Ep 106 - Hans Christian Andersen - The Little Mermaid’s Queer Icon

In Episode 106, Rowan tells us the history of Hans Christian Andersen and the many people he longed for the course of his life. Our hosts discuss his fairy tales, anxiety, queer identity…and that time he pissed off Charles Dickens.

Was he bisexual? Was he ace? Did he compare himself to a snowman in love with a stove? (The world may never know.)

Sources 

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lind

Andersen’s Stories

http://hca.gilead.org.il/

Biography.com

https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/hans-christian-andersen

Smithsonian Magazine

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/hans-christian-andersen-museum-asks-you-step-fairy-tale-180977123/

‘The Gay Love Letters of Hans Christian Andersen’

https://rictornorton.co.uk/andersen.htm

Politiken

https://politiken.dk/newsinenglish_/art5435657/Local-historian-finds-Hans-Christian-Andersenrsquos-first-fairy-tale

American Literature

https://americanliterature.com/author/hans-christian-andersen

JSTOR

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44377659

Andersen’s Fairytales

https://www.andersenstories.com/en/andersen_fairy-tales/list

Literary Hub

https://lithub.com/dear-internet-the-little-mermaid-also-happens-to-be-queer-allegory/

CBR

https://www.cbr.com/hans-christian-andersen-gay-allegory-little-mermaid-disney/

The Hans Christian Andersen Centre

https://andersen.sdu.dk/liv/tidstavle/vis_e.html?date=1844-01-00&kvartal=1&mark=424&sord=penis#1

https://andersen.sdu.dk/forskning/konference/tekst_e.html?id=10923#:~:text=The%20correspondence%20between%20Andersen%20and,and%20ends%20with%20Andersen's%20death.

The Independent

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/his-dark-materials-8437.html

AV Club

https://www.avclub.com/read-this-how-divine-inspired-ursula-the-sea-witch-1798243255

The Mary Sue

https://www.themarysue.com/little-mermaid-queer-subtext/

BookRiot

https://bookriot.com/queerness-little-mermaid/

Bustle

https://www.bustle.com/p/the-little-mermaid-was-inspired-by-hans-christian-andersens-unrequited-love-for-another-man-18217818

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6378.Hans_Christian_Andersen?page=4

Patrick C Flemming

https://www.pcfleming.com/2018/08/28/andersen_sexuality/

The Marginalian

https://www.themarginalian.org/2020/01/31/the-heartbreak-of-hans-christian-andersen/

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/10/charles-dickens-hans-christian-andersen-letters-correspondence-auction

Gay History and Literature by Richtor Norton

https://rictornorton.co.uk/andersen.htm

---