Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author whose fairy tales transformed a folk form into a medium of psychological depth and universal significance. Born in 1805 in Odense, Denmark, the son of a shoemaker, he left for Copenhagen at fourteen with almost nothing, pursuing ambitions in acting and writing that eventually succeeded beyond any reasonable expectation. His fairy tales — among them The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, and The Snow Queen — were published in a series of collections from 1835 onward and quickly translated across Europe. Unlike the Grimm brothers, who adapted existing folk material, Andersen largely invented his own stories, giving them a personal, often melancholy voice that spoke directly to adult readers as much as to children. The Ugly Duckling has long been read as autobiography — the story of a misfit who discovers his true nature. He died in 1875, internationally celebrated.

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