The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)

The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)
by Hans Christian Andersen

The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)
List Price: $35.00
Our Price: $21.77
You Save: $13.23 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $17.55 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Brand: Grosset & Dunlap
Translator: Maria Tatar
Contributor: Maria Tatar
Contributor: Julie Allen
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-17
ISBN: 0393060810
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Book Reviews of The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)

Book Review: Once upon a time
Summary: 5 Stars


This beautifully produced book contains 12 tales for children and 12 short stories for adults. There are almost 150 illustrations, many in color, from classic editions of Andersen's works. The colored images by Clarke, Dulas, Nielsen and Lorenz Frolich are splendid, as are the many ink drawings by W. Heath Robinson.

Maria Tatar edited The Annotated Brothers Grimm and The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. She and Julie K. Allen translated the stories, and Tatar provides many annotations. Example: "The Ugly Duckling" is "the most deeply personal of Anderson's stories, a narrative that traces his trajectory from humble origins to a literary aristocracy."

Tatar is eloquent on the importance of Andersen: "We need to engage our critical faculties in order to understand what makes these stories so emotionally addictive. Why have these Danish cultural stories taken hold in the United States to become instruments for navigating childhood? How do the stories enable the reader to get lost in the book, to drink the heady elixir of fantasy? And how do they arouse the intellectual curiosity of children?"

Tatar argues that Andersen's descriptive techniques create moments with "ignition power" that kindle the imagination. "Andersen's descriptions of beauty can weave spells. They create an adrenaline rush so that you begin to read with the spine rather than the brain. These luminous moments energize the mind, leading the reader to read on to explore perils and possibilities, but also to dig deeper."

"The Emperor's New Clothes" exemplifies Andersen's narrative powers. "When I reread the tale I remembered how as a child I had started to imagine what the cloth looked like. Even though it is invisible, the swindlers and the adults describe the cloth as silky and beautiful, with gossamer designs ... and Andersen invests so much narrative energy in describing the invisible cloth that, ironically, it begins to dazzle in the mind's eye. That is what Andersen can do -- he lights up the imagination."

The short stories were new to me and have some interest seen through Tatar's eyes. But these new translations of the old favorites like "The Snow Queen" or "The Little Mermaid" are just as magical as ever.

Robert C. Ross 2008

Summary of The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)

A richly entertaining and informative collection of Hans Christian Andersen's stories, annotated by one of America's leading folklore scholars.

In her most ambitious annotated work to date, Maria Tatar celebrates the stories told by Denmark's "perfect wizard" and re-envisions Hans Christian Andersen as a writer who casts his spell on both children and adults. Andersen's most beloved tales, such as "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Little Mermaid," are now joined by "The Shadow" and "Story of a Mother," mature stories that reveal his literary range and depth. Tatar captures the tales' unrivaled dramatic and visual power, showing exactly how Andersen became one of the world's ten most translated authors, along with Shakespeare, Dickens, and Marx. Lushly illustrated with more than one hundred fifty rare images, many in full color, by artists such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen will captivate readers with annotations that explore the rich social and cultural dimensions of the nineteenth century and construct a compelling portrait of a writer whose stories still fascinate us today.

Classics Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native son ImageNative son
by Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Born ImageNative Son: And How Bigger Was Born
by Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Task ImageRaphael and the Noble Task
by Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops: $20.00
Island (Perennial Classics) ImageIsland (Perennial Classics)
by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: $14.99
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ImageA Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.85
Price in other shops: $23.99
The Great Divorce CD ImageThe Great Divorce CD
by C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.73
Price in other shops: $22.00
Great Expectations ImageGreat Expectations
by Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $12.10
This Side of Paradise ImageThis Side of Paradise
by Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops: $6.95
Black Coffee (Poirot) ImageBlack Coffee (Poirot)
by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s) ImageSlouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)
by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar Books and other products
Peter Pan (100th Anniversary Edition) ImagePeter Pan (100th Anniversary Edition)
by J. M. Barrie
Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); Published: 2003-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.21
Price in other shops: $25.00
The Annotated Secret Garden ImageThe Annotated Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2007-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.82
Price in other shops: $35.00
The Annotated Secret Garden (The Annotated Books) ImageThe Annotated Secret Garden (The Annotated Books)
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2007-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops: $35.00
The Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose (The Annotated Books) ImageThe Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose (The Annotated Books)
by Charles Dickens
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2004-11-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.29
Price in other shops: $29.95
The Annotated Wind in the Willows (The Annotated Books) ImageThe Annotated Wind in the Willows (The Annotated Books)
by Kenneth Grahame
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2009-04-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.90
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Annotated Wizard of Oz  (Centennial Edition) ImageThe Annotated Wizard of Oz (Centennial Edition)
by L. Frank Baum
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2000-09-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.41
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales ImageThe Annotated Classic Fairy Tales
Grosset & Dunlap; W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2002-10-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops: $35.00
The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition ImageThe Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition
by Lewis Carroll
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1999-11-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.50
Price in other shops: $29.95
The Annotated Peter Pan (The Centennial Edition)  (The Annotated Books) ImageThe Annotated Peter Pan (The Centennial Edition) (The Annotated Books)
by J. M. Barrie
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2011-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.98
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Annotated Brothers Grimm (The Annotated Books) ImageThe Annotated Brothers Grimm (The Annotated Books)
by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
W. W. Norton & Company; W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2004-09-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.99
Price in other shops: $35.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories