Why Andersen Tales

by Julie Della Torre

Why tell the tales of Andersen? Are they relevant today?

HCA

I love telling some of Andersen stories and do so frequently in classrooms. I’m able to show many illustrated versions demonstrating the popularity of the tales. Vibrant discussions follow many of the stories. There is always laughter and delight and often some quiet reflection.

The first reason to tell Andersen stories is the man himself and the genre of the fairy tale. Many, including Andersen, have called him ‘The Father of the Fairytale.’ The Grimm’s brothers and others before HCA gathered folktales and the folklore of cultures. In France, Beaumont, Perrault, and others told and wrote courtly, satirical romances. But Andersen invented stories.

Diana and Jeffrey Frank write in the introduction of their anthology (*)

“He had appropriated a traditional form but seemed simultaneously to invent a new one that accommodated itself to flights of fancy and humor, social attire, and literary revenge.”

Another reason to tell these tales is for the language. He was the first to write in colloquial Danish. Andersen wanted to write as people spoke. He wrote as a storyteller. It was shocking to reviewers, but the common people loved it. Marc Brown describes it perfectly in his 1990 article in Horn Book (‘The Artist at Work: The Importance of Humor’),

“A sentence from one of Hans Andersen’s Tales is utterly different from a sentence by anyone else. Perrault or Grimm would have written, “The children got into the coach and drove off,” but Hans Andersen wrote, “Up they go on the coach. Goodbye Mum. Goodbye Dad. Crack went the whip, whick, whack and away they dashed. Gee up! Gee up!”

It was talking. This language makes it difficult for translators. Many editions of the tales are dry and lack humor, for most translations go through the German first. The Franks’ translation is a rare example of the tales being directly translated from Danish into English. 

Then there are the themes and subjects of Andersen’s tales. He was the first to have talking toys, darning needles and tin soldiers, and Moroccan leather balls falling in love with tops. He wrote of humanity in all its joys and disappointments, betrayals, silliness, pomposity, greed, and heartbreaks. He wrote of truth and falseness, of beauty and artifice. Hans Andersen experienced all of these emotions and painful experiences in his own life and struggled greatly.  He put these feelings and struggles into the mouths and actions of common everyday objects allowing us all to see ourselves in these stories.

Hans Christian Andersen published 156 tales, enough to find every emotion and foible experienced by humankind. Because of this the stories resonate to this day. I’ve been asking people, “Do you think it’s still important to tell Hans Christian Andersen stories?” My favorite response came from my husband who just rolled his eyes and without hesitation responded, “Really? With the world today? The Emperor’s New Clothes says it all. What other story do you need?”

The influence of Hans Andersen is vast. Authors such as Yolen, Philip, Rowling, and many more have taken the fairy tale form and made it their own. Illustrators over the years have been inspired to bring these tales to life visually. Storytellers have been inspired to bring the language, the characters and stories to life through the oral art form.

Go find a translation you like, read through some of the tales and start telling Andersen. Enjoy!

*The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen translated by Dianna and Jeffery Frank. Houghton Mifflin. 2003.

Learning to Tell at the Feet of Andersen

by Julie Della Torre

HCA Statue in Central Park

June 1, opening day of the 2019 season of storytelling at the Hans Christian Andersen Statue in Central Park. It was a beautiful day and the storytelling was superb.

Sheila Arnold told ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ by Andersen and Laura Simms told ‘The Nightingale’ also by HCA. Salieu Suso accompanied Laura on the kora and Valentina Ortiz, from Mexico, kept us all safe and comfortable as monitor.

Sheila Arnold, an African American from Virginia, had such fun telling Andersen. True to the story she delighted in language such as ‘rouges and scallywags.’ Though the story is Danish, the way she told it, you could just see people from her community populating the story. Andersen coming alive in Virginia.

Laura Simms is an internationally known storyteller and current Artistic Director of the Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center’s summer series. She tells ‘The Nightingale’ frequently and, on this day, she told it without elaboration. The words, the language, her voice, intensity and focus brought magic to the space as well as the story.

It was clear that Hans Christian Andersen tales withstand diversity of place and of time. The stories were so fresh and fun.

Storytelling has been ongoing at the Statue every summer for over 60 years. Every Saturday morning, from the beginning of June through September, crowds gather at the feet of Andersen for an hour of free storytelling. Storytellers from all over the world are scheduled and often there are surprises when a storyteller visiting NYC shows up and shares a story.

I have been going to the Statue for over 20 years. For several years, I was monitor and attended storytelling every Saturday. I’ve been privileged to tell stories with wonderful tellers. I consider this time at the Statue my prime education in learning to tell stories. What a beautiful outdoor classroom in which to learn.

And what have I learned? First and foremost, to be my own storyteller. I believe the main way we learn is by observation and I have been able to observe many of the storytellers I’ve read about and many more. Laura Simms and Diane Wolkstein before her, have scheduled friends and colleagues they have known through their years of storytelling. These are professional storytellers who have honed their craft. The first thing I noticed was how different every teller is. Some tellers move around a lot, some are still. Some use funny voices to great effect, others do not. Some tellers are boisterous, some more restrained. But all are inspiring as they bring their tales to life. There are so many storytellers, so many artistic styles, so many types of stories. Often beginning tellers will mimic an established teller, taking on her or his persona. Observing and talking to a wide variety of tellers was liberating.  It gave me the freedom and confidence to develop my own style.

But in this outdoor classroom I also learned many mundane, yet important, skills: 

·      how to use a microphone 

·      how to project in the open air

·       stage presence

·      audience control 

·      how to handle disruptions 

·      how to engage the audience

·      how to pause for a laugh

·      how to put a program together

I also observed techniques I wanted to add to my storytelling:

·      how to teach the audience a song or chant

·      how to invite the audience to join in

·      how to ask the audience for suggestions and then incorporate them into the story

·      how to bring the audience up on stage to help tell the story

·      how to play and have fun with a story

I have had a number of mentors and a few real teachers, but almost everything I have learned about storytelling has been in Central Park at the feet of Hans Christian Andersen.

Storytelling throughout September.

Click http://hcastorycenter.org/for schedule