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| 'The Snow Queen' :
The boy Kay is carried to the Snow Queen as in the fairy story
'The Snow Queen' during celebrations of the 200th anniversary
of the Danish fairy story teller Hans Christian Andersen in
the show 'Once Upon a Time' at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen.
(AFP/Scanpix/Keld
Navntoft) | |
Denmark marked Hans Christian Andersen's 200th birthday with a
celebration that may have pleased and slightly frightened the author of
fairy tales such as "The Little Mermaid."
Andersen's writing style often disguised the sometimes gruesome moral lessons in stories like "The
Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Ugly Duckling," but he remains a global
icon whose work has been translated into almost 150 languages.
His fame has been partly aided by film giant Disney, which turned "The
Little Mermaid" into a 1989 animated hit film.
No surprise then, that Denmark is marking the bicentenary of its most famous son in grand
style with the government and private firms footing a $40 million bill for a
year-long event.
A concert extravaganza was broadcast worldwide on Saturday night,
featuring American rock star Tina Turner and British-born singer-actress
Olivia Newton-John.
Andersen biographer Jens Andersen said that although the fairy tale
author would have loved the attention, a fear of crowds would have
prevented him from wading through the sea of people and trinkets in Copenhagen bearing the Andersen
logotype to attend a big event like Saturday's concert.
"But he would have been pleased and flattered, happy at the global
attention," said Andersen, whose acclaimed biography was published last
year.
Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, 93 miles west of capital
Copenhagen, in 1805, the son of a poor shoemaker and his nearly illiterate
wife.
He left home in his early teens to seek his fortune at the theater in
Copenhagen, struggling for years as a ballet dancer, actor and singer
before being sent to grammar school by one of the directors of the Royal
Theatre.
To sell his first novel the 17-year-old Andersen mass-produced a sales
letter offering presumptive buyers his own services as a reader and
performer if they would order the book.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote six novels, more than 80 dramas, travelogues and collections of
poems. But the handful of the 212 fairy tales he wrote are his most
enduring legacy.
Many of Hans Christian Andersen's stories were original and drawn from
his extensive travels and his life, something which distinguishes him from
rivals like the Brothers Grimm.
By the time he died in 1875, his writing had lifted him from poverty to
world recognition in a social journey reminiscent of the duck who became a
swan in "The Ugly Duckling."
（Agencies) |
為紀念童話大師漢斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生誕辰200周年，丹麥舉行了盛大的慶祝活動。其規模之宏大，可能連這位曾經創作出《海的女兒》等經典童話作品的大作家本人在欣喜之余也會有些害怕。
安徒生在創作中經常將枯燥的道德說教融入新奇的故事當中，如《皇帝的新衣》和《丑小鴨》。他一直是全世界的偶像，其作品已被譯成近150種語言。
安徒生的成名一部分要歸功于電影巨頭迪斯尼。1989年，迪斯尼公司將安徒生的童話《海的女兒》拍成了動畫片，一時引起了轟動。
作為丹麥最著名的人物，難怪安徒生200周年誕辰排場會如此巨大：政府和私營公司出資四千萬美元，整個慶典活動將持續一年。
上周六晚舉行了一場盛大的音樂會，并對全球轉播。美國搖滾名星蒂娜·特納和英國出生的歌手兼演員奧莉維亞·紐頓·約翰也登臺演出。
安徒生傳記的作者簡斯·安徒生說，盡管安徒生本人可能會喜歡受到如此關注，但他害怕人群，所以即使安徒生仍然在世，他也可能不愿意穿過人山人海和掛滿安徒生標識的哥本哈根去參加像星期六音樂會那樣的活動。
“但對于全世界的關注，他一定會很高興，甚至有點受寵若驚，”簡斯·安徒生說。去年，他出版了安徒生的傳記，并廣受好評。
漢斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生1805年出生于丹麥首都哥本哈根以西93英里的歐登塞。他的父親是一個窮鞋匠，他的母親幾乎不識字。
為了能成就一番事業，安徒生十幾歲時便離開了家，來到哥本哈根的一家劇院。他在那兒當了幾年芭蕾舞演員、歌手和演員，之后被皇家劇院的導演送入語法學校學習。
為了推銷自己的第一部小說，年僅十七歲的安徒生寫了許多推銷信給可能的買主，表示只要他們愿意訂購他的小說，他就會提供閱讀和表演服務。
安徒生一生著有6部小說，80多部戲劇，大量游記和詩集。但流傳最廣的是他創作的212個童話故事。
安徒生的許多童話故事都具有獨創性，或是取材于他豐富的生活和旅行經歷，這是他與格林兄弟的不同之處。
到他1875年去世時，安徒生早已擺脫了當年的窮困，他的作品享譽全球。這不禁讓人想起他的童話故事《丑小鴨》，丑小鴨歷盡磨難終于變成了美麗的天鵝。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-04-06 11:24
