Hans Christian Andersen

Japanese: アンデルセン - あんでるせん（英語表記）Hans Christian Andersen

A Danish author, known in his own country as Annasen. Born on April 2nd to a poor shoemaker in Odense on the island of Funen, his father was a man of learning, and enjoyed reading to his young son "Arabian Nights" and the works of playwright Holberg, and teaching him puppet shows. However, he was an admirer of Napoleon, volunteered for the army, and went to war. When Napoleon's army was defeated, he returned home physically and mentally damaged, and went mad and died when his son was 11 years old. His mother was born into an even poorer family than his father, and could not read. Growing up in such a family, he rarely attended elementary school, but he had a strong reading ability and became familiar with literature from an early age. He also liked to act out plays using the puppets his father made for him.

After seeing a play by the Royal Theatre on tour in Odense, he was inspired by the stage, and after his confirmation he flew to the capital, Copenhagen, almost penniless, hoping to become an actor. He soon found himself in a difficult position, but his natural simplicity and eagerness to improve led him to find sympathizers and supporters one after another, including the poet Baggesen and the composer Weisse, as well as Colin, a court councillor and Royal Theatre adviser. Eventually, through their help, he was able to enter the Latin School in Slagerse as a scholarship student, albeit belatedly. He was tormented by the principals, Mr. and Mrs. Meysling, and suffered a nervous breakdown and dropped out before graduating, but at the age of 23 he entered the University of Copenhagen, and shortly thereafter self-published a humorous travelogue, A Journey on Foot from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager Island (1828). This work was well received, and he then wrote a play, "Love in the Nikolai Tower," which was performed at the Royal Theater, and he abandoned his studies to pursue a career as a writer. Around this time, he also wrote a folk tale he had heard from his grandmother, "Ghost" (later revising it into "The Fellow Traveler"), which he included in "Poetry" (1830), and this became his first fairy tale.

Although these works got him a place in the literary world, he had not studied formally, and his writing was often criticized for its grammatical errors and irregularities. He also suffered from a broken heart. Colin and others could not bear to see him like this, so he encouraged him to travel abroad, and in 1831 he visited Germany, where he made friends with Tieck and Chamisso. Since then, he made 29 trips abroad in his life, saying that "travel is my school" and "to travel is to live." The second trip was from 1833 to 1834, when he traveled to Italy via Germany, France, and Switzerland, and was also intended to heal the pain of his second broken heart. However, he was so impressed by the scenery of Italy that he was inspired to write "Les Poets Improvisators" (1835), which he began writing in Rome and completed upon his return to Japan. This made his fame spread abroad. In the same year, he published his first collection of fairy tales, which contained four stories. At first, his works were criticized as to why a man who could write works like "The Improvisator" would write childish tales like fairy tales. However, after publishing his third collection of fairy tales, which included "The Little Mermaid," fairy tales were widely recognized as his forte, and he devoted himself to them, becoming the founder of modern fairy tales. He wrote about 150 fairy tales in his lifetime, and to this day he remains the "king of fairy tales." In addition to fairy tales, he also wrote novels such as "The Lonely Violinist" and "The Veil of Fortune," a series of exquisite short stories called "A Picture Book Without Pictures," plays, poems, travelogues, and an autobiography, which earned him worldwide fame. However, in his private life, he fell in love many times but his love was unrequited, and he died single on August 4, 1875.

[Yamamuro Shizuka]

Andersen fairy tales

As the title of Andersen's collection of fairy tales suggests, it includes not only fairy tales but also stories for young people. Tales from the Dunes, The Ice Princess, and Psyche are of the latter category, and although they are powerful works, they are somewhat difficult for boys and girls to understand. There are two types of fairy tales: retellings of folk tales and original works. There are few former, and they were mainly written in his early years. In his first collection of fairy tales, three out of four stories were in that genre, but he gradually began to focus on original stories. The Tinderbox, Little Claus and Big Claus, Fellow Travelers, The Wild Swans, Foolish Hans, What Father Does Is True, and The Girl Who Treaded on Bread are his main folk tales. His most successful works are The Wild Swans and The Emperor's New Clothes. Unlike Grimm and others, he retold stories quite freely.

