From ugly duckling to famed writer

7:47am Friday 20th May 2005

Comments (0)   Have your say »

When Hans Christian Andersen wrote the fairytale of the ugly duckling, he was speaking about himself.

A new exhibition at the British Library reveals the strange and insecure man behind the stories that captivated generations of children.

"If it wasn’t for the tin soldier, we would not have Buzz Lightyear now."

Curator Alison Bailey

The Danish author always carried nine metres of rope in his suitcase as a portable fire escape in case his hotel burnt down.

Yet he also introduced fantasy into children's fiction, paving the way for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne.

The library's display of more than 200 objects, including rare manuscripts on loan from Denmark for the first time, celebrates the bicentenary of Andersen's birth.

Rags-to-riches
His rags-to-riches story began in 1805 in Odense, Denmark, as the only son of a poor shoemaker and an alcoholic washerwoman. Andersen's father read him tales from the Arabian Nights and built him toy theatres, but died when the boy was 11.

In the slums of Odense Andersen became known as the ridiculous boy who dressed his dolls, wrote plays and sang in a rich tenor voice while the other children were street-fighting.

At age 14 he fled to Copenhagen to scrape a living as actor, singer, dancer and even author on stage.

Three years later philanthropist Jonas Collin took him under his wing, sending him to a posh grammar school. But Andersen, lanky as a beanstalk, was six years older than his peers: mocked as an over-sized, ugly duckling.

Although he never learnt to spell, he tried his hand at poetry, novels and drama before finding his own voice almost by accident when he penned some folk tales from his childhood. The recognition he craved finally came after their publication in 1985.

Fame became his drug. It dulled the deep-seated insecurity that he never shook off, yet it failed to satisfy.

Despite his acclaim, Andersen remained lonely. His love life was a roller coaster ride of crushes on men and women each one as unobtainable as the beautiful paper dancer to the one-legged tin soldier in his famous story.

On and on he danced to the tune of fame, just like his character Karen in her cursed red shoes.

During the first of his two visits to Britain, the elite were all "disputing for an hour of his company". For Andersen, the highlight of his trip was meeting fellow-writer Charles Dickens.

A decade later he returned in elation to stay with his friend.

But Dickens was pre-occupied with his divorce and Andersen felt left out once more. An unwanted two-week visit dragged on into five - "which seemed to the family AGES", read a cruel note by Dickens. The pair never spoke again.

Toy story
While the first half of the exhibition unveils Andersen the man, the second half explores the themes in his work.

In the tale of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Andersen was the first to give life and feelings to an object. Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland and Buzz Lightyear of the animation film Toy Story followed in his wake.

"Toys that came alive were unusual then," says co-curator Alison Bailey. "But if it wasn't for the tin soldier, we would not have Buzz Lightyear now."

Andersen also probed the romance and reality of childhood during Victorian times. The Emperor's New Clothes celebrates their innocence when a young boy exposes the truth of the naked king parading the streets: "But he doesn't have anything on!"

Yet The Little Match Girl draws on the sorrow of Andersen's own youth to show how vulnerable children were, often because of their very innocence.

In the bitter cold of Christmas Eve, the little girl sees visions of a feast with her grandmother as she lights match after match. The next morning her still body is found smiling in the snow.

The theme of religious redemption also features in many of Andersen's lesser known stories, such as The Marsh King's Daughter.

By day, Viking princess Helga is a beautiful girl with an ugly nature; by night a frog with a pure heart. Only when she rescues a Christian priest from the barbarian jail, she is transformed both inside and out.

For grown-ups and little ones
"I seize an idea for the grown-ups," Andersen wrote about his work. "And then I tell the story to the little ones while always remembering that Father and Mother often listen, and you must also give them something for their minds."

Like his fairytales, this exhibition is aimed at grown-ups. Yet the story is told at least in part in way that little ones can understand.

For them, there are shadow-dancing puppets based on Andersen's paper cutouts a Victorian hobby he was quite adept at.

There's a stick-your-head-through-the-hole screen where mom can snap a picture of her little darling as the emperor without clothes.

And there is a toy theatre where they can take the tin soldier on his fatal journey into the arms of his beloved ballerina complete with paper boat, screeching rat and fish belly en route.

Far beyond print
Andersen's work had an influence far beyond print, with many adaptations for theatre and film.

The Nightingale, a tale about a dying emperor who came to appreciate the voice of the real nightingale above that of his mechanical bird, became an opera by Stravinsky. The likes of modern artists Henry Matisse and David Hockney designed the costumes some of which are on loan from the Royal Opera House archives.

Above it all hangs a gigantic white sculpture of a swan, a reminder of who the ugly duckling has become.

• Hans Christian Andersen runs at the British Library from 20 May to 2 October 2005, open daily. Admission free.