H.C.Andersen Information

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1805    (April 2) Born at Odense in the island of Funen (Fyn).
1816  Father, a shoemaker, dies.

1819     

(Sept.6) Arrives, aged 14, in Copenhagen, the capital ('to become famous').
1820 - 1822 Pupil at the Royal Theatre's schools of dancing and singing.
1822 - 1827 Grammar-school pupil at Slagelse and Elsinore on recommendation of the theatre board, including Jonas Collin, that he be given a chance to get an 'education'..
1828 Passes university entrance examination.
1829 Journey on Foot from Holmen's Canal to the Eastern Tip of Amager (the real debut book, first edition published by author himself).
1830 At Fåborg, in his native island, he falls in love with 'two eyes of brown' (Riborg Voigt).
1831 Travels in Germany ( 02 ) (Harz Mountains).
1833 - 1834 
 
First major foreign travels (on two-year grant) to France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and, above all, Italy. In Rome, receives news of mother's death.
1835 Success with novel The Improvisatore. First volume of Fairy Tales, told for Children, including 'The Tinderbox' and 'The Princess on the Pea'.
1837 Only a Fiddler. The novel makes his name known abroad, via Germany.
1838 Awarded annual 'writer's grant'..
1840 First meeting with Jenny Lind.
1840 - 1841

Journey to Near East (Rome, Athens, Constantinople, up the Danube from the Black Sea to Vienna).

1842 Travel book A Poet's Bazaar.
1843 Journey to Paris; meets Balzac, Dumas pere, Heinrich Heine, Victor Hugo, Lamartine, Alfred de Vigny and the actress Rachel.
1845 - 1846 'Success journey' in Germany and Austria, Italy , France and Switzerland; planned visit to Spain prevented by ill health.
1847 First autobiography published by Lorck in Leipzig with title Das Märchen meines Lebens ohne Dichtung. 'Success journey' to England and Scotland.

1849

Extensive travels in Sweden. Travel book In Sweden published in 1851.
1851

Appointed titular professor.

1855 Extended autobiography published in Denmark as Mit Livs Eventyr (The Fairy Tale of My Life).
1857 Spends several weeks as guest of Charles Dickens.
1862 - 1863  Travels in Spain (with excursion to North Africa). Travel book In Spain published the same year.
1866 In Holland, France, Spain and Portugal. A Visit to Portugal, 1866, published in 1868.
1867 Made honorary citizen of Odense; appointed titular councillor of state. Pays two visits to World Exhibition in Paris.
1872 Last tales published; among them "The Door-Key" and' Auntie'.
1873 Last journey abroad (Switzerland).

1874 

Appointed titular conferenceråd (a high Danish title).
1875 ( Aug. 4) Dies of cancer of the liver at the Melchior's villa near Copenhagen. His grave is in the Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Foto: Lars Bjørnsten Odense

 

 

 

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