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Sad tale of the real Hans Christian Andersen HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: The Life of a Storyteller by Jackie Wullschlager (Penguin Press, 20

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From: Evening Standard - London
Date: 20001023
Author:FRANCIS SPUFFORD

HANS Christian Andersen looked nothing like Danny Kaye, whose capering in front of a chocolate-box Copenhagen established the default modern image of him. The author of The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid, nose was a mighty potato in a triangular socket, while his eyes were small and almost oriental. His hair was lank and black and, for preference, he wore a black top hat. It seems apt that the only time he appeared on stage he played one of a chorus of trolls.

But he did caper. He combined his Gothic physical persona with a set of gauchely theatrical mannerisms, a nonstop performance of ...

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