H.C. Andersen centret

Kendra Magnus-Johnston: I might imagine Andersen as embodied by actory Danny Kaye, who Jack Zipes describes as a "happy-go-lucky cobbler, unlucky in love, who sought to entertain children with his delightful storytelling.

The problem with this rosy image of a highly neurotic man, who was afraid to love and had only occasional contact with children, ist that it belies the profound and disturbing contribution that Andersen made to the fairy-tale tradition throughout the world. Indeed, Andersen's cultural contributions currently undergo the same trivializtion and Disneyfication as the author himself. Such treatment affects the seriousness with which a work is viewed in cultural industries. The critial edge of authors' writings - such as insights about social injustice and political turmoil - are too often omitted entirely.

Marvels & Tales, VOl. 27. No. 1 (2013), PP. 65-88.

(Bibliografisk kilde: HCAH)