The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen

by Hans Christian Andersen, Maria Tatar (Editor), Julie K. Allen (Editor)

A richly entertaining and informative collection of Hans Christian Andersen's stories, annotated by one of America's leading folklore scholars.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' unrivaled 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 one hundred fifty rare images, many in full color, 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. 146 illustrations including color.

Genres: Classics, Fairy Tales, Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Childrens, Literature

449 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Hans Christian Andersen (often referred to in Scandinavia as H.C. Andersen) was a Danish author and poet. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories — called eventyr, or "fairy-tales" — express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, 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. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Nightingale", "The Emperor's New Clothes" and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.

Reviews

[Maede · Rating 2 out of 5]

این کتاب برام صدای شکستن تصویر یکی از محبوب‌ترین نویسنده‌های دوران کودکیم رو میده. هانس کریستین اندرسن که کتاب گزیده داستان‌هاش رو انقدر خونده بودم که جلد و بعضی از صفحه‌های کتاب مثل داستان دخترک کبریت فروش رو به وضوح یادمه. اما حالا که در ادامه‌ی سیر مطالعاتی افسانه‌های پریان با گروه همخوانی به سراغش رفتیم، داستان‌ها به هیچ وجه رنگ و بوی گذشته رو نداشتند

:چرا برای خواندنشون زجر کشیدم
یک و دو و سه: اندرسن دست از موعظه کردن برنمی‌داره! اکثر داستان‌ها یک بار حسابی در آب مقدس غسل تعمید داده شدند و بالاخره یک جایی از داستان به خدا، عیسی و مسیحیت می‌رسه. اندرسن اگر نویسنده نمی‌شد، حتماً باید کشیش می‌شد و هر یکشنبه حسابی موعظه می‌کرد و داستان‌های آموزنده تعریف می‌کرد

همین دیدگاه دینی باعث میشه که کاراکترها گاهی خودشون رو به دست مشیعت الهی بسپرن، تصمیمات احمقانه‌ای بگیرن یا از همه بدتر، هیچ‌ تلاشی در راستای تغییر سرنوشتشون نکن. درست مثل پایان عجیب داستان پری‌دریایی (که با نسخه‌ی دیزنی متفاوته) یا دخترک کبریت فروش

:چرا خوب شد که خواندمش
یک. خیلی از این داستان‌ها بسیار معروفند و بر ادبیات و فرهنگ عامه‌ی غرب تاثیر عمیقی گذاشتند. برای همین خوشحالم که نسخه‌ی اصلیشون رو خوندم. البته از ابتدا هم هدف مطالعه همین بود که سیر تکامل داستان‌های پریان رو دنبال کنیم

دو. نمیشه انکار کرد که اندرسون قصه‌گوی متبحریه و خلاقیت و تخیل فوق‌العاده‌ای داره. برای همین بعضی از داستان‌ها واقعاً جالب هستند

:اما نگاهی به تغییرات ادبیات کودک در قرن‌های اخیر می‌تونه بهمون توضیح بده چرا داستان‌های اندرسون این ویژگی‌های مثبت و منفی رو با هم دارند

ادبیات کودک قبل از قرن ۱۷
کتاب‌های مختص کودکان کمتر نوشته می‌شدند و بیشتر نسخه‌ی ساده شده‌ی کتاب‌های بزرگسالان مثل اسطوره‌ها و داستان‌های مذهبی برای کودکان استفاده می‌شده

ادبیات کودک در قرن ۱۷ و ۱۸
این دوره آغاز نوشتن ادبیات کودک بر محوریت داستان‌های پندآموز به حساب میاد. داستان «بچه‌های خوبی» که در کودکی می‌مردند و به بهشت می‌رفتند یا «بچه‌های بدی» که مجازات می‌شدند

ادبیات کودک در قرن ۱۸ و ۱۹
ادبیات پندآموز به اوج خودش رسید و داستان‌های کودکان برای آموزش اخلاق و دین نوشته می‌شدند و سرگرم‌کننده بودن بسیار کمتر از آموزنده بودن مهم بود. مثل پسر بچه‌ای که طناب می‌خوره و می‌میره یا دیگری که به خاطر بدغذا بودن از گرسنگی تلف میشه

