Hans Christian Andersen

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Family

Danish writer of fairy-tale stories, plays, novels, poems and travel books. His fables are translated into more languages than any other books, outside of the Bible. Andersen is chiefly remembered for "The Ugly Duckling," "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Red Shoes." His only and consuming ambition was to become a writer held in esteem. Working towards that goal, he wrote prolifically and with versatility. It was his fairy tales, his "trifles," as he called them, that brought him world-wide recognition. Altogether, he wrote 156 tales which have been translated into more than a hundred languages. He also wrote three autobiographies. Andersen was perhaps better known than any other living writer, an international celebrity found in the company of his peers, and his work has been widely read ever since. His life was not that idyllic. In his family history, his dad, a cobbler, went insane and died when Hans was 11. His paternal grandmother was a pathological liar who had, in her youth, been jailed for repeatedly producing illegitimate children and her husband had a reputation as the town lunatic. One of his aunts apparently ran a brothel. He grew up in a one-room house in the slum area of Odense, usually playing by himself with puppets. The boy had few friends and spent much of his time alone with his homemade toys. As an adult, he was not particularly fond of children. He grew into an odd figure with huge feet and small blue eyes, a tall, delicate man, long and bony with a cadaverous face. With arms and legs disproportionately large for his body, he attracted nicknames that were descriptive, such as "stork" and "lamp post." To make money for the family, as a youth, Andersen worked in a cloth factory where he was often embarrassed by the workmen's bawdy humor. Gifted with a fine soprano voice, he loved to sing, that is, until the day at work when his co-workers pulled off his pants to see if he was a girl. At 14, ungainly, dressed like a beggar and carrying a small bundle of clothes, he set out for Copenhagen to find his fortune. Industrious, the boy found a patron, an Italian opera singer. He was soon taking singing and dancing lessons at the Royal Theater, the director of which, Jonas Collin, later became his lifelong patron and substitute father. At 17, he published a short story, followed by a book and then a novel. The turning point in his career came with the publication of his first volume of "Eventyr," (Fairy Tales). His fame was compensation for his poor looks, poverty, and deep sense of inferiority. He was so eager in his pursuit of celebrity; in 1833 he surprised Victor Hugo in Paris by calling at his house when Hugo had no idea who he was. For a period of time he was close to Dickens until June 1857, when he visited Dickens and stayed – for five weeks. He never understood why the family dropped him. He showed a fawning servility in his association with Liszt, Dumas, Balzac, Mendelsohn and the Brothers Grimm. At his best, Andersen was simple, sincere, affectionate and witty. At his worst, he was vain, irritable, snobbish and terribly peculiar, with fits of depression and phobias. A hypochondriac and high strung, Andersen was often ill, and deeply afraid of being buried alive. His fear of dying in a fire was so great that he packed a rope in his suitcase when he traveled in order to escape from a window. He never married. Nonetheless, his journals reveal him to have been heterosexual, though timid toward women and ashamed of his sexual feelings. He never had a sexual experience with either man or woman, though his sexual desires were normal. He wrote, "I am still innocent but my blood is burning. I'm half ill. Happy is he who is married, who is engaged to be married." He was unable to capture the mate he so desired, in his mind because he was so ugly. His first love was a schoolmate who remained a chaste vision. Next was the 18-year-old daughter of his patron, Jonas Collin. She was not interested and asked him to stop his amorous letters. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish nightingale, came into Andersen's life in 1843 when she came to Copenhagen on a singing engagement. He showered her with poems and gifts. In 1845, he traveled to Berlin to spend Christmas Eve with her. When his plans proved barren, he spend the Christmas alone in a hotel room, close to tears. Her only reference of endearment to him was "brother," and "friend," but Andersen was devastated when she married in 1852. He wrote loving letters to his male friends that may be construed as homosexual, were he not so starving for simple affection and praise. His only sexual outlet was masturbation, for which he felt enormous guilt. When Andersen visited brothels in the 1860s, he talked to naked prostitutes, emotionally unable to do more. His health began to decline in 1874. First he suffered from bronchitis, then later from liver cancer. In 6/1875, his friends, Moritz and Dorothy Melchior, took him to their home outside Copenhagen, where he had a room with a balcony overlooking the Oresund. On July 29, he took to bed permanently. His hostess found him sleeping peacefully around 11:00 AM on 8/04/1875, but he died quietly 45 minutes later. At his breast was found a farewell letter written 45 years earlier by a woman whom he had loved. It was destroyed unread. Link to Wikipedia biography