Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)
The author of such classic fairy tales as
The Ugly Duckling
was an ugly
duckling himself—a misfit who blossomed. Hans Christian Andersen
(called H. C., pronounced “hoe see” by the Danes) was born to a poor
shoemaker in Odense. As a child he was gangly, high-strung, and effem-
inate. He avoided school because the kids laughed at him, so he spent
his time in a fantasy world of books and plays. When his father died, the
11-year-old was on his own, forced into manual labor. He loved playing
with a marionette theater that his father had made for him, sparking a
lifelong love affair with the theater. In 1819, at the age of 14, he moved to
Copenhagen to pursue an acting career and worked as a boy soprano for
the Royal Theater. When his voice changed, the director encouraged him
to return to school. He dutifully attended—a teenager among boys—and
eventually went on to the university. As rejections piled up for his acting
aspirations, Andersen began to shift his theatrical ambitions to playwrit-
ing.
