Hans Christian Andersen was a dreamer who migrated among the worlds of imagination and reality, and became one of the most famous fairy tales in the world, DW says.
He died in Copenhagen on August 4, 1875, but his stories live – in children’s rooms, in theater stages and cinematic screens.
Its jaw often have characters rejected by society. They are stories of human weakness, vascular and longing, but also of beauty.
The stories of the author’s children are his biggest legacy and the Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to a writer and illustrator of children’s books.
Here are five reasons why Andersen remains relative 150 years after his death.
1. From childhood races to artist
Born on April 2, 1805, Andersen grew up in humble conditions in Odense, a city in southern Denmark. His father was a sea bream, his mother washing machine and alcohol. His aunt ran a prostitution.
During Andersen’s childhood, his family struggled to put food on the table and attended a local school for poor children. It was there that he discovered his love for books and theater and began writing his first stories.
At the age of 14, he went to Copenhagen and met with the director of the theater Royal Danish, who took Andersen under his wing and cultivated his talent. By the time the writer turned 30, the whole of Europe was captured by his poems, his works, two novels and the first volume of fairy tales they said about children.
But recognition avoided him back home in Denmark, where critics excluded his fairy tales as “harmful” and “irresponsible”.
Nevertheless, Andersen’s mythical stories supported his worldwide reputation, and Denmark eventually celebrated his talent as he received grants and grants of travel from the King of Denmark.
2. Protests against injustice
Look behind the tale of Andersen’s history and you will often find delicate satire or coated criticism of power, vanity and social injustice.
The new clothes of the emperor is a parable of vanity and fear of contradictory power – a subject that is more important than ever in the age of social media.
Few children’s stories are as painful as the story of the little girl trying to sell races in a frozen cold New Year. The next day he found on the street, frozen to death and anonymous.
Andersen didn’t just write the little girl to make us feel something. It is also intended as a social criticism, a silent protest against indifference to poverty and children’s pain.
The ugly pause, often interpreted as an autobiographical, relates to the story of the success of a humiliated underdog, the life of a misunderstood chick who, despite numerous failures, ultimately fulfills his dream and turns into a beautiful swan. As Hans Christian Andersen once said: “It doesn’t matter if you were born in a duck courtyard, as long as you hatch from the swan egg!”
The little mermaid is a metaphor for longing for another world and the willingness to sacrifice himself for love. The main protagonist in this story falls in love with a prince and sacrifices her voice to be with him as a human being. But he is getting married someone else. Eventually, it dissolves in the sea and becomes a “daughter of the air”, gave the opportunity to win an immortal soul with good deeds.
Stories are coordinated in emotions known to people no matter where they are in the world: the search for love and identity, the hope of recognition, the power of personal transformation. And the fact that life does not always give us happy finishes. These messages are timeless.
3. A life characterized by fear and eccentricity
Andersen was a colorful character, extremely sensitive and at the same time full of temperaments. It was subjected to paranoia, mood changes and hypochondria. He was afraid of dogs and robberies. When he received a bad review, he will roll on the floor in an anger. When he was traveling, he always brought a rope with him so he could get out of burning hotels in the event of an emergency.
Andersen also suffered from a strong fear that he would be buried alive, also known as Taphephobia. Fearing that he could be wrong for dead when he slept, he left notes on his bedside table with the words: “It seems only to be dead.”
What was originally scheduled for a brief visit to Charles Dickens’ home in London became a five-week stay-very much for the ignorance of the British writer, who was more than relieved when his eccentric visitor finally left. In a mirror in the room, Dickens noted: “Hans Andersen fell asleep in this room for five weeks – seeing family ages!”
4. Message for young and old
Andersen did not write to entertain children with stories of beautiful princesses and noble knights. His stories about animals and magic creatures contain complex narratives with multiple layers of themes and emotions such as longing, loss, death and identity.
These fairy tales often contain a moral message. In addition to the punishment of evil, kindness, kindness and compassion are also rewarded. The author tried to positively enhance these values and ethics in all his stories.
5.
Andersen’s works have been translated into more than 150 languages and motifs from his stories can still be found in theater, music, ballet, comics and movies.
Disney made world -renowned fairy tales: films like the little mermaid is based on Dane’s story with the same name, while the wild successful frozen franchise was inspired by the snow queen.
His characters have become global images – from the mermaid statue to Copenhagen at the monument dedicated to him in the New York Central Park.
Now, 150 years after Andersen’s death, his stories live because they are more than fairy tales: they keep a mirror in human poor – and transformation.
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