ادبیات کودک در اواخر قرن ۱۹
با تاثیر از جنبش رمانتیسم، داستان‌ها به سمت تخیل و همدردی حرکت می‌کنند و برای مثال داستان آلیس در سرزمین عجایب کاملاً خارج از قالب‌های قدیمی نوشته میشه

ادبیات کودک در قرن ۲۰
دوره‌ی معروف به دوران طلایی ادبیات کودک که داستان‌ها وارد موضوعات متنوعی از جمله هویت،‌ ماجراجویی و سلامت روان میشن. دو جنگ‌جهانی موضوعات قهرمانانه و ایده‌های نجات جهان توسط کودکان رو هم به داستان‌ها اضافه می‌کنه

حالا اندرسن کجای این تاریخه؟ در اواسط قرن ۱۹ و برای همین در مرز تغییر قرار داره. جایی که ادبیات پندآموز به اوج خودش رسیده و پذیرفته‌ترین مدل داستان‌نویسیه، برای همین اندرسون از بچه‌های بد می‌نویسه که نان زیرپاشون می‌گذارند و سخت و حتی عجیب مجازات میشن. اما در عین حال عمق احساس و تخیلی که در بعضی داستان‌ها وجود داره، برای زمان خودش بسیار متفاوت و رو به جلو به حساب میاد. داستان‌هایی که حتی اگر درسی برای یاد دادن دارند، ساده نیستند. مثل پری‌دریایی و ملکه برفی

به عنوان خواننده‌ی قرن بیست و یکمی شاید تجربه‌ی خوانش بسیار دلچسبی نبود، اما از اهمیت تاریخی و شرایط زمانه نمیشه غافل شد

:در باب نسخه‌ی انتخابی
نسخه‌‌ی تاتار که من استفاده کردم، مجموعه‌ای خوب از داستان‌های اصلی کودک و بزرگسال اندرسونه که پاورقی‌هاش انقدر زیاد و دقیق هستند که تقریباً به نقد نیاز پیدا نمی‌کنید و حتی شامل زندگینامه‌ی نویسنده هم میشه. اما نسخه‌های کوتاه‌تر و بلندتری هم از داستان‌های اندرسون وجود دارند

کتاب و صوتیش رو می‌تونید از اینجا دانلود کنید
Maede's Books

۱۴۰۴/۱/۲۲

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

همخوانی فوق‌العاده خوب زمستان ۱۴۰۳
میام سر فرصت راجع به این ورژن کتاب می‌نویسم.

[D.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book largely because I felt it was time I had an Andersen collection, and figured the annotations couldn't hurt. While this is a decent group of his stories, gathering the obvious with the less so and dividing them with little regard into Stories for Children and Stories for Adults, I can't say I enjoyed Maria Tatar's notes.
My main beef with the annotations is that they're far too analytic for my liking. I can understand that it's difficult to create factual notes for such fantastical stories (as Gardner did so marvelously for The Annotated Alice, still best in the series), I don't know that it was necessary to fill the gap with critical, philosophical and feminist views that are often either too obvious or too much a stretch.
Added to this, I don't care for Tatar's writing, and when some of the annotations out-length the stories, this gets to be a problem. She's a scholar, clearly, and her writing smacks of too many hours spent trying to gain entry to academic journals. Her brief Andersen biography is good evidence of this, frequently sliding into critique of the biographies she uses as reference rather than having just done the work to give a straight-forward life-of-Andersen.
Tatar states plainly at the start of the book that she had reservations about doing this book, and I wish she'd listened to them. I would have preferred someone who's more invested in the works and in Andersen to have done it, even if it meant pandering to the fiction of Andersen himself (who, it turns out, was really not a very likeable fellow, so I can understand fans of his preferring his friend-to-children-everywhere image instead).
Beyond the notes, there are plenty of lovely illustrations. Sadly, they are often poorly reproduced, and just as often poorly placed in the story (coming before or after the depicted events, kind of spoiling the effect).
The better bits of this edition are the artist biographies, the quotes from famous (and not so) people about Andersen, and of course, the stories themselves.
If you're looking for a collection of Andersen stories, I'd advise getting one with more stories or illustrations you love, rather than bothering with this one.

[Arman · Rating 3 out of 5]

داستان‌ها به طرز غریبی می‌توانند برای ما ناامیدکننده باشند. تصویرسازی‌ها و ایده‌های خوبی در آثار وجود دارد، اما عناصر پندآموز و مذهبی‌ای که عموما در آخر قصه‌ها وارد روایت‌ها می‌شود، آنها را برای مخاطب قرن ما و حتی قرن بیستمی آزاردهنده می‌سازد.
ترجمه و یادداشت‌های تاتار بسیار خوب بودند، و مقدمه زایپس عالی و روشنگر بود.

راجع به زمینه‌های ادبی و تاریخی اندرسون میتوانید در ریویوی مائده، نکات بسیار خوبی پیدا کنید.
همخوان‌ها، بدون ترتیب خاصی: علیرضا، سارا، نگین و مائده.

[LUNA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una soberbia edición en la que todo esta a la perfección, bellísimas ilustraciones de las primeras ediciones y una traducción maravillosa.
Andersen tiene muchos de mis cuentos favoritos, por ejemplo la reina de las nieves, la cerillera, el soldadito de plomo y la sirenita. Por supuesto que hay muchísimo cuentos mas, claro que los hay mejores y peores pero todos me han gustado muchísimo y algunos incluso no los conocía. Además conoceremos bastante a Andersen.
Es una muy buena recopilación, y se destaca las anotaciones que hay en todo momento.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another edition in Tatar's annotated fairy tale series. This edition includes well known tales, such as "The Little Mermaid", as well as stories for adults. It is well illustrated and includes a section at the end where authors give thier thoughts on Andersen. While not intended solely for children, the book's illustrations make it child friendly, while the annotations make it attractive for adults.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked reading this collection of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, especially since some of my favourite childhood stories were contained in this book.

I had previously read a collection of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales with annotations also by Maria Tatar and I have to say that I did not enjoy the annotations this time around. They were very lengthy and were much more in depth than I wanted. I actually ended up skimming or skipping over the annotations entirely and just read the stories themselves.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

To my mind, Hans Christian Andersen was, is, and always will be the ultimate master of fairy tales. This oversize complete works edition is perfect for a collector, like me. Beautifully illustrated with unusual insights in the annotations. It is also unabridged, and in these times of functional illiteracy, I am delighted at the sophistication of Andersen's children's stories (which I suspect are written just as much for adults!) A real gem.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a life long reader and lover of Hans Christian Andersen. This annotated version does justice to the magic and power and despair of his stories. Maria Tatar's insights and bibliographical information adds a nice intellectual context to the stories. Andersen wrote 157 fairy tales so the 24 stories is just a smattering of his work, but it has all the classic ones: "The Little Mermaid," (my personal favorite) "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Wild Swans," "Thumbelina," "The Princess and the Pea," "The Snow Queen," "The Ugly Duckling," etc. There is a wide range of his works. He has his charming fairy tales with the happy endings, he has the absurdly violent punishment stories, and the existential crises stories. I recommend this to anyone who loves Andersen, or is just gettting to know him. My one complaint is that Maria Tatar confesses in her introduction to not always liking Andersen. It doesn't show in the annotations, but it comes back in the biography of him at the end of the book. I felt like she wrote negatively of him. As is she reveled in calling him "narcissitic" and "childlike." It is acceptable to me to like the art without liking the artist, but I felt in a book that is dedicated to the man as much as to his work, the biography could have been written in a different tone. A neat part at the end of the book are excerpts from famous people who were moved by Andersen's tales. I enjoyed reading them. Especially the one about Frank Lloyd Wright.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you're a fan of Hans Christian Andersen, or whether you find his tales moralistic and depressing, it's hard to deny the impact he's had on modern culture and fantasy. This is a beautifully designed volume; the annotations are marginal, so there's no flipping back and forth, and they provide a lot of insight into the background of the stories. The volume is gorgeously illustrated with reproductions of the illustrations that originally accompanied the various stories. There's also biographical information about Andersen, as well as short biographical sketches of the artists who most famously illustrated his works.

[Ronda Koch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!!!!

