The first book I bought for my kids was a collection of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, carefully selected for them because honestly, not all fairy tales are morally good.To be honest, I didn't enjoy his stories much when I was a kid. Cunning and deceitful tricksters often seemed to be rewarded more than honest people. The little girl who sell matches died a tragic death in the cold street, and the naked foolish king was ridiculed but suffered no real consequences while our protagonists i...

Andersen's Tales are not tales. The proof is that sometimes they end badly. Those who know the Walt Disney version, a cartoon for popcorn eaters, have not had access to the universe of this Danish storyteller, who flirts with his readers' unconscious by dragging them into his dreams and nightmares.Populated by street children, fabulous animals, and hideous or evil creatures, his tales are closer to Edgar Poe than to the world of Care Bears.Andersen discusses our anxieties, desires, the difficult...

"The good and the beautiful is not forgotten; it lives in legend and in song." منذ أن كنت طفلة صغيرة، كنت أعشق قصص الأطفال وسلسلة المكتبة الخضراء. كنت كذلك أعشق مسلسلات الكرتون مثل "في جعبتي حكاية" و"حكايات ما أحلاه" وإلخ. عرفت حين كبرت قليلاً أن تلك القصص والمسلسلات الكرتونية مأخوذة من الروايات العالمية وحكايات أندرسن والأخوين غريم وإلخ. ومن هنا تولّدت لدي الرغبة في حب القراءة، ونمت في نفسي تلك البذرة التي أتمنى أن تصير شجرة مثمرة وارفة الظلال في المستقبل. اقتنيت هذا الكتاب قبل ما يقارب...

Not a fan of Hans Christian Anderson at all. Most of his stories were short and pointless and the ones with morals made me feel like I was being preached to. I just can't get with the religious tone of his stories or the weird way women are treated like the little mermaid sacrificing herself off the boat, or the prince who tries to court the emperor's daughter but she rejects him so he pretends to be a swine herder and tricks her into getting disowned with him for kissing him and then basically ...

If you want to read the real stories that inspired the lion's share of Disney films, definitely read Mr. Andersen's collection of fairy tales. Do not expect happy endings however - leave those to Walt&Co. Instead imagine families trying to scare their kids into behaving in order to survive the many dangers in this world - represented fantastically by witches and wolves and other beasties and meanies. A wonderful collection!

Book Review 4 out of 5 stars to The Complete Fairy Tales, written in 1835 by Hans Christian Andersen. Many people are familiar with the fairy tales written by the Grimm brothers, but sometimes don't realize there were several different versions or collections by different authors. Another popular one is the series written by Hans Christian Anderson. The two I was the most familiar with were "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Emperor's New Clothes." In both, you see some of the "horror" that...

Although some of the tales are really disturbing, the fantasy and imagination behind them is indisputable. I grew up reading this book and I'm sure it'll be valuable for all future generations.

Strangely, despite four decades on Earth, I have almost no familiarity with this gentleman Hans. If I can live another 4 decades, I doubt I'll forget about him from here on out. What is most generally striking/perplexing to me is how these stories came to be known as children tales, came to be widely accepted and popular rather than scorned. I don't think it's just my glasses that view Hans Christian Andersen as a soul that senses more darkness than light. “Yes, every year the trees have new, fr...

Today, Hans Christian Andersen would be given drugs and therapy, and then more drugs. He would be put into a study about repressed homosexuals and boys with a mamma fixation. All this because of his stories. Andersen’s stories are also not very happy when you truly think about them. For every happy story, like “The Ugly Duckling”, there are at least two sad stories. Yet Andersen, at least in American circles, is considered a children’s author. Whether this is due to those editions or retellings ...