Michael Arditti
The Ugly Duckling
The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
By Maria Tatar and Julie K Allen
Norton 449pp £25 order from our bookshop
Contrary to the abiding image of Danny Kaye regaling a crowd of well-scrubbed peasant children with the tales of ‘Thumbelina’ and ‘The Ugly Duckling’, Hans Christian Andersen never sought the company of children. Indeed, when, towards the end of his life, the Danish public proposed to erect a statue of him in Copenhagen, he so loathed the original sketch, which featured a child resting his head on his thigh, that it was withdrawn in favour of one showing the writer alone.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Though 'the hotel had a reputation as the area’s best, its staff were not used to looking after world leaders, so the arrival of Cuba’s new strongman, Fidel Castro, came as something of a shock.'
@dcsandbrook on @simonhallwriter's 'Ten Days in Harlem'.
http://ow.ly/I63850Bvs10
'After all, who knows what anybody is really like, or what they really think? The biographer – same as a painter of portraits – cannot help but reproduce himself to some degree.'
From the archive: Beryl Bainbridge talks to Sebastian Shakespeare.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/sebastian-shakespeare-talks-to-beryl-bainbridge
"fascinating piece of writing ...unexpectedly gripping read...The #RedCircleMinis are a really wonderful initiative; every one I’ve read has been so different and so good... #OneLoveChigusa is an excellent addition to the series! “Thank you @kaggsy59 🙂 https://bit.ly/2ZIdeqL