Andersen, who was born to poor parents, fought the rigid classify social organization of his time throughout his life. The first significant help came from Jonas Collin, one of the directors of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, to which Andersen had gone as a youth in the conceited hope of winning fame as an actor. Collin raised money to send him to school. Although school was an dysphoric experience for Andersen because of an unpleasant headmaster, it allowed him to be admitted to the University of Copenhagen in 1828 .
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The following class Andersen produced what is considered his first important literary cultivate, Fodrejse fra Holmens Kanal til Østpynten af Amager i aarene 1828 og 1829 ( 1829 ; “ A walk from Holmen ’ s Canal to the East Point of the Island of Amager in the Years 1828 and 1829 ” ), a fantastic narrative in the vogue of the german quixotic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. This self-published work was an immediate achiever. He then turned to playwriting. After some unsuccessful attempts, he achieved realization for Mulatten ( 1840 ; “ The Mulatto ” ), a play portraying the evils of slavery. The field, however, was not to become his field, and for a long clock Andersen was regarded chiefly as a novelist. Most of his novels are autobiographical ; among the best-known are Improvisatoren ( 1835 ; The Improvisatore ), O.T. ( 1836 ; OT : A danish Romance ), and Kun en spillemand ( 1837 ; only a Fiddler ). Andersen ’ s first book of tales, Eventyr, fortalte for børn ( 1835 ; “ Tales, Told for Children ” ), included stories such as “ The Tinderbox, ” “ Little Claus and Big Claus, ” “ The Princess and the Pea, ” and “ Little Ida ’ s Flowers. ” Two far installments of stories made up the beginning book of Eventyr ( 1837 ) ; a second volume was completed in 1842, and to these was added Billedbog uden billed ( 1840 ; A Picture-book Without Pictures ). New collections appeared in 1843, 1847, and 1852. The genre was expanded in Nye eventyr og historier ( 1858–72 ; “ New Fairy Tales and Stories ” ).
These collections broke new ground in both style and capacity. A real number pioneer in his method acting of telling tales, Andersen used the idioms and constructions of the speak terminology, frankincense breaking with literary custom. While some of his tales exhibit an optimistic belief in the ultimate wallow of good and smasher ( for example, “ The Snow Queen ” ), others are profoundly pessimistic and end unhappily. indeed, one reason for Andersen ’ s great entreaty to both children and adults is that he was not afraid of introducing feelings and ideas that were beyond a child ’ second immediate comprehension, yet he remained in touch with the child ’ s position. He combined his natural storytelling abilities and great imaginative power with universal joint elements of folk legend to produce a body of fairy tales that relates to many cultures. It may besides be noted that separate of what makes some of the tales indeed compel is Andersen ’ s identification with the unfortunate and the outcast. A solid autobiographical element runs through his sad tales ; throughout his life sentence he perceived himself as an foreigner, and, despite the external realization he received, he never felt completely accepted. He suffered profoundly in some of his closest personal relationships. Andersen began receiving a government stipend in the deep 1830s that gave him fiscal constancy, and his fairy tales started achieving wide-eyed popularity in Europe, particularly in Germany, at about the same prison term. From 1831 to 1873 Andersen spent a dependable share of his time traveling throughout Europe, Asia Minor, and Africa, and his impressions are recorded in a number of travel books, notably En digters bazar ( 1842 ; A Poet ’ s Bazaar ), I Sverrig ( 1851 ; Pictures of Sweden ), and I Spanien ( 1863 ; In Spain ). Because Andersen rarely destroyed anything he wrote, his diaries and thousands of his letters are extant.
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