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Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales; although he was a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems.

Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories, called eventyr in Danish or "fairy-tales" in English, express themes that transcend age and nationality
Currently translated into more than 125 languages, Andersen's fairy tales have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well.

His initial attempts at writing fairy tales were revisions of stories that he heard as a child. Andersen then brought this genre to a new level by writing a vast number of fairy tales that were both bold and original. Initially they were not met with recognition, due partly to the difficulty in translating them and capturing his genius for humor and dark pathos.

A keen traveler, Andersen published several other long travelogues. In his travelogues, Andersen took heed of some of the contemporary conventions about travel writing, but always developed the genre to suit his own purposes. Each of his travelogues combines documentary and descriptive accounts of the sights he saw with more philosophical passages on topics such as being an author, immortality, and the nature of fiction in the literary travel report. Some of the travelogues, such as In Sweden, even contain fairy-tales.

No collection of fairy tales would be complete without the works of the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. In fact, Andersen's life was like a fairy tale in many ways. Out of the poverty, hardship, and loneliness of his youth, he came to be one of the most honored men of his time. Many of the more than 160 fairy tales he wrote, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The Princess and the Pea," and "The Little Mermaid," have become literary classics enjoyed by children and adults alike.


Andersen put many pieces of his own life into his fairy tales. He never forgot that his mother, as a young girl had been forced to go begging. This led him to write "The Little Match Girl," a story full of compassion for the unfortunate ones of this Earth. And his own personal experiences are reflected in "The Ugly Duckling," which points out that sometimes the qualities that make you feel lonely, different, and out of place are the very qualities that, when properly used, can make you shine.

 

A FUN FACT: 


A paper cutting associated with Hans Christian Andersen sold recently at a Christie's auction for about $24,000.

Read the original:
Lastly, do consider reading Hans Christian Andersen’s original versions (found here), if only to remember that he wrote some pretty creepy stuff that Disney movies have glossed over. For instance, the grim, murder-y undertones of The Little Mermaid where she is handed a knife and told ‘…see it is very sharp. Before the sun rises, you must plunge it into the heart of the prince; when the warm blood falls upon your feet they will grow together again…’

And DID YOU KNOW:
Hans Christian Andersen wore out his welcome while staying with Charles Dickens.

Andersen met his literary hero, Charles Dickens, at an aristocratic party in 1847. They kept in touch, and a decade later Andersen came to stay with Dickens at the British author's home in Kent, England.

Once Andersen finally left, Dickens wrote and displayed a note that read, “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks—which seemed to the family AGES!” Dickens stopped responding to Andersen's letters, which effectively ended their friendship.

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