Despite coming from humble origins, and growing up in a small provincial Danish town in the early nineteenth century – a country which at that time counted little more than 1 million inhabitants – Hans Christian Andersen became one of the most famous authors in the world. A national icon in Denmark, Andersen’s fairy tales can be read in more than a hundred and fifty languages. He is listed among the ten most widely translated authors in the world, and especially his fairy tales have had a rich afterlife in animated films, such as Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989), been adapted for the stage and TV productions, and been reimagined by generations of writers from around the world, from Yi Shengtao to J…

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Citation: Stougaard-Nielsen, Jakob. "Hans Christian Andersen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 July 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=108, accessed 21 November 2024.]

108 Hans Christian Andersen 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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