His original fairy tales, which are his forte, can be roughly divided into three periods. He started with "Ida's Flowers" and "Thumbelina" when he was 30, and his early masterpieces include "The Little Mermaid", "The Daisies", "The Steady Tin Soldier" and "The Ugly Duckling". These periods were created when he turned his attention from romanticism to reality, following the teachings of the great scientist Oersted, "The laws of nature are God's ideas, nature itself is spirit, and reality itself is a miracle". As the author was still young, his writing style was fresh and bright. In the middle period, from around the age of 39, his works gradually became heavy and dark due to his unhappy love affair, and he produced masterpieces such as "The Little Match Girl", "The Fir Tree", "The Red Shoes" and "A Mother's Story", but after his final separation from his lover Yenny, he was unable to write fairy tales at all for a while. In his later years, after he reached the age of 50 and wrote his autobiography to regain his confidence, his representative works include "Five Peas in a Pod," "The Twelve Who Came by Stagecoach," and "The Gardener and His Master." "That Woman is a Good-for-Nothing" is a unique work that commemorates his unfortunate mother, and the mood is somewhat different from his other fairy tales.

[Yamamuro Shizuka]

"The Complete Collection of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, translated by Takahashi Kenji, 5 volumes (1979-1980, Shogakukan)" ▽ "The Complete Translation of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, translated by Ohata Sueyoshi, 7 volumes (1981, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "The Collection of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, translated by Yamamuro Shizuka, 3 volumes (Kadokawa Bunko)" ▽ "The Autobiography of Andersen, translated by Ohata Sueyoshi (Iwanami Bunko) " ▽ "Studies on Andersen, edited by the Japan Society for Children's Literature (1969, Komine Shoten)" ▽ "The Life of Andersen, by Yamamuro Shizuka (1975, Shinchosha)"

[References] | Picture Book Without Pictures | Improvisational Poet

Andersen Statue
A statue of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish fairy tale writer. It is located next to the City Hall. Copenhagen, Denmark ©Shogakukan ">

Andersen Statue

Andersen House
The house on Munkhmelle Street where he spent his childhood. There are many facilities related to Andersen in the surrounding area, and many tourists visit. Odense, Denmark ©Shogakukan ">

Andersen House

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

デンマークの作家。本国ではアンナセンという。フュン島のオーゼンセで貧しい靴屋の子として4月2日に生まれた。父親は好学の人で、幼い息子に『アラビアン・ナイト』や劇作家ホルベアの作品を好んで読み聞かせたり人形芝居を教えたが、ナポレオン崇拝家で軍隊に志願して出征、ナポレオン軍が敗れ、彼自身は心身を害して帰国し、息子が11歳のときに狂死する。母は父以上に貧しい家に生まれ、文字も読めなかった。そのような家庭に育ったので、彼は小学校もろくに通わなかったが、読書力は旺盛(おうせい)で早くから文学に親しみ、また父のつくってくれた人形を動かして劇のまねごとをするのを好んだ。

　オーゼンセへ巡業にきた王立劇場の劇を見てから舞台にあこがれ、堅信礼を済ますとほとんど無一文で首都コペンハーゲンに飛び出し、俳優として舞台に立つことを願った。たちまち生活に追い詰められたが、天性の純朴と向上の熱意とは次々に同情者や後援者をみいだし、詩人バッゲセン、作曲家ワイセらをはじめ、宮中顧問官で王立劇場顧問だったコリンの後援を受けることになり、やがてその口利きで遅まきながらスラーイェルセのラテン語学校に給費生として入学した。校長マイスリング夫妻に苦しめられて、神経衰弱で卒業を前に退学したが、23歳でコペンハーゲン大学に入学、その直後ユーモラスな旅行記『ホルメン運河からアマーゲル島東端までの徒歩旅行』（1828）を自費出版した。これが好評で迎えられ、ついで劇『ニコライ塔上の恋』を書いて王立劇場で上演され、学業を放棄して作家の道に踏み出す。そのころまた、幼時祖母から聞いた昔話『幽霊』（のちに改作して『旅仲間』）を書いて、『詩集』（1830）に付載、これが童話の第一作となった。

