Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues , novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisting of stories across nine volumes, [ 1 ] have been translated into more than languages. Andersen was born in Odense , Denmark, on 2 April He had a half sister named Karen. Andersen, en sand myte [a true myth]. Andersen's father, who had received an elementary school education, introduced his son to literature, reading him Arabian Nights.
Following her husband's death in , she remarried in At 14, Andersen moved to Copenhagen to seek employment as an actor. Having a good soprano voice, he was accepted into the Royal Danish Theatre , but his voice soon changed. A colleague at the theatre told Andersen that he considered Andersen a poet, and taking the suggestion seriously, Andersen began to focus on writing.
Though not a stellar pupil, Andersen also attended school at Elsinore until Andersen later said that his years at this school were the darkest and most bitter years of his life. At one school, Andersen lived at his schoolmaster's home. There, Andersen was abused and was told that it was done in order "to improve his character. The story, written in the s, is about a candle that does not feel appreciated. It was written while Andersen was still in school and dedicated to one of his benefactors.
The story remained in that family's possession until it was found among other family papers in a local archive. Andersen followed this success with a theatrical piece, Love on St. Nicholas Church Tower , and a short volume of poems. He made little progress in writing and publishing immediately following these poems, but did receive a small travel grant from the king in This enabled Andersen to set out on the first of many journeys throughout Europe.
His travels in Italy were reflected in his first novel, a fictionalized autobiography titled The Improvisatore Improvisatoren , published in to instant acclaim. Fairy Tales Told for Children. The tales were published in a series of three installments by C. Reitzel in Copenhagen between May and April They were Andersen's first venture into the fairy tale genre. The first three tales were based on folktales Andersen had heard in his childhood. Reitzel paid Andersen thirty rigsdalers for the manuscript, and the booklet was priced at 24 shillings.
