian Andersen, whose work and position were of interest only to art connoisseurs, was a man with a very unstable future. Therefore, a caring father chose a lawyer for his daughter.

Last attempt to get married

Another woman whom the Italian poet from the work “The Improviser” decided to marry also appeared in the fate of its author. This is Jenny Lind, the singer who was called the "Swedish nightingale." They met in 1843, in which the fairy tale “The Nightingale” was born.

This acquaintance took place during the singer’s tour in Denmark. The word “love” flashed again in Andersen’s diary, but the matter did not come to verbal explanations. At the farewell banquet, Ienny made a toast in honor of the writer, inviting him to become her “brother.” This is where Hans Christian Andersen, whose work and biography interests us, ended his attempts to get married. Apparently, he was afraid that Madonna would punish him for his “secular path of life.” The personal life of Hans Christian Andersen, unfortunately, did not work out.

First fairy tales

Another novel was published after The Improviser - Only the Violinist (in 1837). Between the two novels, 2 issues of “Fairy Tales Told to Children” appeared. No one paid attention at that time to these works that Hans Christian Andersen created. A biography for children and adults of the writer we are interested in, however, should not miss this important point. Soon the third issue was published. The collections include classic fairy tales: “The Little Mermaid”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “Flint”, “The King’s New Clothes” and others.

Creative flourishing

The late 30s and 40s saw Andersen's creative heyday. Such masterpieces of his appeared as “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” (written in 1838), “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Nightingale” (in 1843), “The Snow Queen” (in 1844), and the next one - “The Little Match Girl”, then - "Shadow" (1847) and others.

Andersen at this time again visited Paris (in 1843), where he again met with Heine. He greeted him as an equal and was delighted with Andersen’s fairy tales. Hans became a European celebrity. Since then, he began to call the collections of his works “New Fairy Tales,” thereby emphasizing the fact that they are addressed to both children and adults.

In 1846, Hans Christian Andersen wrote an autobiography called The Tale of My Life. The biography for children and adults is written sincerely and frankly. Andersen spoke about himself very touchingly in the third person, as if creating another fairy tale. And indeed, fame came to this writer in a fabulous, unforeseen way.

Two interesting episodes from Andersen's life

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is marked by one funny incident. It happened in 1847, during Hans's trip to England. The writer, having examined the ancient castle, decided to leave his autograph in the visitors' book. Suddenly, the gatekeeper turned to his companion, an important elderly banker, believing that it was Andersen. Upon learning that he was mistaken, the gatekeeper exclaimed: “So young? And I thought that writers only become famous in old age.”

England gave another pleasant meeting to the Danish storyteller. Here he met Dickens, the author of The Cricket on the Stove and Oliver Twist, whom he loved very much. It turned out that Dickens loved fairy tales and stories by Hans Christian Andersen. Since the writers did not know each other's languages, they communicated using gestures. Touched, Dickens waved his handkerchief to Andersen from the pier for a long time.

Completion of life's journey

Last of all, as often happens, recognition for this writer came in his homeland. The sculptor showed him the project: Andersen, surrounded by children on all sides. However, Hans stated that his fairy tales are addressed to adults, and not just children. The project has been redone.

Hans Christian's photo of Andersen, dated July 1860, is shown below.

In 1875, on August 4, a few months after the anniversary celebrations, the great storyteller passed away in his sleep. This event ended the biography of Hans Christian Andersen. However, his tales and his memory continue to live to this day.

The famous Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born on a fine spring day on April 2, 1805 in Odnes, which is located on the island of Funen. Andersen's parents were not rich. Father Hans Andersen was a shoemaker, and mother Anna Marie Andersdatter worked as a laundress, and was also not from a noble family. From childhood she lived in poverty, begging on the street, and after her death she was buried in a cemetery for the poor.

However, in Denmark there is a legend that Andersen was of royal origin, because in his early biography he more than once mentioned that as a child he had to play with the Danish prince Frits himself, who eventually became King Federick VII .

According to Andersen's fantasy, their friendship with Prince Frits continued throughout his life and until Frits's death. After the death of the monarch, only relatives and he were allowed to the coffin of the late king...

And the stories of his father that he was some kind of relative of the king himself contributed to the emergence of such fantasy thoughts in Andersen. From early childhood, the future writer showed a great penchant for daydreaming and a wild imagination. He more than once performed impromptu home performances in the house, acting out various scenes that caused laughter and mockery from his peers.

1816 was a difficult year for young Anders, his father died and he had to earn his own living. He began his working life as an apprentice to a weaver, after which he worked as a tailor's assistant. The boy continued his work at the cigarette factory...

From early childhood, the boy with big blue eyes had a rather reserved character; he always loved to sit somewhere in a corner and play puppet theater (his favorite game). He carried his love for the puppet theater in his soul throughout his entire life...

