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Hans Christian Andersen
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Hans Christian Andersen
Odense's most famous son left his native city at an early age. Yet Odense is still associated with Hans Christian Andersen.
From humble beginnings - his mother was a washerwoman, his father a shoemaker - Andersen's astonishingly fertile imagination
and creativity led him on extensive travels throughout Europe and established him as Denmark's major literary figure. He was
born in 1805 in Odense, but it is not certain in which location. By the age of seven Andersen was inspired after visiting
the theater in Odense; by 14 he was in Copenhagen, where he tried unsuccessfully to join the Royal Theater Company.
Andersen was a man of complex sensitivities whose relationships were profound and often difficult, although he was never short
of friends and benefactors. He was essentially a poet and dramatist, and his early works reflect this. He had the urge to
travel, typical of a lonely and introverted artist, and his first, self-published book was about a journey he made on foot
through Denmark. In 1835 he published Fairy Tales, Told for Children. Plays, novels and travel accounts followed, along with
a continuing output of the fairy tales that were to make his name.
Andersen's fairy tales were far more profound than mere fantasy, however charming. He was a powerful moralist, an intensely
humane man who understood the human condition and injected into his stories remarkable life lessons. Famous tales such as
The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Tinder Box and The Nightingale have entered the consciousness
of generations of readers worldwide, for their literary elegance as much as their theatricality.
Andersen remained an intense and sometimes troubled man. He was a friend and associate of kings and of the famous. He never
married, though he was deeply in love at times, not least with the Swedish singer Jenny Lind. He died at 70 in 1875. In the
Denmark of his day Andersen was criticized and diminished for what was seen as his absorption with the wider European world.
As always with genius, however, his work transcended time. In Odense the spirit of this remarkable man is vividly present,
at the Hans Christian Anderson Museum and also in quieter corners of the Old Town.
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