- Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Puffin Classics; New Ed edition (23 Feb 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140367373
- ISBN-13: 978-0140367379
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,039,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A delightful selection of stories from Hans Christian Andersen, translated by the eminent writer and critic, Naomi Lewis. All the best-known and most-loved stories are included - 'Thumbelina', 'The Snow Queen', 'The Emperor's New Clothes' etc, as well as the less familiar - 'The Goblin at the Grocer's' and 'Dance, Dolly, Dance'.
About the Author
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a poor shoemaker and a washerwoman. As a young teenager, he became quite well known in Odense as a reciter of drama, and as a singer. When he was fourteen, he set off for the capital, Copenhagen, determined to become a national success on the stage. He failed miserably, but made some influential friends in the capital, who got him into school to remedy his lack of proper education. He hated school: aged seventeen, he was in a class of twelve-year-olds and was constantly mocked by them and by the teachers.
In 1829 his first book – an account of a walking trip – was published. After that, books came out at regular intervals. At first, he considered his adult books more important than his fantasies. In later life, however, he began to see that these apparently trivial stories could vividly portray constant features of human life and character, in a charming manner. There were two consequences of this. First, he stopped regarding his stories as trifles written solely for children; second, he began to write more original stories, rather than retelling traditional tales.
He once said that ideas for stories ‘lie in my mind like seeds and only need the kiss of a sunbeam or a drop of malice to flower’. He would often thinly disguise people he liked or disliked as characters in his stories: a woman who failed to return his love becomes the foolish prince in ‘The Little Mermaid’; his own ugliness and humiliation, or his father’s daydream of being descended from a rich and powerful family, are reflected in ‘The Ugly Duckling’.
Hans Andersen’s stories began to be translated into English as early as 1846. Since then, numerous editions, and more recently Hollywood songs and a Disney cartoon, have helped to ensure the continuing popularity of the stories in the English-speaking world.
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First Sentence
There was once a prince who wished to marry a princess - but a real princess she had to be. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
There was once a prince who wished to marry a princess - but a real princess she had to be. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a good version of Andersens fairy tales in terms of translation,it makes the stories alive for children and adults too. Their are well known tales such as the Little Mermaid, but also some little known yarns,together they make a good mix. This book is fairly priced and full of good fayre. Well worth a read.Andersen's Fairy Tales (Wordsworth's Children's Classics)
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Andersen's tales are well-known, of course, but in the case of a writer whose original stories were in another language, we get a lot of different translations. The basic story remains the same, of course.
In this Lewis translation of 12 stories, the English is lovely. In particular, the lesser-known "The Goblin at the Grocer's" is well-done. I found an internet site that has most or all of Andersen's stories, but the version there paled in comparison. Well worth the...(price) to get the Lewis, though I would like a complete Andersen by Lewis!
In this Lewis translation of 12 stories, the English is lovely. In particular, the lesser-known "The Goblin at the Grocer's" is well-done. I found an internet site that has most or all of Andersen's stories, but the version there paled in comparison. Well worth the...(price) to get the Lewis, though I would like a complete Andersen by Lewis!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
16 reviews
104 of 106 people found the following review helpful
Best of its Kind
12 May 2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have been slowly (so veeeerrry slooooowlllly) working my way through all the Hans Christian Andersen books available for kindle. This is the only one I would suggest reading.
Not only does this version have an active table of contents and lack any of the distracting misplacement of page numbers and illustration names that several of the others have (although it's still not illustrated), but it contains what appears to be every story ever written by Hans Christian Andersen!
Long stories (The Ice Maiden), short stories (The Princess and the Pea), well-known stories (The Little Mermaid), unknown stories (She was Good for Nothing) and dozens of others are all contained within these e-ink pages!
They are also readable! This is not the case with some of the other HCA books on kindle. The stories are still really boring, occasionally tedious, generally depressing and often religious, but yet I can read them without wanting to scream and pull my hair out as I did with What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales. Instead they are somehow magically more approachable and I can almost remember why I loved Hans Christian Andersen so much as a child (selected stories from, at least).
So if you, like me, are determined to try and re-visit your childhood via fairy tales written by Hans Christian Andersen no matter what, at least take pity on yourself--or pity on your children if you're trying to read the stories to them--and read this version.
Not only does this version have an active table of contents and lack any of the distracting misplacement of page numbers and illustration names that several of the others have (although it's still not illustrated), but it contains what appears to be every story ever written by Hans Christian Andersen!
Long stories (The Ice Maiden), short stories (The Princess and the Pea), well-known stories (The Little Mermaid), unknown stories (She was Good for Nothing) and dozens of others are all contained within these e-ink pages!
They are also readable! This is not the case with some of the other HCA books on kindle. The stories are still really boring, occasionally tedious, generally depressing and often religious, but yet I can read them without wanting to scream and pull my hair out as I did with What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales. Instead they are somehow magically more approachable and I can almost remember why I loved Hans Christian Andersen so much as a child (selected stories from, at least).
So if you, like me, are determined to try and re-visit your childhood via fairy tales written by Hans Christian Andersen no matter what, at least take pity on yourself--or pity on your children if you're trying to read the stories to them--and read this version.
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
connorcharlie
28 April 2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had looked at several of Andersen's books on kindle. This is the best one I could find. It's free and very comprehensive (and long, goes past location 14000) There is an active table of contents, even though table of contents is grayed out on menu.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
An Wonderful Kindle Version of this Book
30 Oct 2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I do not have much to add to the foregoing reviews except that the active Table of Contents has the stories in alphabetical order so that you can easily get to your favorites. Access was very easy and quick. Don't waste your time on any other Kindle version of this book.
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