Wokół opowieści Hansa Christiana Andersena : o radości czytania

Abstract

Celebrating Hans Christian Andersen’s bicentennial, Media Rodzina Publishing House has released a three-volume Baśnie i opowieści (Fairy Tales and Stories), translated for the first time directly from Danish by Bogusława Sochańska. The volume contains one hundred and sixty-four stories written in 1830—1873, illustrated with Andersen’s cut-outs and remarks as well as comments made by scholars researching this fairy tale writer. Reading this particular edition, starting with The Snow Queen and The Shadow, I became convinced they deserve meticulous attention and scholarly interest as all those fairy tales offer interesting narratives, profound meditation upon the human being and his/her place in the world as well as literary descriptions of manifold landscapes. The thesis is divided into eighteen chapters, whose titles are suggestive of the analyzed and interpreted texts, as well as of the interpretative contexts. The subsequent chapters provide information on the genesis of Andersen’s stories, reflections derived from attentive and deliberate reading, discussion of the symbolism of motifs and meanings of the whole work, remarks on the literary genre and the dominant aspects of the selected texts as well as their theatrical and cinematic ambience. Moreover, there are references to literary sources, both in Polish and in English language, and to later works inspired by Andersen’s stories. My point of departure are The Snow Queen and The Shadow. I point to the ambiguities, thoroughly thought-out construction as well as the twofold recipient underlying these two stories. In The Little Mermaid and The Steadfast Tin Soldier I look for Andersen’s ponderings on the nature of love, and the symbolism of space; whereas in The Galoshes of Fortune — it is topography and links between realism and fantasy. Focusing on the motif of the tree, religious content, and Paris of Andersen’s time along with the World Exposition, I compare two stories about trees, namely, The Last Dream of the Old Oak and The Dryad, to which I add other texts with trees protagonists in the foreground. Writing about The Story of a Mother I point out to contemporary theses on melancholy and transparency, and with regard to The Last Pearl I make an allusion to three paintings by Wilhelm Sasnal inspired by both Andersen and Andrzej Strumiłło. Apart from that, I juxtapose Andersen’s The Toad with Mikołaj Łoziński’s Mucha (The Fly) as I have noticed there anthropomorphized and adolescent characters. The focal point of the thesis is the chapter The Narration and Some of Andersen’s Stories where I discuss the most recent research on the narration in the literary studies, psychology and Polish studies education. Moreover, I formulate some didactic hints, yet above all, with studious attention to themes, I interpret the following stories, The Cripple, The Pixy and the Grocer, There is a Difference, Mother Elderberry, The Story of the Year, Under the Willow Tree, The Marsh King’s Daughter and Auntie Toothache. In Little Claus and Big Claus, and The Flea and the Professor I point to the grotesque elements. The Psyche — unknown before the recent volume — is presented with regard to the following: the nature of art, the process of creation and the artist, with a novel by Torill Thorstad Hauger, The Werewolf and Iselin as a point of reference. In The Ice Maiden I bring up the themes of love affair and the Alpine scenery. The final pages of my thesis treat about the discussion of Lucky Peer, an example of the coming of age novel with numerous references to music. The Foreword and Conclusions contain general remarks to Andersen’s works and one of the possible reading strategies I have made use of in the thesis. The selection of sources quoted in the thesis is to be found at the end. The thesis may be seen as constituting a mere fragment of the extended research on Andersen’s prose, poetry and drama all over the world; nevertheless, to the Polish reader it may pave the way for comprehension and interpretation of at least some of the stories, for not only do they have a double addressee, both children and adults, but may be thought of as created exclusively for adults readers.