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Today's
selection -- from Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness by Paul
Binding. Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author who left an
indelible mark on Western culture with stories that transcend age and
nationality such as "The Ugly Duckling," "The Princess and the
Pea," "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New
Clothes," "The Snow Queen," "The Steadfast Tin
Soldier," "Thumbelina," and "The Little Match
Girl." His earliest writings were based on stories he heard as a
child, but he soon brought the genre to a new level with bold and original
stories that he labored over, meticulously constructing each phrase, image
and theme. His most famous story, "The Ugly Duckling," while
universal in theme, reflected his own struggle to overcome his ungainly looks
and humble background. Some scholars believe it was also an expression of his
struggle with his homosexuality in an era in which same sex relations were
illegal:
"Like 'The Emperor's
New Clothes,' 'The Ugly Duckling' has passed into proverb. In its proverbial
form its account of an unprepossessing, unsatisfactory member of one species
evolving into a beautiful, admired member of another encourages us to expect
for ourselves an eventual transformation of situation and self for the better,
whatever the restrictions of our early circumstances and the current low
opinion of others. Obviously this is of irresistible appeal to insufficiently
appreciated children, and few of us have not at some point seen ourselves in
this category. Here is a story which seems to assure us of our right to a
future consonant with our instinctive hopes during our unhappy times, and
probably exceeding them, while confounding all those fault-finding authority
figures who have given up on us or showed us downright hostility. More, it
suggests that we will be granted our rights by a natural process. ..."Many have found it ironical that 'The Ugly Duckling' -- the most constant favourite with the young of all its author's tales -- appeared in Andersen's first book of fairy stories to drop from its title the designation 'for Bern' (for children'): Nye Eventyr, Forste Samling (New Fairy Tales, First Collection 11 November 1843). But this deliberate omission is surely appropriate. ..."
"'The
book is selling like hot cakes!' declared Andersen in an 1843 letter translated
by historian Maria Tatar. It was shortly after the release of his new
collection, which included this popular, heartwarming tale. The similarities
between Andersen's life and the ugly duckling are irresistible: Andersen --
gangly, poor, and uneducated -- became a literary star despite the
under-estimation he suffered. In a similar fashion, the hatchling is mistaken
for a common duck and mistreated before discovering that he is a beautiful
swan. It took Andersen a year to write 'The Ugly Duckling,' and nineteen years
later, he opened up about the process, calling the tale 'the hardest to
compose, perhaps because it was the most directly autobiographical.' This
classic example of an animal tale also spawned one of Andersen's famous quotes:
'Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a
swan's egg.' In Andersen's day, the definition of artistic genius was shifting
and was less bound to class than it had been before. He was part of an exciting
new breed, and the tale's inspiring and hopeful message continues to make it
one of Andersen's most beloved stories to this day. ...
"The widespread love
(there is no other word) felt for this story, and from the very first, cannot
be explained only by its invitation to respect the once despised artist or its
confessed correspondence to a celebrity's (Andersen's) own life. Nor even by
its extraordinarily concentrated literary art, endlessly repaying of analytic
attention though it is. Separation from, and consequent need for fellow spirits
-- these are conditions by no means peculiar to practitioners of the arts. All
of us know moments of oppressive solitude of the soul. What we want most at
such times is the assurance that we are not unique in our emotions, that others
have the same yearnings, have suffered similarly. If we only could meet these
others -- if not in life, then in art -- we could be comforted, and, above all
else, 'The Ugly Duckling' is an instrument of profound comfort. And if we accept
homosexuality as a strong component at the very least of
Andersen's emotional make-up, then we can see the duckling's journey as
one out of the loneliness of mocked heterodoxy to acceptance by those who knew
what he was and who felt as he did, or at any rate sympathised with him.
Unfortunately Denmark, as the nineteenth century progressed, would deny
homosexuals any show of public unity analogous to this convergence of the
swans. By the end of the century, like Britain, like Germany, it had made same-sex
relations illegal. But the Andersen of 1843 would not have been able to predict
this sad subsequent development."
Hans Christian Andersen:
European Witness
Author: Paul Binding
Publisher: Yale University Press
Copyright 2014 Paul Binding
Pages 203-204
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