Tom Andersen biography. Hans Christian Andersen: short biography, interesting facts about the life of the storyteller, works and famous fairy tales

Biography, life story of Hans Christian Andersen

Andersen studied at a Jewish school because he was afraid to go to a regular school, where children were beaten. Hence his knowledge of Jewish culture and traditions. He grew up as a delicately nervous child. After his father's death in 1816, he had to earn a living by working as an apprentice. In 1819 he went to Copenhagen, buying his first boots. He dreamed of becoming an artist and went to the theater, where he was taken out of pity, but then kicked out after his voice broke. While working in the theater between 1819 and 1822, he received several private lessons in German, Danish and Latin. He began to write tragedies and dramas. After reading his first drama, The Sun of the Elves, the management of the Royal Theater helped Andersen receive a scholarship from the king to study at the gymnasium. He began to study at the gymnasium, where he was cruelly humiliated, since he was 6 years older than his classmates. Inspired by his studies at the gymnasium, he wrote the famous poem “The Dying Child.” Andersen begged his guardian to take him out of the gymnasium, and in 1827 he was sent to a private school. In 1828, Hans Christian Andersen managed to enter the university in Copenhagen. He combined his studies at the university with his activities as a writer. He wrote a vaudeville which was performed at the Royal Theatre. In addition, the first romantic prose was written. Using the fees he received, Andersen went to Germany, where he met several interesting people and wrote many works inspired by the trip.

CONTINUED BELOW

In 1867, Hans Christian Andersen received the rank of state councilor and the title of honorary citizen of his hometown of Odense. He was also awarded the Order of Danebrog in Denmark, the Order of the White Falcon First Class in Germany, the Order of the Red Eagle Third Class in Prussia, and the Order of St. Olav in Norway. In 1875, by order of the king, it was announced on the writer’s birthday that a monument to Andersen would be erected in Copenhagen in the royal garden. The writer did not like the models of several monuments where he was surrounded by children. Andersen did not consider himself a children's writer and did not value his fairy tales, but continued to write more and more. He never married or had children. In 1872 he wrote his last fairy tale for Christmas. This year, an accident happened to the writer; he fell out of bed and was seriously injured. He was treated for this injury for the last three years of his life. He spent the summer of 1975 at his friends' villa, being seriously ill. On August 4, 1875, Andersen died in Copenhagen, the day of his funeral was declared a national day of mourning in Denmark. The royal family attended the writer's funeral service. In 1913, the famous monument to the Little Mermaid was erected in Copenhagen, which has since been considered a symbol of Denmark. In Denmark, two museums are dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen - in Ourense and Copenhagen. Hans Christian's birthday, April 2, has long been celebrated as International Children's Book Day. Since 1956, the International Children's Book Council has awarded each year the Hans Christian Andersen Gold Medal, the highest international award in contemporary children's literature.

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.

Years of life of Hans Christian Andersen:

born April 2, 1805, died August 8, 1875

Epitaph

To whom were you dear during your life,
To whom did you give your love?
Those for your repose
They will pray again and again.

Biography

The world's greatest storyteller, Hans Christian Andersen, was always a little offended that he was 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 throughout the world, but was lonely all his life.

He was born in the town of Odense. Since childhood, Andersen was in love with the theater and often performed puppet shows at home. As if floating 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. 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 into the Royal Theater - however, more out of sympathy: the boy played minor roles there, but was soon fired. There, in Copenhagen, he continued to study thanks to the intercession of good people who treated Andersen with sympathy. In 1829 he began to write, and until the end of his life Andersen wrote many fairy tales, short stories and stories. Almost immediately he became famous. And when the writer presented King Frederick with a collection of his poems about Denmark, he was able to travel around Europe with the monetary reward he received. Andersen liked to travel - he drew his inspiration from trips.

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 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; the cause of Andersen's 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 located in the Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Life line

April 2, 1805 Date of birth of Hans Christian Andersen.
1827 Graduating from Elsinore.
1828 Admission to university.
1829 Publication by Andersen of the story “A Walking Journey from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager.”
1835 Writing of Andersen's Fairy Tales, which made the writer famous.
1840-1860s Andersen's creation of dozens of literary works for children and adults.
1867 Obtaining the rank of state councilor.
1872 Falling out of bed, causing serious injury.
August 4, 1875 Date of death of Andersen.
August 8, 1875 Anderson'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. Royal Danish Theater, 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 Andersen’s lifetime, the king decided that a monument should be erected to the writer. Andersen was asked to consider several models, 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 during his life.

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

It is known that Andersen never had romantic 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 his feelings. 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 “lamppost” and “stork” behind his back. All his life he remained a sensitive person, often suffered from depression, was touchy, vulnerable, and suffered from many phobias - for example, he was afraid of fire and that he would be buried alive. When he wasn't feeling well, he would write a note saying, "It just seems like I'm dead," and leave it on his bed.

Covenant

“Only while you are not bound by anything, the whole world is open to 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. His explosive temperament required space that bourgeois Copenhagen could not give him, and the demand for warm and direct relationships with other people was rarely satisfied. He didn't fit in with his surroundings. He was a big and strange duckling among the beautiful little ducklings and the cheeky ducks and chickens.”
Bo Grönbeck, literary critic

Most of us have known the name Hans Christian Andersen since childhood. He said about his life that it was wonderful and beautiful, that even if in his childhood, disastrous years for his family, the Good Fairy had invited him to choose a life for himself, the chosen one would still not have been better lived.

What was Andersen like? Outwardly, he was an awkward tall man with disproportionately long arms and legs, with a funny gait, because of which the boys gave him the nicknames “stork” and “lamppost.” The life of Hans Christian Andersen is unusual for a great man. He was born into the family of a shoemaker and a washerwoman in the provincial Danish town of Odense in 1805. Fairy tales and fantasy constantly lived in this family. His father not only read him tales from the Arabian Nights from infancy, he also told the boy that royal blood flowed in his veins. Most likely, it was a fantasy that Hans Christian sincerely believed in, written by him personally, claiming that his only childhood friend was Prince Frits.) However, we are talking about a mysterious man. Who knows when the stories of a person who knows how to light up children's eyes became a fairy tale, and when they became a reality? The fact remains that after the death of King Frederick VII (Frits received this name at the coronation), the only person allowed to the coffin, besides the family, was Andersen.

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is illuminated by his love for the theater. His favorite game was a home puppet theater, where the “actors” were homemade wooden dolls with clothes sewn from scraps. The boy came up with more and more new performances for them. But Hans learned to write and read only at the age of 10. This was preceded by the following story. When a few years earlier his father sent him to study with the widow of a glover, she somehow (as was customary in the 18th century) punished him with rods. He did not tolerate violence. Hans, taking the primer under his arm, sedately, with his head held high, left the tormentor’s house forever.

Trouble came to the family when Andersen was 11 years old - his father died suddenly. The child had to go to work to feed his family: first as an apprentice at a cloth factory, then at a tobacco factory.

The further biography of Hans Christian Andersen again becomes like a fairy tale. As his mother later recalled, one fortune teller in her presence, predicting the fate of her son, told him about fame, about a monument during his lifetime. Once a puppet theater that came to the town needed an occasional actor-extra to play the role of a coachman. Hans gladly took advantage of this opportunity. Giving home puppet shows in the wealthy houses of Odense, he enlisted the help of the colonel in order to realize his dream of becoming an actor at the Royal Theater. Having bought boots with the money he earned, fourteen-year-old Andersen went to Copenhagen. His mother allowed him to leave, hoping that Hans would soon return, because they had neither relatives nor friends in the capital. Having told him about this, she asked the question: “Why are you going?” To this the teenager answered succinctly and exhaustively: “To become famous!”

The dream came true: first out of pity, and also thanks to his “theatrical” voice, the boy was accepted for episodic roles. When Hans turned into a young man and his voice “broke,” he was disappointed - he was fired from the theater due to lack of prospects. But he has already been noticed, thanks to his unusual imagination. An acquaintance from the theater, the poet Ingeman, revealed the essence of Hans Christian Andersen's talent - to be able to see for himself and show his readers “pearls in the gutter.” The talented boy was noticed and, upon a satisfied petition to King Frederick VI, he was given the opportunity to receive an education for a government fee. Now Hans was fed, dressed, and had a roof over his head. But the awkward young man, chronically unfriendly with grammar, was constantly criticized by teachers and fellow students who were six years younger. The great storyteller wrote like this until the end of his days!

