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by Hans Christian Andersen
Who has not laughed at the emperor's new clothes, thrilled to the song of the nightingale, or sympathized with the ugly duckling?
In the 170 years since they first began to appear, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales have entranced and bewitched millions of readers, adults and children alike.
Writing in the midst of a Europe-wide rebirth of national literature, Anderson broke new ground with his fairy tales in two important ways. First, he composed them in the vernacular, mimicking the language he used in telling them to children aloud. Second, he set his tales in his own land and time, giving rise to his loving descriptions of the Danish countryside. In contrast to such folklorists as the Brothers Grimm, Anderson's tales are grounded in the real and often focus on the significance of small or overlooked things.
Here are all of Andersen's collected tales, many—such as "The Little Mermaid," "The Red Shoes," and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"—still popular through modern adaptations, and others, including "The Flying Trunk" and "The Most Incredible Thing," well worth rediscovering.
The Complete Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, by Hans Christian Andersen, is part of the Literary Classics Collection, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras.
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This information about The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805—75) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a poor shoemaker, who nonetheless was a great reader, made a toy-theatre for his son and taught him to notice every natural wonder as they walked in the woods together on Sundays. His father died when he was eleven, and it wasn't until six years later that, with the help of a patron, he finally went to a state secondary school attended by much younger children. There he suffered at the hands of a cruel headmaster, but he acquired an education and was determined to be a writer. He published his first novel and his first fairy tales in 1835; thereafter he wrote over 150 more of these stories which have become classics in many languages.
A lonely man who never married, he was also an anxious man; he loved travelling, but would carry a coil of rope with him in case of fire in his hotel. Although he originally addressed his fairy tales to children (and some would maintain he had a streak of childhood in his nature) he insisted they were 'for all ages', and the gentleness and humor that are their characteristics are recognized by everyone.
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