Fairy Tales

The Black Classics edition of our glorious new translation and selection of 30 tales to mark the 200 year anniversary of Andersen's birth in 2005 With this new translation and selection, the unique inventiveness of Andersen's genius is revealed. At a time when children's stories were formal, moral and didactic, Hans Christian Andersen revolutionized the genre, giving an anarchic twist to traditional folklore and creating a huge number of utterly original stories that sprang directly from his imagination. From the exuberant early stories such as The Emperor's New Clothes, through poignant masterpieces such as The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling, to the darker, more subversive later tales written for adults, the stories included here are endlessly experimental, both humorous and irreverent, sorrowful and strange.

Jackie Wullschlanger is a literary critic and European Arts Correspondent of the Financial Times. Her biography of Andersen (2000) was published to critical acclaim and great popular success and is now considered the standard life of the writer. Tina Nunnally is known for her many award-winning translations of Nordic fiction, including the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2003. Jackie Wullschlanger is a literary critic and European Arts Correspondent of the Financial Times. Her biography of Andersen (2000) was published to critical acclaim and great popular success and is now considered the standard life of the writer. Tina Nunnally is known for her many award-winning translations of Nordic fiction, including the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2003.