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen as a writer begins at the age of 25, after the publication of a fantastic story about the adventures of a romantic hero while sailing along the canals. Two years later, having received the Royal Prize, Hans Christian Andersen received a powerful stream of impressions while traveling around Europe. Two years later, in 1835, he finally gave up trying to write plays and created the first cycle of his fairy tales.

The Danes were delighted and surprised. Many were perplexed: how could an ordinary person create such a miracle? After all, such stories can only be known to Ole Lukoya, who is able to hear the words, catch the thoughts of the Rose Bush, and talk with little Thumbelina. The second cycle was published by him three years later. When asked by journalists about where he gets his stories from, Andersen was usually surprised and asked if they themselves didn’t notice anything. After all, if you look closely and listen carefully, then every fence, every wild flower strives to tell its own story. Being famous, the writer nevertheless tried to return to the path of a theater playwright. However, the attempt did not bring him success. In 1845, he created the third cycle of fairy tales.

Think, isn’t this a miracle - it was given to one single person to create the folklore of an entire country and generously give it to his homeland?! His “The Snow Queen”, “The Little Mermaid”, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “Thumbelina”, “The Princess and the Pea” are known all over the world.

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is life in a fairy tale. After his death in 1875, under his pillow, friends found handwritten sheets with a new, practically written magical story.

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.

In this article we have collected the most interesting facts from the life of the great storyteller.

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 of Denmark 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.

“My life is a wonderful story, happy and full of incidents.”

(Hans Christian Andersen)

The famous Danish storyteller Hans (Hans) Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born in the small town of Odense, which is located on the island of Funen. The family of the future writer was the most common people, the father of Hans Andersen (1782-1816) earned his living as a shoemaker, and his mother Anna Marie (1775-1833) was a laundress. The family's financial situation was extremely meager, and in such a difficult environment little Hans grew up and developed.

The boy, like all creative personalities, was distinguished by a heightened emotional perception of the surrounding reality, was a suspicious, anxious and rather nervous person. Phobias haunted him throughout his life and poisoned it considerably.

Andersen was very afraid of robberies and the loss of documents, in particular his passport. He was terrified of dogs, as well as death in a fire. In the latter case, the now famous Dane took a rope with him everywhere and everywhere, which could help him escape from fiery captivity.

All his life, he courageously endured the pain of unhealthy teeth, because he believed that his creative activity was directly related to their number. This means that it was simply impossible to lose them.

Another serious fear of the storyteller is the fear of being poisoned. In this regard, an incident from Andersen’s biography is noteworthy. One day, a group of admirers of his talent collected a considerable amount of money for a gift. As a present, a huge box (“the largest in the world”) of chocolates was ordered. Hans Christian was so panicked by this gift that it was immediately forwarded to the storyteller’s closest relatives, his nieces.

Andersen loved to compose and fantasize literally from a very early age. And perhaps his desire for invention was fueled and encouraged by his grandfather Anders Hansen. Most of the townspeople of Odense considered the old man half-crazy. The reason for this was the grandfather’s strange, in the opinion of ordinary people, passion for carving fantastic creatures from wood. Didn't they later become the prototypes of many heroes of Hans Christian's fairy tales? Didn't they encourage the future storyteller to write mystical stories that are now known to a wide range of readers of all ages?

By the way, not so long ago, among the archival papers of the Danish Odense, local historians found a manuscript called “Tallow Candle”. After conducting a series of studies, experts confirmed the authenticity and ownership of this work by Andersen. Presumably, the author created it while still a schoolboy.

But the school years themselves were, according to researchers of Hans Christian’s creative path, very difficult for him. The boy did not like school. He studied very mediocrely and was not even able to master literacy completely. It is a well-known fact that the storyteller wrote until the end of his days with gross spelling and grammatical errors. But even this did not prevent Andersen from subsequently gaining worldwide fame.

During his lifetime, a monument was erected to him, and he personally approved the project. Initially, as conceived by the sculptor Auguste Sabø, Andersen sat in a large chair surrounded by small children. But the storyteller rejected this idea. Therefore, Sabyo had to quickly make adjustments to the original project. And now in the city of Copenhagen, in one of the squares you can see a monument approved by Hans Christian.

Andersen is also immortalized in a chair, with a book in his hand, but alone. However, despite the ambiguity of the famous Dane’s personality, his creative legacy is still extremely popular among readers of all ages.