The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales

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Andersen, Hans Christian

Andersen, Hans Christian (1805–75),
Danish writer, often regarded as the father of modern fairy tales. Son of a cobbler and a washerwoman, he rose to the position of a national poet and is the most well‐known Scandinavian writer of all times.

Although Andersen considered himself a novelist and playwright, his unquestionable fame is based on his fairy tales. He published four collections: Eventyr, fortalte for børn (Fairy Tales, Told for Children, 1835–42), Nye eventyr (New Fairy Tales, 1844–8), Historier (Stories, 1852–5), and Nye eventyr og historier (New Fairy Tales and Stories, 1858–72), which already during his lifetime were translated into many languages.

The sources of his stories were mostly Danish folk tales, collected and retold by his immediate predecessors J. M. Thiele, Adam Oehlenschläger and Bernhard [The entire page is 1188 words long]

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