Age(ism) in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales

Abstract

Abstract Across the globe, the genre of the fairy tale is inextricably linked with Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). To this day, the Danish writer and his sombre, often dystopian tales are famed for their pronounced criticism of socio-cultural norms and are read and loved by all ages. In his work, Andersen made ample use of the fantastic, which ranges from the realm of the supernatural (esp. anthropomorphic plants, animals, and things) to the realm of the (realistically) imaginary such as the faculty of imagination or (religious) beliefs. In doing so, socio-cultural phenomena such as conceptions of and reactions to (older) age are approached from a broad spectrum of angles. While research has already shown a keen interest in matters of gender, (homo)sexuality, and class in Andersen’s tales, his approach to (older) age and ageism has rather been ignored so far. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to break ground in the form of an in-depth analysis of correlations between age(ism) and the fantastic in Andersen’s literary tales “Grandmother” (1845) and “The Old House” (1847), with a particular interest in the question of how far age(ism) is constructed by both the narrator and the reader.