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Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen. Author, artist, and storyteller. World-famous for his fairy tales and his own life story of transformation from ugly duckling to an admired swan.

It all started in Odense April 2nd, 1805 in the small yellow corner house where Andersen was born. A century later in 1908 the iconic house was turned into a museum in honor of the famous author. Since then the museum has collected manuscripts, paper cuts, drawings and other artistic works together with artefacts from Andersen’s life. Today, Museum Odense possesses comprehensive collections that illustrate the richness of Andersen’s life and artistic production.

Here on the webpage, you can look into different collections and develop a richer understanding of the creative and imaginative world of Hans Christian Andersen.

Beneath the collections you will find some articles on the works of Andersen, the reception of these, together with historical episodes from Andersen’s life.

Hans Christian Andersen - Digital Collections

On the works of Hans Christian Andersen

Ib Johansen: Hans Christian Andersen and Franz Kafka (2019)
The object-world, its mystique, and its manipulators. A comparative study of Andersen’s and Kafka’s excursions into a reified universe
Paul Binding: “Reflections after writing — Hans Christian Andersen European Witness” (2014)
Paul Binding places Andersen as a novelist at the heart of the international literary and cultural scene and argues for the importance of Andersen’s three novels The Improvisator (1835), O.T. (1836) and Only a Fiddler (1837)
A fairy tale from a very young Hans Christian Andersen, “The Tallow Candle” (1820s / translated 2012)
In 2012 a hitherto unknown fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen was found, The Tallow Candle.
Herbert Rowland: “The Role of Irony in H.C. Andersen’s Nattergalen and C.M. Wieland’s Der Vogelsang” (1983)
Andersen’s usage of irony expresses an attitude toward art and life - more akin to the poet Christoph Martin Wieland and the eighteenth-century tradition than to the German Romantics with whom Andersen is more commonly associated.
Niels Kofoed: The Red and the Blue Eros - Color symbols in Hans Christian Andersen’s early production (1980)
Kofoed argues that Andersen was inspired by both German romanticism and the Italian Renaissance school of paintings in his early works’ use of color symbolism. An example is “The little mermaid” (1837)
John D. Niles: “Andersen’s ‘Grantræet’ and the Old English ‘Dream of the Rood’” (1977)
John D. Niles makes a comparative reading of Andersen’s ‘Grantræet’ and the Old English ‘Dream of the Rood’ and concludes that despite similarities “Grantræet” must be regarded as the product of its author’s own imagination.
Simon Grabowski ”The Refrigerated Heart” (1974)
A Comparative Study of Novalis’ „Märchen von Hyacinth und Rosenblüte“ and Andersen's „Sneedronningen“ with an analysis and interpretation of the fundamental plot structure.
Herbert Rowland: Confluence and Crosscurrents - Schiller’s “Das Lied von der Glocke” and Hans Christian Andersen’s “Die alte Kirchenglocke” (1996)
A comparative reading that argues that Schiller’s cosmopolitan ideal of humanity, and notion of art as the best means of realizing it, come to life in Andersen’s thoughts and writings.

Influence and reception of Andersen’s works

Lyuben Zidarov: My Work on Andersen’s Fairy Tales (2009)
Lyuben Zidarov is a Bulgarian author and illustrator. He reflects on his long-standing engagement in Andersen’s works, his different editions of Andersen’s fairy tales, and the perpetual effort to make a successful integration of text and illustration.
Viggo Hjørnager Pedersen: Andersen and Tradition - Animal Tales and “Zaubermärchen” (2009)
Pedersen examines two types of children’s literature – animal tales and ‘Zaubermärchen’ – and Andersen’s use and contribution to these genres, as well as the legacy he left, particularly in Denmark.
Kumiko Kitagawa: “Acceptance of Andersen’s children’s tales in the Meiji era in Japan” (2006)
The reception of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales in Japan in the Meiji era (1868-1912) with book illustrations of Thumbalina as an example.
Peter Glenn Christensen: Laura Riding’s Response to Andersen’s Tales in Her ‘Progress of Stories’ (2006)
A study of the American poet and writer Laura Riding’s reception of Hans Christian Andersen in respect of Andersen’s position between romanticism and modernism.
Nancy Wilson Runge: Edward MacDowell’s Moon Pictures (1977)
Runge describes a connection between the American composer Edward Alexander MacDowell’s piece “Moon Pictures” (1866) and Picture Book without Pictures (1839) by Hans Christian Andersen, especially regarding “The Swan” (28. Evening).
Ann Born: Hans Christian Andersen: An infectious genius (1976)
The importance of Andersen’s fairy tales in an English context is examined through a comparative reading of five English writers.
Marika Odzeli: Andersen in Georgian Literature (1991)
A survey of translations, reception, and influence of Andersen’s work in a Georgian literary context.
Christoph Harbsmeier: Hans Christian Andersen in China (1978)
An investigation of the Chinese reception of Andersen’s work, with a particular emphasis on the adaption of Andersen into the Chinese cultural and social context
Toshihiko Satö: Hans Christian Andersen’s »The Improvisator« in Japan (1963)
A discussion of The Improvisator (1835) in Japan with brief comments on Mori Ōgai’s Japanese translation, its acceptance in Japan, and more in-depth considerations of the impact of The Improvisator upon the Japanese reading public and its influence upon a Japanese novel, Izumi Kyōka’s Teriha Kyōgen.

Anecdotal meetings and episodes

Make a journey into the life and creative world of Hans Christian Andersen

Visit the Hans Christian Andersen House