| Hans Christian Andersen’s biography:
Hans Christian Andersen (born April 2, 1805, Odense, Denmark - died August 4, 1875, Copenhagen) was a Danish writer and poet, author of world famous fairy tales for children and adults: "The Ugly Duckling", "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Shadow" and "The Princess and the Pea".
Biography:
Childhood:
Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in Odense on Fyn Island. Andersen's father, Hans Andersen (1782-1816) was a poor cobbler and mother, Anna Marie Andersdatter (1775-1833) was a laundress and belonged to a poor family, she had to beg for handouts in childhood, she was buried in a cemetery for the poor. The legend about Andersen's royal origin is prevalent in Denmark as Andersen wrote in early biography that in childhood he played with prince Fritz, who subsequently went on to be known as king Frederick VII, and he did not have friends among street boys - only the prince. Andersen's friendship with prince Fritz, according to Andersen's imagination, continued even as an adult till the death of Fritz. After the death of Fritz, except for relatives, only Andersen was permitted to see the coffin. The reason for this imagination were narrations of the child's father, that he was a relative of the king. Since childhood, the future writer showed a tendency towards dreaming and writing, often conducting improvised house performances, causing the laughter and jeers of children. Andersen's father died in 1816 and the boy had to work for his livelihood. At first, he worked as an apprentice with a weaver and then with a tailor. Later on, Andersen worked in a cigarette making factory. In early childhood, Hans Christian was a reserved child with big blue eyes, who sat in a corner and played his favorite game - puppet theatre. Andersen was fond of the puppet theatre even in his older years.
He grew up as a very refined nervous child, who was emotional and sensitive. During that time, physical punishments for children in schools were very common, therefore the boy feared to attend the school and hence his mother put him in a Jewish school, where physical punishments on children were banned. From here on, Andersen maintained a connection with Jewish people and knowledge of its traditions and culture; he had written several fairy tales and stories on Jewish themes.
Youth:
At the age of 14, Hans had gone to Copenhagen; his mother permitted him to go in a hope that he would stay there for a while and would return back. When she enquired about the reason for his trip to Copenhagen leaving her and the house, young Hans Christian immediately answered: "to become famous!". He went there with an aim to get a job in theatre, motivated by the love to the things associated with theatre. He got money according to the recommendation letter of a colonel, in whose family Hans gave performances in childhood. Within a year of life in Copenhagen, he tried to get a job in theatre. At first, he approached a famous singer in her house and with emotional tears, request her to help him in getting a job in theatre. She, with the sole objective of getting rid of the importunate strange lanky teenager, promised to do that, but, of course, did not fulfil her promise. Much later, she told Andersen that, she simply took him to be crazy. Hans Christian was a lanky teenager with extended and thin extremities, neck and thin long nose and he was some kind of live analogue of The Ugly Duckling. But, thanks to his pleasant voice and requests and also due to pity, Hans Christian, despite ineffective appearance, was taken into Royal theatre, where he played supporting roles. He was very sparsely involved and with his voice turning worse with age, he was dismissed. In the meantime, Hans Christian composed plays in 5 acts and wrote a letter to the king, convincing him to lend money for publication. Verses were also included in this book. Hans Christian took enough care for advertising and published an announcement in the newspaper. The book was published but with no buyers, it was to be used as wrapping paper. He did not lose hope and took the book to a theatre so that a play could be made on his verses. His proposal was rejected with a simple sentence "due to total absence of author's experience". But, seeing his desire, he was suggested to study due to kindness towards him. With sympathy towards the poor and sensitive boy, people petitioned before Frederick VI, king of Denmark, who permitted Andersen to go to school in the small town Slagelse and then at another school in Elsinore and the expenditure of Andersen's education was taken care of by the treasury. It meant that, it will not be necessary for him to think about earning a piece of bread and moreover, how to live further. Students at the school were 6 years younger to Andersen. He remembered the following years of study at school as the most gloomy period of his life, because he was subjected to the strict criticism of the rector of the educational institution and painfully worried about this for the rest of his days - he saw the rector in nightmares. In 1827, Andersen completed his education. Till the end of his life, he made many grammatical mistakes and Andersen could not master grammar till the end.
Andersen remained a bachelor and fathered no children. |
International Children's Book Day is on April 2nd. It was started in 1925 on the date of Hans Christian Andersen's birthday. Andersen is among the most well-known as well as cherished fairy-tale authors of all time.
The festivities of this holiday around the globe consist of conferences with writers and illustrators, composing contests and reading children's books to groups of youngsters. If you have kids in your family, today is an excellent occasion to read them something before they go to bed tonight ;)