　しかし、これらでいちおう文壇に出たものの、正規の勉学をしなかった彼の文章には、とかく文法上の誤りや破格があってしばしば酷評され、また失恋に悩んだ。それを見かねたコリンらに外遊を勧められ、1831年にドイツに遊んでティーク、シャミッソーらと交わる。以後「旅は私の学校」「旅することは生きること」として、生涯に29回も国外旅行をする。その第2回は1833～1834年のドイツ、フランス、スイスを経てイタリアに遊んだ旅で、これも二度目の失恋の痛手をいやすためのものであったが、イタリアの風物に感激して『即興詩人』（1835）の想を得、ローマで書き始めて帰国してこれを完成。これにより彼の名声は国外にまで広がった。同年、作品4編を収めた最初の童話集を刊行。『即興詩人』のような作の書ける人が、なぜ童話のような子供だましのものを書くかと最初は不評であったが、『人魚姫』などを含む第三童話集を出してからは、童話こそ彼の本領であることが広く認められ、いよいよこれに力を注いで、近代童話の確立者となった。生涯に書いた童話は約150編、今日に至るまでなお「童話の王様」の地位にある。その間に、童話以外にも『さびしきバイオリンひき』『幸運のベール』などの小説、珠玉の連作短編集『絵のない絵本』、劇、詩、紀行、自伝などを書いて世界的名声を得たが、私生活では幾度恋をしても報いられず、1875年8月4日その生涯を独身のままで閉じた。

［山室　静］

アンデルセン童話

アンデルセンの童話全集は『童話と物語』と題されているとおり、童話以外に青少年向きの物語をも含んでいる。『砂丘の話』『氷姫』『プシケ』などは後者に属し、力作ではあるが少年少女にはやや理解困難である。童話には、民話を再話したものと純創作とがあるが、前者は数が少なく、それも主として初期に書かれて、最初の童話集などは4編中3編までがその系統の作だったが、しだいに創作童話に力を注ぐことになった。『火うち箱』『小クラウスと大クラウス』『旅仲間』『野の白鳥』『ばかのハンス』『お父さんのすることにまちがいはない』『パンを踏んだ娘』などは民話系の作のおもなもの。そのもっとも成功したものは『野の白鳥』と『裸の王様』であろう。彼はグリムなどと異なってかなり自由に再話している。

　本領である創作童話はほぼ3期に分けられ、30歳のときの『イーダの花』『親指姫』を最初に、『人魚姫』『ヒナギク』『しっかり者のスズの兵隊』『みにくいアヒルの子』などが初期の代表作。大科学者エールステッドの教え、「自然の法則は神の思想であり、自然はそのまま精神、現実そのものが奇跡なのだ」に従って、それまでのロマン主義から現実に目を転じたところに成立する。作者はまだ若かっただけに筆致はみずみずしく作風も明るい。中期は39歳ごろからで、不幸な恋をしたりして作品がしだいに重たく暗くなり、『マッチ売りの少女』『モミの木』『赤い靴』『ある母親の話』などの名作を出すが、恋人イェンニイと最後的に別れてからはしばらく童話がまったく書けなくなる。後期は50歳に達して自伝を書いて自信を回復してからで、『一つの莢(さや)から出た五粒の豆』『駅馬車できた十二人』『庭師と主人』などが代表作。別に『あの女はろくでなし』は彼の薄幸な母親を記念する特異な作で、気分も他の童話とはやや異なっている。

［山室　静］

『高橋健二訳『アンデルセン童話全集』全5巻（1979～1980・小学館）』▽『大畑末吉訳『完訳アンデルセン童話集』全7巻（1981・岩波書店）』▽『山室静訳『アンデルセン童話集』全3冊（角川文庫）』▽『大畑末吉訳『アンデルセン自伝』（岩波文庫）』▽『日本児童文学学会編『アンデルセン研究』（1969・小峰書店）』▽『山室静著『アンデルセンの生涯』（1975・新潮社）』

[参照項目] | 絵のない絵本 | 即興詩人

アンデルセン像

アンデルセンの家

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

<<: Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales - Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

>>: Alfred Andersch