From early childhood, Andersen was distinguished by his emotionality, temper and over-sensitivity, which led to physical punishment in schools of that time. Such reasons forced the boy’s mother to send him to a Jewish school, where various types of executions were not practiced.

Therefore, Andersen forever retained contact with the Jewish people and knew their traditions and culture very well. He even wrote several fairy tales and stories on Jewish themes. But, unfortunately, they were not translated into Russian.

Youth

Already at the age of 14, the boy went to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. Letting him go so far, his mother really hoped that he would return back soon. Leaving his house, the boy made a kind of sensational statement, he said: “I am going there to become famous!” He also wanted to find a job. It should be to his liking, that is, working in the theater, which he liked so much and which he loved very much.

He received funds for the trip on the recommendation of a person in whose house he had repeatedly staged impromptu performances. The first year of life in Copenhagen did not advance the boy towards his dream of working in the theater. He once came to the house of a famous (at that time) singer and, moved with emotion, began to ask her to help him get a job in the theater. To get rid of the strange and clumsy teenager, the lady promised to help him. But she never fulfilled this promise. Many years later, she somehow confesses to him that at that moment she mistook him for a person whose mind was clouded...

In those years, Hans Christian himself was a lanky, awkward teenager with a long nose and thin limbs. In fact, he was an analogue of the Ugly Duckling. But he had a pleasant voice with which he expressed his requests, and whether for this reason, or simply out of pity, Hans was nevertheless accepted into the fold of the Royal Theater, despite all his external shortcomings. Unfortunately, he was given supporting roles. He did not achieve success in the theater, and with a brittle voice (due to age), he was soon fired altogether...

But Andersen at that time was already composing a play that had five acts. He wrote a letter of intercession to the king, in which he convincingly asked the monarch to give money for the publication of his work. The book also included poems by the writer. Hans did everything to ensure that the book was bought, that is, he carried out advertising campaigns in the newspaper, announcing the publication, but the expected sales did not follow. But he didn’t want to give up and took his book to the theater, hoping to stage a performance based on his play. But even here failure awaited him. He was refused, citing the author’s complete lack of professional experience...

However, he was given a chance and offered to study. Because he had a very strong desire to prove himself in an extraordinary way...

People who sympathized with the poor teenager sent a request to the King of Denmark himself, in which they asked to allow the teenager to study. And “His Majesty” listened to the requests, allowing Hans to study at school, first in the city of Slagels, and then in the city of Elsinore, and at the expense of the state treasury...

This turn of events, incidentally, suited the talented teenager, because now he did not need to think about how to earn a living. But science at school was not easy for Andersen, firstly, he was much older than the students with whom he studied, and felt some discomfort about this. He was also constantly subjected to merciless criticism from the rector of the educational institution, about which he was too worried... Very often he saw this man in his nightmares. Later he will say about the years spent within the walls of the school that it was the darkest time in his life...

Having completed his studies in 1827, he was never able to master spelling, and until the end of his life he made grammatical errors in writing...

In his personal life he was also unlucky, he was never married and did not have children of his own...

Creation

The writer’s first success came with a fantastic story entitled “A Journey on Foot from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager,” which was published in 1833. For this work, the writer received a reward (from the king), which allowed him to travel abroad, which he so dreamed of...

This fact became an improvised launching pad for Anderson and he began to write many different literary works (including the famous “Fairy Tales”, which made him famous). Once again the writer makes an attempt to find himself on the theatrical stage in 1840, but the second attempt, like the first, does not bring him complete satisfaction...

But he has had some success in the writing field, having published his collection called “A Picture Book Without Pictures.” “Fairy Tales” also had a continuation, which was published in the second issue in 1838, and in 1845 “Fairy Tales - 3” appeared...

He becomes a famous writer, and famous not only in his country, but also in European countries. In the summer of 1847, he was able to visit England for the first time, where he was greeted triumphantly...

He continues to try to write plays and novels, trying to become famous as a playwright and novelist. At the same time, he hates his fairy tales, which brought him true fame. But nevertheless, fairy tales from his pen appear again and again. The last fairy tale he wrote appeared during the Christmas period of 1872. That same year, through negligence, the writer fell out of bed and was severely injured. He never managed to recover from the injuries received in the fall (although he lived for three more years after the fall). The famous storyteller died in the summer of 1875 on August 4. He was buried in the Assistens cemetery in Copenhagen...

Composition

Scandinavian folklore was the precious medium that nourished literary fairy tales, including the work of the great Danish storyteller H. C. Andersen, the Finnish writer S. Topelius and the Swedish writer S. Lagerlöf. The work of Hans Christian Andersen - Chane Christian is one of the most significant phenomena in the history of Danish and world literature of the 19th century. The author of numerous works in various genres, he reached the pinnacle of his fairy tales, for the humanistic, ideological and aesthetic significance of these fairy tales is extremely great, revealing the world of great and pure human feelings, deep and noble thoughts.

