How did hans christian andersen die

Danish prose writer and poet, playwright, famous storyteller Date of Birth: 02.04.1805 Country: Denmark

Biography of Hans Christian Andersen

Introduction

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish novelist, poet, playwright, and renowned fairy tale writer. He is the author of universally known fairy tales for children and adults, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Thumbelina," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Princess and the Pea," "Ole Lukøje," "The Snow Queen," and many others. Andersen's tales are beloved by all, as they transport readers into a world where roses bloom from logs, and objects come alive at night, sharing their wondrous stories of love, disappointments, and hopes.

Early Life

In 1805, in the town of Odense on the island of Funen, Denmark, a young couple lived in a poor room. The husband was a twenty-year-old cobbler, a gifted poetic soul, and his wife, a few years older, had a rare heart. The husband, who had recently become a master, had built the entire workshop and even the bed with his own hands. On April 2, 1805, a little crying bundle was born on that bed - me, Hans Christian Andersen. I grew up as the only child, indulged and spoiled. My mother often told me how fortunate I was, as my life was much better than her own childhood: she was once driven out of her home to beg for alms and spent days sitting under a bridge by the river. Her stories brought tears to my eyes. (H.C. Andersen, "The Fairy Tale of My Life," 1855, translated by A. and P. Ganzen)

As a child, Hans Christian Andersen was already emotionally sensitive and had a keen perception of the world. Even the slightest impression left a deep mark on his soul. He recalled an event that occurred when he was six years old - the appearance of a comet in 1811. His mother told him that the comet would collide with the Earth and shatter it into pieces or something terrible would happen. Andersen listened to all the rumors and superstitions around him, and this superstition took root in his young heart. (ibid)

Love for Literature

Andersen's father, a man who loved books and possessed not only a lively and imaginative mind but also a great deal of common sense, instilled in Andersen a sense of faith. Andersen recalled, "My father would read to us not only comedies and stories, but also historical books and the Bible. He would contemplate deeply on what he read, but when he discussed it with my mother, she wouldn't understand him, causing him to retreat into himself more and more. One day he opened the Bible and said, 'Yes, Jesus Christ was also a man, just like us, but an extraordinary man!' My mother was horrified by his words and burst into tears. I, too, was frightened and begged God to forgive my father for his blasphemy." To all the warnings of God's wrath and the schemes of the devil, the wise cobbler responded, "There is no devil except the one we carry in our hearts!" He loved his little son deeply and mainly interacted with him, reading various books to him and taking walks in the forest. The cobbler's cherished dream was to live in a small house with a garden and rose bushes, a vision that Andersen would later describe in his famous fairy tales. But this dream was never to come true. Due to physical exertion - he wanted his family to lack nothing! - Andersen's father fell ill and died suddenly. To support her son and save money for his education, Andersen's mother had to find odd jobs, earning a living by doing laundry. And so, the skinny, lanky boy with big blue eyes and an endless imagination spent his days at home. After finishing the simple household chores, he would hide in a corner and put on performances in his homemade puppet theater, which his late father had made for him. He even wrote the plays himself. Next door to the Andersen's lived the Buhlflod family, a widow and her daughters. They grew fond of the curious boy and often invited him to their home. "It was in this house," Andersen wrote, "that I first heard the word 'poet' pronounced with reverence, as something sacred..."

