Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2019
Abstract
The chapter focuses on the striking fact that many protagonists of Andersen's fairytales are deprived of language or the communication is totally amputated leaving the character in isolation. This fact is connected with the looming language crisis that was articulated around 1900.
In the chapter I focus on the fairy tales "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Fir Tree", "The Little Mermaid", "The Silent Book" and "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep" and discuss the communicative functions of language being eroded in the lines of the characters of the fairytales. Andersen's thing tales are presented here as a key example of Andersen's preoccupation with the problematic communication and language.