Annotated Hans Christian Andersen [Hardcover]

Starred Review. 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. (Nov.)
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In her most ambitious annotated work to date, Maria Tatar celebrates the stories told by Denmark's "perfect wizard" and re-envisions Hans Christian Andersen as a writer who casts his spell on both children and adults. Andersen's most beloved tales, such as "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Mermaid", are now joined by "The Shadow" and "Story of a Mother", mature stories that reveal his literary range and depth.Tatar captures the tales' unrivalled dramatic and visual power, showing exactly how Andersen became one of the world's ten most translated authors, along with Shakespeare, Dickens and Marx. Lushly illustrated with more than a hundred and fifty rare images, many in full colour, by artists such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, "The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen" will captivate readers with annotations that explore the rich social and cultural dimensions of the nineteenth century and construct a compelling portrait of a writer whose stories still fascinate us today.

MARIA TATAR, whose previous annotated works include The Annotated Brothers Grimm, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales and The Classic Fairy Tales Norton Critical Edition, is the dean for the humanities at Harvard University.