H. C. ANDERSEN’S POPULARITY AS A СULTURAL PHENOMENON IN RUSSIA IN THE LATE 19th — EARLY 20th CENTURIES

Abstract

H. C. Andersen’s fairy tales and stories won universal recognition in the literary circles as well as among the public at large in Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though novels, poems and letters of the Danish writer were published in Russia, it was the tales that attracted the attention of the readers and translators. They were appreciated for expressing the ideas of humanism in perfect literary form. H. C. Andersen’s tales were translated many times, ran into a huge number of editions. They were often discussed in the press. This occurred against the backdrop of an unprecedented interest in myths and fairy tales on the one hand and in Nordic literature on the other. The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century were key periods for the future perception of H. C. Andersen in Russia. It was during this period that the Danish writer underwent the process of cultural adaptation and became a part of Russian cultural space. It was then that the interest in the artistic and psychological dimensions of his art emerged. Multiple examples of this can be found in many of the literary and epistolary writings of the time, in the art critique and pedagogical literature. The creative achievements of translations of the period should also not be underestimated.