Essays on Scandinavian LiteratureBoyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth
History
Essays on Scandinavian Literature
Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth
Authors, Scandinavian; Scandinavian literature -- History and criticism
In another species of fairy-tale, which Andersen may be said to have
invented, incident seems to be secondary to the moral purpose, which is
yet so artfully hidden that it requires a certain maturity of intellect
to detect it. In this field Andersen has done his noblest work and
earned his immortality. Who can read that marvellous little tale, "The
Ugly Duckling," without perceiving that it is a subtle, most exquisite
revenge the poet is taking upon the humdrum Philistine world, which
despised and humiliated him, before he lifted his wings and flew away
with the swans, who knew him as their brother? And yet, as a child, I
remember reading this tale with ever fresh delight, though I never for a
moment suspected its moral. The hens and the ducks and the geese were
all so vividly individualized, and the incidents were so familiar to my
own experience, that I demanded nothing more for my entertainment.
Likewise in "The Goloshes of Fortune" there is a wealth of amusing
adventures, all within the reach of a child's comprehension, which more
than suffices to fascinate the reader who fails to penetrate beneath the
surface. The delightful satire, which is especially applicable to Danish
society, is undoubtedly lost to nine out of ten of the author's foreign
readers, but so prodigal is he both of humorous and pathetic meaning,
that every one is charmed with what he finds, without suspecting how
much he has missed. "The Little Mermaid" belongs to the same order of
stories, though the pathos here predominates, and the resemblance to De
la Motte Fouque's "Undine" is rather too striking. But the gem of the
whole collection, I am inclined to think, is "The Emperor's New
Clothes," which in subtlety of intention and universality of application
rises above age and nationality. Respect for the world's opinion and the
tyranny of fashion have never been satirized with more exquisite humor
than in the figure of the emperor who walks through the streets of his
capital in _robe de nuit_, followed by a procession of courtiers, who
all go into ecstasies over the splendor of his attire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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