The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)

Starred review from September 24, 2007
Andersen, creator of “The Princess and the Pea” and “The Ugly Duckling,” receives treasury treatment in this latest entry in Norton's series of annotated classics, replete with margin notes attentive to historical contexts, critical interpretations and folkloric influences. Tatar, Harvard's dean for humanities (The Annotated Brothers Grimm
), relates that when she taught Andersen's tales, undergraduates often reported “their magical childhood experiences with the fairy tales” and protested her analyses of Andersen's frequently brutal scenarios. Tatar avers that her research did help her re-evaluate the affective qualities of Andersen's work. While it remains important to acknowledge the sadism of renowned tales like “The Snow Queen” and “The Little Match Girl,” and to investigate Andersen's bitter efforts to join fashionable Danish society (noted in a biographical appendix), this collection of 12 “Tales for Children” and a dozen more “Tales for Adults” focuses on the stories' fairy tale references and aesthetic appeal. Gorgeous turn-of-the-century illustrations by Kay Nielsen, William Heath Robinson and others and a section with comments from Dickens, van Gogh and Ursula Le Guin, among others testify to Andersen's wide influence. Translating with Julie K. Allen, Tatar conveys the indisputable magnetism and uncanny, threatening beauty of Andersen's visions. 146 color and b&w illus.

March 1, 2008
Andersen celebrated joy and goodness with images of light, warmth, fluidity, beauty, and transcendence. He also plumbed the depths of despair and alienation with images of darkness, cold, immobility, ugliness, and sadistic punishment. Children exposed to his stories long remember their disturbing, evocative power. Tatar has selected 24 stories that show both sides of the 19th-century Danish storyteller and satirist. She divides her collection equally between Tales for Adults and Tales for Children, including Andersens best-known works as well as those that may be less familiar. Tatar and Allen provide fresh translations of Andersens tales intended to encourage reading aloud, but their fluid, conversational tone occasionally lapses into current slang. While Erik Christian Haugaards "Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories" (Doubleday, 1974) sets the standard for translation, this splendid new volume offers readers an abundance of background and context. Annotated with copious and informative notes, illustrated with reproductions from early illustratorsamong them Harry Clarke, Kay Nielsen, and Edmund Dulacthe book features a critical introduction, a sketch of Andersens life, thumbnail biographies of Andersens illustrators, excerpts from 30-odd accounts of reading Andersen by people as diverse as Charles Dickens and Claire Bloom, and an extensive bibliography. Generously sized, with handsome page design, the book invites adults to read and discuss Andersens tales with children. Scholars and college students will also find it valuable."Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams"

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