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The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)

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Many people dismiss Hans Christian Anderson as a mere author of now outdated children's stories. Anderson, as this volume of his annotated stories makes clear, was a poet, folklorist, historian, and commentator as well as a children's writer. In fact, many of his stories were written for adults, not children, and even those aimed at the young have side passages and comments which were meant for grown up men and women to hear and ponder. This volume contains a good sampling of both of these types of Anderson's stories. Each story is copiously annotated, a real pleasure for the modern reader who may not recognize references to customs and people now far in the past. There are many beautiful illustrations from the multiple published versions of the stories. Most importantly, the stories have been newly translated from the original Danish, so that as much of the original emphasis and focus is present as possible.

This annotated volume not only allows the reader a fresh view of some famous stories, it also makes the enormously complex original author much more comprehensible and even more likeable.

An excellent example of Norton's annotated series, this edition contains what we have come to expect from this publisher, Anderson's goblins and mermaids hopping through the pages, the margins offering historical context, the influence of culture and an interpretation of the selections that hint of the darker nature of fairy tales. Translated by Maria Tatar and Julie K Allen, these tales are lushly illustrated, ink sketches, black and white drawings and full-color renderings that pique the curiosity of young and old alike, "Tales for Children", "Tales for Adults", "Biographies", "Anderson's Readers" and "Bibliography". Children's selections include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Little Mermaid" and "The Wild Swan", segueing into the more sophisticated stories for adults, "The Red Shoes", "The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf", "The Goblin and the Grocer" and "The Bell".

Putting the collection in context, the Introduction, "Denmark's Perfect Wizard", speaks to Anderson's genius, a Dane born over 200 years ago. Anderson tackles provocative subjects: compassion ("The Little Match Girl"); hypocrisy ("The Emperor's New Clothes"); and the necessity of hope ("The Ugly Duckling"). Sparking imagination through the texture and color of language, darker issues are dressed in sparkling prose and brilliant hue ("a purple flower with light streaming from its calyx"). It is such language that draws young and old into the world of the fairy tale, subtle lessons on the vagaries of human behavior and the undiluted power of storytelling as a means of universal communication.

Evocative illustrations and fascinating annotations offer a depth of perspective that is common to this series, an exploration of social consciousness and tales couched in the visual and the arcane, a juxtaposition of morality and fantasy that allows the reader to challenge preconceptions and enter the world of expanded imagination, because some stories never grow old. Luan Gaines/ 2007.

Ever since taking some literature courses to complete my degree, I've been fascinated by fairy tales. These stories can be enjoyed on a very basic level, but in order to understand the context, one often needs to know more about the author, the time of the writing, and what the characters and story line connote for the writer and his or her readers - at the time it was written. Using a very simple format of narrow text with wide margins to contain the annotations, this book allows the reader to read the story only, or read the notes only, or read a combination thereof, or, just look at the fascinating pictures and engravings as copied from the original editions. The dust jacket is colorful and ornate, and the paper is crisp, easy on the eye, with error free print. In short, this book will appeal to old and young, scholars and casual readers, and even those just looking for a pretty book to put on the shelf.

This beautifully produced book contains 12 tales for children and 12 short stories for adults. There are almost 150 illustrations, many in color, from classic editions of Andersen's works. The colored images by Clarke, Dulas, Nielsen and Lorenz Frolich are splendid, as are the many ink drawings by W. Heath Robinson.

Maria Tatar edited The Annotated Brothers Grimm and The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. She and Julie K. Allen translated the stories, and Tatar provides many annotations. Example: "The Ugly Duckling" is "the most deeply personal of Anderson's stories, a narrative that traces his trajectory from humble origins to a literary aristocracy."

Tatar is eloquent on the importance of Andersen: "We need to engage our critical faculties in order to understand what makes these stories so emotionally addictive. Why have these Danish cultural stories taken hold in the United States to become instruments for navigating childhood? How do the stories enable the reader to get lost in the book, to drink the heady elixir of fantasy? And how do they arouse the intellectual curiosity of children?"

Tatar argues that Andersen's descriptive techniques create moments with "ignition power" that kindle the imagination. "Andersen's descriptions of beauty can weave spells. They create an adrenaline rush so that you begin to read with the spine rather than the brain. These luminous moments energize the mind, leading the reader to read on to explore perils and possibilities, but also to dig deeper."

"The Emperor's New Clothes" exemplifies Andersen's narrative powers. "When I reread the tale I remembered how as a child I had started to imagine what the cloth looked like. Even though it is invisible, the swindlers and the adults describe the cloth as silky and beautiful, with gossamer designs ... and Andersen invests so much narrative energy in describing the invisible cloth that, ironically, it begins to dazzle in the mind's eye. That is what Andersen can do -- he lights up the imagination."

The short stories were new to me and have some interest seen through Tatar's eyes. But these new translations of the old favorites like "The Snow Queen" or "The Little Mermaid" are just as magical as ever.

Robert C. Ross 2008

This is a lovely book with an old-fashioned flavor. The pictures are beautiful and child-friendly. It is sized as a large in-the-lap story book. I can imagine a child or grandchild gazing wide-eyed at this book while being read to outloud.

I ordered this as a Christmas gift for a friend with young children. The quality of the book exceeded my expectations. The wonderful stories and illustrations are perfect for kids, whilst the scholarship and annotations are excellent for adults.

This is a lovely collection. The cover and pages are beautiful. The annotations are great if you like more background and information. I would recommend this product.

I learned things about Hans Christian Andersen that will forever change the way I regard his fairy tales.

This is a fascinating. I read the "Annotated Alice in Wonderland" as a kid (which like this with the annotations contains some information that would be distressing to children or above their level) and could peer into the world of the author and in this case since I was familiar with only some of the stories (as some have dated) to see a complete sociological, psychological and cultural analysis really brings them into a new light and sees Hans Christian Anderson as more than just a writer of "fairy tales" (actually cultural mythology) and a full fledged writer. This is a perfect read to an autobiography about his life and his complete lack of relations with either sex, repression of his sexuality and disability but the analysis is here is not just about him, its about the stories in a larger context. For example, "The Little Match Girl" is in reference to his mother who was forced to beg on the streets, in its reference to her obstracizement by society was clearly referring to how he was treated and its references to being "left out in the cold" refer to both the experience of depression as well as the literal frigid climate of Denmark. This still is a children's classic but in this light it is understood much better but one that is a story that could be appreciated by adults "Aunty Toothache" speaks of the cynicism of an ominous repressive, Freudian, maternal figure who forces him not to write poetry or he will suffer massive toothaches (which he did throughout his life). This was written at the end of his life as he was dying and it was a lament to how he forced himself not to write poetry perhaps to avoid confronting his sexuality. And it is a disturbing semi-gothic story. And if these aspects escaped you they didn't escape Oscar Wilde who was directly inspired by them. So who's to say who had the last laugh? So you can find the more appropriate stories and read them to your young children and then appreciate the annotations and both of you will gain something although you exist in seperate worlds.

I wanted to give each of our families a book to commemorate our Danish heritage this year--I looked at lots of Hans Christian Anderson books and felt that this one was the best of the lot. I love the illustrations by so many great artists. The book is nicely printed and bound and is a beautiful addition to the library. I was a little irritated by the annotations on the side of each page--they are interesting, but a bit distracting from the stories--I sort of wish they had been bundled at the end of the book or of each story. It is good to have the real stories as he wrote them, rather than the Disney versions. I know that some of his stories are a bit difficult and grown-up--but the adults can choose which ones to share with their children.