It was the reputation this novel gained abroad
which changed public opinion in Denmark in its favor. A second novel,
"Only a Fiddler" (1837), is a fresh variation of his autobiography, and
the lachrymose and a trifle chaotic story, "O. T." (being the brand of
the Odense penitentiary) scarcely deserved any better reception than was
accorded it.
It is a curious thing that misconception and adversity never hardened
Andersen or toughened the fibre of his personality. The same lamentable
lack of robustness--not to say manliness--which marked his youth
remained his prevailing characteristic to the end of his life. And I
fancy, if he had ever reached intellectual maturity, both he himself and
the world would have been losers. For it is his unique distinction to
have expressed a simplicity of soul which is usually dumb--which has, at
all events, nowhere else recorded itself in literature. We all have a
dim recollection of how the world looked from the nursery window; but no
book has preserved so vivid and accurate a negative of that marvellous
panorama as Andersen's "Wonder Tales for Children," the first collection
of which appeared in 1835.
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