Most of us know the name of Hans Christian Andersen from childhood. He said about his life that it was wonderful and beautiful, that even if during the childhood, distressing years for the family, the Good Fairy invited him to choose a life for herself, anyway, she would not have been better lived.
What was Andersen like? Outwardly, he was a clumsy tall man with disproportionately long arms and legs, with a ridiculous gait, because of which the boys gave him the nicknames "stork" and "lamppost". The life of Hans Christian Andersen is unusual for a great man. He was born into the family of a shoemaker and laundresses in the provincial Danish town of Odense in 1805. Fairy tale and fantasy constantly lived in this family. His father not only read to him from infancy the tales from The Thousand and One Nights, he also informed the boy that royal blood flows in his veins. Most likely, it was a fantasy in which Hans Christian
Andersen sincerely believed
. (A short biography written by him personally claimed that Prince Frits was the only childhood friend for him.) However, we are talking about a mysterious man. Who knows when the stories of a person who knows how to ignite children's eyes became a fairy tale, and when did it happen? The fact remains that after the death of King Frederick VII (the name was received at the coronation by Frits), the only person admitted to the tomb, besides his family, was Andersen.
Hans Christian Andersen's biography is illuminated by his love of the theater. His favorite game was a home puppet theater, where the "actors" were homemade wooden dolls with clothes sewn from rags. The boy for them came up with more and more performances. But Hans learned to write and read only at the age of 10. This was preceded by the following story. When his father gave him to the widow of a glove a few years earlier, she somehow (as was customary in the 18th century) punished him with rods. He did not tolerate violence. Hans, taking the primer under his arm, left the torturer's house forever, with his head held high.
The trouble came to the family when Andersen was 11 years old, his father died suddenly. The child had to go to work to feed his family: first an apprentice to a cloth factory, then to a tobacco factory.
A further biography of Hans Christian Andersen again becomes like a fairy tale. As his mother later recalled, a fortuneteller in her presence, predicting the fate of her son, reported glory, a monument during her lifetime. Once the puppet theater arrived in the town, it needed an episodic actor-extras for the role of coachman. Hans happily took advantage of this opportunity. Giving home puppet shows in the prosperous houses of Odense, he enlisted a letter of recommendation from the colonel in order to realize his dream - to become an actor of the Royal Theater. Having bought boots with the money earned, the fourteen-year-old Andersen went to Copenhagen. His mother allowed him to leave, hoping that soon Hans would return, because in the capital they had neither relatives nor acquaintances. Having told him about this, she asked the question: “Why are you going?” To this, the teenager answered succinctly and exhaustively: "To become famous!"
The dream came true: at first out of pity, and also thanks to the "theatrical" voice, the boy was accepted for episodic roles. When Hans turned into a young man, and his voice “broke”, he was disappointed - dismissal from the theater because of futility. But he was already noticed, thanks to an unusual fantasy. A friend of the theater, the poet Ingeman, revealed the essence of the talent of Hans Christian Andersen - to be able to see for yourself and show your readers "pearls in a gutter". A talented boy was noticed and, upon a satisfied request to King Frederick VI, was given the opportunity to get an education for official kosh. Now Hans was full, dressed, and there was a roof over his head. But the clumsy young man, chronically “not friendly” with grammar, was constantly criticized by teachers and fellow practitioners who were six years younger. The great storyteller wrote with grammatical errors until the end of his days!
The biography of Hans Christian Andersen as a writer begins at the age of 25, after the publication of a fantastic story about the adventures of a romantic hero while sailing on canals. Two years later, having received the royal prize, Hans Christian Andersen receives a powerful stream of impressions, traveling around Europe. Two years later, in 1835, he finally abandoned attempts to write plays and created the first cycle of his tales.
The Danes were delighted and surprised. Many were perplexed: how could an ordinary person create such a miracle? Indeed, such stories can only be known by Ole-Lukoye, who can hear the words of the Darn Needle, catch the thoughts of the Rose Bush, and talk with little Thumbelina. The second cycle was published by him three years later. When asked by journalists about where he got the stories from, Andersen was usually surprised and asked if they themselves didn’t notice anything. After all, if you look closely and listen carefully, then every fence, every wildflower seeks to tell its story. Being famous, the writer still tried to return to the path of a theater playwright. However, the attempt did not bring him success. In 1845, he created the third cycle of fairy tales.
Think, is it not a miracle - only one person has been given the opportunity to create the folklore of an entire country and to generously give it to his homeland ?! His “Snow Queen”, “The Little Mermaid”, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “Thumbelina”, “The Princess and the Pea” are known all over the world.
The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is life in a fairy tale. After his death in 1875, under his pillow, friends found manuscript sheets with a new, almost written, magical story.
The sculpture of his "Little Mermaid" became a symbol of Denmark. His birthday, April 2, is the International Children's Book Day.