[Cheryl]

I'm just skimming this, looking at all the pictures and reading notes and bits that capture my interest. The thing that I find fascinating is that illustrated adaptations of the man's work are so popular. The thing that Tatar finds best about his work are his words and stylings. Note the dissonance....

I did find enlightening the appendix of comments by adults about their reactions to Andersen's works. Everyone from Alcott to Herman Hesse to Dickens has something specific to say in the appendix "Andersen's Readers."

I wish that more examples of adaptations were given. For example, The Snow Queen was borrowed for Narnia, and is also adapted brilliantly in The Raven and the Reindeer and Breadcrumbs. The first example of an adaptation of The Princess and the Pea that comes to mind is a funny picturebook, The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-be by Mini Grey. I could list more, and so could you. What makes them so special?

And a related question, why don't more ppl go back and read the originals? The ones that I did scan here are indeed beautifully written... up until the end, which is often a rather heavy-handed moral.

I recommend that you-all do read the originals. And think about them. And think about the adaptations that you share with your children. And consider sharing some of the originals with your children. They are widely avl. free online. Some are much longer than one would expect, and there are others that many of us have never heard of.

It's all very interesting....

Ah, here's more. Tatar makes a distinction between tales for children and tales for adults. The only children's tale that I didn't know is Jagten på Ole Lukøje (Ole Shuteye) (which is too long for me to read right now but is avl here: http://hca.gilead.org.il/ole_luk.html) as titled:
Ole-Luk-Oie, The Dream God. Also translated as "sandman" though Andersen substitutes milk.

The Red Shoes has a child protagonist and is published as a children's book. I'm not sure why Tatar lists it with the adult tales, unless it's because so many adults with feminist perspectives have used it in their works. Most of the other stories in this section are too abstractly metaphorical for children, with mature and even truly horrifying subject matter. But 'The Most Astonishing Thing' and 'The Goblin and the Grocer' are interesting little reads.

Anyway, I'm done now. I skipped the biography, though it is true that Andersen's life most definitely informed his work. If you can see a copy of this at your library or university, it's worth a look... but the best advice I give you is indeed to read the stories carefully yourself.

[Valentina Truneanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una bella edición a todo color con anotaciones en azul e ilustraciones clásicas de los cuentos del autor danés. Los comentarios de María Tatar aclaran el vínculo entre la vida de Andersen y sus creaciones, la tradición literaria en la que se inscriben, el giro de sus posteriores adaptaciones, su estilo y sus temas recurrentes.
La obra ofrece una selección de doce cuentos para niños y doce para adultos. Los segundos se inauguran con Los zapatos rojos (que leí cuando niña), destacan a mi parecer con La sombra y revelan temas más ligados a la mortalidad humana (Historia de una madre) y a la perennidad del arte (La Psique), pero también tratan de crueldad y castigo con mucha severidad (La niña que pisoteó el pan).
Compré el libro como regalo para mi hijo menor (de seis años), porque le habían gustado unas versiones resumidas e ilustradas de El ruiseñor y El patito feo. Se interesó menos por los originales, que se le hicieron largos, y tampoco se impresionó con los cuentos más cortos y jocosos, como El traje nuevo del emperador y La princesa y el guisante. Quizás esto tenga menos que ver con la distancia de Andersen de la literatura infantil moderna que con la diferencia de gustos entre mi hijo y yo.
Nótese que los cuentos traducidos del danés al inglés (idioma original del volumen) han sido luego traducidos del inglés al español para la edición de Akal.
Una biografía de Hans Christian Andersen, un comentario sobre la magia que ha pervivido en sus relatos a través de lenguas y generaciones, y citas de autores que se dejaron influenciar y encantar por el escritor danés completan esta edición, un potencial punto de partida para investigaciones académicas y análisis literarios.
Este es un libro más para el adulto que se reencuentra con Andersen que para el niño que lo descubre.
Nota personal como autora: Cuando comencé El mito de la segunda parte, quería armar un libro entero basado en parodias o recreaciones de cuentos tradicionales. De esta iniciativa, quedó «Historia de la reencarnación del pastor mentiroso». También escribí «La sirenita del lago de Maracaibo», donde mi protagonista quería salir a toda costa del agua contaminada y llena de basura. Tuve buenas razones para no incluir este relato en mi libro. En mi novela Fantasía y fuga, Leticia se compara a sí misma con una sirena capaz de cualquier sacrificio por el hombre que ama y afirma llena de tristeza que su amante la hacía sentirse un cisne y sin él volvía a ser un patito feo.
Las historias de Hans Christian Andersen han marcado tanto a los narradores que crecieron leyéndolas que resulta imposible no encontrar alguna influencia o mención en sus propias obras. Volver a la infancia literaria es esencial para conocernos a nosotros mismos y eso es algo que logré gracias a esta edición anotada.

