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by Bente Egelund Jensen
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| Hans Christian Andersen,
at left, and admirers |
| Courtesy City of Copenhagen |
Hans Christian Andersen maintained that “it
was only a manner of speaking when I was referred
to as ‘the children’s writer’.. naivete
was only part of the fairy tale, humor… was
its salt.” In English translations, however,
the ‘humorous salt’ is often sugared over
by cute choices of words or expressions. This is
a strong reason why English-speaking readers view
him as nothing but a writer for children.
On the outside, Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)
was clumsy and unfortunate in every way -- but inside,
he held a well of eloquence, originality and beauty.
His stories -- among the most delightful in the
world -- reflect his personality: eloquent, original,
with quips and paradoxes. And, like him, they are
only childish on the outside.
Hans Christian Andersen was born in the slums of
Odense on April 2, 1805, to an illiterate, semi-alcoholic
washerwoman and an intellectually inclined, somewhat
depressed shoemaker, who died when Hans Christian
was 11. A grandfather in a lunatic asylum, an aunt
who ran a brothel, and an illegitimate half-sister
stashed away in his maternal grandmother’s
house only added to the dismal family picture. Years
later, in a private letter, Andersen would describe
himself as a "swamp plant."
The shoemaker’s son had a strong sense of
being socially and intellectually misplaced: a swan
in the duck yard. With extreme confidence in his
own artistic genius, he left for Copenhagen when
he was 14, only to meet ridicule and rejection as
a dancer, actor, and playwright. His appearance
was at once "different" and unimpressive
(in his own description, he had a nose as mighty
as a cannon and tiny eyes like green peas). But
after years of struggle, he found patrons who spotted
some talent in his fanciful writings, and arranged
for him to get an education.
The mixture of a country boy of girlish constitution
brought up on superstition and folklore, enriched
with classical learning, traumatized by social inferiority
complexes and haunted by neurotic fears, produced
a somewhat crumbled human being -- but a unique
artist. The first collection of “Fairy Tales,
Told for Children” came out in 1835.
The fairy tales brought Andersen the fame he hunted
for “like a thirsty man for water.” He
created the myth of his wonderful life in tales
like “The Ugly Duckling” or “The
Little Mermaid”, who fights her way into the
human world, and enraptures everybody with her dancing.
The mermaid myth, however, immediately backfires:
having paid for her ascent with her tongue, the
mermaid can only express herself through the art
of dancing -- and (as was the case with Andersen
on several occasions), the prince (princess) marries
someone else. By means of this “innocent”
fairy tale, Andersen confesses the dark despair
of a lonely and loveless outsider, who arranged
his life around the admiration and acceptance of
others, and amputated himself emotionally in the
process.
Andersen’s letters and diaries are crammed
with self-pity, but in his art, he treats each private
fiasco with poetic grandeur -- or impish humour.
“The Shadow” tells about a learned man
who loses his shadow on a journey to the south.
Years later, the shadow returns -- now “in
the most brilliant circumstances,” wearing
fine clothes and diamond rings, “the whole
human varnish that makes a man perceptible.”
In fact, by empty imitation of human-ness, the shadow
is leading a far more successful life than that
of his owner: “I live on the sunny side of
the street,” he gloats, “and I’m
always home when it rains!” The story touches
a theme that Andersen had struck upon in earlier
tales like The Nightingale and The Emperor’s
New Clothes: how the world will overlook the true
and inner nature of things, and be taken in by mere
appearance.
But the antagonists here also constitute a split
personality, acting out a struggle between low desires
and lofty ideals that precedes modern psychology.
The shadow succeeds in life by engaging in business
his honorable owner would never do or dare -- among
them blackmail and creeping under women’s skirts.
This is not for children at all.
Nor is the story ending, where the defender of
truth and beauty is done away with, while the parasite
shadow steals his human identity and is rewarded
with the princess and half the kingdom.
Bente Egelund Jensen, author of Psychology
in Practice (Psykologi i Praksis), Forlaget Systime
A/S, lives in Odense, Denmark, five blocks from
Hans Christian Andersen’s birthplace.
More information can be found at: www.hca2005.dk
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