Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) is mainly known for the fairy tales he produced combining folk legends and his own imagination. Anderson's fairy tales were not meant merely for children but for adults as well. He has also written plays, novels and travelogues.

Hans Christian Andersen was born in the slums of Odense, Denmark. His father was a shoemaker and his mother worked as a washerwoman. Andersen received little early education, and as a child he was highly emotional, suffering all kinds of fears and humiliations because of his tallness and effeminate interests. Andersen's hysterical attacks of cramps were falsely diagnosed as epileptic fits.

In 1816 his father died and Andersen was forced to go to work. He was for a short time apprenticed to a weaver and tailor, and he also worked at a tobacco factory. At the age of 14 Andersen moved to Copenhagen to start a career as a singer, dancer or an actor - he had a beautiful soprano voice. The following three years were full of hardships although he found supporters who paved his way to the theatre. Andersen succeeded in becoming associated with the Royal Theater, but he had to leave it when his voice began to change.

In 1822 Jonas Collin, one of the directors of the Royal Theatre, gave Andersen a grant to enter the grammar school at Slagelse. Other pupils were much younger 11-year-olds, among whom the seventeen-year-old Andersen was definitely out of place. However, in 1828 gained admission to Copenhagen University, where he completed his education.

In 1829 the Royal Theatre produced Anderson's musical drama Love in St. Nicholas' Church TowerIn succeeding years he also wrote impressionistic prose arabesques, plays, and novels. He traveled widely in Europe, and remained a passionate traveler all his life. In 1831 the first of his many travel sketches was published. During his journeys Andersen met among others Victor Hugo, Heinrich Heine, Balzac and Alexandre Dumas and Charles Dickens.

As a novelist Andersen made his breakthrough with The Improvisatore (1835), using Italy as the setting. The story was autobiographical and depicted a poor boy's integration into society, an Ugly Duckling theme of self-discovery to which Andersen returned in several of his works.

However, Andersen's fame today rests on his Fairy Tales and Stories, written between 1835 and 1872. The third volume of his tales, published in 1837, contained "The Little Mermaid" and "The Emperor's New Clothes". Among Andersen's other best known fairy tales are "The Ugly Duckling", "The Tinderbox," "Little Claus and Big Claus", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Snow Queen", "The Nightingale" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier".

In his fairy tale collections Andersen broke new ground in both style and content, and employed the idioms and constructions of spoken language in a way that was new in Danish writing. His identification with the unfortunate and outcast made his tales very compelling.

Andersen wrote and rewrote his memoirs, The Fairy Tale of My Life, but the 1855 edition is generally considered the standard one. Andersen died in his home in Rolighed on August 4, 1875. He is one of the world's best known and most translated authors. Several editions of his fairy tales as well as cinematic versions serve to keep his memory alive.