[Ilib4kids]

839.8136 AND
There are a lot annotation in this book.

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish April 2, 1805 - August 4, 1875 安徒生.

This Anderson's version of little Mermaid is different from Disney Movie. I started reading fairy tales after reading Peggy's book.

Orenstein, Peggy 's Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, in chapter Six Guns and Briar Roses, talking about violent play and gruesomeness of old fairy tales in child's development. and also Here is excerpt from the book.

The thing is, though, if you believe the psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, we avoid the Grimms' grimness at our peril. His classic book The Uses of Enchantment argues that the brothers' gore is not only central to the tales appeal, it's crucial to kids' emotional development. (An earlier intellectual rock star, John Locke, disagreed; he deemed the fairy tales too gruesome for little ears, but then again, he also thought the offspring of the poor should be put to work at age three.) According to Bettelheim, fairy tales and only fairy tales as -opposed to myths or legends-tap into children's unconscious preoccupations with such knotty issues as sibling rivalry or the fear of omnivorous mother. In their tiny minds, a fearsome giant transformed into the school bully, a menacing wolf into a neighbor’s pit bull. Fairy tales demonstrate that hardship may be inevitable, but those who stand fast emerge victorious. What's more, he wrote, the solutions to life's struggles that fairy tales suggest are subtle, impressionistic, and therefore more useful than either the spoon-fed pap that passes for kiddie "literature" these days or the overly concrete images of television (and now the Internet). He goes so far as to say that without exposure to fairy tales a child will be unable to create a meaningful life.

Andersen's fairy tales include:
The Angel (1843)
The Bell
The Emperor's New Clothes (1837)
The Fir-Tree (1844)
The Galoshes of Fortune (1838)
The Happy Family
The Ice-Maiden (1863)
It's Quite True!
Later Tales, published during 1867 & 1868 (1869)
The Little Match Girl (1845)
The Little Mermaid (1837)
Little Tuck
The Most Incredible Thing (1870)
The Nightingale (1843)
The Old House
The Philosopher's Stone (1859)
The Princess and the Pea (1835)
The Red Shoes (1845)
Sandman (1841)
The Shadow (1847)
The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep (1845)
The Snow Queen (1844)
The Steadfast Tin Soldier (1838)
The Story of a Mother (1847)
The Swineherd (1841)
Thumbelina (1835)
The Tinderbox (1835)
The Ugly Duckling (1843)
The Wild Swans (1838)

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a story behind the story with so many authors, a story that once you know it you can't unsee it in everything they write. Hans Christian Andersen is absolutely one of those people. His adulation/resentment of the upper class (related to their rejection of him), his deep distrust of sex and his own sexuality, and his preoccupation with suffering and atonement might not come to mind when you think of "The Little Mermaid" or "The Nightingale," but once you start to see the pattern, it's inescapable.

Fortunately, he was a damn good fabulist, and his stories here are some of the crown jewels of children's literature. The weirder he gets, the better he is- "The Snow Queen" is almost entirely dream logic, and the bizarre, nihilistic tales of "The Shadow" and "Auntie Toothache" have surely baffled more children than they entertained. I'm glad I first encountered most of these as an adult.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as bedtime stories for Jr as a follow-up to Grimm fairy tales. Interesting to see some of the parallels in characters and storylines. Lots of great stories in this one, including some where it was cool to hear the "original version" and compare to Disney-fied versions (e.g., Little Mermaid), and also plenty of other stories I had never heard before that were very entertaining. Big hit with Jr! The illustrations in this version are pretty awesome, and I like having the annotations too.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy the added context these annotated books give. It's also a wonderful selection including a few stories that land better for adults than children in a separate section.

