Friday, September 16, 2011

Paying H.C. Andersen a Little Visit....

                                                                                                                                                                "My life is a fairy tale", said H.C.Andersen. " So rich, so blissfull!"  H.C. Andersen was a multitalent. He wrote his famous fairy tales and his wonderful descriptions about his journeys and his fantastic life, but he also made paper-clips and drawings. His paper clips are funny and odd,  but they also bring some idea about the poet's social and private life. "To clip, this is the first beginning of poetry", he wrote to his friend Dorothea Melcior in 1867. The paper-clips show us his vivid imagination. He was in many ways ahead of his time as a poet and visual artist. He made collages before the idea was invented and experimented with materials like he was experimenting with words. He was able to remember details with an astonishing accuracy, he had a sense of proportions and details, and his literary works make their mark by the very strong formation of pictures, which is why his fairy tales have such a rich history of illustration. All through his life H.C. Andersen had a colossal imagination, he considered it both as a gift of spirit and a disease of the soul.
window mirror


Chinese tourist
He would probably be astonished, if he visited his home and the streets of his childhood today.  He would say: "How pretty! How nice! It's like a fairy tale!".When he was a child, it was actually a slum and not a good place to live in. Today the houses are well-kept and in matched colours, the streets have kept their old pavements and the windows in the pretty houses are decorated in the most delicate way with china and flowers. I would certainly also keep my windows in order, if I lived in that street! Some ourists consider the whole street an exhibition and stare into the windows! Well, only a few. It was not the Chinese family we saw that day. Don't wear high heels. The pavement is a high-heel-killer. But the whole little quarter in the city of Odense is a pretty harmonious place, it's like you're walking in a "time-pocket." Cars are forbidden, you can easily imagine that you are walking in a car-less time!    


alleyway
In H.C.Andersens hus is a museum and also an exhibition of his paper-clips, drawings and collages.

H.C.Andersen Museum

photo Odense 10. September 2011: grethe bachmann

4 comments:

Teresa Evangeline said...

I loved his stories as a child. His name alone was magical to us. He embodied these tales, to us. I would love to be walking down that alleyway. It looks like a very peaceful place. I really enjoyed reading this and seeing photos from his village. Thank You, Grethe! My day is just starting here, I trust you had a good one.

Thyra said...

Hej Teresa! I've had a very quiet day. Now I'm making some food for my "evening-dinner"! Brussel-sprouts, would you believe it?
I loved his stories too. One of my favorites was The little Mermaid. I cried over her love to the prince!
I've bought an old edition of all his fairy tales, so if you one day want some facts about one of them then you can ask me!!
I'll have to go to my boiling kitchen!
Grethe ´)

Marilyn said...

Like Teresa, H C Anderson gave us magic, his stories were our treasures. Oh, How I would love to visit the museum and to learn more about him. I enjoyed this post so much Grethe.

Thyra said...

Thank you, Wanda. He made magic for all of us. I love his stories.
Have a nice Sunday in your beautiful place. I have just heard a gruesome story about a mantis. It is so scaring~~~~~~~~~~~ ! Still remember your photo of such a predator!
Grethe ´)