![]() In many ways, Andersen inaugurated a new era in children’s literature, turning away from the morals of nineteenth-century writers and promoting an ethics of empathy that remains a hallmark of children’s literature today. Like the simpletons of fairy tales, his winning naivete shaded into what proved to be real wisdom and true courage, for the determined boy, son of a washerwoman and shoemaker, quickly moved up the social and literary ladder to become what he himself had predicted would be Denmark’s greatest poet. In 1819, at the age of fourteen, he left the Danish provinces with just a few coins in his pocket to seek what he called, in all seriousness, fame and fortune in Copenhagen. ![]() Nothing could have been more right, for Andersen’s rapid rise from rags to riches reads exactly like a fairy tale. ![]() When Hans Christian Andersen decided to write his autobiography, he instinctively and without hesitation gave it the title: The Fairy Tale of My Life. So we're taking a look at some of those stories we used to get read to us before bed. With his work still being adapted centuries later, it's fair to say he left his imprint on the world and in our daydreams. As well as being a writer of travelogues, novels, poems and plays, he is best remembered for his magical collection of fairy tales. ![]() This week saw the anniversary of the prolific Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen's death. ![]()
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