Hans Christian Andersen in American Literary Criticism of the Nineteenth Century

Herbert Rowland argues that the American reception of Hans Christian Andersen in the nineteenth century has a respectable place in the international reception of Andersen and his work. Rowland demonstrates that American critics used Andersen’s works to support their views of key American issues in the nineteenth century.

In Hans Christian Andersen in American Literary Criticism of the Nineteenth Century, Herbert Rowland argues that the literary criticism accompanying the publication of Hans Christian Andersen’s works in the United States compares favorably in scope, perceptiveness, and chronological coverage with the few other national receptions of Andersen outside of Denmark. Rowland contends that American commentators made it abundantly evident that, in addition to his fairy tales, Andersen wrote several novels, travelogues, and an autobiography which were all of more than common interest. In the process, Rowland shows that American commentators “naturalized” Andersen in the United States by confronting the sensationalism in the journalism and literature of the time with the perceived wholesomeness of Andersen’s writing, deploying his long fiction on both sides of the debate over the nature and relative value of the romance and the novel, and drawing on three of his works to support their positions on slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

Chapter 1: The American Reception of Andersen in Statistical Overview

Chapter 2: The Novels

Chapter 3: The Travel Books

Chapter 4: The Poetry and the Plays

Chapter 5: The Autobiographies

Chapter 6: The Fairy Tales and Stories

Chapter 7: The Critical General Interest Articles