Andersen's fairy tales occupy an important place in the history of the national culture of Denmark, since the writer invested them with a deep, concrete historical meaning. His works provide a broad critique of Danish society from the 20s to the 70s of the 19th century. “For us Danes,” said the Danish communist writer H. Scherfig, “Hans Christian Andersen is a truly national, original writer, inseparable from our native flourishing islands. In our minds, it is inextricably linked with the history of Denmark, with its traditions, nature, character of the people, with its peculiar penchant for humor.”

Andersen's fairy tales are dear and understandable to people of different ages, different eras, and different countries. They contribute to the formation of children's consciousness and educate them in the spirit of democracy. Adults see deep philosophical content in them. Popular in 19th-century Russia, they are still alive today in the Soviet Union. The bright images of Andersen's fairy tales and their great humanistic ideas are especially close to the Soviet reader. The celebration of the 150th anniversary of Andersen's birth, held on April 2, 1955 by decision of the World Peace Council, was evidence of the enormous international significance of the writer's legacy.

Andersen is a democrat and humanist, whose worldview was strongly influenced by the traditions of the Enlightenment and contemporary political events in Europe; he welcomed the July Revolution in France and praised the “tree of liberty” that grew in Paris. He was sympathetic to the revolutionary events in Italy, Switzerland, Greece and to the peasant movement in his homeland. However, the patriarchal nature of Denmark at that time, about which F. Engels wrote that nowhere except this country there exists “such a degree of moral squalor, guild and class narrowness...” \ forced Andersen to cautiously accept the events of 1848 and the first steps of the labor movement in Denmark in the early 70s.

Andersen did not have a clear and defined political program; he took a general humanist position. The writer did not take part in the struggle for the constitution in his homeland, although he was sympathetic to the progressive ideas of the era. He fought for the ethical ideal of justice, goodness, love and human dignity. Andersen laid these educational and humanistic principles as the basis of his work. At the very beginning of his literary career, the writer followed the traditions of the romantic school, but already at the end of the 20s he spoke out against the excessive fantasy of German romanticism in the work of his Danish epigones. Subsequently, Andersen demanded that literature truthfully reflect life.

Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in Odense. His father was a shoemaker, his mother a laundress; the boy attended a school for the poor, and in 1818 he moved to Copenhagen, where he tried to become a singer and ballet actor. In 1823, the future writer entered school in Slagels, then in Helsingor, and in 1828 - at the university in Copenhagen. Since the early 30s, he was engaged in professional literary activities and traveled a lot. Andersen's worldview was particularly influenced by his travels to France, Switzerland and Italy, Greece and Spain. The writer was a member of the opposition society for the struggle for press freedom in Denmark. He read his works at the Workers' Union, and in 1867 he was elected an honorary citizen of his hometown of Odense. By the end of his life, the great storyteller became a truly national writer of Denmark.

Andersen began writing in the early 20s and tried his hand at the genres of lyricism, novel, drama, travel essay, biographical sketch, etc. Even in his very first poems, the motifs of future fairy tales are clearly visible (“The Mermaid from Samsø Island” , “Holger the Dane”, “The Snow Queen”, etc.), and later his patriotism (“Denmark is my homeland”) and sympathy for freedom-loving ideals (“The Sentinel”, “Chillon Castle”).

Of great interest are Andersen’s novels “The Improviser” (1835), then “O. T." (1836), which reflected the unrealized plan of works about the July Revolution.

The main part of Andersen's legacy is his fairy tales and stories (collections: “Fairy Tales Told to Children,” 1835-1842; “New Fairy Tales,” 1843-1848; “Stories,” 1852-1855; “New Fairy Tales and Stories,” 1858-1872 ), which made his name world famous.

Using Danish folk stories and creating new original fairy tales, Andersen introduced deeply relevant content into his works, reflecting in them the complex contradictions of contemporary reality (“Little Claus and Big Claus”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The King’s New Clothes”, “Galoshes”) happiness”, etc.).

The originality of these wonderful fairy tales lies in the fact that Andersen, on the one hand, unusually humanized and brought to life the most fantastic characters of his works (“Thumbelina”, “The Little Mermaid”). On the other hand, he gave a fantastic quality to ordinary, real objects and phenomena. People, toys, household items, etc. become heroes of his works, experiencing unprecedented magical adventures (“Bronze Boar”, “Darning Needle”, “Collar”, etc.). Andersen's humor and lively colloquial language add unfading charm to fairy tales. The role of the narrator in them is also unusually great. The narrator is the bearer of Andersen's ethical ideal, an exponent of his credo, an example of his positive hero. He reveals the plight of the people and condemns their enslavers; he denounces the vices of secular society.