Education and Early Career

In the same house, Hans Christian Andersen first encountered the works of Shakespeare, which inspired him to write his own plays. One of his early plays was called "The Carp and Elvira," and he proudly read it aloud to the housemaid. However, she mocked it, and the young author burst into tears. His mother comforted him, saying, "She is laughing because her son did not write such a play!" Hans Christian calmed down and began new works. "My love for reading, my good memory - I knew countless passages from dramatic works by heart - and my beautiful voice attracted some interest from the best families in our town," Andersen recalled. He remembered the Høeg-Guldberg family, in particular, with great warmth. Colonel Høeg-Guldberg tried to offer the boy his support and introduced Hans Christian to the crown prince, who lived in the palace in Odense (Oh, how small and beautiful Denmark was!). Andersen wrote little about the consequences of this audience, but it seems that it had a decisive influence on him. Soon after, he enrolled in a drama school, but after losing his voice, he switched to classical high school. Even as a schoolboy, he caught the attention of his teachers with his extraordinary talent for storytelling and a few poems. When he entered the university, Andersen published a satirical story called "A Walking Tour from the Holmen Canal to Amak." His lyrical poems were highly successful, and Denmark soon recognized him as a poet. The main themes of Andersen's poetry were love for his homeland, Danish landscapes, and Christian themes. Many of his remarkable poems, later set to music, were based on biblical psalms and stories. Despite his remarkable mind and self-irony, Andersen suffered immensely from the lack of recognition and criticism of his talent and works by both critics and a wide readership. His novel "The Improvisatore," a subtle psychological study of an artist whose talent struggled to break through the stone walls of disdain and insignificance, contained numerous autobiographical episodes. (This novel is still considered the pinnacle of Andersen's work as a writer and psychologist but has not been reprinted since the revolution in Russia! The most complete edition in Russian is the five-volume Andersen translated by A. and P. Ganzen, published in 1895!) The renowned writer Konstantin Paustovsky once noted that it is difficult to find the exact moment in Andersen's complex biography when he began writing fairy tales. One thing is certain: it was in his mature years. Andersen gained fame as a poet, known even to the common people. Children fell asleep to his lullabies, and he was also known as a traveler - several books about his journeys to Sweden (1855) and Italy (1842) were published. He particularly loved Italy. His book "Shadow Pictures" (1831) - about his impressions while wandering around the world - captivated generations of Europeans! His plays, such as "The Mulatto," "The Firstborn," "The King's Dreams," and "More Precious Than Pearls and Gold," were successful on stage. However, he had to watch them from the seats intended for the common people, separated from the luxurious chairs of the aristocratic audience by an iron strip! That's how it was! Andersen's first fairy tales brought him the title of the Greatest Poet. The small booklets containing his tales were read until they fell apart, editions with illustrations sold out within minutes, and the verses and songs from these tales were memorized by children. Meanwhile, the critics laughed! Andersen bitterly wrote about it to his English friend Charles Dickens, saying, "Denmark is as rotten as the rotten islands on which it grew up!"
But moments of despair quickly passed, especially in the company of children who loved the thin, tall, sharp-nosed gentleman in a black jacket with a flower in his lapel and a large handkerchief in his hands. Perhaps he was not very handsome, but his huge blue eyes would light up like a fire when he began to tell his extraordinary stories to the children!
He could tell even the most serious matters in a simple and clear language. A. Ganzen, the unparalleled translator of Andersen from Danish to Russian, wrote: "His imagination is like that of a child. That's why his pictures are so light and accessible. It is a magical lantern of poetry. Everything he touches comes to life before his eyes. Children love to play with various scraps of wood, fabric scraps, pieces of stone... Andersen does the same: a fence post, two dirty rags, a rusty darning needle... Andersen's pictures are so charming that they often give the impression of magical dreams. Not only the surrounding objects - such as flowers, grass - but even the forces of nature, feelings, and abstract concepts take on living forms and turn into people..." (Quoted from: Brockhaus and Efron. Biographies. Vol. 1. Andersen.)
Andersen's imagination was so strong and unusual that he was sometimes called a sorcerer and clairvoyant with bewilderment: after looking at a person a couple of times, he could tell a lot about them, even if they were complete strangers. Many have read a part of the fairy tale author's biography (translated by K.G. Paustovsky) about his night journey with three girls, to whom he predicted their futures. The strangest thing is that all his predictions had a real basis and came true! He had never seen these girls before. They were astonished by their encounter with Andersen and cherished their memories of him for the rest of their lives!
For such a divine gift of creation and imagination, Andersen paid a high price. He died in complete solitude at his villa Rolighed on August 4, 1875, after a long illness that began in 1872. Literature sources barely mention his unhappy love for the famous Danish singer and actress, the dazzling Jenny Lind. When this beautiful and poetic romance began is unknown. It ended in separation. Andersen believed that his calling was more important and stronger than family ties. Perhaps Jenny thought the same... no one will ever know...

P.S. Andersen had the opportunity to see his own monument and the illumination in Odense, as predicted by a fortune-teller to his mother in 1819. He smiled, looking at his sculpted self. The little tin soldier, given to him by a poor boy, and the petals of the rose handed to him by a blue-eyed girl while he was walking down the street were more precious to him than any awards or monuments. He cherished the soldier and the petals in a box. He often touched them with his fingers, inhaling the delicate scent and remembering the words of the poet Ingemann spoken to him in his youth: "You possess a precious ability to find pearls in any drain! Be careful not to lose this ability. It may be your destiny."
He never lost it. Until the end. In his writing desk drawer, his friends found sheets of paper with the text of a new fairy tale, which he had started just a few days before his death and was almost finished. His pen was still as vibrant as ever.