In the Little Mermaid, the editor really had it out for the Disney adaptation! I wasn't sure why, they didn't do that in the Grimm's annotated version of Cinderella. They really didn't like the changes Disney made to the character (making her more 'I want') and the ending.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading tales that seem so familiar is fascinating, as you find out what is actually true of the original source material and what has been changed in retellings over the years. Even more fascinating are the historical notes, which give these stories so much context and also dive deeper into thematic elements.

[Antonio Filipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding, breath-taking!

[brooklenn leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Reading Andersen is like never having to wake from a dream.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a weird dude.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

fine, nothing very special. will give another one of tatar’s annotated editions a go.

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hans Christian Andersen es magia y poesía. Como los leemos de pequeños, no somos conscientes ni de su profundidad ni de su valor literario. Merecen muchas relecturas de adultos.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had forgotten just how viscerally terrifying "The Red Shoes" and "The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf" were.

[Jenny T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I picked this up. Alongside a very readable translation of some of the original tales (divided into Stories for Children and Stories for Adults), Maria Tatar presents a wealth of comments and criticism from all sorts of scholars, writers, and folklorists, in addition to social commentary and historical tidbits. My reading list has grown significantly.

My favorite stories: The Shadow, The Wild Swans, Ole Shut-Eye. The Red Shoes was ghastly. Also, I wasn't aware how many religious undertones there were in Andersen's stories.

I learned so much. I learned that Andersen's short story "The Most Astonishing Thing" was reprinted in 1942 by a group of scholars that would soon become leaders of the Danish resistance during World War II. I learned that the Finnish word for the Aurora Borealis is "revontulet," meaning "fox fires," because according the Finnish folklore, the lights are created by Arctic foxes brushing their tails against the snow. And I learned that Anderson *really* did not like children.

ALSO, the tales are presented with artists' representations of them through the decades. Beautiful illustrations, and very, very cool.

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful annotated edition of the fairy tales containing twelve of Andersen's most popular stories for children plus twelve more stories for adults. Includes "The Little Mermaid," "The Little Match-Girl," "The Ugly Duckling," "The Princess and the Pea," and "The Snow Queen," among others. There are also many classic, wonderful illustrations from past editions (including a lot of Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, two of my favorites). The annotations are very informative and readable, not dry or scholarly. The introduction, biographical section, and the section on others' perceptions of Andersen, likewise make for very easy, interesting reading. This is a good edition either for reading aloud to a child or as a starting point for the general reader wanting to delve a little more deeply into Andersen. It doesn't go into scholarly depth, but offers a wealth of suggestions and ideas for further research.

[Jen]

Read it to remember the more popular stories you might have heard when you were young -- "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Ugly Duckling," "The Red Shoes," "The Little Match Girl." Then read the rest of the stories, particularly the "Tales for Adults," and become uncomfortably aware of how palpably desperate the underpinnings of this man's strange and convoluted writing life really were.

With this edition, I was surprised to find the annotations rather unilluminating, compared to, say, those in The Annotated Grimms Fairy Tales. More summary than substance, with a very occasional biographical anecdote of interest. Beautiful cover and illustrations, however, as is true for all the Annotateds.

[Holly Lindquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andersen’s fairy tales are beautiful but disturbing, like the bright flash of a silvery blade in the moonlight. There’s always that sharp edge lurking just under the surface, like the little boy who discovers an infinite coldness on the other side of the windowpane.
Or the girl dancing through the countryside in bloody shoes.
Or the child of the sea who sacrifices everything for a love that can never be hers.
Truly happy endings are sometimes rare in the world of fairy tales, but in Andersen’s case they’re as rare as an honest politician. It’s easy to forgive that dark tendency of his though, because Andersen’s a consummate storyteller and his work is wonderfully show-cased in Maria Tatar’s annotated edition. Definitely worth getting your hands on a copy.

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a while, I was a big fan of Hans Christian Andersen. I have this book in addition to a complete collection of his stories. I've always loved fairy tales (which is almost like saying I've always loved puppies -- yeah, most people do!), and as I got older, I found them more and more interesting.

But now I can see that they don't really hold up -- it's not that the stories themselves don't always hold up (though many don't). But none of them are written in a style I enjoy; the flightiness of the narrative