Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
After graduation, Andersen won a two-year scholarship to travel
around Europe, the first of many trips he'd make and write about. His ex-
periences abroad were highly formative, providing inspiration for many
of his tales. Still in his 20s, he published an (obviously autobiographical)
novel,
The Improvisatore
, about a poor young man who comes into his
own while traveling in Italy. The novel launched his writing career, and
soon he was hobnobbing with the international crowd—Charles Dickens,
