蜜芽传媒

What was Hans Christian Andersen’s childhood like?

His father was a shoemaker, who died when Hans was 11. His mother was a washerwoman. His parents read stories to him, such as the Arabian Nights, and sent him to a good school in Odense, Denmark. But though they clearly cared about his education and imagination, they were very poor. Hans was considered ugly by his peers, and was bullied: he was tall, with a large nose, feet and hands. He was also socially awkward and spent a lot of time in his own imaginative worlds. He believed he might be a changeling – a supernatural creature switched with a human child as a baby. He thought he was secretly the son of a noble family and that when he grew up he would live in a castle.

What drew him to the theatre?

Andersen had no money for theatre tickets, but as a young teenager he worked for touring theatre companies in Odense in exchange for being allowed to sit in the corner and watch their shows. He was entranced. Aged 14, he left Odense and went on his own to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. He hoped to become a professional singer and went to the home of the director of the Royal Choir School, Giuseppe Siboni. Siboni was having a dinner party, and let Andersen sing for his guests. He was astonished by the boy’s beautiful voice and called him “the nightingale of Odense”. Siboni began to train him, but then Andersen’s voice broke – and he lost his talent. Siboni told him to go back to Odense and learn a trade. Andersen was heartbroken. “That was the point in his life where he could barely get any food to eat and was living really on the edge,” says Ane Grum-Schwensen, associate professor at the Hans Christian Andersen Centre at the University of Southern Denmark.

How did he become a writer?

Andersen decided that if he couldn’t be a performer, he’d write for the theatre instead. Aged 17, his first play was rejected by the Royal Theatre, but a director called Jonas Collin saw something in his work. Collin took Andersen into his family and found a place for him at a grammar school. Unfortunately, the schoolmaster, Simon Meisling, was a harsh disciplinarian who thought Andersen needed toughening up. Meisling banned Andersen from writing poetry and forced him and his classmates to watch the execution of three local criminals. “He thought it would be good for their morals,” says Grum-Schwensen. “For Andersen at least, this was a horrific experience that haunted him, many years later.” Andersen was relieved when Collin let him return to Copenhagen and complete his studies with a private tutor.

When did he become successful?

He started to be recognised for the quality of his writing in his early 20s, though the reactions to his plays and stories was mixed at first. He found wealthy patrons, including the King of Denmark and the Countess of Danneskjold. In 1842, while staying at the manor houses of some patrons in Zealand, he saw cygnets floating on a lake and started to develop the story of The Ugly Duckling. “It’s very much a parallel of course to some of the feeling he had as a child and also in his younger years as well,” says Grum-Schwensen. “In the beginning of his time in Copenhagen as well, where he was very much sort of outside society.”

How was Andersen’s life reflected in the story?

In the story, the duckling is bullied and shunned by other ducks and barnyard animals. Only when it grows up and meets some wild swans does it realise that the reason it never fit in is that it’s not an ugly duck at all, but a beautiful swan. In its time, The Ugly Duckling was unusual. It was a completely original fairy tale, not based on an older story. The transformation in the story isn’t magical, but natural. Andersen had always been intrigued by the idea of changelings who eventually grew into their intended form, even believing he might be one himself. He’d turned the cruel bullying he experienced in childhood into a universal story of survival and triumph.

Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy stories were a huge success. He became a treasured national figure in Denmark and rose to international fame. His stories have been told, retold and adapted ever since. “You could say that he taught people that they were enough as they are and that they don't have to seek outer acceptance,” says Grum-Schwensen. “Being able to have empathy with others and sympathy for the weak and not only the strong… That is a really lovely thing. And not least in this complex and modern world that we live in.”